Letters from Josh
10/24/22 Vol. 105
Howdy, folks! I used to write a quirky series called Dr. Electro. Well, he’s back to make you smile. It’s a whimsical tale told in bits each week - something pleasant, silly, and fun. The world is bleeding enough. I’d like to put something good, engaging, Hardy Boys for Adults, Sherlock Holmes meets The Muppets in circulation. I hope you dig it.
The Return of Dr. Electro - #1: A Midnight Whistle
His foot slipped on the narrow beam. He tottered, waving his arms wildly, then plunged to his death.
“Shucks. Don’t know how those iron workers do it.”
His boots landed beside the train track, crunching the gravel and fallen leaves. The daydream was over. Dr. Electro’s imagination was as agile as his feet were clumsy. The news of the Empire State Building construction had captured his fancy, and made him half wistful for the city he had left.
But pretending to be a sky walker wasn’t the on reason he balanced again on the shiny rail. The October Sunday was drawing to a close, and leaves lay scattered like embers under a leaden sky. He had heard the town kids tromping merrily through these crisp memories of summer all afternoon. Now, as twilight gathered, the suspicion from City Life still pumped in his veins. He didn’t like to make so much noise. He had an uneasy feeling he might be heard.
The balance beam of rail lifted him above the betraying leaves. A lean to the left, right, and he moved on, silently, memories taking the place of noise. The lights of the city jungle glittered in his mind’s eye. His home for a lifetime, the pulse had started to feel like a throb.
After his last adventure with the arch-villain Professor Waverly, Dr. Electro took a few long walks, victory hollower than expected. What was he doing with life? Is career everything? Should one even try to save the world?
His friends didn’t get it. Rutherford insisted that the fray wasn’t done with him, that his brilliant research with high voltage would lead to more adventures, more criminals brought to justice, and a lecture tour.
Electro just smiled, packed his books in three big boxes, and threw his lucky coin on a map of the Midwest. Whitaker - haven’t heard of it before. Good.
“But what do you want to do there?” Rutherford had blustered.
“I dunno...Start a book club, find a wife, and work in peace. Two out of three would be fine” laughed Electro.
Whitaker was just another railroad town two hours from Chicago. It suited him fine. The drugstore soda was tolerable. His new library card netted a dusty copy of Homer.
He wobbled back to the present. The wind rustled, the dry leaves scuttled along the track, and in the distance, the railroad signal glowed green. The landscape seemed to be waiting. Maybe it was just Sunday, but Dr. Electro couldn’t shake an ominous chill. He alighted softly to the path home, and the half-finished Odyssey. It was due on Tuesday, and a library fine would be a poor first impression.
His cottage windows were dark when he creaked across the porch. A white envelope glowed faintly in the gathering dusk, stuck in the mailbox with the fresh gold “E”. Funny, it was Sunday. Tearing it open, he read:
Some things never change, ol’ chap! Expect me by the midnight whistle. - Rutherford.
(To be continued next week.)