Lara Bergen: Sophie the Hero

“Wait a minute,” said a snooty voice. It belonged to Mindy VonBoffmann. Her name would be Mindy the Meanie if Sophie had anything to say about it.

“What happened to the Slinkys?” Mindy asked. Sophie shrugged. “Mrs. Dixon picked them up.”

“Then isn’t she the real hero?” Mindy said. She crossed her arms and made a face that Sophie’s mom would have called sassy.

“Yeah,” Lily Lemley chimed in. She liked to copy Mindy, so she made her face look just the same. “If Mrs. Dixon saved the Slinkys, she’s the real hero,” Lily said.

“What are you talking about?” Kate said. “Sophie saved a kindergartner! Who cares about the Slinkys?”

“They only cost a dollar or something,” Ben added. “Kindergartners cost a lot more.”

Good old Ben. Sophie turned to smile at him.

She truly felt like a hero. And that felt really good!

But Mindy just shrugged. “I guess,” she said. “Still, it’s only one kindergartner. It’s not like she saved five kittens from a burning building, like Scarlett the cat. Remember? Now, that’s a real hero.”

“Yeah, that’s a real hero,” Lily echoed.

Sophie remembered the story their second-grade teacher, Mrs. Cruz, had read to them the year before. It was a true story about a stray cat who saved the lives of all her kittens. When the building they lived in caught fire, she carried them out, one by one.

Okay. Yes. Sophie knew that the cat was a real hero. But she was, too!

Before Sophie could say anything, Toby Myers spoke up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told Mindy.

Sophie’s mouth dropped open. She could not believe it. Was Toby standing up for her?

Until the year before, this would not have surprised Sophie. Until the year before, she and Toby had been best friends. But things changed in second grade. Toby started hanging out with yucky Archie Dolan, and Kate moved to town. Now Sophie and Kate were best friends. And Sophie and Toby could not look at each other.

If they did, they had to stick out their tongues.

But maybe things were changing….

Sophie thought of the day before, when Toby had actually done something nice for her. He had not made fun of her name that day — Sophie the Awesome — at all.

Was it possible? Could Toby be coming to his senses?

“Real heroes save the world from evil aliens and giant asteroids and killer robots!” Toby said. Then he looked at Sophie and stuck out his tongue.

No. Sophie sighed. She guessed he had not changed after all.

“Yeah!” said Archie. “And heroes have a mutant power.” He pointed at Sophie with a sticky, stubby finger. “What’s your mutant power, Sophie?” he asked.

Toby held his nose. “Super B.O.!” He laughed. “Not funny,” Kate said.

But Sophie rolled her eyes — and secretly sniffed her armpit, just to be sure.

No, she did not have B.O. And yes, no matter what Toby or Archie or Mindy said, Sophie was a hero.

She stuck her own tongue out at Toby. So there!

Sophie told her hero story so many times that day she was sure everyone had heard it. But she was ready to tell it again the next day as soon as she got to school. After all, it was such a great story! Or maybe she would let other people tell it. She liked that a lot, too.

The only thing was nobody seemed to want to hear her story anymore.

And there was something worse. No one seemed to want to call her Sophie the Hero, either.

Sophie did not understand it!

One day, she was a hero and everyone was talking about her. The next day, they were talking about stuff like Dean’s new haircut. And Eve’s lost tooth. And Sophie A.’s fish, who just had babies. And Ben’s mom, who just had her baby, too.

Okay. So maybe Dean’s haircut was pretty funny-looking. And maybe a fish having babies was cool. But all kids lost their teeth. And all moms had babies. At least one, Sophie thought.

But not everyone was a hero!

How could they have forgotten about her already? Even after she’d drawn a big H for “hero” on her shirt with a marker that very morning.

Even Sophie’s sidekick, Kate, was joking with Dean about his hair.

“You look like a giant toothbrush!” Kate said.

Oh, well, Sophie thought, trying to make herself feel better. Maybe they’d talk about her again once Dean’s hair grew back.

She sure hoped so. She really, really liked being Sophie the Hero. And she really, really did not want to be Sophie the Nothing again.

Then the bell rang and their teacher, Ms. Moffly, wrote two big words on the blackboard. As soon as Sophie read them, the day got brighter again.

LOCAL HEROES

Sophie could not believe it. Ms. Moffly was going to teach about her ! And Sophie had not even told her hero story to the teacher yet. Wow! But of course Ms. Moffly had heard it. In fact, it was probably all they talked about in the teachers’ lounge, Sophie bet.

“We have two very special guests today,” Ms. Moffly said.

Hmm …, Sophie wondered. Who was number two? Ella? Mrs. Dixon? They weren’t exactly heroes, like her. But they were part of the story.

“I hope you’ll help me welcome them,” Ms. Moffly went on.

Sophie took a deep breath and got ready to stand up.

“I’d like to introduce … Firefighters Burruss and Jones!” Ms. Moffly said.

Huh?

Sophie sat back and watched as two firefighters walked in.

One was a man. He was tall with lots of whiskers. He looked like Sophie’s dad the time he’d almost grown a beard. The other was a woman. She was short and very pretty. Sophie thought that was good, since she was wearing the same blue shirt and pants and big black boots as the man.

“Hello, everyone,” said the pretty firefighter.

“Hello,” replied the class all together.

That is, everyone in the class but Sophie. She was so surprised she could not talk yet.

“Firefighters Burruss and Jones are here to teach us about fire safety,” Ms. Moffly said. “Pay very close attention. It might save your life one day.”

Sophie sighed. Of course, she knew that she was not the world’s only hero.

She watched the firefighters take off their hats and set up some posters they had brought in. The pretty one smiled at Sophie, and Sophie sat up a little straighter so that the H on her shirt showed above her desk. She wondered if the firefighter guessed that Sophie was a hero, also.

Sophie knew that heroes had to respect each other. So she listened very carefully to all the things the firefighters said.

Things like “Don’t hide; get outside,” for when there was a fire in your house.

And “Stay low and go,” since crawling along the ground was the best way to avoid smoke.

Sophie did not listen that hard when the firefighters told them what number to call in case of a fire or another big emergency. That was because she already knew it: 911. Of course.

But Sophie did listen to them tell how they got to be firefighters. She did not know they had to take tests and then go to firefighter school.

And she listened to them tell what they did at work — besides going grocery shopping in their uniforms and fire truck. (She had seen them at the Shop-Fresh more than once.)

Then came the moment Sophie had been waiting for: question time!

She quickly raised her hand as high as it would go. But if there was one thing Sophie was used to, it was being in the middle. In lines, and races, and question times, too. So she propped her arm up and waited as Toby asked a question first.