Lesser Powers - Stealth

Normally, when people envision superpowers, they think of flight, super-strength and leaser beams from the eyes. There are many, MANY more powers out there than that. One of them, which I am lucky enough to have in repertoire is stealth. Stealth is defined (thanks Google) as The act of moving, proceeding, or acting in a covert way.

Although stealth does come in handy in my hero work, I find that I get much more use from it during my normal life. I use it at home, at church, at work, while I'm shopping, and anywhere else that I need. Stealth isn't one of those powers like flying, that automatically labels you as super-powered through its use. In fact, stealth is one of the few powers that makes it LESS likely you'll be labeled as a super-powered person.

At home, I use stealth almost constantly. My kids are convinced that I have the ability to read minds. I can, but it's no more than a parent's ability to understand their children. In addition, I use stealth to get into position to eavesdrop on my daughter's phone conversations. Usually, it's fairly boring teenage girl stuff, but a couple times I've caught her planning to sneak out of the house in the evening. When she goes out her window, she finds me standing 3 feet away, ready to take her back inside. Recently, I heard her on the phone with a friend saying that she simply could NOT sneak out, because her father always knows. You have to stay one step ahead of these kids somehow.

My son is a much simpler matter. If he's not cleaning his room when he's told, he'll look up from his playing to see me standing next to him. It scares the willies out of him. Also, he's a bathroom hog. If I stand up and announce that I'm going to the bathroom, he'll immediately yell, "I have to go too!" He then runs to the bathroom to get there before I do. It's better if he never knows I've moved from my spot. Of course, if nobody sees or hears me going to the bathroom, then nobody knows there's anybody actually in the bathroom, which can cause other problems.

I find that stealth is a necessary skill to have at work. Part of my duties include doing desktop support work for people in my department. They have problems, and I solve them. Some of the people I work with can complicate the simplest of matters. If I have to fix a problem with them present, it can take four times as much time to complete the job. I love to wait quietly until they get up for a cup of coffee before going into action. With a combination of stealthiness and a burst of super-speed, I can fix their problem in no time. They come back from their 1 minute break to find a note explaining what the problem was, and that it has been fixed. They think I'm a super-genius, but that's another story for another time.

The person who unknowingly witnesses my powers in action the most is my mother-in-law. She'll be looking down at something, turn around, and there I am, two feet away. I'll wait for just the right moment and say, "Hello!" with a loud voice. She still hasn't gotten used to that. What's more, once we've gotten past the meat of a conversation, and have gone into the unimportant follow-up chat, I'll dissapear. She'll be talking, and I'll respond. She'll say one more sentence, look up at me, and I'm gone.

Remember, if you use stealth properly, nobody knows you can't teleport.