The Gang of Extra-Able by HUMINT Solutions

Get him! ‘Hey cripple!’ I was sitting down on a bench in the hallway and had just taken out my lunchbox, when two boys came standing in front of me. They were much bigger than me. One of them wore a cap. ‘You’re new in school, aren’t you?’ the largest boy said. I nodded. Three weeks, I calculated backwards. The boy gave the crutch by my feet a little kick. ‘Why do you have that?’ he asked. ‘I... um....’ My voice faltered. ‘I have trouble walking on my left leg.’ ‘How come?’ the boy with the cap asked. ‘I was born that way,’ I replied. ‘It’s because of my muscles.’ ‘Weird!’ he said loudly. I sat up straighter and hoped they would go away. ‘Let me have it,’ the largest boy said, pointing at my crutch. I hesitated. ‘Give it to me!’ he said forcefully. When I reached down for my crutch, the largest boy quickly snatched it up from under my bench. ‘Here, catch!’ he shouted, and threw my crutch to the other boy. I looked around to see if there was a teacher nearby, but I only saw a small group of girls looking at their phones. ‘Can I have my crutch back?’ I asked the boys. They didn’t react and kept on throwing my crutch back and forth. ‘Can I have my crutch back?!’ I said louder. 'Come and get it!’ the largest boy laughed without looking at me.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that. I needed the crutch to walk. Suddenly the larger boy turned around. He looked at me and then directed his gaze at the lunchbox on my lap. I followed his eyes. What was he up to? The boy walked up to me and pointed at my lunchbox. ‘Time for a game of hockey! Let me have that.’ ‘No,’ I said softly and tried to quickly shove my lunchbox into my bag. It clattered to the ground instead. ‘What’s going on here?’ a deep voice asked. I turned around. It was the school custodian. The boy put the crutch down next to me. ‘We were just helping him out,’ he said. ‘He had, um, dropped his crutch.’ The custodian looked at me and then at the boys. ‘Boris, this is no joking matter. And you, take that cap off your head.’ He pointed at the other boy. ‘What for?’ the boy asked insolently. ‘Don’t argue with me! Remove it or I will take it away from you,’ the custodian warned as he approached the boy, who reluctantly pulled off his cap. ‘Where were you yesterday afternoon, by the way?’ the custodian asked him. ‘Your teacher told me that you had class duty.’ I could tell by the custodian’s tone where this was heading: the boy would get a lecture. This could be my chance to get away! I put the lunchbox in my bag, grabbed my crutch and quickly sneaked away. I didn’t look back until I reached the corner. The custodian had moved on, and the boy was putting his cap back on.

‘Hey, you!’ the boy yelled when he saw me. ‘Get back here!’ I hurried around the corner and tried to run. That wasn’t easy with my left leg. ‘Quick, GET HIM!’ I heard Boris shout. They were coming after me! I had to hide somewhere! I pulled the door of a classroom. Locked... There was another door about six feet away, but it was also locked. And the hallway had a dead end! There was only one door left. I gripped the door handle and pushed it down. It opened! I stepped into a dark space and closed the door quickly behind me. Luckily I was able to lock it from the inside. I couldn’t see a thing but didn’t dare search for the light switch. I might make a sound and reveal where I was. ‘Where did he go?’ I heard Boris yell. ‘Check the classrooms.’ I heard their footsteps approaching and they rattled the doors. ‘These are all locked,’ the other boy said. ‘There’s only one more.’ The handle of my door got pushed down hard. I held my breath. ‘What, this one is also locked! Where’d he go then?’ ‘Never mind,’ said Boris. ‘We’ll get him later.’ Their footsteps died away. I leaned against the wall and let myself slide to the floor. Only now I felt how my left leg hurt from running. I searched for the light switch with my hand. A fluorescent lamp flickered a few times and then went on. I let out a scream and pushed my back against the door.

Sink or swim A skeleton! Right in front of me. And all around me bookcases filled with stuffed animals, and jars with things floating in them: brightly colored snakes, withered spiders, and black scorpions. Some of the jars had labels with ‘dangerous!’ on them. And there were spiderwebs everywhere. Where was I? I wanted to get out of here, but what if I ran into the boys again? I decided to stay until lunch break was over and then hurry over to my classroom. From my bag I took out my lunchbox. I noticed a crack in the lid. If my mom were to ask me about it, I would think of an excuse. I didn’t want her to meddle – it would only make things worse. I tried to eat but couldn't really. As soon as the bell rang, I unlocked the door and slowly stepped outside. There was no one around. Next to the door a small sign said: ‘Storage’. So that’s where I had been hiding. I walked down the hallway as fast as I could and slipped into the classroom. Mr. Thomas directly greeted me with a Bonjour! Right, French class. ‘Hi,’ I said quietly. I quickly sat down and pulled a notebook out of my bag. ‘We’re going to talk about hobbies today,’ Mr. Thomas said, and he tapped the blackboard. It had HOBBIES written on it. ‘Or les hobbies in French,’ he said and laughed at his own joke.

‘Who can tell me what their hobby is in French? He looked around the classroom. A girl sitting in the front of the classroom immediately raised her hand. ‘Oui, toi, Emily,’ Mr. Thomas said. The girl stood up. ‘Livres,’ she said. ‘Livres. Tres bien! What kind of books do you like?’ ‘History,’ she answered. ‘Tiens, tiens,’ the teacher said. ‘The French word for history is l’histoire.’ The girl sat down again. ‘Who else has a hobby?’ The teacher scanned the classroom. ‘Jason, toi?’ The boy named Jason got up. ‘Ski,’ he said. ‘Faire du ski!’ the teacher said. ‘And where do you ski?’ ‘The Rockies,’ the boy said. ‘That mountain range is called les Rocheuses in French,’ Mr. Thomas said. ‘And then après-ski, with musique!’ Jason said, and he bumped up and down with his arms in the air as if he was dancing to music. The class laughed. ‘Alors, the school party is this Friday, so you’ll be able to dance there,’ Mr. Thomas said energetically. Right, the school party. I had forgotten about that. I didn’t feel like going at all. School parties are only fun if you have friends, and I hadn’t made any yet at my new school. I wondered if there was an average amount of time for making new friends, and whether it was the same for boys as for girls.

'Tino, what are your hobbies?’ Mr. Thomas asked suddenly. I froze. Now I had to say something. ‘Essayez-le. Give it a try,’ Mr. Thomas said encouragingly. I grabbed my crutch and wiggled upright. I saw how more and more classmates stared at my left leg. Some of them began to giggle. ‘Hey,’ Mr. Thomas said. ‘Cut that out.’ ‘Tino, quels sont tes hobbies?’ he asked. ‘Comics,’ I said. It came out as a whisper. A few boys laughed. I didn’t understand why. ‘I think you mean les bandes dessinées?’ Mr. Thomas said. ‘Nice! What else?’ ‘Eh... les swimming,’ I tried. ‘Sinking,’ a boy snickered. ‘Kids!’ the teacher shouted. ‘That’s enough!’ I quickly sat down again. Mr. Thomas walked over to the blackboard. ‘Écoutez, everyone,’ ‘It really is wonderful that Tino has such hobbies. Just like you do. We may all look different, but we are still equal. Who knows the French word for equal?’ ‘It’s fairly similar.’ He took a piece of chalk and wrote ÉGALE on the blackboard. ‘Égale’. He drew a line under the word. ‘And I am convinced that Tino can accomplish anything he wants to, as long as he puts his best foot forward.’ A few boys laughed. ‘Um...,’ Mr. Thomas stammered. ‘If he works hard for it, I mean.’ He cleared his throat.

‘Tino is really good at math, for example.’ Oh, no, why did he say that? Now my classmates would think I was a nerd. I felt my cheeks redden and quickly looked down. I hoped Mr. Thomas would start talking about something else. But he added: ‘Perhaps Tino will become a teacher at our school one day. Just like his mom!’ No! He only made it worse… ‘Mama’s boy,’ a classmate right behind me whispered. I wanted to sink through the floor, stupid crutch first.

Not hungry ‘Dinner’s ready!’ my dad announced and held a paper bag under my nose for a second. Hamburgers and french fries! I quickly closed the comic book I was reading and got up from the couch. It was the night of the school party, and there were just two of us for dinner. My mom had gone to some seminar. That was lucky, because she otherwise might have gone to the party and embarrassed me with her dancing. My sister wasn’t home either. She had gone to a birthday party. I was a bit jealous of her. She had made some friends at her new school already. I got out the plates and cutlery and set the table. ‘How was your day?’ my dad asked while he dropped a hamburger on each of our plates. ‘Mwah,’ I said. I fished a french fry out of the bag. My dad put ketchup on the table and sat down. I hadn’t told him what had happened with the boys during lunch break earlier that week, or that my classmates had laughed at me in class. I didn’t want my parents to worry or, even worse, that my mom would get herself involved! ‘Excited about the party?’ my father asked. He shook some fries out of the bag onto my plate. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’m sure it will be fun,’ my dad said. ‘You always meet new people at a party.’ ‘I don’t know.’ I repeated.

I circled a fry into the ketchup and wondered if I could calculate the number of fries that I had probably eaten in my life so far. Perhaps I could start by keeping track of the number I ate tonight. ‘Did you know that your mother and I met at a school party?’ my dad asked. ‘Well, it was actually a fraternity party, but that’s kind of the same thing.’ Of course I knew – he had told me the story several times already. And I wasn’t looking for girls, I wanted friends. I thought about my best friend from my old school. After I moved away, we had talked on the phone a few times, but it wasn’t the same anymore. ‘Oh, before I forget, I have something for you,’ my dad said. He wiped his hands on his napkin and took a piece of paper from the bookcase. ‘Here you go,’ he said. I unfolded it and read: ‘Step-Up: support group for children with a walking impairment’. ‘Your mother asked me to give this to you,’ my dad said. ‘You could go there some time. Those kids know what it’s like.’ ‘Hmmm,’ I mumbled. ‘Don’t you like it?’ he asked, disappointed. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Friendships don’t just happen, Tino.’ I sighed. ‘You need to push yourself a little.’ ‘I’m going to get ready,’ I said and stood up.

The school party When I arrived at school, I saw a teacher at the entrance. She was holding a crate. ‘Put your phones in here, please!’ I put mine in. ‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘Now you can really connect with each other tonight.’ Music drifted toward me in the hallway, and when I entered the hall I saw the DJ. A disco ball above his head rotated tiny beams of light across the dancefloor. There were several kids there already and I recognized a few classmates but was afraid to go over to them. I didn’t want to keep standing over here either. Some chairs had been placed along the sides of the dancefloor. On one of them a boy was sitting already. Should I go and sit next to him? I chose a chair at the other side and from there watched the dancefloor and the groups of kids standing around it. Sometimes heaps of things happen in a few seconds, but that night very little happened in two hours. Some girls were doing choreographies together, and a few boys were trying to breakdance. Mr. Thomas was dancing with a colleague. ‘Come and join the fun!’ he called to me as they whirled by. But I didn’t want to dance. I might be laughed at. One time, a boy in a wheelchair shot across the dancefloor. ‘Watch out!’ he howled. I quickly pulled my feet in. He made a turn and did a wheelie. I didn’t leave my seat the entire time. Until three large boys

entered the hall. They looked really cool with their varsity jackets and white sneakers. They grabbed some drinks and snacks from the table. I looked at the clock. Ten minutes to nine. The party was almost over, and my mom would pick me up soon, and I still hadn’t talked to anyone yet… ‘Come on, Tino!’ I said to myself. I got up and went to the tables to get a soda. I was close by the boys now. I turned toward them, took a deep breath, and said: ‘Hi, I’m Tino.’ The boys looked at me and at my crutch. ‘You’re the new one, right?’ the boy in the front said. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m Victor,’ he said, introducing himself. I’m the leader of our group. It’s called The Gang.’ ‘Okay,’ I said softly. I cleared my throat. ‘Maybe I can come play with you sometime, I mean, hang out with your gang?’ They looked at me wide-eyed. One of them began to laugh. ‘You wish,’ he snickered. ‘Listen, Tino,’ said Victor. ‘Only the best can become members of our Gang.’ He pointed to the boys standing next to him. ‘Look. He’s the best basketball player, and he’s the best soccer player.’ The boys glowered proudly. ‘And I’m in the rugby squad.’ I swallowed. This might be a little harder than I thought. ‘Have you ever won at something?’ Victor asked me. I thought for a moment. ‘A math competition,’ I said hesitantly. ‘No, that doesn’t count,’ the boy standing behind Victor said.

‘That’s a nerd thing.’ ‘Sadly, yes… it really must be a sports thing,’ Victor agreed. A sports thing. I had never accomplished anything like that because of my left leg. ‘By the way…’ Victor said. ‘Aren’t you our new teacher’s son?’ ‘Um, yes,’ I muttered. ‘Hmmm…’ said Victor. ‘Interesting. Very interesting. Maybe you could help us with…’ ‘Yo, we’re back!’ a boy’s voice roared. Wait a second, I knew that voice! I turned around. It was Boris, and the boy with the cap who had taken away my crutch during lunch break! I tried to make myself invisible and took a step backwards. Victor grabbed hold of my shoulder: ‘Hold on, where are you going?’ ‘I… um…’ I stammered. Victor looked at me and then at the two boys. ‘You guys know him?’ ‘Sort of,’ Boris replied. He shrugged. ‘We messed with him a little during lunch break.’ ‘Well, I’m sure you were only joking, right?’ Boris looked at Victor, whose eyes had narrowed into slits. ‘Uh… sure,’ Boris replied. He shrugged. ‘Just kidding.’ ‘That’s what I thought,’ Victor said, and let go of my shoulder. I decided not to move ‘Listen up, Tino is our teacher’s kid,’ Victor said. ‘I was just telling him how he could help us with…’ Right at that moment, all the lights went out and the music stopped. Some kids began to scream. ‘What’s happening?’ Boris shouted.

Lisa I searched my trouser pocket for my phone, to use its flashlight, but remembered I had handed it in at the door. Like all the other children had done. More and more boys and girls began to scream until a loud male voice announced: ‘This is the custodian speaking, there’s no need for panic! It’s only a power failure! Please leave the building as calmly as possible.’ ‘But how?’ I thought. I was afraid to walk in the dark and was bound to trip over something right away. ‘I know how to get us outside,’ an unfamiliar girl’s voice said to me. ‘Just hold on to my shoulder.’ I did what she said, and we slowly began to walk. Along the way I felt someone latching on to my shoulder. ‘Watch out, there’s a doorstep over here,’ the girl said. I used my foot to measure the height of the doorstep and then hopped over it. ‘Doorstep,’ I told the person holding my shoulder. After a while, I could see a growing speck of light. The exit! The girl in front of me opened the door, and a gust of fresh air blew inside. I could see everything clearly again in the light of the lampposts on the playground. Several parents had arrived already to pick up their kids. ‘What is going on?’ a father exclaimed, Cheers sounded behind me. I looked around and saw a long chain of children who were holding on to each other, starting from the boy who had gripped my shoulder.

At least ten other children had made it outside because of us. And we hadn’t even noticed! ‘Hi, I’m Lisa,’ the girl in front of me said. I turned around and saw that her eyes were closed. And she was holding a white cane. ‘…and I’m blind,’ she said. ‘Um… I’m Tino,’ I said. ‘Why do you walk with a crutch?’ Lisa asked. ‘How do you know that?’ I asked, surprised. ‘I can hear it.’ said Lisa. ‘Oh, right,’ I said. ‘Well, I was born that way. It’s because of my muscles.’ ‘Lisa! Lisa!’ Her mom came running toward us. ‘Honey, what happened?’ she asked worriedly. ‘Tino, I’m here!’ My mom grabbed me so tightly that my face disappeared into her jacket. ‘Mom!’ I said a little angrily and pulled myself free. ‘You’re the new teacher, aren’t you?’ Lisa’s mom asked. ‘That’s right,’ my mom answered. ‘For about a month now. But I’m not Tino’s teacher, I teach the class above him.’ ‘Kids, your phones!’ the teacher with the crate called out while she zigzagged over the playground. Kids immediately rushed over. I waited for my turn and then got mine. The teacher handed Lisa’s phone back to her. It looked like a normal phone. I noticed Victor and his Gang were walking toward the bike racks at the other side of the schoolyard. None of the parents had approached them. Were they allowed to bike home by themselves already? ‘Mom!’ I said. She was still chatting with Lisa’s mom. ‘Can we go

home now?’ ‘Alright, alright, we’re leaving.’ I sneaked a look at Lisa. I had never seen a blind person up close before. I wondered if she was able to see when she was dreaming. And how she managed to get the toothpaste exactly on her toothbrush. ‘How does Tino get to school every day?’ Lisa’s mom asked. ‘He takes the bus.’ my mom replied. ‘That’s nice,’ Lisa’s mom said. ‘Lisa uses the minibus service. If Tino wants to come over to play sometime, I can reserve a seat for him so he can ride along with her. ‘Mom,’ I said, and pulled her arm. ‘Alright, honeybunch. We’re leaving.’ She stroke my hair. ‘Our car’s over there.’ She pointed toward the parking lot. The disabled parking lot, to be precise. ‘See you, Tino!’ Lisa shouted. I pretended not to hear her and hurried over to the car. ‘Lisa seems like a nice girl,’ my mom said as we got into the car. ‘Hmm,’ I muttered. ‘You could go over to play with her sometime, or hang, or what do you kids call it these days?’ ‘Dunno,’ I said. I knew my mom just wanted me to make some new friends, but I didn’t want to be friends with Lisa. I wanted cool friends, like the guys from the Gang. I wondered what my chances were of ever becoming a member of their group.

‘Mom?’ I said, as we drove out of the parking lot, ‘Is it possible to become the best in sport when you have a disability?’ ‘Yes, absolutely,’ she replied. ‘I mean, can you actually win?’ ‘You bet,’ she said. And if you’re really good, you can join the Paralympic Games.’ ‘Do normal people take part in it, too?’ ‘You mean nondisabled people? No, they don’t. They have the Olympic Games.’ I thought for a moment. ‘So, people with a disability can’t beat people without disabilities?’ ‘Well, not in sports, no, not that I know of,’ she said. ‘Why do you ask?’ ‘No reason,’ I mumbled, and turned my face to the window.

On the bus ‘Good morning, Tino!’ the bus driver said when I got on the bus. It was Tiko. The nicest bus driver I had ever met. Luckily, Tiko drove the bus most days on my way to school. The first time I took the bus, my mom had walked me to the bus stop. She had introduced me to Tiko and told him I went to Springboard Elementary. ‘My name is Tiko,’ he had replied. ‘And I’ve never met anyone named Tino before. That must mean that we are bound to become great friends!’ I sat down in the front seat so I wouldn’t have to walk further into the bus. ‘And, looking forward to school?’ Tiko asked as we pulled away from the bus stop. ‘Mwah,’ I said. ‘We had a school party. But it was a failure.’ ‘How come?’ Tiko asked. I told him about The Gang and how I had gathered up the nerve to talk to them, but that they would only let me join their group if I were the best at some sport. ‘And then there was a power failure, and all the lights went out.’ Tiko raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, that sounds like it went out with a bang! And what happened after that?’ he asked. ‘A girl named Lisa led us all outside,’ I said. And I told him how I had followed her and how the others had held on to me. Like a carnival polonaise in the dark.

‘That’s a great job Lisa did then,’ said Tino. ‘And she’s blind,’ I said. ‘Aha!’ he cried out. It was a loud, cheerful laugh that rang throughout the bus. Some passengers looked up from their phones. ‘So that’s why she was so good at finding her way in the dark!’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked. Tiko stopped laughing. ‘Just think for a moment,’ he said, now in a serious tone. We were nearing my school. I pushed the button for the next stop. ‘You see, Tino,’ Tiko began, ‘because Lisa is blind, she has learned to find her way around without seeing. Precisely because of this, her other senses such as feeling and hearing, but also her memory, became much more developed. That’s why the power failure was a problem for everyone, except for Lisa. She is used to not seeing anything and still finding her way around. It’s normal for her, but it really is quite extraordinary. You understand?’ I nodded but my mind was still puzzling. The bus came to a halt and Tiko pressed a button to open the door. ‘See you next time, Tino,’ he said with a wink, and closed the door. I watched the bus drive away and thought about what he had said about Lisa. Then my thoughts drifted over to The Gang again. How would I ever become friends with them if I never won at sports?

Not in the mood ‘Hey, Tino!’ I heard a voice say. It was Lisa, standing at the entrance of the school. I was stunned. ‘How do you know it’s me?’ I asked. ‘I can tell from the sound of your crutch!’ she replied. ‘Right,’ I said. She could hear it, of course. I paused for a moment. ‘Did you have a good weekend?’ she asked. ‘I guess,’ I said. ‘Your mother told me that you’re new in school,’ she said. ‘Just like me!’ Lisa was coming toward me. ‘Uh-huh,’ I mumbled, and slowly started walking again. ‘I was thinking…,’ she began. ‘Maybe we can go to the park together sometime. It’s nearby.’ I tried to walk a little faster. Lisa was still following me. ‘Sometime after school.’ ‘Eh… I don’t know,’ I said softly. Lisa stopped walking. ‘Or just come over to play?’ I wondered if there were special comic books for the blind, and if they used their fingers to read them. What was it called again…? Oh, yes. Braille! ‘Well?’ Lisa asked. ‘Um, I have to go now,’ I said a little bluntly. Lisa was nice and everything but being around her would draw more attention to my disability. And I didn’t want the Gang to see us together. They might think that Lisa and I had become friends.

‘Sorry,’ I said and hurried away. A week went by. I tried to stay out of Lisa’s way so she wouldn’t hear me, and I hid in the storage room at lunch break most of the time. Because even though Victor had told me they were only joking, I still was afraid of Boris and the boy with the cap. And if I couldn’t win at sports, I wouldn’t ever have a chance at becoming a member of their gang either… But then we had gym class, and everything was about to change.

Gym class ‘We will end today’s class with a competition,’ Mr. Thomas announced. It was Tuesday afternoon, and gym class was almost over. We were all sitting on a bench along the wall. I pulled my shorts further toward my knees hoping to hide my skinny left leg. ‘Are we going to play soccer?’ a classmate shouted. ‘No, the teacher said. ‘It’s a competition you all take part in individually. Do you know what ‘individually’ means?’ ‘Alone!’ a boy shouted. ‘Exactly,’ Mr. Thomas said. ‘Everyone for themselves.’ ‘Is it a race?’ the boy next to me asked. ‘Trampoline!’ a girl cried out. ‘No, we are going to…’ He drummed on his legs. ‘Hop!’ ‘Hop?’ a classmate repeated, surprised. There was some muttering in the gym. ‘Listen up! I’m going to count down to one,’ Mr. Thomas explained. ‘And then you will hop to the other side of the gym on one leg. Now, everyone, go stand over there and get ready!’ He pointed to the left. ‘Choose one of your legs to hop on,’ Mr. Thomas cried. ‘You will use it to reach the other side.’ ‘If you switch legs along the way, you have to return to the wall and start over again!’ My classmates bounced from their left leg to their right, and back again, deciding on their strongest leg for the competition.

I wondered if being right-handed also meant that you were rightlegged. My choice was easy. I could only use my right leg. ‘Is everyone ready?’ Mr. Thomas said. Everyone balanced on one leg, like storks in the water. It was a funny sight. ‘Three… two… one… GO!’ ‘YEEHA!’ a classmate shouted, swirling his arms like a cowboy. I watched my classmates make big leaps. I tried to do the same and hopped really far to my surprise. My right leg felt incredibly strong! Now and then I would hear a thud. Those were classmates falling. ‘Go back to the wall and start over!’ Mr. Thomas shouted to them. Halfway across the gym, I looked to the right and to the left, and realized that I was in the lead together with two other kids! The other side came closer and closer. Just a few more hops. Three! Two! One! YES! I had reached the other side! I turned around and saw that I had come in first! I sank to the floor, out of breath. ‘Hey, you were really fast!’ the boy who finished second panted. ‘Wow, Tino was the fastest!’ the girl who came in third exclaimed. More and more classmates arrived at the other side. ‘A round of applause for our winner: Tino!’ Mr. Thomas declared when everyone had reached the other side. The class applauded. This was amazing! I had won at sports! From kids without a disability! I had to tell the Gang about this as soon as possible! ‘Good job, all of you! You can go and get changed now,’ Mr. Thomas said.

After I had changed back into my regular clothes, I went back into the school to see if the Gang was still around. But I couldn’t find them anywhere, and they weren’t in the schoolyard or at the bike racks either. I was disappointed. Maybe they’d gone home already? I looked at my watch: ten minutes to three. My bus ride home would leave in five minutes. I could still make it. I would look for the Gang again tomorrow. I couldn’t wait to tell them about my triumph!

Tiko is right ‘Hey Tino, you sure look happy!’ Tiko said, when I stepped into the bus. It was the first time I saw him on my way home. ‘Do you drive in circles?’ I asked after I sat down. ‘Something like that,’ Tiko replied. I drive from A to B and then back again.’ ‘Doesn’t that get boring?’ I asked. ‘Not at all,’ said Tiko. ‘Each day is different. Just like a river: the water flowing through it is never the same either.’ I nodded but wasn’t really paying attention. ‘An amazing thing happened at school today!’ I began, ‘I won during gym class!’ ‘That’s wonderful!’ said Tiko. ‘What kind of contest was it?’ A motorcyclist passed us on the other side of the road. Tiko waved at him. ‘A hopping contest,’ I replied. Tiko raised his eyebrows and began to laugh. ‘Yes, of course you won!’ he exclaimed. ‘With your right leg, no doubt!’ He looked at me in the rearview mirror. ‘Get it, Tino?’ ‘Um… because my right leg is stronger than my left leg?’ I replied. ‘Even better!’ Tiko said. ‘Your right leg isn’t just stronger than your left leg, it’s also stronger than all your classmates’ legs,’ he explained. ‘You lean your weight more on your right leg because your left leg is weaker, and it became really strong because of that.’ I looked at my left leg and then at my right leg.

Was I the best at something because of my disability? I had never thought about it in that way before! The bus pulled into the bus stop near my house a few minutes later, and I got out. ‘It’s the same with Lisa,’ the bus driver said before he closed the door. ‘Just think about it!’ The same with Lisa, I pondered. Wait a second… He was right! At home, I went straight to my room and took an empty notebook. With a felt-tip pen I drew Lisa. It wasn’t a great drawing but that didn’t matter right now. I also drew a red X next to her eyes. That was her disability. According to Tiko, Lisa had a better memory and a better sense of touch and hearing because of that disability. I included these skills by drawing a green arrow next to Lisa’s ears, her head, and the hand holding the cane. Then I drew myself. I put a red X next to my left leg and a green arrow next to my right leg. I looked at the result and understood: I hadn’t simply won the contest today. I had extra abilities precisely because of my disability! And Lisa had such superpowers too, but they were different from mine. Tomorrow, I would tell the Gang that I had won at hopping because of my superpower! And if they allowed me to join their group, I would have the coolest friends in the entire school! I wondered if you could somehow measure coolness, the way you can measure your weight with a scale.

Lisa disability: blind

extra-ability: memory hearing feeling

me extraability: right leg

disability: left leg

Things turn out differently The next morning, I tried to find the Gang before the first class began, but there was no sign of them anywhere. Not in the schoolyard, the entrance hall or at the bike racks. I walked into a hallway. There was Lisa, on her own, sitting on a bench. She had pulled up her legs to her chest. Was she crying? I could still walk away. She hadn’t heard me yet. But that wouldn’t be very nice… I hesitated a moment, and then walked up to her. ‘Hi Lisa,’ I said. ‘Tino?’ she asked. She wiped her face on her sleeve. I sat down next to her. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘Are you sad?’ 'I…’ she began. A tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I am trying so hard,’ she said softly. ‘I go and talk to everyone, but nobody wants to play with me. And now it’s one of my classmates’ birthday, and she invited every girl in my class except me!’ I didn’t know what to say. She had asked me to play with her a few days ago, and I hadn’t even stopped to answer her. I thought for a moment… Maybe I could cheer her up by telling her about her superpower! I would look for the Gang afterwards. ‘I discovered something amazing,’ I told her. ‘Remember the school party, when the lights went out and no one could see

anything? You led us all outside. You knew which way to go.’ ‘Yes, of course.’ Lisa said. ‘Well, that might be normal for you, but it isn’t for us. We can’t do that: find our way around in the dark. You can. So, you have a kind of superpower,’ I said. ‘Pretty great, right?’ Lisa leaned her head on her knees again. Didn’t she believe me? ‘I have something similar,’ I said. ‘My right leg is much stronger than other kids’ legs.’ Lisa lifted her head. ‘What do you mean?’ I took Lisa’s hand and placed it on my left leg. ‘Feel, this is my left leg.’ ‘Okay,’ Lisa said. Then I placed her hand on my right leg. ‘And this is my right leg.’ A few kids walked by. They stared at us. ‘Love is blind!’ one of them whispered. The others began to giggle. I felt uneasy and wanted Lisa to hurry up and get the point. So, I placed her hand on my left leg again. ‘Left,’ I said. And then on my right leg. ‘Right. Can you feel the difference?’ ‘Yes, of course,’ Lisa said. ‘Your right leg is more muscular, so it’s stronger.’ ‘Super strong,’ I said. ‘Okay, super strong,’ Lisa repeated. Then I placed her hand on her own leg. ‘Feel, my right leg is stronger than both your legs, Lisa!’ Lisa touched my right leg and then her own legs. ‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said. ‘Here comes the awesome part,’ I continued. ‘With that leg

I beat the entire class yesterday, at a hopping contest. The entire class!’ I repeated. ‘I never managed anything like that.’ It was quiet for a moment. ‘What exactly are you trying to say, Tino?’ she asked. ‘You and I have superpowers, Lisa! I cried enthusiastically. ‘You can find your way around in the dark because you’re blind, and I have a super strong right leg because of my weak left leg!’ ‘I don’t understand,’ said Lisa. The bell rang. Lisa got up, took her cane, and walked a few steps and then turned around slightly. It felt strange because she wasn’t looking at me, but maybe she could hear me better that way?’ ‘Tino, I don’t know about this. We both have a disability! You have a weak left leg and I’m blind. I don’t feel super competent in anything and certainly not because of my blindness.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t even make friends.’ My plan to cheer Lisa up was failing… ‘I will prove it to you,’ I said. And I’d look for the Gang afterwards.

Proof for Lisa ‘Can we go to the library this afternoon?’ I asked my dad. He looked up from his paper: ‘You don’t want to go to the pool?’ My physiotherapist made me swim every Wednesday afternoon. I always went together with my dad. But I had thought of something that might convince Lisa of our superpowers. And that was more important. ‘I already finished all my comic books‘,’ I said. ‘Please?’ ‘All right,’ my dad said. ‘But we are definitely going next week! It’s important for your muscles.’ In the library, I pretended to look for new comic books. But I was just waiting until my dad was out of view. ‘Find anything yet?’ he asked me now and then. ‘Not yet,’ I kept answering. I traced my finger along the spines of the books. I wondered how many books would fit inside your head and if the number was the same for everyone. ‘I’m going outside to make a phone call,’ said my dad. ‘Choose something, okay?’ At last! Now was my chance. As soon as he was out of view, I hurried over to the big notice board. My eyes scanned dozens of flyers: a weight loss class, a band in search of a singer, math tutoring – but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Some of the flyers were too high up for me to read. Maybe there was a stool around somewhere? ‘Ah, there you are!’ my dad said. ‘Are you looking for something

specific?’ He was back so soon already! I shook my head and pretended to read a flyer. ‘Do you want to join a group or something?’ ‘No, I’m just looking,’ I said. ‘Have you given the Step-Up group some thought yet?’ he asked. ‘Not yet,’ I said. I wouldn’t need to join the Step-Uppers when I became a member of the Gang. Got it! I found something close to the bottom of the wall. I looked at my dad – he was removing a flyer that said, ‘Get Fit Fast’. I pulled the flyer off the noticeboard in one move and put it in my pocket. ‘I’m done,’ I said. ‘Can we go now?’ My dad stopped reading his flyer and looked aside at me. ‘Didn’t you say you needed new comic books?’ ‘No, I’m good.’ ‘What’s this!’ said my dad. First you don’t want to go to the pool, and now you don’t want any comic books. Are you feeling alright?’ ‘I’m fine, Dad!’ I said. I felt great. Because I now would be able to convince Lisa of our superpowers and then she would be happy again and I could go to the Gang!

Max ‘Lisa, I have proof!’ I shouted when I found her in the entrance hall of the school the next morning. I sat down on the bench next to her. ‘Is this about those superpowers of yours again?’ she asked. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Listen!’ I pulled the flyer out of my pocket and read out loud: ‘This Coming Saturday: Kids Arm-Wrestling Championship in the Canteen of the Athletics Club.’ ‘What does that prove?’ Lisa asked irritably. ‘I know who can win that championship,’ I replied. ‘It’s someone like us. Someone who has superpowers precisely because there is something he can’t do well.’ ‘I don’t get it, who?’ Lisa asked. ‘The boy in the wheelchair!’ I said. ‘Max?’ she said, surprised. ‘Do you know him?’ I asked. ‘Yes, we ride the same minibus home sometimes. Where do you know him from?’ ‘I saw him at the school party,’ I answered. ‘You want to ask Max for the arm-wrestling competition…’ Suddenly, she began to laugh. ‘Tino! You’re right! Max could win because his arms are much stronger from being in a wheelchair and using his arms so much.’ ‘Exactly!’ I said with relief. She finally believed me. I wondered if relief could actually make you weigh less, or if it only felt that way.

Lisa took her phone out of her pocket. ‘I think I have his number, so I can ask him.’ Wait, what was she going to ask Max? Lisa told her phone to write a message and dictated: ‘Hi Max, this is Lisa, from the minibus. Tino found an arm-wrestling competition you should sign up for. He says you will win.’ ‘Eh, what do you mean: ‘sign up?’’ I asked, surprised, when she was finished. ‘Well, he’s supposed to sign up for it, right?’ Lisa said. No! That hadn’t been my plan at all! I only wanted to give Lisa another example of a superpower so that she would believe me. ‘I don’t know if…’ I began. ‘Wait!’ said Lisa. ‘I think he replied already!’ She held the phone to her ear and listened to the message. ‘Max wants to try it!’ she said happily. ‘But only if we go with him and cheer him on. We will of course, right?’ She bumped her shoulder against mine. It was a good thing Lisa couldn’t see my face just now. I didn’t want to go to that competition with them at all. I wanted to go to the Gang! But wait, maybe the competition would cause Lisa and Max to become friends? Then Lisa wouldn’t be alone anymore when I joined the Gang afterwards… ‘Of course we’re going,’ I said, and tried to sound excited. ‘Great!’ said Lisa. ‘I’ll let Max know right away!’

Arm-wrestling That Saturday morning, I took the bus to the Athletics Club where the arm-wrestling championship was organized. It was the same bus I rode to school every day, so my mom let me go there by myself. ‘I’m so glad that you made new friends!’ she said while I was getting my jacket, and gave me a hug. I wanted to tell her that Max and Lisa were not my friends, and that I was only going so that I could go to the Gang afterwards. But it seemed better not to say anything yet. Not about the competition either. Only after joining the Gang, would I tell her everything. ‘Hi Lisa,’ I said, when I got out of the bus. Lisa had taken a taxi and was waiting for me at the bus stop. From there we walked the last part together, past the running track. It was quite far to the canteen where the championship was held, but talking with Lisa distracted me. We talked about school, and I asked how she managed to read the school tests. Lisa told me that she used a special device for that, a braille terminal she connected to her laptop. ‘It translates all of the letters into braille,’ Lisa explained. ‘Each letter of the alphabet has one or more dots that I can recognize with my finger,’ she said. ‘Can I have your hand for a moment?’ I took her hand. ‘Look, if the palm of your hand is the holder of each letter, your name is written like this.’ She pressed her finger into my palm like this:

‘The first dot tells me that the next letter is a capital,’ Lisa said. ‘And this is the t, the i, the n, and the ‘o’.’ That was complicated! I would add the word ‘braille’ as a superpower to Lisa’s drawing tonight. I would also draw Max in my sketchbook if he won the competition. In front of the canteen entrance sat a boy in a wheelchair. He was looking at a motorcycle that was parked there. ‘There’s Max!’ I said. But Lisa couldn’t see that of course. ‘Hi, I’m Tino,’ I introduced myself when we were standing in front of him. ‘Hey!’ Max replied cheerfully. ‘I’m Max.’ ‘Hi Max!’ Lisa said. I looked at Max’s arms to see if they were muscular. I hoped my prediction was right and that he would win. The tables in the canteen had been arranged in a U shape. A large banner on the wall read: ‘Kids Arm-Wrestling Championship’. Colorful flags hung from the ceiling. Many kids, mostly boys, were there already with their parents. Max was the only one in a wheelchair. That was a good thing! ‘So, young man, you want to participate?’ a man asked me. ‘No, I don’t, but he does,’ I said and pointed at Max. The man looked at him and then at his wheelchair. ‘Have you done this before?’ he asked Max. Max shook his head. ‘Oh well, I guess everyone can participate. We still have a few spots left.’

Max wrote his name on the application form. ‘What’s the prize, by the way?’ he asked the man. ‘Over there!’ The man nodded toward the bar. On it stood a large jar full of candy with a medal around it. ‘Niceeee!’ Max exclaimed. ‘The audience sits over there.’ The man pointed to the side. ‘We’re about to start.’ I pulled away a chair at the wrestling table, to make room for Max and his wheelchair. Fortunately, the table was high enough, for him to fit under it. Now he was ready to go. Lisa and I found ourselves a chair. A tall boy sat down opposite Max. He looked pretty strong. When everyone was seated, the man picked up a microphone. ‘Welcome everybody!’ he said. The room quieted down. ‘Today, it is my honor as chairman of the athletics club to welcome you all to the Kids’ Arm-Wrestling Championship! Are you ready for this power battle?’ ‘YEAH!’ all the kids shouted. ‘Good! But at first, I must explain a few things. The competition has four rounds. The winners will compete against each other until there is only one winner left. But be aware: your elbow must stay on the table! Is everyone ready? The chairman held up an air horn. ‘Ready? Set?’ Then he sounded the horn, and the competition began. Max beat his opponent after just a few seconds! That was fast! ‘YESSS!’ I cheered, relieved. ‘What’s happening?’ Lisa asked. ‘Max won!’ I replied. ‘Tino, can I ask you something? Lisa asked. ‘How can they wrestle

if their elbows have to stay on the table?’ I explained to Lisa that, with arm-wrestling, you hold each other’s hand and use your arm to push your opponent’s hand to the table. ‘Like this.’ I took her hand and then pushed it a little. ‘But with your elbow on the table.’ ‘Ah, right. Thanks,’ Lisa said. The first round was over and the kids who had lost moved to the side of the room. Max’s opponent got up, kicked his chair, and went over to his dad. A broad-chested boy sat down across from Max. As soon as the starting signal sounded, Max tightened his muscles and pushed the boy’s arm onto the table. ‘YES!’ I shouted loud! ‘He won again!’ ‘Awesome!’ Lisa cheered. ‘Next!’ said Max. I laughed. Max was getting the hang of it! A few kids began to whisper and point at Max. The third round lasted a little longer. The competitors were more evenly matched now. Max almost had his opponent’s hand on the table. Then it just went limp. Yes! Another win! I looked over at the other table. A large boy had just won the match. Now Max and he were the only ones left. They were asked to move to the center for the final match. The man with the microphone sounded the horn. The final match had begun! This boy was really strong as well, and Max had to work harder.

‘Come on, Casper!’ a man in the audience shouted. ‘You can do it, Max!’ Lisa yelled at the top of her voice. Max’s cheeks became bright red. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his arm began to tremble. But the other boy’s arm trembled as well. Their gripped hands moved back and forth, but closer and closer to Max’s opponent’s side of the table! He pressed his lips together. Just a few more inches… A little bit more… The people in the audience began to yell. ‘AARGH!’ the boy cried out. ‘YESSSS!’ Max screamed. He did it! Max’s hand was on the table with his opponent’s hand underneath it. ‘He did it!’ I boomed. ‘Max is the winner!’ ‘Wow!’ Lisa exclaimed. I felt relieved and proud, as if I had won together with him. ‘An unexpected winner!’ the chairman announced through the microphone. Well, I didn’t think so of course!

After the competition When Max had received his medal and the jar of candy, Lisa and I went up to him. ‘Super awesome, Max!’ I said proudly. ‘You’re incredibly strong!’ a boy told Max. ‘How is that possible?’ I wondered if someone with a strong friend like Max would ever be bullied. Suddenly, I saw Tiko. ‘Tiko!’ I said loudly. ‘Hey Tino,’ he said. ‘What a nice surprise to see you here.’ I told Max and Lisa that on most days Tiko was my bus driver on my way to school. He looked at Max and Lisa. ‘And who are these two?’ ‘This is Lisa,’ I said. Lisa extended her hand. ‘Ah, so you are Lisa,’ Tiko said, and shook her hand enthusiastically. ‘Tino told me how you rescued your schoolmates.’ A big smile appeared on Lisa’s face. ‘And this is Max,’ I said. ‘He won the competition.’ Tiko shook Max’s hand. ‘Do you know why he won?’ Lisa said. ‘Max has really strong arms because he’s in a wheelchair.’ ‘It’s his superpower,’ I added. ‘Of course,’ Tiko said, and winked at me. ‘So, if I understand

correctly, all three of you can do something extraordinary?’ ‘Yes, that’s right!’ Lisa cried enthusiastically. ‘This calls for a celebration!’ said Tiko. He bought us all sodas, and a coffee for himself. ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to find more kids like you,’ Tiko said. ‘Who can do something really well because of their disability, I mean.’ ‘That would be great!’ Lisa said joyously. ‘Sounds fun!’ Max agreed. ‘And then we can win even more competitions!’ He took a lollipop out of the candy jar and gave us one too. ‘Sounds like a great plan, right, Tino?’ Tiko asked. I didn’t know what to say. Now that Lisa and Max were becoming friends, my plan was to go to the Gang on Monday. But it had been kind of fun to win a competition together. And if we found more kids with superpowers, Max and Lisa would have even more friends. I could always go to the Gang afterwards. ‘Sounds nice to me too,’ I said and popped the lollipop into my mouth. ‘Guys, I wish I could give you a ride home,’ Tiko said. ‘But I came on my motorcycle.’ Wow, that was so cool! Was the motorcycle parked outside, his? I wondered if I would ever be able to ride a motorcycle with my disability. ‘No problem,' Lisa said. 'Max’s dad will come to pick us up soon.’ That night in my bed, I drew Max in my notebook. I put a red X next to his legs and drew an arrow next to his arms and added: ‘extra-ability’. The notebook had three drawings in it already, and we had a total of six superpowers together! How many more superpowers would be added?

Max extra-ability: arms

disability: legs

Finding superpowers ‘It’s over here,’ I said to Max and Lisa. I opened the door of the storage room and went inside with them. In here, we would be able to think of ways to find other kids with superpowers, without being disturbed. I was also secretly glad that the Gang wouldn’t see me together with Max and Lisa. They might think they had become my friends. ‘It smells moldy in here!’ Lisa said as she ran her hand over the shelves to feel what was on them. ‘Wow!’ said Max. He first looked at the skeleton, and then at the strange contents of the jars. ‘Oh, before I forget, I brought the awards,’ Max said, and he removed the medal and the empty candy jar from his bag. He put the jar on a shelf, next to a stuffed bird. ‘Can I have that for a second,’ I said. I took the medal from him and hung it around the skeleton’s neck. Max laughed. ‘How are we going to find other kids with superpowers?’ Lisa asked. We thought about it for a while. It would take the three of us too much time to check every class. ‘We could go stand by the wheelchair elevator,’ Max suggested. ‘But that’s only used by kids like you,’ I said. I sat down on a stool beside the skeleton. ‘What if we put an ad in the school paper?’ I asked. ‘We could, but kids like me won’t read it.’ said Lisa.

She was right. I wondered if there was a place where all kids with disabilities gathered. Something buzzed inside Max’s coat pocket… ‘My alarm,’ he said, and he pulled out his phone. ‘Right, I have to go. I have an appointment with Ezra.’ ‘Who’s that?’ I asked. ‘The school counsellor,’ Max explained. ‘He helps me with things at school that are more difficult for me because of my wheelchair.’ Max took his bag and wheeled out of the storage room. ‘Ezra,’ Lisa repeated. ‘That’s an unusual name. I wonder if it means something.’ Wait a second… ‘He helps Max…’ I said out loud. ‘That’s it. Come on!’ We hurried after Max and managed to catch up with him before he had reached Ezra’s office. ‘Max, wait!’ I shouted. He turned around. ‘Max, ask Ezra for the names of the other kids with disabilities in our school,’ I said. ‘Then we’ll be able to discover their superpowers.’

Ezra Lisa and I sat down on the bench across from Ezra’s office. After a while, a boy walked into the hallway and stopped in front of the door. I had seen him somewhere before … It was the boy who had been sitting by himself at the party! He didn’t look disabled. Why was he seeing Ezra? ‘Hi,’ I said. The boy didn’t answer. ‘Hi,’ I repeated. The boy turned toward us. ‘Oh, hello,’ he said. ‘Are you here to see Ezra?’ I asked. ‘Yes, at ten thirty. Why?’ ‘Because you might want to join our group,’ I replied. ‘We are Tino and Lisa and we’re looking for superpowers.’ The boy frowned. ‘If you have a disability, you probably have a superpower,’ I explained. ‘Oh,’ the boy said. ‘Do you have a disability?’ I asked. ‘I have autism,’ the boy said. ‘My brain processes information differently than other people,’ he explained. That sounded complicated. I didn’t know what his superpower was yet, but we would figure that out when he joined our group. ‘Do you want to join our group?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’m not that… not that into other kids.’ Then the door opened, and Max came out.

‘This is Max,’ I said. ‘He has super strong arms because he’s in a wheelchair.’ ‘Hi,’ Max said, and flexed his arms like a bodybuilder. I laughed. ‘He won the arm-wrestling championship,’ Lisa continued. ‘And now we’re looking for more kids with superpowers,’ Max added. ‘And competitions.’ But the boy quickly walked into the office and pulled the door closed behind him. ‘Too bad,’ Lisa said. I thought so, too. ‘Did you get the names?’ I asked Max. ‘Well, Ezra has a file with the names of the students with a disability,’ Max replied. ‘Great!’ Lisa said jubilantly. ‘But he can’t let us have it. It has to do with privacy,’ Max said in a serious tone. ‘Do you think we could maybe look at it secretly?’ Lisa asked. ‘That would be tricky,’ Max replied. ‘The file is locked in a cabinet, and the key to the cabinet is in Ezra’s desk.’ What a bummer! If we didn’t know who the other kids with disabilities were, we couldn’t discover their superpowers. Which meant that they wouldn’t become friends with Max and Lisa when I joined the Gang. I pondered for a while. We couldn’t just sit and wait by Ezra’s door all day so we could meet the other kids with disabilities. We had to find another way to get to that file…

Jesse Someone knocked on the door. It was lunchtime, and Lisa, Max, and I were sitting in the storage room, trying to figure out a way to get to Ezra’s file. Max opened the door an inch. ‘Hey, look who’s here!’ he said, and opened the door wider. ‘It’s the boy we met in front of Ezra’s office,’ I told Lisa. ‘I’m Jesse.’ said the boy. ‘Hi,’ Lisa and I both said at the same time. ‘I have something for you,’ he mumbled. ‘Come inside,’ said Lisa. Jesse stepped into the storage room and looked at the jars and the skeleton. ‘I won that with arm-wrestling last Saturday,’ Max said, and he pointed at the medal around the neck of the skeleton. ‘Congratulations,’ said Jesse. He zipped his bag open, took out a sheet of paper and gave it to me. ‘This might be of some use to you.’ ‘What is it?’ asked Lisa. ‘It’s a schedule of three competitions that will be held during spring break,’ Jesse answered. I read the competitions out loud to everyone. For Saturday it said: ‘Untie the Knot’, for Thursday: ‘Find the Ten Differences’, and for Sunday: ‘High Striker’. I had never heard of these competitions. ‘They are public competitions, which means that all children can participate,’ Jesse explained.

Lisa slapped her lap. ‘That’s great, Jesse! Where did you find the schedule?’ ‘I made it a few minutes ago,’ Jesse replied. ‘I found the information on the Internet. You want to participate in competitions, don’t you?’ ‘Yes!’ Max, Lisa and I responded at the same time. ‘It also says where the competitions are held and what the prizes are,’ Jesse added. ‘Awesome!’ said Max. ‘The winner of the second competition gets a bicycle!’ I read out loud enthusiastically. ‘How did you find us, by the way?’ I asked Jesse. I had assumed we were well hidden in the storage room. ‘Um, I figured it out,’ Jesse replied. His cheeks reddened. ‘Figured it out?’ Lisa repeated. ‘How do you mean?’ Jesse looked down and said: ‘I found the floor plan of the school on the Internet, and also your class timetables. Then I made an estimate of how far you can walk and return during lunch break from each of your classrooms. This led me to four locations in and around the school. I looked for a place without stairs because that’s not possible for you…’ He quickly looked at Max. ‘…and then I checked which locations were inside, because it was going to rain. Then there were two possibilities left and I looked if there was a place to sit, because I don’t think you can stand for a long period of time,’ he said while he nodded in my direction. ‘And that’s how I ended up at this storage room.’ Lisa, Max, and I couldn’t believe our ears. ‘But there is one thing that I don’t understand.’ Jesse walked past the skeleton and studied a pile of boxes stacked up to the ceiling.

‘There should be a window right here, according to the floor plan.’ Jesse found a stool, climbed on it and pushed the highest box aside. A little ray of sun suddenly peeped in. ‘I knew it,’ Jesse said quietly. He started to move more boxes. ‘Let me help you,’ I said as I went over to take a box from him. When Jesse removed another box from the stack, a round window covered in spiderwebs emerged. Broad rays of sunlight flooded the storage room. ‘Wow!’ Max exclaimed. We all stared at Jesse. Jesse stepped down from the stool and brushed the dust from his hands. Then he looked at us. ‘Uh, are you mad at me?’ Jesse asked uncertainly. ‘Not at all!’ I cried. ‘This is your superpower! You’re a super-finder!’ Jesse’s cheeks reddened again. ‘You’re a member of our group now!’ Lisa said. That night, I drew Jesse in my superpower notebook, and stuck the competition schedule between the pages. I didn’t know how to draw autism, but it had something to do with his brain, so I wrote the disability and his extra-ability next to his head. Then I leafed back to the drawings of Lisa, Max, and myself, and pondered… I might have an idea! We might be able to get hold of Ezra’s file with the names of the children with disabilities, if we combined our superpowers. But we would have to do it soon!

jesse disability: autism

extraability: finding

The secret mission This was the plan: we would try to get Ezra’s file on Thursday evening, because the school would be empty at that time, and Ezra didn’t work on Fridays. After that we would have our holiday week, which meant that he wouldn’t notice a missing file. It would give us plenty of time to read the file and put it back again. I thought it out carefully. Jesse would climb through Ezra’s office window, open the cabinet with the key from the desk drawer, take the file, pitch it through the open window, and then climb back out again. Max, Lisa and I would stand watch. There was one problem though: the custodian’s house stood right next to the school, and the lamps along the outer wall of the school went on when you walked by. And that would draw a lot of attention. But Jesse, who lived close to the school, knew that the custodian walked his dog every night at exactly seven o’clock. It took him about ten minutes. The custodian wouldn’t be able to see Ezra’s office window when he was either to the side or at the back of the school. That would be our chance. ‘The custodian lives over there,’ Jesse whispered as he pointed at the house next to the school. We were hiding behind a low wall near the bike racks. ‘What’s the time?’ Max asked. ‘Seven,’ Jesse whispered. Right then, the door opened, and a large black dog ran outside. The custodian followed behind it.

‘Rex, stay close!’ the custodian shouted. ‘Is it a big dog?’ Lisa asked uneasily. ‘No, just a beagle,’ Max lied. He probably said that not to scare Lisa. The custodian walked down the side of the school and inspected the lock of the front door. The outside light switched on. Then he continued and soon disappeared around the corner of the school. ‘Now!’ I said. We hurried over to Ezra’s office window as fast as we could. The awning window above the large window stood slightly open and was secured from the inside with a small hook. Lisa held Max’s wheelchair to keep it steady, and I gave Jesse a hand so he could climb up via the wheelchair. ‘Lisa, can I use your cane for a moment?’ Jesse whispered. ‘Sure,’ Lisa said. She held up her cane. ‘Can you reach it?’ Jesse took the cane and used it to push the window hook. ‘Any luck yet?’ Max asked. Beads of sweat appeared on Jesse’s forehead. ‘Not yet,’ he said, standing on his tiptoes. The cane finally caught on to the hook and lifted the pin. ‘Done!’ Jesse said with relief. He opened the little window further, handed Lisa’s cane to me and pulled himself up. Jesse climbed through the access, jumped off the ledge and now stood on the other side of the big window. ‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That’s great, Jesse,’ Lisa said softly. I gave him a thumbs-up. ‘Quick, get the file!’ Jesse vanished from sight. He returned with the file within a minute’s time and pitched it through the open window. Max caught the file and then Jesse climbed back out again.

‘Guys,’ Lisa whispered. ‘I hear something!’ We held our breath. It was completely still. ‘I don’t hear anything,’ said Max. ‘But I do! I really hear something,’ Lisa said again. ‘The custodian, he’s coming back!’ What? Already? ‘Oh, no!’ Max said. ‘Now what?’ ‘Hide!’ I said. Jesse pushed Max and his wheelchair behind a few bushes, and I pulled Lisa along with me. ‘Can he see us?’ Lisa asked after we sat down. ‘Not from here,’ I whispered. ‘Come on, Rex!’ we heard in the distance. Lisa was right! The custodian was coming! We didn’t move, and the outside light went out right before the custodian appeared at the other corner of the building. The custodian walked in the direction of his house, but Rex lifted his ears and then headed slowly for the bushes we were hiding behind! ‘What’s that growling sound?’ Lisa whispered. ‘Is that Rex? Do beagles growl like that?’ I didn’t answer. I was terrified. ‘Is there a way to distract the dog?’ Lisa asked. ‘With my cane maybe?’ ‘Are you sure?’ said Max. He took Lisa’s cane and threw it into the schoolyard as if it were a spear. The outside light above our heads went on and Rex began to run in the direction of the cane. The custodian looked up. ‘Rex!’ he shouted, ‘Rex, come on!’ He didn’t see the soaring cane, fortunately. The dog paused for a moment, looked at the schoolyard, then at

the bushes we were hiding in, and then back at the custodian. I held my breath. ‘NOW!’ the custodian shouted. Rex finally turned around and ran back to him. ‘Get inside, you,’ the custodian said to Rex, and then shut the front door. The outside light went out again. ‘What do we do now?’ Jesse whispered. ‘Get out of here!’ Max and I both said at the same time. ‘What about the lamp? Jesse asked. ‘It will go on again.’ ‘We don’t have a choice,’ I said. I took Lisa’s hand, and we hurried over the schoolyard toward the street as fast as we could. Just a few more steps… ‘Stop right there!’ a deep voice shouted. ‘You! Stand still!’ We turned around in alarm. Oh, no, the custodian! He pointed a bright flashlight into our eyes. Rex barked, but he was leashed now, fortunately! ‘What in the world are you doing here?! What are you up to?’ he asked. His flashlight moved across our faces, and over Lisa’s hair, which still had a few leaves from the bushes stuck in it. ‘Well?’ the custodian grumbled. ‘Show me your hands!’ We held up our hands. I wondered if there was a scale for fear, just like there was a scale for earthquakes. ‘We’re looking for my cane,’ Lisa said softly. ‘It got lost today.’ I dropped my hands again. ‘What?’ the custodian said. ‘You lost your cane? And so you figured: ‘We’ll look for it when it’s dark?’ Clearly, he did not believe a word of it.

‘We didn’t want to get in anyone’s way,’ said Max. ‘Hmm,’ the custodian growled, and he shone his flashlight into the schoolyard. ‘Over there!’ Max shouted. Lisa’s cane! Under a bench in the middle of the schoolyard! Max had thrown it really far, which made total sense because of his superpower. The custodian stammered, ‘Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!’ Max wheeled over to Lisa’s cane, picked it up and gave it back to Lisa. ‘I find this very irresponsible,’ the custodian grumbled. ‘Do your parents know where you are right now?’ ‘Our parents are really pleased with the way we look out for each other,’ I said. I was trying to say something without lying. ‘Tell your parents that I find this very irresponsible. Especially because all of you are handicapped, um, disabled, um, different. And you, young lady…,’ He pointed at Lisa for a moment but then dropped his finger again. ‘Make sure you don’t lose your cane again.’ Lisa nodded. ‘Now, go on home, all of you!’ And that’s what we did, as fast as we could! It wasn’t until we had turned the corner and could see Jesse’s home in the distance, that we dared speak again. ‘That was close! said Lisa. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Luckily, you heard the custodian come back with your super sense of hearing.’ ‘Yes,’ said Max. ‘I had no idea!’ ‘And you, Max, you saved us all by throwing the cane so far away!’

I said. ‘And Jesse got us the file!’ ‘And Tino came up with the whole plan,’ said Lisa. ‘We are a super awesome team!’ ‘Where is the file, by the way?’ I asked. ‘Ta-daa!’ Max said and pulled the red file out from behind his back. ‘I hid it from the custodian!’ ‘Does he really have monkey relatives?’ Jesse asked. ‘What do you mean?’ Max replied. ‘Well, I mean, that thing about being a monkey’s uncle,’ Jesse explained. Lisa started to chuckle: ‘No, it’s just an expression of surprise.’ I think Jesse’s cheeks became red, but it was too dark to see it. ‘Let’s read what’s in the file.’ I suggested.

The names in the file ‘Will you read it out loud, Tino?’ Lisa asked. I held the file in the light of a streetlamp and looked at the table of contents. The words were complicated: ‘Absentee Policy’, ‘Absence Notification Policy’… And then: ‘Students’. ‘Got it!’ I said. There were several pages with names. That was a good thing because there would also be more kids with superpowers. ‘Where do we start?’ Max asked. ‘Let’s start at the beginning,’ Lisa said. ‘With the kids listed on the first page, for example. And after that, we’ll invite the children who are on the next page.’ We all thought that was a good idea, and I read the first page out loud:

Tomorrow would be the last day before our holiday break. We would use it to look for Ming, Sophie, and Danny. Hopefully they would want to join our group, and then we would have enough superpowers to win the three competitions on Jesse’s schedule. ‘I think we should go home now,’ Jesse said. He was right. It was getting late, and my mom would pick me up at Jesse’s soon. She thought we had been playing at his house. ‘What shall we do with the file?’ Lisa asked. ‘I can take it with me,’ I proposed. My schoolbag was big enough, and I could hide the file between the comic books under my bed. Tomorrow, I would bring it with me again. I couldn’t wait to start looking for the other kids.

Ming & Sophie It was Friday, and the first lunch break of the last day before our holiday break. Today, we were going to look for the first kids from the file. Lisa, Max, Jesse and I had agreed to meet in the storage room. Inside, I removed the file from my bag, and we went over the list of names again. The name listed below Jesse’s was ‘Danny’, followed by ‘leukemia’ and ‘absent due to hospitalization’. ‘What is leukemia?’ Lisa asked. ‘It’s a form of cancer,’ Jesse read from his phone. ‘It’s in the blood.’ ‘That sounds bad,’ Max said. ‘It’s great!’ Jesse exclaimed. Max and I looked at him suprised. 'Why do you say that?' Lisa asked. 'I mean,' Jesse continued, 'online I see there’s only one hospital with a children’s department in the city. So it will be easy to find him.’ ‘Let’s call them!’ I suggested. We put the phone on loudspeaker so that all four of us could listen in and called the number. But the receptionist told us that she couldn’t put us through. We explained to her that we needed Danny to come to the competitions with us, but that was absolutely out of the question according to the receptionist. He wasn’t allowed outside the hospital yet. What a bummer! I wondered if your disability could sometimes be too big to make use of your superpower. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we began to look for Ming and

Sophie. It said in the file that Ming was deaf. How would we recognize her? Can you tell if someone is deaf just by looking at them? After Sophie’s name it said that her mom was ‘unfit for work’. ‘It means she can’t work,’ Jesse read from his phone. ‘Maybe her mother is sick. Like Danny.’ ‘Wait, so Sophie herself has nothing?’ Lisa asked. ‘But will she still have a superpower?’ ‘And how will we recognize her?’ asked Max. ‘Let’s just look for them,’ I suggested. ‘We can ask around if anyone knows them. Maybe we’ll manage before lunch break is over.’ Jesse stayed behind in the storage room. He told us that he had some homework to do, but I think he was a little nervous about joining us in the search. My left leg hurt from walking when we finally found Ming and Sophie. They were sitting outside, on the same bench. On the ground in front of them was a skateboard. I introduced us and told them about the superpowers we had because of our disability. ‘Ezra’s file says that you have a disability as well,’ I said. ‘You can join our group if you want to, and then we’ll discover your superpowers together.’ The girls looked at each other and giggled a little. ‘That sounds pretty cool,’ the one girl said. ‘I wonder what your superpower is, Ming!’ ‘So how will you do that exactly?’ Ming asked. She was playing with the skateboard by her feet. ‘Hey, how do you know what we’re saying if you’re deaf?’ Max

asked, surprised. ‘I have a CI,’ Ming explained. ‘What’s that?’ Lisa asked. ‘This,’ said Ming, and she turned her head and lifted her beanie a little. She had a kind of mini machine stuck behind her ear. ‘A CI is a cochlear implant,’ Ming explained. ‘The tiny microphone behind my ear picks up sounds and changes them into electric signals, which are sent to my auditory nerve. That way I am still able to hear.’ ‘Wow!’ said Max. ‘I can also read lips,’ Ming said. ‘I can tell which word you are saying from the way you move your mouth.’ ‘And she can also do sign language!’ Sophie added. ‘Look, I can spell my own name too.’ She moved her right hand into a different shape with each letter: ‘This is the ‘s’, the ‘o’, ‘p’, ‘h’, ‘i’, and ‘e’. Right, Ming?’ Ming nodded: ‘That’s the hand alphabet.’ ‘Wow!’ said Lisa. ‘You have several superpowers!’ I would add them to my notebook if Ming and Sophie decided to join our group. ‘We’re going to do three competitions during holiday break,’ I told them. ‘We will win them because of our superpowers.’ ‘What will you win?’ Sophie asked. I opened my notebook that held the game schedule that Jesse made for us and read out loud: ‘Two medals, a gift certificate, a new bicycle, and a self-selected prize from the amusement fair.’ ‘I’ll join your group if I can have the bike,’ Sophie said. I looked at Lisa and Max. ‘Are you okay with that?’

‘Well, you Tino, Max and I have no use for a regular bicycle,’ Lisa said. ‘And Jesse already has one I believe,’ I said. So, we had a deal! The bell rang, we had to return to our classrooms. We quickly agreed that Sophie and Ming would meet us in the storage room at lunchtime. During class, I drew Ming and Sophie in my superpower notebook. I added their extra-abilities: ‘sign language’ and ‘lipreading’ next to Ming, and a question mark next to Sophie – we still had to discover her superpower.

ming disability: deaf

extra-ability: lip reading Sign Language

Sophie

extra-ability: ?

disab problem: mother = ill

Danny ‘Found it!’ Sophie stuck her head inside the storage room. ‘I didn’t know students were allowed in here?’ ‘They’re not. This is our secret hideout,’ I said. ‘Wow,’ said Ming when she followed Sophie inside and spotted the skeleton. ‘What’s his superpower?’ Ming joked. ‘Rising from the dead,’ Sophie said. We burst out laughing. Then they saw Jesse. I put my lunchbox on my bag and got to my feet. ‘Jesse, these are Sophie and Ming,’ I said. ‘Sophie and Ming, this is Jesse, and he’s our super-finder. Look what he made for us.’ I showed them the competition schedule. ‘Cool,’ said Ming. ‘Does anyone have tape?’ I asked. Jesse pulled a roll of Scotch tape out of his bag. I used it to tape the competition schedule to the skeleton’s chest. Ming jumped up and removed something from a box. It was a pair of ear-protectors. She put them on the skeleton’s head. ‘Look, now he’s like me without my CI,’ she said, laughing. ‘Deaf as a doornail,’ Sophie whooped. I propped my crutch against the skeleton. ‘Now he’s complete,’ I said. ‘And his legs are as skinny as mine,’ said Max. Ming gave the skeleton’s legs a little push to make them swing back and forth, and held up one of its arms like a bodybuilder. ‘She’s imitating Max with the skeleton,’ I explained to Lisa. ‘As if he

has strong arms too.’ Lisa laughed: ‘Well, add me to it and he’ll no longer see the point of it all!’ We roared with laughter. ‘Our super-skeleton,’ said Ming. ‘Who is going to participate in which competition by the way?’ Jesse asked earnestly. ‘Perhaps you can figure that out, Tino,’ Lisa suggested. ‘You also found out what my superpower is.’ ‘Okay,’ I said. I should be able to do that now that we had so many superpowers in our group, right? ‘Oh I have Danny’s mobile number,’ Jesse said. ‘He’s a Boy Scout, and I found his contact info in their membership register online. I don’t think that’s allowed actually.’ ‘That’s great!’ said Lisa. Now we could call him directly instead of via the hospital. Jesse entered the number, put the phone on loudspeaker and looked at me. ‘Hello?’ a boy’s voice said. ‘Danny?’ I asked. ‘That’s me, who’s this?’ said Danny. I explained who we were and invited him to join our group and take part in the competitions during holiday break. ‘I would like that,’ said Danny. ‘But I’m not allowed to leave the hospital yet.’ What a bummer. And it also meant that we couldn’t find out what his superpower was. ‘When will you be better again?’ Ming asked. ‘I don’t know,’ Danny answered. ‘I’m... pretty sick.’

‘That’s too bad,’ Max sighed. ‘That must be really hard for you,’ Lisa said. ‘How did you get my number, by the way?’ Danny asked. ‘Jesse found it,’ said Lisa. ‘He’s our super-finder.’ ‘Cool,’ said Danny, ‘and how will you get to the competitions?’ he asked. Good question... We hadn’t figured that out yet. ‘We’ll think of something,’ said Sophie. ‘Well, will you let me know how it went?’ Danny asked. ‘Course!’ I said. ‘Shall we come and visit you after the competition?’ Lisa suggested. But Danny explained that he was ‘in isolation’ and wasn’t allowed to have any visitors. ‘The treatment weakened my immune system,’ he said. ‘Being in isolation protects me against infections.’ He wished us luck and then hung up. ‘So, where are these competitions located exactly?’ Sophie asked. Jesse typed rapidly on his phone and read out loud: ‘Between 621 and 4482 yards from the school.’ ‘We can walk over there together, but it will take us a very long time,’ Lisa said. ‘And walking long distances is difficult for me,’ I added. The others nodded. ‘Max, Lisa and Tino can take the bus, and Sophie, Ming and I can ride our bikes,’ said Jesse. ‘Oh,’ said Sophie. ‘Then I can’t come with you.’ ‘Why not?’ Ming asked. ‘Well, um... I don’t have a bicycle and I don’t have money for the

bus either,’ she said softly. ‘I always walk to school with my little brother. It’s not so far.’ ‘You can sit on the back of my bike if you want,’ Jesse said shyly. ‘Wait, I have a better idea!’ Sophie cried. ‘If it works, we can meet in front of the school tomorrow morning and then all go together from there. All we will need then is your bike, Jesse, and Max’s wheelchair, Tino’s crutch, and Ming’s skateboard.’ Jesse wrote ‘assemble in front of the school’ on the competition schedule. I still didn’t understand how we would ride together, but maybe that solution was part of Sophie’s superpower. Anyway, I didn’t have much time to dwell on it either, because I had to figure out who could win which competition.

On the road ‘You’re up early already!’ my mom said surprised when I came downstairs. It was Saturday morning, and today would be the first competition with our entire group. I couldn’t wait! ‘Not sleeping in today?’ my mom asked. She poured me a glass of milk. ‘No, Max and Lisa and I are going to play at Jesse’s house,’ I replied. That wasn’t completely true, but I wanted the competitions to remain a secret for the time being. I would tell my parents everything after I had joined the Gang. ‘That’s kind of early for a playdate... But, sure, that’s wonderful!’ My mom took a banana and put it in my bag. Luckily, Ezra’s file wasn’t in there anymore but was hidden under my bed. ‘Shall I drive you over to Jesse’s?’ my mom asked. ‘I was going to take the bus,’ I said. ‘It’s the same one that goes to school. Can I?’ I took a bite out of my sandwich and a sip of milk to wash it down. ‘Alright,’ my mom replied. ‘What time do you want me to come and get you?’ ‘Max’s dad is driving us home,’ I said. ‘What time will you be back?’ My mom brushed a few breadcrumbs from my cheek with her fingers. ‘Before lunchtime,’ I said and got to my feet. ‘Okeydokey, tell them I said hi,’ my mom said. ‘Will do!’ I shouted back as I walked out the door. When I arrived, Jesse and Lisa were sitting on the wall near the

bike racks. Max sat in his wheelchair in front of them and Ming was practicing tricks on her skateboard. ‘Hey Tino, watch this!’ Ming shouted at me. ‘I can do an ollie!’ She flipped the skateboard with her foot and jumped into the air, then landed with both feet and rolled forward a little. ‘Awesome!’ I said. I sat down next to Lisa. Now we only had to wait for Sophie. We all wanted to know how she was going to get us to the competition. After a while, we heard a low rumble. ‘Here I am!’ Sophie cried as she came around the corner. ‘I arranged transportation!’ There was a big grin on her face. She was sitting on a lawn tractor, and next to her sat a small boy. ‘My little brother is coming with us, I’m babysitting him today. He has dyslexia, so he fits in our group as well.’ Her little brother waved at us shyly. Sophie parked the tractor on the grass in front of the wall. The engine continued to rumble. ‘Where did you get it?’ Jesse asked. ‘From someone I know,’ Sophie replied mysteriously. ‘I have connections.’ ‘Is it your mom’s?’ Max asked. ‘No,’ she laughed. ‘It belongs to the soccer club. I can have it for the entire holiday break, and I will mow their lawns on Sunday in exchange. They don’t know I’m going to use it for transportation.’ ‘Awesome!’ said Ming. ‘Does it really mow?’ asked Jesse. ‘Yep,’ said Sophie. She drove over the grass a little and then turned

off the engine. The grass behind her had been cut. Max approached the tractor. ‘Where did the grass go?’ ‘In tiny pieces on the ground,’ Sophie replied. I wondered if there were any lawn mowers that could collect fourleaf clovers. ‘Mmm, it smells really nice,’ said Lisa. Sophie’s little brother gathered some cut grass and threw it into the air. ‘Conteffi!’ he shouted. We all had to laugh. ‘It’s confetti,’ Jesse corrected him in a serious tone. Sophie suggested that she would drive the tractor, and that Lisa and I would come and sit next to her. ‘You can use Tino’s crutch to hook yourself onto the rear of the tractor,’ Sophie told Max. ‘And then you can roll along behind us.’ In that moment we heard barking. ‘Rex!’ Lisa said in alarm. She had recognized his bark. We turned around quickly. In the distance, we could see the custodian walk across the schoolyard with Rex. ‘Stay, Rex!’ the custodian shouted. But Rex didn’t listen and was coming our way! ‘Let’s go,’ said Sophie. ‘Tino, the address is on the competition schedule,’ Jesse said, as he was getting on his bike. I quickly got out my notebook, but the schedule wasn’t in there. ‘It’s still taped to the skeleton’s chest,’ I said timidly. ‘Sorry.’ ‘I’ll look it up again,’ Jesse said, and he typed rapidly on his phone. I helped Lisa get on the tractor and then hurried over to sit on Sophie’s other side. ‘We have to go to the right,’ Jesse said. Sophie’s little brother got on the backseat of Jesse’s bike, and we

quickly drove away. Ming rode alongside of us on her skateboard. When we were halfway there, we had to stop at a red traffic light. Two boys on their bikes stopped behind us. They looked us over from head to toe. ‘What on earth is this?’ one of them snickered. Then the light turned green, and we were moving again. ‘Losers!’ one of them yelled as we rode away. ‘We’ll see about that,’ Sophie yelled back. ‘Because these losers are about to win!’

The 1st competition We arrived at the new shopping center ‘The Knot’, where the first competition would be held, and parked the lawn tractor and the bike. A man wearing a fancy suit stood by the entrance. He was surrounded by security guards, and people were having their picture taken with him. ‘That’s probably the mayor,’ Jesse said, ‘he opened the shopping center.’ ‘Tino, did you figure out who should do this competition?’ Lisa asked curiously. ‘Yes, I want to know, too!’ Sophie exclaimed excitedly. Everyone moved closer to me as if I was about to reveal a secret. The first competition was ‘Untie the Knot’, in which the participants had to untie a complicated knot in a rope as quickly as possible. I guessed that someone with extra nimble hands could win it. The night before in bed, I had gone over all the superpowers in my notebook to see who might have a superpower like that. ‘I figured…,’ I began, ‘that Ming is the right person for this contest, because her hands are super nimble from doing sign language with her parents every day.’ ‘Yes, cool!’ Ming boomed. Sophie gave her a high five. ‘Good thinking, Tino,’ Lisa said proudly. I hoped so too. ‘Where is the competition?’ asked Sophie. Jesse pointed inside. We saw a covered hall with stores around it

and a few rows of tables in the middle. Each table had a piece of fabric the size of a napkin on it with something underneath it. Golden helium balloons had been fastened to the tables. I wondered how many of them were needed to lift the tables off the ground. Some kids were already sitting at the tables. Some of them wore sports clothes or were squeezing stress balls. The parents had gathered around the tables. ‘Hello kids!’ a woman said, when she saw us approaching. ‘Are you here for the ‘Untie the Knot’ event?’ ‘For the competition,’ Jesse replied. ‘Ming wants to participate,’ said Sophie, and gave Ming a little push forward. ‘That’s wonderful!’ the woman said. ‘Just enter your name here.’ She gave Ming the register form. ‘Then you can go and find a seat. You may lift the fabric after the starting signal. It has a rope underneath it that has the same knot tied in it for everyone. Untangle it as quickly as possible. When the knot is gone, stretch the rope flat on the table and raise your hand. The one who unties the knot first, wins.’ Ming sat down, and the rest of us found a place to the side. The contest began. It was a terrible racket of parents cheering on their kids. ‘It’s so noisy!’ said Jesse. ‘Does this always happen during competitions?’ Ming didn’t seem to be bothered by it and was quietly untangling the knot. Her fingers moved quickly, like a magician’s. The knot became smaller and smaller, and the rope got longer and longer.

Ming suddenly raised her hand. The rope lay neatly stretched out on the table in front of her. ‘Whoa!’ Sophie’s little brother said. Some kids looked at Ming in shock. ‘Hey, how is that possible?’ a man next to us said. ‘They barely got started…’ The woman from the organization inspected Ming’s rope. Then she excitedly said into the microphone: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention. It’s a little sooner than we expected, but we already have a winner! Everyone did a tremendous job! But there can only be one winner. And the winner is…,’ She held the microphone to Ming’s mouth. ‘Ming,’ Ming replied. YES! Ming had won. I had been right about her superpower! There was a thundering applause. Ming received her medal and a gift certificate to spend in the stores of the shopping center. The other kids were given a keychain as a consolation prize. ‘It isn’t fair,’ said a girl next to us who had gone over to her father. She still had the knot in her hand. ‘You were the best,’ her father said. ‘No, Ming was, right?’ Jesse replied. But the father ignored him, and he walked away with his daughter. ‘You did so well Ming,’ Lisa cheered. ‘I was impressed the noise didn’t distract you.’ ‘Me too,’ Jesse added. Ming smiled: ‘I simply turned down the volume of my CI! It’s great to use it to my advantage for once.’ Sophie held the medal that now hung around Ming’s neck for a moment.

‘Let’s hang it on the skeleton after holiday break,’ Ming suggested. We all liked that idea. ‘Who wants a popsicle?’ Sophie asked. ‘My treat!’ She pulled some money out of her pocket. ‘A boy drove his go-cart into a ditch this morning and I towed it out with the tractor. His dad gave me this as a thank you. Great, right?’ ‘Awesome,’ said Lisa. ‘I’ll be right back!’ Sophie said as she walked in the direction of a drugstore. Her little brother followed her. ‘I’m coming with you,’ Ming said, and rolled her skateboard toward Sophie. They returned after a little while, with their hands full of popsicles. Ming was holding a small, giftwrapped box. ‘Here,’ she said as she handed me the box. ‘What’s this?’ I asked. ‘For you,’ Ming answered. ‘To thank you.’ ‘Thank me? For what?’ I asked, surprised. ‘For inviting me to join your group,’ she answered. ‘I had so much fun today. I never won at something like this.’ I felt the same way when I won the hopping contest, I thought. It made me think about the Gang for a moment. I would tell them all about it after holiday break. ‘Go ahead, open it.’ said Ming. I removed the paper. It was a really nice lunchbox. It had the same color as my schoolbag. ‘I noticed that yours was broken,’ said Ming. I blushed. ‘Thank you!’ ‘Let’s call Danny,’ Lisa proposed. We first told him how Sophie had arranged a lawn tractor, and

then that Ming had won. Danny’s cheers were so loud, that the microphone crackled, and we heard the nurse try to calm him down. ‘Well guys, be careful on the road, okay? Danny said. ‘I mean, it can be really dangerous riding in a group like that.’ We promised to keep our eyes on the road and to call him after the next competition.

The 2nd competition Holiday break took forever until the next competition. I reread my comic books and did some homework for the tests we would be given after the break. On Wednesday, my mom and sister joined my dad and me to the pool. I still had to do my laps though, while my mom read a book and my sister whooshed down the waterslide. On Thursday, we finally gathered by the wall in front of our school again. ‘I made a flag for us out of an old curtain,’ Sophie said after she had parked the lawn tractor on the grass. She pulled the cloth out of her bag and unfolded it. It had CHAMPIONS written on it. ‘Shall I tie it onto your cane, Lisa?’ Sophie suggested. ‘We’ll attract lots of attention that way.’ Lisa agreed. ‘Cool,’ said Max. ‘Like pirates!’ Then we saw a motorcyclist coming our way. When he came closer to us, he slowed down to a crawl. He looked at us, but we couldn’t see who it was because of the dark visor over his eyes. He then turned into the schoolyard and rode in the direction of the custodian’s house. ‘What a creep,’ Ming whispered. ‘Come on, let’s get going,’ said Sophie, and we drove onto the road. ‘Tino, did you figure out yet who should sign up for this competition?’ she asked.

‘I propose that we put in our super-finder!’ I yelled, so the others could hear me as well. ‘Jesse!’ Lisa shouted enthusiastically. ‘Me?’ said Jesse. ‘You can do this!’ Ming assured him. We arrived at the community center, and Sophie parked the lawn tractor next to the entrance. I removed the flag from Lisa’s cane, so she could use it again. Inside stood rows of tables. Each table was spaced about three feet apart. A banner on the wall said: ‘A Bicycle from Nate? Never Too Late!’ ‘Go get em,’ Lisa said to Jesse. A boy from the organization pointed him to a table. On it lay a pen, and two sheets of paper with the printed side facing down. We found a spot along the side of the room. A few moments later, the boy from the organization lifted a microphone and explained the rules of the game. The contestants were to find the ten differences between two images. Those who had found all ten differences, were to raise their hand and would then be given a fresh set with again ten differences. You were finished after three sets. So, Jesse had to find thirty differences in total. The boy counted down: ‘3, 2, 1, GO!’ He turned over a large hourglass that was on the jury’s table. When the top bulb had run empty, time was up. The sheets were turned over and the room became quiet - very different from Max’s arm-wrestling and Ming’s knot contest. All the kids studied their pages with great concentration. ‘What is he doing?’ I whispered.

‘What do you mean, what is he doing?’ Lisa whispered back. ‘He’s tracing lines on the paper,’ I explained. ‘From top to bottom and from left to right.’ Then Jesse did the same on the other sheet of paper. Why was he doing that? Shouldn’t he be drawing circles around the differences? I looked at the other participants. Some of them had already drawn multiple circles. ‘This is not going well,’ said Max. ‘Jesse, Jesse,’ Sophie whispered, trying to get his attention. But Jesse didn’t hear her. ‘Oh, look!’ said Ming. Jesse was no longer tracing lines but was now drawing circles. One after the other! Then he put down his pen and raised his hand. What? How did he do that? There was some muttering among the jury. One member walked up to him and inspected the sheets. Then he nodded at the other jury members and handed Jesse a second set of papers. Some kids looked at Jesse in bewilderment, whispering: ‘That’s impossible!’ ‘How?’ ‘What’s going on?’ Lisa asked. I described to her what we were seeing. ‘Quiet, please,’ someone in the jury shouted. ‘The competition isn’t over yet.’ Jesse immediately started tracing lines on the second set, and shortly after that, circles. He did the same with the third set. Then he put down his pen, folded his arms over each other and let out a deep sigh. A jury member collected his last set of papers. ‘He’s finished,’ I whispered.

‘Incredible! said Max. When the hourglass had run out of sand, the boy from the organization collected the pages. Some kids hadn’t gotten further than the second set, and only two other kids handed in all three. It didn’t matter because Jesse had been the fastest. So why was the jury still deliberating? ‘What are they saying?’ Sophie asked. We all looked at Ming, who was trying to read their lips. ‘It’s about Jesse’s pages, he filled them out differently,’ she said. ‘They’re checking the rules to see if it’s allowed.’ I became nervous. Did he do it wrong? A jury member finally took the microphone: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Jesse at table 18 has won!’ We burst out in wild cheers, and Max waved our flag around. Jesse clenched his fists for a moment and his cheeks reddened. I wondered if you could ever run out of blushes. The spectators could take a copy of one of the sets to try at home themselves. Jesse’s sets were returned to him, and he was given the choice of a boy’s or a girl’s bicycle. ‘That one, please,’ Jesse said, and pointed at the girl’s bicycle. ‘Are you sure?’ a man standing beside it asked. ‘Let him make his own choice, Nate,’ a jury member said. ‘Yeah, sure, okay,’ the man said, and handed Jesse the keys of the girl’s bicycle. ‘Now we’ll have our picture taken together.’ Jesse stood there shily. ‘Shall I hold on to the pages for you?’ I said, when Jesse got the bike. I looked at the pages. Now I understood what Jesse had done. He

had divided the images into equally sized squares. That way he could compare every part of the images very precisely without skipping anything. He really was an amazing super-finder! We walked outside and Jesse gave the bike to Sophie.

This is what it looked like

‘Here.’ ‘What? You’re crazy!’ Sophie said wide-eyed. ‘Not crazy. Autistic,’ Jesse said seriously. ‘I mean, don’t you want the bike for yourself?’ asked Sophie. ‘This is what we agreed on, right, that you would get the bike if you joined our group?’ ‘I didn’t win the competition though, it’s your prize,’ Sophie protested. But Jesse insisted: the bike was for Sophie. Besides, what would he do with two bikes?’ ‘Are you sure?’ Sophie asked. Jesse nodded. ‘YIPPEE! My very own bike, finally!’ Sophie said happily. ‘Thank you, Jesse!’ She jumped on the saddle and took it for a spin. ‘Tino,’ said Ming. “Can I have the flag for a moment?’ She draped the flag around Jesse’s neck. It looked just like a cape. ‘Look, now you’re Super-Jesse!’ she laughed. Jesse had a big smile on his face. I was happy for Sophie and Jesse. And I was proud that I had been right about his superpower. Shall we call Danny before we leave?’ Lisa suggested. We went to a bench and video-called Danny. Sophie showed him her bike, and Ming pulled Jesse into view and used her other hand to hold up the flag that was still around his neck.

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‘Look, this will draw lots of attention to us when we’re on the road!’ ‘Super awesome!’ Danny cheered. ‘And I didn’t expect anything less from you guys!’ Just before we hung up again, he wanted to know if the lawn tractor needed refueling. ‘Oh, yes, I think so,’ Sophie said. ‘Shall we put our allowances together?’ Ming suggested. ‘No worries, I’ll take care of it,’ Sophie chuckled.

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(In)visible ‘Going to church?’ Tiko asked surprised when I entered the bus. It was Sunday morning, and today we were going to the third and final competition of our holiday break. ‘No,’ I replied. ‘We’re going to another competition.’ ‘Aha,’ said Tiko. ‘Is she joining you as well?’ he asked, and he nodded toward a girl who was sitting in my usual spot at the front of the bus. She wore a black metal brace on her right leg. ‘No,’ I said. But I could ask her to join our group! I sat down next to the girl and said hi. ‘Hi,’ the girl said back. She looked at my face and then at my crutch. ‘I noticed your, um… leg,’ I said. ‘Do you want to join our group?’ ‘What kind of group is it?’ the girl asked. ‘We discover the superpowers of kids with a disability. Kids like me… and you,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ the girl answered. ‘And then what?’ ‘Then we take part in competitions,’ I replied. ‘And we win them because of our superpowers. We already won three competitions, or four actually, if I count the hopping contest as well.’ ‘Oh,’ the girl said. ‘No. sorry, I don’t have time for it.’ She looked in front of her again. ‘The Step-Uppers keep me very busy. It’s a group of experience experts. Do you know what those are?’ I shook my head. But wait, didn’t I recognize that name from somewhere?

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The girl opened her bag and took out a flyer. ‘Experience experts are people who know a lot about something because they have experienced it themselves.’ She handed me the flyer. It was the same flyer that my dad had given me earlier! ‘You can join us if you want,’ she said. ‘It’s important for kids like us to share our experiences. We visit public spaces and buildings such as libraries to see if they are easily accessible to kids with a disability. This bus, for example, is too high to board.’ She looked at Tino, but he was looking at the road. ‘No thanks,’ I answered, and gave the flyer back to her. I wouldn’t have time for it anyway. I was too busy with my friends and the competitions. ‘We’re going to the Day of the Disabled Child, tomorrow,’ she said. She put the flyer back in her bag. ‘All the schools will be there together with their students who have a disability. You will probably go as well.’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, but I didn’t want to tell her that. The bus stopped in front of my school. ‘This is my stop,’ I said, and got off the bus. ‘See you tomorrow!’ she said and waved at me. Max, Lisa, Ming, and Jesse were there already. We only had to wait for Sophie now. ‘There is a special day tomorrow, for children with disabilities,’ I said. ‘Are you going there as well?’ Jesse nodded. ‘Yes, our teacher told us about it before the holiday break.’ ‘Same with us,’ said Ming.

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Lisa nodded: ‘I think that all of the children in our school with a disability are going. Why?’ ‘We might find more kids with superpowers there,’ I explained. ‘Sounds like fun!’ Lisa cried. ‘Then we’ll have kids in our group from other schools as well!’ ‘And win even more competitions!’ Max cheered. I wondered if there were more children with superpowers in the world than there were competitions, or the other way around. In the distance, Sophie was coming our way on the lawn tractor. But what did she have with her? It wasn’t just her little brother who had joined her again. Three dogs were trotting along beside the lawn tractor as well! A large black one, a Labrador, and a poodle. Sophie stopped directly in front of us. ‘The dogs belong to my neighbors,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, they’re harmless!’ The Labrador sniffed Ming, who began to pet him. ‘I’m looking after them today. The neighbors paid me for it. So we can buy gasoline for the lawn tractor. Great arrangement, right?’ Sophie asked. We all roared with laughter. Only Sophie could come up with something like that! Just like she had arranged the lawn tractor to get us to the competitions. Wait a second, this was her superpower! I grabbed my notebook and added ‘super-arranger’ to her drawing. But what was Sophie’s disability? Sophie was healthy herself, right? I pondered for a moment. What did Ezra’s file say again? Oh, yes, ‘Mother unfit for work.’ Could Sophie’s superpower have something to do with her mother’s illness? She probably had to arrange plenty of stuff at home as well.

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Wow! If that was true, then not only kids with physical disabilities could have a superpower, but kids with other kinds of problems as well. However, the visible disabilities, such as Lisa’s, Max’s, and mine, were easier to detect than invisible ones, like Jesse’s autism, and Sophie with her sick mom. Suddenly, the Labrador started barking. Sophie looked around. ‘The custodian!’ she said. ‘With Rex!’ We all turned around at the same time and saw them walking across the schoolyard. ‘Can he smell where we are or something?’ Max asked. ‘Maybe that’s his superpower,’ Ming joked. ‘We’re allowed to just sit here, aren’t we?’ Jesse asked. ‘The wall on this side of the street is public property. Everyone is allowed here.’ ‘Public property or not, I’d rather not take any chances,’ said Sophie. ‘Let’s go.’ Lisa and I climbed back on the lawn tractor. The three dogs walked alongside of it. Sophie tied the leashes to the seat. Max hooked my crutch onto the back. Jesse got on his bike again and Sophie’s little brother got on the bike that Jesse had won. The bike was too big for him, but he managed. Ming pushed along on her skateboard. ‘Sophie, are you going to the Day of the Disabled Child tomorrow?’ I asked when we were riding. ‘What’s that?’ Sophie asked. I explained what the girl in the bus had told me, but Sophie hadn’t heard about it. That was odd. Sophie was listed in Ezra’s file but hadn’t been invited. Did that mean that her mother’s illness didn’t disable Sophie?

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The last competition The area in front of the amusement fair was packed with cars and bikes. A Ferris wheel towered high above the trailers and attractions. You could hear the music and the shrieks of excitement, and the smell of cotton candy was everywhere. ‘The entrance is over here!’ Sophie shouted, and she drove the lawn tractor up the wooden boards lying in front of it. Jesse and Sophie’s little brother followed behind us on their bikes, and Ming ran along with the skateboard under her arm. ‘Whoa!’ the safety guard at the entrance exclaimed. ‘What’s this?’ ‘Disability transportation,’ Sophie replied. ‘Dogs are not allowed on the fairground!’ the safety guard objected. ‘They’re our guide dogs. They have to come with us!’ Ming said firmly. ‘Three guide dogs?’ the man protested, but we had already driven further before he could stop us. ‘Out of the way!’ Sophie yelled. People quickly jumped aside. Jesse held his phone in one hand, and now and then looked at the screen. ‘Now go right,’ he yelled. Sophie steered to the right, and we drove past a cotton candy stand. ‘Now go left,’ Jesse yelled. Sophie steered to the left, and we drove past the bumper cars.

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‘Right!’ Jesse yelled. There it was! The High Striker stuck into the sky like a giraffe and had a funny wooden head on the top with a bell below its chin. If you hit the lever on the ground hard enough, a puck would shoot up and ring the bell. ‘I can guess who will enter this competition!’ Ming laughed, and looked at Max. ‘Yes, me!’ he shouted, and he flexed his muscles like a bodybuilder. ‘Right, Tino?’ ‘That’s right!’ I said, laughing. A few girls and a small group of boys were already standing around the High Striker. They had on varsity jackets and one of them wore a cap. I took another good look. They were the boys from the Gang! I had forgotten about them completely … This could go very wrong. If Max won, the Gang would lose, and then the Gang might become angry. At me as well! But I couldn’t tell Max to let the Gang win. They would ask me why, and I would have to explain that I had first wanted to join the Gang. And I didn’t really know if I still wanted to do that, because Jesse, Max, Lisa, Ming, and Sophie were… my friends now. ‘Tino, what does the High Striker look like?’ Lisa asked. But I pretended not to hear her and hid behind Ming so the Gang wouldn’t see me. Victor lifted the hammer. ‘Go and get in line,’ Sophie said to Max. The Gang didn’t pay attention to us at first. But then Boris noticed the wheelchair and started to laugh. ‘Ha-ha, look at that!’ he said, pointing at Max. ‘What kind of attraction is this?'

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The whole Gang looked at Max. I made myself even smaller behind Ming’s back. ‘Max is not an attraction,’ Sophie said defensively. ‘He is stronger than all of you!’ Victor slowly lowered the hammer. ‘What did you say?’ Sophie gave the dogs’ leashes to Ming and walked up to the Gang. ‘Five dollars says he wins!’ she said. Victor burst out laughing. ‘I’m serious,’ Sophie said, and she pulled her wallet out of her pocket. ‘Well, well,’ said Victor. His face clouded over. ‘Okay, bring it on! Max against Boris. Loser pays five dollars.’ ‘Victor, you can’t do that to him. Poor thing,’ one of the girls said. Victor looked at Max. ‘Well, it’s their own decision, isn’t it? If they really believe he’s that strong…’ ‘Let’s go!’ he said. ‘And Boris will go next. We don’t want to discourage you.’ Max tried to get a little closer to the High Striker, but it was hard to maneuver his wheelchair through the tall grass. ‘Well, things are rolling along smoothly already,’ Boris jeered. ‘Ignore him,’ Sophie said to Max, and gave his wheelchair a little push. Max secured the brakes of his wheelchair directly in front of the High Striker. Victor gave Max the hammer, and Max looked over at us for a moment. ‘Go, Max!’ Ming said encouragingly. ‘You can do it,’ said Lisa. Then Max took a deep breath, swung the hammer in a wide circle,

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and slammed down on the lever. The puck shot up like an arrow, past the green, the yellow, the orange, and into the red. 100! The highest score! A bell sounded and all the attraction’s lights started flickering. Sometimes very little happens in a few hours, but in that moment many things happened in a few seconds. My friends cheered and, in my enthusiasm, I accidentally joined them. The Gang recognized my voice and turned around. Boris rushed up to me and grabbed my collar. I tried not to fall. ‘Do you know these babies?’ he shouted furiously. ‘Were you trying to make fun of me or something?’ ‘Well, we are at a funfair after all,’ Ming said brazenly while the Labrador was barking wildly at Boris. ‘Let Tino go!’ Sophie yelled, and tried to push Boris away. ‘What’s all this?’ The game attendant headed over to us. He was big and covered in tattoos. ‘Break it up, all of you. Now!’ the man yelled. He pulled Boris back, and Boris finally let go of my collar. ‘Scram!’ he yelled at the Gang. ‘No fighting in front of my booth.’ ‘We’ll get you later, Tino!’ Boris hissed at me. Victor grabbed Boris and pulled him along with him. The other boys and girls followed behind them. ‘You too!’ the game attendant said to us. He grabbed a teddy bear from his booth and put it on Max’s lap. ‘Here, take your prize and get out of here!’ ‘Wow, those boys were really scangry,’ Sophie’s little brother said. ‘It’s scary or angry,’ Jesse whispered to him.

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‘I think you have some explaining to do, Tino,’ Sophie said.

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Different friends Sophie stood in front of me with her arms crossed. ‘What was Boris talking about?’ she asked. ‘Why was he so angry at you?' I didn’t know where to begin explaining. ‘Well?’ Sophie said impatiently. ‘I… I talked to them. At the school party. To ask them if I could join their Gang,’ I said. ‘That’s what you wanted?’ Sophie asked. ‘Yes,’ I answered softly. ‘It seemed like a cool thing to do.’ ‘Cool?’ Sophie let out astonished. ‘But they’re a bunch of wimps!’ ‘What do you think’s so cool about them?’ Ming asked. ‘I don’t know, they’re just, well, big and muscular, and… normal. I wanted to have normal friends!’ ‘Normal friends?’ Sophie repeated loudly. ‘I don’t mean that you’re not normal,’ I said. ‘But… different…’ ‘Different? Different how?’ Lisa asked. She sounded disappointed. ‘Just different,’ I said. ‘But I don’t care about that anymore, or actually I do, because that’s exactly what I like, I mean…’ ‘Well, what do you mean?’ Sophie asked. A few people shrieked in the Ferris wheel above us. I didn’t know what to say, and I wondered if there was a name yet for every feeling you could have. ‘I don’t know...’ I mumbled. ‘Then you should think about that for a while,’ Sophie said. She took Lisa’s hand and helped her onto the lawn tractor. ‘Ming, you can come and sit next to me.’ Sophie pointed to the seat on her

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right and turned on the engine. ‘We’re leaving.’ ‘Do we still have to mow the grass at the soccer club?’ I asked. ‘Yes, but we are going to do that without you,’ Sophie said as they began to ride. ‘You can take the bus home.’ ‘What about Ezra’s file?’ I cried out. ‘We still have to put it back!’ But they no longer heard me in the noise of the fair and vanished in the crowd. I had ruined everything. I slammed my crutch on the ground and sat down. I never meant to hurt them! I let out a deep sigh and wondered what I could do to make it up to them. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up. It was Victor! He was alone. The other gang members were further away, at the shooting arcade. ‘Hey, Tino,’ he said. How was I going to get away? He was much faster than me! I reached for my crutch before he could take it. ‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ Victor said, laughing. ‘Come, let me help you.’ He held out his hand and pulled me up. ‘Max sure is strong!’ I looked at him incredulously. ‘No worries,’ he chuckled. ‘Boris has a short fuse, that’s all.’ It was quiet for a moment. Victor smiled at me. ‘Listen, you said at the school party that you wanted to join our Gang, right?’ he asked. I nodded. Should I tell him that I might not want to at all anymore? That I had my own friends now. But I said nothing. ‘Do you remember the rules of our Gang?’ Victor asked. ‘Uh, that I have to be the best at something,’ I answered. ‘At some sport.’

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‘That’s right,’ Victor said. 'I won at hopscotch the other day!’ I blurted out. ‘Of my entire class! It’s a kind of superpower, the bus driver said so too,’ I rattled on. Victor looked surprised. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Because my left leg is weak, my right leg has become much stronger than normal. I wanted to tell you about it earlier, but then Lisa was sad and I looked for proof and then she invited Max to the arm-wrestling competition and I thought that they could become friends so that Lisa wouldn’t be alone anymore when I joined your Gang.’ Victor started to laugh. ‘Well, I have good news for you, because I just spoke to the guys and we all think you would be a nice addition to our Gang.’ ‘What? You mean that?’ ‘Listen,’ Victor said. ‘We just need you to do one more thing to prove that you really want to join us.’ Victor moved a little closer and spoke softly: ‘We have tests coming up this week and the math one is on Tuesday. And you can help us with that.’ ‘Do you want us to practice together?’ I asked, surprised. I was pretty good at math, but they were doing math problems I hadn’t learned yet. Victor started to grin. ‘Yes, something like that. Your mother made the test. And that’s where we need your help. If you know what I mean.’ Surely, he didn’t mean... ‘You need to bring the questions with you to school tomorrow,’ Victor said. ‘So we can practice them for a day.’ My heart was

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pounding rapidly. ‘I’m supposed to steal the math test?’ I asked. ‘Of course not,’ Victor said. I sighed with relief. ‘It’s more like ‘borrowing’. Listen, if we know what questions your mom will ask, we can learn those sums especially well, you see? That can only be a good thing, right?’ I didn’t know how to react. Victor squeezed my shoulder. ‘It’s not such a big deal. We’ll meet tomorrow during lunch break, and you will give me those questions. And then you’ll become a member of our Gang.’ He lowered his head to my ear and whispered: ‘This is your only chance, Tino. Don’t blow it.’ Then he turned around and walked away.

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Deceiter I lay in bed and couldn’t sleep. I hadn’t heard from Lisa, Max, Jesse, Sophie, or Ming at all since they had left the fair. I had waited for them to return for a while, and then had finally taken the bus home. I thought back to what Victor had said about the test. This was my chance if I wanted to join the Gang. I opened my eyes. What if I stole the questions? Maybe I wouldn’t even have to literally bring them with me. I could take the test out of my mom’s desk drawer and take a picture of it with my phone when my parents were asleep. It wasn’t exactly stealing, but it came down to the same thing. I thought about Ezra’s file. We had stolen that too. It had even been my idea. Or was that different? We only borrowed it to help other kids, right? Was this a kind of helping as well? I would not just be helping the Gang if I took the questions, but also myself, because then I would finally get to join their group. I wondered if stealing was always wrong and helping was always right. I slowly fell into a restless sleep. Lisa was sitting on a bench in the distance. She seemed to be crying. ‘What was Victor talking about?’ she asked. Then Sophie appeared on the lawn tractor. With the custodian’s dog! It growled and tried to bite my legs. ‘Why is Boris so mad at you?’ Jesse asked, who was coming toward me on his bike with Sophie’s little brother on the back.

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'I thought that I wanted them to be my friends,’ I began. ‘But things turned out differently.’ ‘Because of your leg?’ Jesse asked. ‘DECEITER!’ Sophie’s little brother yelled at me. ‘It’s deceiver or cheater,’ Jesse corrected him. I tried to run, but I couldn’t because of my left leg. Sophie came closer and closer with the dog. Luckily, the bus to my school stopped directly in front of me. ‘Hey there, Tino,’ said Tiko. I quickly got in and escaped the dog’s bite just in time. ‘Hey, Tino!’ a girl’s voice said. It was the girl with the metal brace on her leg. She was sitting in front of me, together with several other kids with crutches. The Step-Uppers! ‘Noooo!’ I cried and tried to get off the bus, but it was already moving. I saw my mom standing outside. ‘Mom!’ I yelled, but she laughed and gave me a thumbs-up! ‘Come and join the fun!’ Tiko shouted. Then all of the kids turned into skeletons with dangling arms and legs. Green confetti fell from the sky. I caught it with my hands – it was grass. Glaring lights went on. I looked left and right and realized that I was standing all alone in the middle of an athletic field. And the Gang was storming toward me like a rugby team! I dropped to the ground and made myself as small as possible, with my arms folded over my head. They would attack me; they were almost there! I felt a hand on my shoulder and tried to pull free.

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‘Honey,’ a voice said. ‘Honey, you slept through the alarm.’ It was my mom. ‘Hurry up or you’ll be late for school. You’re all going to the Day of the Disabled Child. Maybe you’ll meet some nice kids from the other schools.’ She ran her hand through my hair. ‘I’m going as well. I’m looking forward to it!’ My mom walked over to the window and drew the curtains open. ‘Okay,’ I mumbled. I knew what I was going to do: I would tell Lisa, Max, Jesse, Sophie, and Ming everything! That I first wanted to join the Gang because I thought they were really cool. But that I started enjoying being with my own group more and more and had actually forgotten about the Gang until we ran into them at the fair. I would explain to them, that I didn’t want to join the Gang at all anymore because they were my real friends now! I took Ezra’s file out from under my bed and put it into my bag. We needed to quickly put it back in his room today before he would notice it was missing. One of us could distract him, while someone else put the file back in the cabinet. I smiled. Today, everything would be set straight.

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Ezra's file At school, I looked if Lisa was sitting on the bench in the hallway, but it was empty. Maybe they were all in the storage room? I walked into the hallway. ‘Hey, Tino!’ I heard someone say. I turned around. It was Victor from the Gang! The other boys walked behind him. Boris, too. I began to walk faster. ‘Tino, wait,’ Victor said. ‘Stop!’ Boris shouted. A few more steps, and I would reach the storage room. I would lock myself inside it and be safe. But the Gang caught up with me, and Boris grabbed me. ‘Gotcha!’ he snarled. Victor came standing in front of me: ‘Well, did you bring it?’ I said nothing. My heart pounded in my chest. ‘The questions!’ Boris repeated. ‘Do you have them?’ ‘No,’ I said softly. ‘What do you mean?’ Boris barked. ‘I don’t have them,’ I said. ‘Get his bag,’ Victor commanded. I tried to wrench free, but Boris held me tightly in his grip. The boy with the cap pulled the bag from my back. I almost fell over. He opened the bag and removed the bigger things. He threw my lunchbox on the floor, then my notebook, my pencil case, and a banana.

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Then he got hold of Ezra’s file. He threw that on the floor too. Next followed my keys and my phone. He held on to the phone. ‘Is there anything else inside? Victor asked. The boy with the cap turned my bag upside down and shook it. A gumball fell out, and a few paperclips. ‘Nope, it’s empty,’ the boy said. ‘That wasn’t very smart of you, Tino,’ Victor hissed. ‘There goes your chance of joining our Gang.’ ‘Loser,’ the boy with the cap said. He threw my empty bag at me. ‘What is this, by the way?’ Victor asked as he picked up Ezra’s file. ‘Give it back!’ I said, but Victor ignored me. ‘Ezra...‘ he read out loud from the cover, then began to leaf through the file. ‘Isn’t this information confidential?’ A huge grin appeared on his face: ‘Does Ezra know you have this file?’ My face turned red. ‘He doesn’t, right?’ Victor said. ‘Well, I think we should give it back to him.’ ‘Maybe we’ll get a reward,’ said Boris. ‘Maybe we will,’ said Victor. ‘And you, Tino, will be in a lot of trouble.’ He started to laugh. ‘What will your mother think about all of this?’ ‘What will I think about what?’ a woman’s voice asked sternly. My mom! Right in front of us. Boris immediately let go of me, and the boy with the cap gave me my phone back. ‘Nothing, ma’am,’ Victor said innocently. ‘We were just helping Tino get up. He fell down.’

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‘Fell down?’ my mom repeated with disbelief. She looked at the items on the ground. ‘I will speak with Tino to find out how he ‘fell’ first, and then I will speak with you.’ ‘Fine with me,’ said Victor. ‘Oh, before I forget, this was in his bag as well.’ He handed Ezra’s file to her. My mom took the file and began to pick up my things. Victor quickly leaned over to me. ‘You would never have fit in with us anyway,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘Because you’re not super strong. You’re not even normal.’ Then he walked away with the other members of the Gang. My mom gave my bag back to me. ‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘Nothing,’ I mumbled. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said. ‘Are they bullying you, Tino?’ I shrugged. Then she looked at the file in her hands. I stopped breathing. ‘Ezra...‘ she mumbled. ‘Where did you get this file?’ I hesitated. If I told her how I got it, I would betray my friends. ‘I just borrowed it for a while,’ I tried. ‘To find other kids with disabilities.’ ‘Why do you want to find them?’ she asked, surprised. ‘So I could discover their superpowers,’ I explained. ‘So that Lisa would have friends when I joined the Gang.’ My mom looked alarmed: ‘What, the Gang? Do you mean that group just now? You wanted to become friends with them? But they’re not your type of friends at all!’ ‘No, they’re not, that’s why I became friends with Lisa and Max and all the others.’

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‘I don’t understand,’ my mom said. She looked at the file again. ‘Does Ezra know you have this file?’ I shook my head, no. My mom sighed: ‘We’ll continue this conversation at home. First, we are going to Ezra to return his file, and then you will apologize to him.’ ‘But the bus going to the Day of the Disabled Child will be leaving soon,’ I said. ‘Then that’s too bad.’ my mom said, and she pulled me along with her.

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Everything is ruined The door to Ezra’s office was slightly open. The last time I was there, Lisa, Max and I had met Jesse. ‘Inside!’ my mom commanded and gave me a little push. Ezra was sitting behind his desk and looked up in surprise. He had a thick pair of glasses on his nose. I wondered if glasses that thick could mean that he had a superpower as well. My mom put the file on the table. ‘We’re here to return something,’ she said to Ezra. Then she explained what I had told her, and then she made me apologize. Ezra pulled open his desk drawer. Probably to see if the key was still in there. ‘Hmmm, this comes as a shock to me, Tino,’ he said as he closed the drawer again. ‘You know this is stealing, don’t you?’ ‘But I was trying to do a good thing,’ I protested. ‘Stealing is never good,’ said Ezra. ‘But I needed it so I could find more superpowers!’ I tried to explain. ‘Oh, Tino,’ my mom sighed. ‘And I thought that things were going so well.’ She looked at Ezra. He looked at me over the rim of his glasses. ‘I guess things haven’t been easy for him recently,’ he said. ‘Moving to a new place, a new school…’ Outside, a bus arrived in the schoolyard. It was probably going to the Day of the Disabled Child. I looked for my friends. Yes! There they were: Max, Lisa, Jesse, and Ming. They had just

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come outside and were walking toward the bus. Max had tied the teddy bear from the High Riser to the back of his wheelchair. It looked funny. ‘Tino! Are you listening?’ my mom asked. ‘I will have to report this to the principal, I’m afraid,’ Ezra said. ‘And I will also advise her to forbid your, um… ‘superpower group’. I will tell her this afternoon, right after the Day of the Disabled Child.’ I was shocked. ‘Forbid?’ I cried out astonished. ‘Look, Tino, I understand how happy you are with your new friends, but I am getting the strong impression that you’re having a bad influence on each other.’ ‘How?’ I asked. ‘You are making each other believe that your disabilities are superpowers,’ Ezra replied. ‘Our disabilities are not our superpowers,’ I tried to explain. ‘We have a superpower because of our disability.’ Ezra shook his head. ‘It’s a wonderful story for a book, but you mustn’t confuse fantasy with reality.’ ‘But it’s really true!’ I cried. ‘You see, Tino, that’s the whole problem. You started to really believe in it yourself… You’re even trying to justify stealing my file.’ How could I convince him? Should I show him my notebook with the drawings? I reached for my bag. Or would they just take my notebook away from me? I let go of my bag again. ‘I also think that it would be good for Tino to talk to someone,’ Ezra told my mom. ‘The two of us can discuss that later. We’re all done here for now.’

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Ezra looked out the window. The bus was leaving the schoolyard. ‘Ah, that’s too bad. We just missed the bus. I’ll take the car.’ He looked at my mom. ‘You planned on going as well, am I right? You can ride with me if you want to. We’ll still be on time for the part with the students.’ My mom nodded, ‘That sounds great.’ ‘And Tino?’ he asked her. ‘He’s going straight home.’ my mom replied. I didn’t know whether I was upset about it or not. Everything was ruined now anyway. It was my fault that we had lost the file, and the school principal was going to forbid our group. ‘You and I will continue this talk after I get home,’ my mom said to me.

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The next step I thought hard while I waited for the bus. How could I prevent our group from being forbidden? But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t come up with anything. I wondered if adventures sometimes ended badly or if every problem had a solution. Maybe Tiko could help me? The approaching bus had a different driver. I decided to wait for another bus and signaled to the driver that I wasn’t getting on. Tiko wasn’t in the next bus either. Was he even working today? ‘Where do you need to go?’ the bus driver asked, when he saw that I wasn’t getting in. ‘I’m looking for Tiko,’ I said. ‘Is he working today?’ ‘He’s on another bus line this morning, I think,’ the bus driver answered. ‘You might be able to find him at the bus station. All the buses go through there. Do you want a ride?' I nodded and got on the bus. If my mom knew I hadn’t gone straight home, she would be even angrier. But I had to do something! ‘Shouldn’t you be at school?’ the bus driver asked me when we were driving. I shook my head. ‘Well, enjoy,’ he said. ‘I’m done for today as well after this. I’m going to grab a quick coffee at the station and then head home.’ The bus station was a large square with at least twenty bus stops lined up one after the other. I had been there before with my

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mom, but never on my own. It was like a giant anthill. Everywhere you looked, there were buses coming and going and people walking around. ‘Watch out!’ a man with a suitcase yelled as he stormed past me. I stepped aside and looked around. How would I ever find Tiko in a place like this? All I could do was check all the buses, and I quickly walked to a stationary bus to see if Tiko was in it. Alas! Then I walked to the next bus, and then to another, and another. But Tiko was nowhere to be found. After ten buses, I was sweaty and out of breath. My left leg hurt from walking, but I couldn’t give up! It felt as if Tiko was my only chance at finding a solution. My stomach growled hungrily, and I was really thirsty. Wait a second, what did the bus driver say again? ‘Grab a quick coffee at the station…’ Maybe there was a canteen for bus drivers where they could tell me where Tiko was? I looked around and saw a small one-story construction. The sign on the door had a bus logo. Could that be it? I walked over and knocked. A man with a moustache opened the door. ‘Good afternoon, young man,’ he said. ‘Can I help you with something?’ ‘Tino?’ I heard someone say. The large man stepped aside, and I saw who was standing behind him. Tiko! I sure was glad to see him! ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, surprised. ‘Have a seat and drink something.’ I felt relieved and went inside. Tiko pushed a chair in my direction and poured a glass of lemonade.

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The man with the moustache grabbed his briefcase. ‘I’m heading out again!’ he said and left. ‘Welcome to our canteen,’ Tiko said. He put the lemonade on the table in front of me. I immediately took a few gulps. ‘Now tell me, what’s going on?’ ‘I ruined everything,’ I said, and told him that my friends were disappointed in me because they thought they were my friends, and that they really were. But that my mom and Ezra didn’t believe in our superpowers and that Ezra was going to ask the principal to forbid our group. I didn’t mention Ezra’s file, I didn’t want to betray my friends. Tiko’s forehead rippled. ‘You know, Tino,’ he said, ‘I think the problem might be the solution.’ ‘How do you mean?’ I asked. ‘Wait here a second, and don’t worry,’ Tiko replied as he got up and walked outside. That was easier said than done. I was extremely upset! Through the window I could see Tiko talking to someone on the phone. Had he come up with a solution? I took my lunchbox out of my bag and bit into my sandwich. ‘There, that’s been taken care of,’ Tiko said, when he came back inside. He looked on his watch. ‘Twelve thirty already, I have to head out again,’ Tiko said, and got his jacket. Twelve thirty? Time had flown by! The Day of the Disabled Child would be over soon, and Ezra would speak to the school principal. I let out a deep sigh. ‘Just wait here for a little while and someone will pick you up, okay?’ Tiko said.

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‘Can I use the bathroom?’ I asked. ‘Of course,’ Tiko answered, and he pointed to a door next to the coffee machine. When I came back into the canteen, a man in a motorcycle suit was standing inside. I froze. It was the motorcyclist my friends and I had seen in front of the school! I looked around but Tiko was gone already. The motorcyclist removed his helmet. It was the custodian! My heart skipped a beat. What was he doing here? ‘Hello Tino,’ he said. Would he give me a lecture? ‘Tell me, Tino, how many superpowers have you discovered so far?’ the custodian asked. My jaw dropped. ‘Uh, how do you mean? How do you know?’ I asked, surprised. ‘I know all about it, you see,’ he laughed. ‘Ever since the holiday break when I saw you gathering in front of the school. Kids usually stay away from school during vacations. Therefore, I thought that was strange. And, of course, I had run into all of you in the schoolyard at night one time, when you were ‘looking for Lisa’s cane’. In other words, I wanted to know what plan you were cooking up. That’s why I looked at the camera footage.’ Cameras in our school? We hadn’t thought of that. The custodian continued: ‘The images revealed your meeting place in the storage room, and the competition schedule on the skeleton. That’s how I knew when you would gather in front of the school again.’ Ha! So that’s why he was always there at the exact same time as us!

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‘And I found out that you had stolen Ezra’s file,’ the custodian said. Oh, no, then he would also know that I had done it together with my friends. And I had tried so hard not to betray them. 'I should have reported it immediately of course,’ the custodian said. ‘But first I wanted to figure out why you had stolen it. Because, you see, I’ve experienced many things since I started working here at Springboard Elementary, but never students stealing a school counsellor’s file,’ the custodian said. ‘But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t explain it. Until I spoke to Tiko.’ ‘Tiko?’ I repeated. ‘How do you know him?’ ‘We tour together on our motorcycles,’ the custodian explained. ‘And when I told him about you, he recognized you from the bus. He also knew that you were trying to find kids with disabilities to win competitions with. That’s when it finally hit me, and I understood why you had stolen Ezra’s file. It has all the students with disabilities in it, of course!’ The custodian came a little closer. ‘So, tell me. How many superpowers have you discovered so far?’ I didn’t really want to talk about it anymore. Everything was ruined now anyway. I took the notebook out of my bag and gave it to him. ‘It’s in here,’ I said. ‘Wonderful,’ the custodian mumbled as he leafed through the pages. ‘You’re not angry?’ I asked carefully. ‘Angry? No,’ the custodian said. ‘Look, it was wrong of you to steal that file, but I also understand how important this is for you. And not just for you, by the way, but for everyone.’ ‘Everyone?’ I repeated, surprised.

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‘That’s right,’ the custodian said. ‘Just think about it. A disability is something that creates a challenge for someone. And everyone has something they struggle with more than others do. Like Sophie struggles with supporting her mom.’ I knew it! I was right about Sophie. Her disability is her home situation. Superpowers don’t only come from disabilities like mine. The custodian continued: ‘All children are faced with challenges, like you and your friends. But grownups too.’ ‘Grownups too?’ I asked surprised. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Grownups have all sorts of challenges, at work for example, or in their families. But if they can find a way to handle their problems, they also develop a superpower. And they can use that superpower for other things as well. Just like you are doing with your group. You see?’ ‘But my mom and Ezra don’t believe me,’ I sighed. ‘And our group will be forbidden soon. Everything failed.’ The custodian closed my notebook. ‘Do you believe in it yourself?’ he asked. ‘Of course!’ I replied. I had never believed in anything as much as this. ‘Good. Now put this on,’ the custodian said, and he gave me a helmet. Wow! He was letting me ride on the back of his motorcycle. I quickly put my lunchbox back in my bag. ‘You are much friendlier than I expected,’ I said as we went outside. ‘We were really afraid of you and Rex.’ ‘Rex?’ The custodian laughed. ‘Rex scares people, but he doesn’t attack anyone. I adopted him from the animal shelter. And he’s partly deaf, that’s why he doesn’t listen well.’ The custodian took my crutch and put it in is backpack. He then

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helped me get on the motorcycle and sat down himself. ‘Hold on to me tightly, alright?' I heard the engine start and we zipped away from the bus station. I watched the trees and houses fly by us. The Day of the Disabled Child was probably almost over by now. I hoped I would be home before my mom got back. Then she wouldn’t find out that I had gone to the bus station. ‘We’re there,’ the custodian shouted, as we lessened speed. ‘Where are we?’ I asked, astonished. This wasn’t my street. I didn’t recognize anything about this place! ‘We’ve arrived at your next step,’ the custodian answered, and parked in front of a high building. He got off the motorcycle, helped me get off, took my helmet, and gave me back my crutch. I looked up. A large banner above the entrance read: ‘Day of the Disabled Child.’ What? Did I have to… ‘Go and quickly tell the principal about it yourself,’ the custodian said. ‘The whole story. Before Ezra gets a chance to speak to her. And remember, you’re not just doing this for yourself, but for everyone.’ I took a deep breath, and walked toward the entrance. ‘Tino!’ the custodian shouted. ‘Don’t forget your notebook!’ He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out my notebook. Hey, he still had it? ‘Uh… thanks,’ I said, and I walked back to get the notebook. ‘You can do it, Tino!’ he said, and then he drove away.

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The day I pulled on the handle of the large front door. It was locked. I saw some people walking back and forth through the glass. After I had knocked for a long time, a woman finally opened the door. ‘Yes?’ she said. ‘I’m here for the event,’ I answered. ‘You’re too late,’ she said. It’s almost over.’ ‘But it’s very important,’ I tried. ‘I’m sorry, it really isn’t possible,’ and the door was closed again. I looked for another entrance – a large building like that was bound to have other doors. I saw a young man talking on his phone around the corner of the building, with his back turned to me. The door behind him was open. This was my chance! I slipped inside, and the smell of soap floated toward me. I accidentally bumped against a large trashcan with my crutch. ‘Who’s there?’ someone said from behind a tower of dirty dishes. A sweaty face appeared. ‘Um, I’m here for the Day of the Disabled Child,’ I replied. ‘You’re in the wrong place. And it will be over in about fifteen minutes,’ the man said, and he disappeared behind the dishes again. ‘But it’s extremely important! I have to tell them something,’ I said, and walked toward him. The dishwasher looked at me and my crutch, and then looked around him.

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‘You’re in the wrong place. You’re in the dishwashing area. You need to go that way.’ He nodded at a swing door. Then the young man who I’d seen talking on the phone walked in. The dishwasher motioned that I should secretly follow the young man. I did that as fast as I could from a safe distance. We walked through a kitchen where the young man lifted a tray full of small plates with cookies, then we went through the swing door and entered a large hall with high windows. There he handed the tray to a woman. ‘What is he doing here?’ she asked, looking at me. I froze. The young man turned around and looked at my crutch. ‘Are you with the Day of the Disabled Child?’ I nodded but felt I needed to convince them. ‘I just went to the bathroom and now I can’t find the hall anymore,’ I lied. ‘You need to go that way,’ he said, and pointed at a large wooden door. I hurried away. ‘Poor thing,’ I heard the woman say to the young man. ‘He also suffers from amnesia.’ I pushed the large door open with difficulty. My eyes had to get used to the darkness. I was standing in an enormous hall full of people. It looked like a theater. Sitting on the stage behind a table were two men and a woman. Next to the table stood a woman with a microphone in her right hand. She looked at the note in her left hand and said: ‘We now have time for some questions from the audience.’ A few people in the audience raised their hand, and the woman walked over to them with the microphone. They asked their questions one by one. My heart was racing.

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I knew the principal was somewhere in this auditorium. If I told my story now, she would hear it, and I would be quicker than Ezra! I took a deep breath and raised my hand. ‘There’s someone over here as well,’ a man shouted, when the presenter was finished with the question. She looked to where the voice came from and saw my raised hand. ‘How nice, a question from one of the children,’ the woman said as she walked over to me. ‘Go ahead. What is your question?’ She held the microphone close to my mouth. ‘Um, I don’t have a question,’ I said. ‘I want to tell you something about being extra-abled. It’ a kind of superpower.’ ‘Superpowers?’ the presenter repeated, surprised. ‘Yes, we have superpowers because we have a disability. And we can do all kinds of things much better than other people. Like Max, who uses a wheelchair and because of that has extra strong arms, and Lisa, who can find her way around in the dark because she is blind, and Sophie, who is great at making clever arrangements because she has to do this for her sick mother at home as well.’ There was an icy silence in the auditorium. ‘It’s really true,’ I said, and pulled the notebook out of my bag. ‘All the superpowers we have found so far are in here,’ I said. Someone began to snicker. ‘Maybe this is more suitable for the coffee afterwards?’ the presenter said. She patted me on the back and walked back to the stage. ‘Just a minute,’ the woman on the stage said. ‘Can I have a look at that notebook?’

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The presenter sighed, took the notebook out of my hand and walked toward the stage with it. The woman accepted it and leafed through the pages. I held my breath. ‘Shall we continue?’ the presenter asked, and she looked at her watch. ‘No, not yet,’ the woman holding my notebook said. ‘I want to hear his story. Let him come up on the stage.’ She beckoned me. ‘But…’ the presenter protested. I walked to the stage as fast as I could and went up the ramp that had been placed on the side. The woman with my notebook handed me the microphone that lay on the table in front of her. I noticed she had a tiny microphone next to her mouth herself, like a telephone operator. ‘Tell us, what did you mean by being extra-abled?’ I turned around to face the audience, and now I could see how big the hall was and how full it was! Rows and rows of people, even on the balcony. There were many grownups I didn’t know, and many children as well, all with different disabilities. Some kids were holding crutches, others were in wheelchairs. I also saw kids with tubes in their nose, and a boy without hair. There were so many people, that I wondered if you would create an earthquake when all of them jumped at the same time. In the middle of the auditorium, I recognized the girl from the Step-Uppers. And there was my mom! On the side, next to Ezra. I didn’t see my friends. ‘Take your time,’ the woman said. I looked at her and then I looked at the auditorium again. My heart pounded in my chest and my legs were shaking.

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I was terrified, but I knew that this was very important. ‘You must tell them the whole story,’ Tiko had said. It meant that I would have to start at the beginning. And the beginning was during lunch break, when Boris and the boy with the cap took my crutch away from me. And the storage room, where I hid myself. And then I would tell them about the school party, where I met The Gang, and about Lisa, who led us all out of the school building, and everything that had happened after that. I took a deep breath and then:

…then I told them the whole story.

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Extra-able I gaze into the auditorium – it’s completely quiet. I can feel that all eyes are on me. My heart beats so loud others might hear it. The presenter comes over and pats me on the back. ‘Well, what a wonderful story. Did you invent this yourself?’ I can feel my courage drain away. I knew it, they don’t believe me! ‘Never mind,’ I said, and I hand the microphone back to the presenter. Then I hear Lisa shout from the rear of the hall: ‘No, it’s true! It’s all true!’ ‘Yes,’ Max yells. ‘The whole story!’ All heads turn toward them. ‘Who are you?’ the woman with my notebook asks. ‘We’re Tino’s friends,’ Lisa shouts. She is standing now. ‘From the story?’ the woman asks. ‘Yes!’ Lisa shouts back. ‘I’m Lisa! See?!’ and she holds up her cane. ‘Yes, and I’m Ming!’ Ming shouts. ‘And I’m Max!’ Max shouts. ‘Look, here’s the teddy bear I won.’ He holds the teddy bear up in the air. ‘I’m Jesse,’ says Jesse, not as loud as the rest. ‘Danny is here too. I called him!’ Jesse raises his hand to show his phone. ‘Tell me, Tino,’ the woman says, ‘what do you want to accomplish with your group?’ She motions the presenter to hand me the microphone again. ‘We can win even more competitions,’ I reply. ‘But perhaps we can use our superpowers for other things as well. Just like Sophie who

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is good at arranging things.’ I remember what the custodian had said, that it was important for everyone. I wonder what would be possible with the superpowers of all people. ‘I think we are able to achieve all sorts of things,’ I continue. ‘We excel at certain things because of our extra abilities. Like the Gang, but extra. We are… the Gang of Extra-Able!’ ‘Great name, Tino!’ someone yells near the exit. It’s Sophie. How did she get here? I thought she wasn’t going to be at this event? ‘Can I join your gang?’ a girl shouts from the balcony. Everyone turns toward her. ‘I want to discover my superpower too,’ she says. ‘Me too!’ a boy calls out. ‘I have asthma. What’s my superpower?’ ‘My friend’s parents are divorced, and they fight all the time. Does she have a superpower as well?’ a girl at the front of the auditorium asks. More and more kids begin to shout and talk on top of each other. ‘Listen up everyone! You can all sign up with me later!’ Sophie shouts. ‘Hey, hey! Boys, girls!’ the presenter says, trying to quiet down the hall. ‘Your enthusiasm is wonderful,’ she says as she looks at the note in her hand, ‘but we’re going to wrap things up.’ ‘No, wait!’ the woman with my notebook shouts as she gets to her feet. ‘I would like to say something before we do.’ ‘I really don’t think we have time left for…’ the presenter protests. But the woman is already speaking: ‘I began my career in education twenty-three years ago. My goal was to discover the children’s talents. But I now understand that I have overlooked something all this time. And not only me, but all of us. The whole organization.’

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I hear someone cough in the audience. ‘In our desire to help the children, we have mostly focused on ways to support them with their disabilities,’ the woman continues. ‘And we look for the talents they have despite their impairment. We discover that a student who is blind can learn how to calculate despite of it, or that a student can swim even though he has trouble walking.’ She looks at me for a moment. ‘These talents are very important, of course. But the extra abilities that Tino has tracked down, are the things we are able to do not despite a disability, but specifically thanks to the disability. Just like a rainbow, that would never exist if it weren’t for the rain. But, similar to the way the sun makes the rainbow visible, we must put the extra abilities in the limelight. Or we won’t be able to see them.’ Some people in the audience nodded in approval. ‘We will continue to help everyone with a disability, of course, but we also have to start recognizing and utilizing all the extra abilties! In the exact same way as Tino has done with his friends. And I will do everything I can to contribute to this with our school, Springboard Elementary.’ Springboard Elementary? Hey, that’s my school! That means, that she is our… principal! I see her look at Ezra. ‘And you and I will have a little talk after this,’ she says in a serious tone. The principal beckons my friends. ‘Can you come up to the stage?’ ‘We’ll be right over!’ Sophie cries. ‘So you’re not going to forbid us?’ I ask the principal softly. I squeeze my crutch. ‘On the contrary!’ she laughs. ‘You and your friends have opened

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my eyes, Tino! I really want to thank you all so much for that!’ I can finally breathe normally again. She leans over to my face and whispers: ‘You did forget to mention something in your speech though…’ I don’t understand what she means. ‘…two of your superpowers. Look, it’s in your notebook.’ She gives me back my notebook and I quickly leaf through the pages to my self-portrait. Something has been added next to my drawing: ‘superpowerfinder & persistent’! How did it...? I didn’t write that in there! Wait a second... The custodian must have done that when he had my notebook. ‘It all makes sense,’ the principal says. ‘You’re a superpower-finder. And you persisted, luckily, or you would never have come this far, and we would never have heard your extraordinary story either.’ ‘Showtime!’ Sophie shouts as she steps onto the stage. Following behind her are Ming, Lisa, and Jesse, who is still holding his phone. Max wheels up the ramp and onto the stage. I ask Sophie how she found out where we were. ‘Jesse sent me a text message with his phone,’ she says. ‘And then I came as soon as I could. On my new bike!’ Sophie flung her arm around my shoulder. ‘Great name for our group, by the way! ‘The Gang of Extra-Abled’. We can make Tshirts with this name on them, and then sell them!’ I laugh. Leave it to Sophie to come up with something like that! A technician sticks a wire into Jesse’s phone. Suddenly, we see Danny on the big screen behind us! He waves. Some kids in the audience wave back at the screen. When our entire group is on the stage, the principal says: ‘Ladies

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and gentlemen, let’s have a big round of applause for The Gang of Extra-Able!’ She begins to applaud. Many kids erupt in cheers. Many grownups are applauding as well. I see my mom give a thumbs-up. She seems to be laughing and crying at the same time. Ezra isn’t applauding, and still looks a little angry and amazed. ‘Agrazed,’ Sophie’s little brother would say. But I don’t care anymore, because the principal is not going to forbid us, and with all the sign-ups from the children in the audience we won’t even need Ezra’s file anymore! And besides, as the custodian has said: ‘Everyone can have a superpower, because everyone has something he or she is struggling with.’ It’s just more obvious in some people than in others. A girl with a big camera approaches the front of the stage. ‘Can everyone look this way please?’ she asks. ‘It's for our school paper!’ ‘We’re going to be famous!’ Sophie cries, and waves our flag around. I put my arm around Lisa’s shoulder and turn her toward the camera with me. Jesse begins to blush and looks at his phone. Max holds up his arm and flexes his muscles. Ming sits down on her skateboard and rolls to the front. The principal comes standing behind us. She puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes it gently. ‘You kids are going to make a big difference in many people’s lives,’ she says. ‘You’ll see!’ And I finally get the feeling that nothing has failed after all. That this might only be the beginning of a much bigger

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adventure. The adventure with our Gang of Extra-Abled. I wonder if you can measure the size of an adventure in yards. Maybe it will then become miles! ‘Smile!’ says the girl with the camera. And we do. All of us.

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Afterword The Gang of Extra-Able was created when by Haim Dror and Maya Lievegoed to write a children’s book about a fundamental element of the TINO method. The TINO method - developed by Haim and introduced in the Netherlands by Maya - is focused on finding and utilizing superpowers, or, in other words: unrecognized knowledge. Unrecognized knowledge is a potential that everyone accumulates naturally but unconsciously. A crisis or disability can intensify this process. The book offers an elaborated version of a short metaphor that they developed years ago, and have used since then, to explain (part of) the TINO method: a boy with a weak left leg develops an exceptionally strong right leg because of it. The writers hope to normalize their systematic assessment of everything that is below average and the extraordinary potential that develops precisely because of it. Because whether you are a youth or an adult, you always have unrecognized knowledge to discover and utilize. Not only individuals, but groups, organizations, and businesses have this unrecognized knowledge as well. Making use of them makes it easier to resolve complex issues, improve on policies, and develop new products or services. It is also more efficient because you are using what is already there – a kind of ‘sustainability of people’. The TINO method has already been frequently deployed through

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various programs, both in the business community, as well as in public and social organizations such as healthcare and educational institutions. An overview of the TINO programs can be found on the website www.humints.com. Would you like to know what your own unrecognized knowledge is and what you can do with it? Or do you want to work with your class, team, organization, or company to find and utilize your unrecognized knowledge? Please contact us at info@humints.com

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The Gang of Extra-Abled is a publication of HUMINT Solutions Netherlands B.V. © 2022 HUMINT Solutions Netherlands, Arnhem First edition 'De Bende van Super-Anders' was published in 2021 Text Haim Dror & Maya Lievegoed Illustrations Maya Lievegoed Design Maya Lievegoed Translation Monica Schwartz, Maya Lievegoed & Melody Toering No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from HUMINT Solutions Netherlands, Driekoningendwarsstraat 56-3, 6828EJ Arnhem, The Netherlands. Visit www.humints.com/extraable