It was a pretty cool costume. I had a blue mask over my eyes, and a blue leotard, with blue boots, yellow tights and a yellow cape. Oh, yeah, and the blue leotard had yellow stars on it. I looked at myself in the mirror – I’d never had a full-length mirror in my room, but it was simple enough to wish for one – and thought, Yeah, looks good. The only things missing were the bulging muscles that superheroes tend to have, so I wished for a complete set: pecs, biceps, triceps, an awesome six-pack, the works. I looked at myself in the mirror again, and was impressed. You wouldn’t want to tangle with me.

Now I had to think of what super-powers to have. Ability to fly, obviously, that was a no-brainer. And super-strength, another gimme. What else, what else? The ability to go through walls like a ghost, that was a good one. And the power to run super fast, faster than a cheetah. And keep it up indefinitely. Better than a cheetah, because they get tired after about four hundred metres. I also wished for stretchy arms and legs like Mr Fantastic. And the ability to survive indefinitely without breathing, and to withstand extremes of heat and cold, and to be immune to pain, and have a body that automatically went diamond-hard if anyone hit me or kicked me or smote me a blow of any kind. And I’d better be bullet-proof and bomb-proof and fire-proof too, ’cause as a superhero I was bound to make a few enemies. That made me pretty much invincible. Finally, just for fun, I wished to be able to burrow underground like a mole.

Now I just had to think of a name.

Sam-Man?

Er, no.

Er . . .

Awesome Man?

Awesome Man!

Now to start crime-busting!

It was the morning after I’d got rid of Ben’s nits and saved Dad’s job, etc. Obviously I’d need the day off school to start my career as a superhero, so I wished the school was closed for the day because the boiler had broken down. I looked out of the window. It was a grey, drizzly day which didn’t look like it would be a whole lot of fun to fly through. So I wished it was nice and sunny, twenty degrees with a light breeze.

I tugged at the window to open it, but it was a bit stiff. So I made a wish and it swung open obediently. I realized then that I’d never need to open a window manually again. Or a door. I could just wish they were already open. Actually I didn’t even need to do that. I didn’t need windows or doors at all. I could just wish to be outside (or inside) whenever I wanted . . .

Anyway, I launched myself through the open window and flew out into the fresh morning air.