Cap Chino ran his tongue over one of his canine teeth as he looked at his beautiful pearly whites in the pocket mirror he was holding up to the level of his eyes.  He turned his head a quarter to the left and scratched one tooth with a finger nail and was pleased to see it come away clean.

     Cap Chino had been 28 years old for five years now and lucky for him, everyone believed it.  His hair was mocha in color and swooped back to collect at the nape of his neck. His eyes were a darker mocha, almost black and his skin look like cream freshly poured into a hot cup of joe.

He listened with one ear as his friend, Glazel Duncan, once again complained about the horrors of his life.

"I'm tellin ya Cap, it ain't fair!  I mean, the least my father could've done was spare me a few bucks for a sandwich, but he just kicks me out...with nothin’!"

     Glazel had a rather high voice for Cap's ears, but the man listened anyway.  Glazel was 25, but everyone swore he was 15.  Glazel was short, 5'5" to be exact, whereas Cap was a strapping 6'2".  Cap had the body of a linebacker while Glazel looked as if he hadn't even grown into his yet. Glazel's hair was yellow blonde in color and his eyes seemed to be a dark brown, almost black. Seeing the two together could sum them up in one sentence:

         Don Juan conspiring with Dennis the Menace.

"Cap...hey, CAP!"

"Huh? What?" Cap asked as he came out of his narcissistic dream and looked at Glazel.

"Are you even listening to me anymore?" Glazel asked through the frown that was plastered on his face. Cap could only sigh.

"Y'see Glazel, the problem is...you're whining. And it's not even the kind of whine that makes you look good. I mean if a gorgeous lady walked by here right now, would you keep on with the 'woe is me act' or would you change the subject and be a man? I mean, answer me that boy!"

"I am not a boy! I am a man! And yes, if a person, man or woman, walked by I would change the subject."

Cap could only raise a brow and stare at Glazel through his left eye. It was a look that screamed 'oh really?'

"Honestly! I would!" Glazel added, beginning to slump in his seat at the booth and begin to pout.  Cap shook his head gently making sure not a strand of hair got out of place. He took one more look at himself in the small mirror and tucked it away as he rested his arms on the booth's table.

     The two were sitting in "Froster's Donuts", a rather shabby establishment that sold what most people claimed were the worse donuts in all of Raspberry Creme. There was only one problem. It was the only shop that sold donuts in Raspberry Creme.

     The small shop had two tables and two booths. The rest of the place consisting of the kitchen and the light brown counter which a few of the elders claim had been white back in their day. Underneath the light brown counter were several varieties of donuts, including the Raspberry Creme famous donut. The "Crispy Cream" donut which most people usually ordered without the cream.

     Cap and Glazel were currently sitting in the back booth, the booth which Glazel had been occupying for nearly three months now. Little money and with only the clothes on his back, Glazel had suddenly found himself destitute and depressed. If it weren't for Cap, Glazel was sure he would have been utterly alone.

 Glazel sighed as he stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and stood, heading for the counter.

"Glazel, c'mon, don't do this to yourself." Cap called out, knowing exactly what Glazel was planning to do.  Glazel just shook his head and looked up to the woman behind the counter.

"May I help you?" her voice was nasally and she was chewing gum.

"I'd like a Crispy Cream donut please. Hold the Cream...and the Crispy while you're at it. Ya know, can I just get a cup of coffee?" Glazel asked as his eyes went up and passed the lady to stare at the black and white menu that had several letters missing.

"Sorry Duncan, but Mrs. Froster told us to stop givin' you handouts. You'll have to go someplace else." the gum chewing counteress replied before heading into the back. Glazel blinked his eyes a few times as if this could not be happening to him.  Before he knew it, he felt Cap's hands on his shoulders, leading him back to the booth.

"Glazel, you have to do something. School probably isn't so bad, and if you asked Berry, I'm sure she'd let you have a job right here. She'd probably let you have all the donuts you could eat too." Cap said, trying to cheer his buddy up.

"I might as well forget it Cap. I'm a poor old bum who looks like a kid. Maybe I could try to sell myself at the orphanage downtown."

     Cap began to open his mouth, to continue to cheer up his best friend, but the sound of the bells tinkling as the door opened to the donut shop made him close his mouth and easily look above Glazel's head.  A pair of brown haired, blue eyed twins walked through the door and it seemed as if the heavens had suddenly opened up, shining light on these two beauties of perfection, Angels singing Hosannas to their glory.

     Glazel looked up to Cap, noticing the silence and next the staring. Glazel turned around to watch the new customers, but for him, no heavens opened and no Hosannas were sung. All he saw was a pair of twins walking up to the counter.

"We'd like a box of a dozen Crispy Cream's please." Twin number one said, leaning her arms on the counter.

"Without the Cream." Twin number two piped up as she gently tapped her sister's shoulder, making twin number one stand up straight, but as she took her arms off the counter a loud sticky slurp sounded and the twin quickly rubbed her arm, frowning.

"Eeew!" she said in reply to the sugary mess her arm had picked up.

Cap couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Glazel basically hurdle jump the back of the booth seat, running up to the counter, grabbing a few napkins on the way and sliding to a halt in front of the twin with the sticky mess.

"That's what you get Sprinkle, for not standing up straight." the twin scolded her sister as she began to look at Glazel.  Glazel gave a slight bow as he was noticed and flipped his wrist, offering the napkins with his palm up.

"Madam, I heard the ungodly sound that counter gave to your lovely arm, and may I offer these napkins in the hopes it will take away the..er..." Glazel trailed off, nervously searching for a word to finish his sentence.

"Grossness of it all?" Sprinkle supplied in a whisper, but with a faint smile.

"Ah, yes! That's it! To take away the grossness of it all!" he repeated with a bravado smile. Sprinkle giggled, as she placed her left-hand fingers over her mouth while her right took the napkins. Her sister used both hands to completely cover her mouth.

"Tell me, brave knight, what is your name?" Sprinkle asked after her giggling had subsided and she began to wipe off her arm.

"Glazel. Glazel Duncan."

"I'm Sugar Taffet, and this is my sister, Sprinkle." the other twin spoke as her sister concentrated on wiping off the last bit of sugar crystals from her arm.

"A pleasure to meet you fine young ladies." a deep voice said. Glazel looked up to spot that Cap had finally joined them. Turning to look back at the girl's, he watched as Sugar seemed to practically swoon at the site of Cap.

"Wow." she said in awe, her voice barely a whisper. Sprinkle rolled her eyes before smiling to Glazel.

"Thanks for the napkins. I really didn't want to have to wait until Blue gave them to us." she said as she threw a look of daggers at the counter waitress who was coming with the donuts.

"For a look like that Miss Taffet," Blue began, "I should charge you extra for. But seeing as how Mrs. Froster yelled at me the last time I did, you should just consider yourself lucky." and she placed the box on the counter. "It'll be four twenty-five. And don't try giving any to Glazel if he asks ya for them. The boy's been in here for the past three months trying to get freebies. Would've stopped giving them to him last month, but, well, the poor thing just looks so homely." Blue went from scolding to pity, talking about Glazel as if he weren't there.  This only supplied a deep frown and a slouch from the young man. Not only was he now being ignored, but Blue had also done the one thing Glazel detested. She had called him a boy.  To Glazel, this was the epitome of an insult, but he knew that as long as he didn't want to be thrown out of the donut shop, he would have to keep a civil tongue. He of course, detested that too.

     Sugar dug through her jean pockets and came up with the four dollar bill and the bronze coin to match it, lying it on the counter as she very gently picked up the donut box, hoping that unlike her sister's arm, the box would not illicit a slurping noise.  To the sister's relief, it did not.

"Thanks again Blue."

"See ya later Blue." the two girls said as they began to head out the door, leaving the two men to stare at them in their wake.

"Glazel, we need that pair." Cap said as if he were talking about shoes.

"I wonder if they have a sister." Glazel said with a smirk and a soft chuckle to follow. Cap blinked and furrowed his eyebrows as he looked down to Glazel.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I got to them first. If they have a sister, you can date her."

"Glazel, you could share."

"Never learned how."

"As if you could handle two women." Cap replied as he began to search for his pocket mirror again. Glazel just stared at the faint colors of the distant twins.

"Cap, I'd learn how to handle those two."

Every day, except Sunday, at roughly nine o’clock, Cap Chino would depart from Froster’s Donuts and head over to his own shop the “Pony Espresso”. At twenty after, the silver bell on the door would ring and Glazel Duncan would walk in.

“Cap?” Glazel asked sweetly as he batted his eyes.

“Yes Glazel?” Cap would reply tiredly and slightly irked.

“May I have a cup of coffee please?”

“When are you going to pay me for it?”

“As soon as my father takes me back in.” Glazel would reply back, his voice still so sickeningly sweet that Cap would quickly take out his pocket mirror to check his teeth for cavities.

“Give the mirror a rest Cap. I ain’t that sweet. Now, about this free cup of coffee…”

“Glazel, you are my dearest friend in all the world. I’d give you my coffee shop if I could, but the truth of the matter is, all of Raspberry Crème has decided to stop giving you handouts until you get a job.”

“And when was this decided?”

“Last night at the town council.” Cap replied as he filled a bowl with sugar.

“There was a council?” Glazel asked, looking confused as if the very word ‘council’ did not exist.

“Yes Glazel, there was. You really should keep up with what goes on around town.” Cap headed back to the counter and wiped his hands on a towel.

“In between starving and finding where I’m going to sleep for the night, keeping up on what’s going on in town is rather at the bottom of my list of concerns.” Glazel said as he plopped himself on a chair.

“Well if this heat wave continues, there won’t be much left to Raspberry Crème.”

“C’mon Cap, there ain’t no heat wave.”

“Fraise River looks like a gulch Glazel and if we loose anymore water, it’ll become even harder to sell my coffee. People like wet coffee, not just the powder it comes in.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“The mayor doesn’t seem to think so. He’s holding another town meeting tonight.”

Glazel looked at the bottle of creamer on the table and stared at the tiny square grains that made up the non-dairy product.

“Best idea gets five hundred dollars.” Cap added as he punched a few buttons on the cash register and began pulling out a few coins. Glazel blinked a few times and Cap could see the rusty wheels of his friend’s mind slowly begin to turn. Cap carefully placed the coins on Glazel’s table so as not to make a sound and then whispered softly,

“What’s this about a free cup of coffee?”

“That’s it!” Glazel cried out suddenly, startling Cap. “I’ll offer to not only put a stop to this heat wave, but get the town more water as well! That’ll get me the five hundred dollars!” and noticing the coins on the table, Glazel handed them to Cap. “A cup of  ‘Spresso de la Pony Cap. It’s gonna be a long day.”

    At ten to two later that day, Cap watched from behind the bar as Glazel spent his time writing on several napkins with a very short pencil Cap had loaned him. Glazel had gone through four napkins, all of them filled with the man’s tiny and neat scrawl, but when Cap tried to look at them, Glazel gather the napkins and stuck them in his pants pocket.

     The young man ever so carefully sipped at his ‘Spresso de la Pony, making sure it would last him till tonight’s town meeting.

“Cap, what’s twelve divided by thirty-four?”

“Two point eighty-three repeating if you divide it correctly.”

“Thanks.” Glazel replied as he took another small sip of his coffee.

“Glazel, what in the name of Sweet and Low are you doing?”

“Nothing. What’s your shoe size?”

“Fourteen wide. No, really, what are you doing?”

“I’m solving the town’s water problem.” Glazel answered as he continued to write on his napkins. Cap shook his head as he grabbed a rag and began to polish the coffee machine.

         The bell on the door rang and both men looked up to see another tall man enter the shop. His hot fudge hair looked wind tousled although the vanilla part near his head seemed to be perfectly slicked back. His malt ball black eyes and licorice thin lips only accented his knife like nose. Tall and lanky, he was dressed in a mint suit with a vanilla shirt and butterscotch shoes.

“Cap old boy,” the man began as he straightened his orange sherbet scarf that held a ruby cherry clip, “How are you? How's the shoppe?” his voice accented extra letters where they normally wouldn’t be.

“The shop’s fine Tony. Yours?” Cap asked, trying to keep his smile polite and tone civil. Glazel on the other hand looked between the two men in genuine curiosity. It was rare to see Cap try and keep his temper down.

“Hey Cap, introduce us to ya new friend?”

“Glazel Duncan, meet Tony Glace. Tony here owns the Berry Merry Ice Cream Parlor down the street.” Cap added as he came out from behind the counter to stand next to Glazel.

“Ah! So this is the young boy who the town has banned against.”

“I’m not a boy Mr. Glace.” Glazel said through clenched teeth. Tony rolled his eyes to look back at Cap.

“Yes, yes, either way I’m making two sundaes for the price of one. Cap, any word on loaning me a bit of your coffee supply?”

“Not until you plan to pay me.” Cap replied back quickly as he stood his full height, towering over Tony. Tony cleared his throat nervously as he looked away and his gaze fell upon Glazel.

“Well then, Mr. Duncan, I was wondering if perhaps you’d like a job at my ice cream shoppe, seeing as how you don’t have a coin towards your name.”

“He can’t.” Cap interrupted sharply before Glazel could answer, startling his companion out of his rising temper.

“Oh?” Tony asked, confused.

“See, I hired Glazel just yesterday evening. He’s my gopher.”

“Your what?” Tony and Glazel asked at the same time, although Glazel sounded outraged while Tony seemed to sound even more confused.

“Yep. He goes to the donut shops, grocery stores, hands out the take out orders. Those sorts of things.” Cap explained.

“Oh.” Tony said quietly as if this explanation answered the reasons of the universe. “Well then, I shall be on my way then. See you gentlemen at tonight’s meeting.” And with that, Tony made a hasty retreat out of the coffee shop.

“Oh, you owe me for that one!” Glazel said as he sat back down at his table.

“Look who’s talking.” Cap mumbled under his breath as he returned to the counter. Luckily, Glazel hadn’t heard him.

“Now, we all know why we’re here and this time it’s not about Glazel Duncan!” Gary Hun said as he stood atop the stage of Custard Auditorium. The crowd laughed at Gary’s joke, all of the except Glazel who fumed in his seat as Cap placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“You know Gary makes fun of everyone.” Cap said in a low voice as Mayor Latte walked on stage.

“Thank you Mr. Hun, you may take your seat.”

“Take it where? Ha ha!” Gary added one last joke as he walked off stage. The crowd only groaned as the mayor stood before the podium.

“The town is in a crisis,” Latte began, his voice soft and soothing instead of urgent, “Fraise River is drying up, afternoons have reached heats of One hundred and seventeen degrees. Schools can no longer keep in session with the heat and stores must close early in fear their goods may dry up. I have asked you all here tonight in the hopes that we may find a solution to our problem.”

     The people began to whisper among themselves, hoping to come up with a quick answer. Glazel cleared his throat a few times as he tried to choke down his nervousness.

“Uh, Mayor Latte, Sir,” Glazel squeaked as he stood on top of his chair. Unfortunately, Glazel couldn’t be heard over the chattering. Cap, noticing the squeak, slapped Glazel on the back, turning his squeak into a shout, “I have a solution!”

Everyone suddenly went quiet as all eyes turned towards Rome.

“Well Glazel, come up here and tell us.” The Mayor said with a smile as some people began to snicker.

Glazel slowly made his way towards the stage, trying in vain to keep from looking at the people he passed. However, from the corner of his eye he could see Sprinkle and Sugar sitting in one of the rows. Glazel gulped loudly as lifted his head high, feigning pride.

Latte moved and Glazel stood behind the podium. He sighed as he found his eyes barely looked over the edge. He looked at the side of the podium and noticed a small box. He moved the box behind the podium and climbed on top of it, giving him the height to let him see the crowd and vice versa.

“Goo-Good evening. As you all know my name is Glazel Duncan and—“

“And we haven’t got all night. Get on with it!” someone, most likely Gary, interrupted rudely.

“Yes, well then, I propose we build a large shade, a box like structure and place that over Fraise River—“

“And where—“

“Silence! Let the man finish!” Latte cried out before Glazel could be fully interrupted again. Indeed, the hall kept quiet.

“Then we use blinds on all the windows, keeping the morning air inside during the afternoons,” Glazel continued, “This will keep smaller shops cool for the day. While this keeps the city cool we will ask Gaufre City if we can borrow a bit of their water while some other town members find out why the heat wave is only affecting Raspberry Crème.”

People began to chatter again and the din was that of confusion.

“Glazel, what do you mean by this?” a small, plump woman in the back row asked.

“I’m saying that after doing some heavy research this afternoon, out of the quad-town area, Raspberry Crème is the only town to be having these heat wave like symptoms. So, I propose that we find out why.”

Some people began to clap, others nodded in agreement.

“Here here then. All in favor of instating Glazel’s plan say hurray.” Mayor Latte announced. It sounded as if everyone replied with hurray.

“Those against say Cream.”

“Cream.” Cried out two people. Everyone turned to see a blushing Tony Glace with a tall brown haired young girl sitting next to him equally embarrassed.

“Well then Glazel, it seems as if you have some work ahead of you.”

“Excuse me sir?” Glazel asked, shock plastering his face as he turned to look at the mayor.

“You said someone needs to find out why only we are being affected and I suggest you be that person. Congratulations my boy, you certainly are learning responsibility now that you are out on your own.”

“Oh joy.” Glazel mumbled under his breath as he looked out into the dispersing crowd. He saw Cap smiling his pearly whites straight at him.

        “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind Cap.” Glazel said, staring at the passing sidewalk as he and Cap headed to the taller man’s apartment.

“Glazel, I honestly don’t believe you had anything in there to begin with.”

“What do you mean by that?” Glazel asked as he stopped walked and his temper began to rise again.

“Research all afternoon?” Cap scoffed, “We both know you were in my coffee shop all day and the only time you’ve been out of it was when you were at Froster’s Donuts or the town meeting. In fact, you’ve never even been out of Raspberry Crème, so how do you know if we’re the only ones suffering this heat wave?”

“And what makes you think you’re always right?” Glazel asked as the two started walking again.

“With these looks, how could I be wrong?” Cap replied with a dashing smile. Glazel only rolled his eyes in retort.

 A few minutes of silence passed before Glazel spoke again.

“I think Mayor Latte knows.”

“Knows what?” Cap asked as he examined his perfectly filed nails.

“That I’ve never been out of Raspberry Crème before.”

“So?”

“I think that’s why he gave me the job, of going to the other towns, so I’d get cultured…or something.”

“That’s good.” Cap commented as they stopped outside his apartment door and he began searching his pockets for the key. Glazel sighed and pulled a silver key from around a hidden chain hanging on his neck. He pulled it over his head and in one swift movement, unlocked the door.

“You have a copy of my apartment key?” Cap asked, stunned as he opened his unlocked door.

“Got one made last week.”

“I thought I’d been running out of milk rather quickly.” Cap mused as he closed the door once both men were inside.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Glazel said as guilt began to break in. Cap headed towards his bedroom while Glazel went towards the kitchen.

“Well, I could think of other options, like telling me sooner, or asking.” Cap called out. Glazel rummaged through the refrigerator and frowned at a furry greenish looking thing, but smiled as his hand fell upon a chocolate pudding cup.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Glazel asked as they both entered the family room. Don Juan had dressed down to a dark red satin smoking jacket while Dennis the menace stuck to his red shirt and jean shorts. Cap sat on the couch and began to read the evening paper. Glazel sat on the other end eating his pudding cup.

“Ya know Cap—“

“No Glazel, I don’t. Enlighten me.” Cap interrupted as he flipped towards the second page.

“We’re gonna be super heroes.”

Cap blinked and lowered his paper,

“Excuse me?”

Glazel began to fumble with a pocket, pulling out one of the napkins from earlier that day.

“Super heroes. You know, like those insect people.” Glazel added as he unfolded the napkin to show Cap two crude drawings of the two standing side by side. The picture that represented Glazel showed him wearing a yellow cape and blue shorts along with his red shirt. The picture that represented Cap showed him dressed entirely in black and wearing a white baseball cap.

“And, um, what would our names be?” Cap asked, trying hard to stifle the hysterical laughter that was bubbling up inside of him.

“Donut Boy and Coffee Man.” Glazel replied, entirely serious. Cap’s straight face blasted into laughter, flowing out of him like liquid cream.

“CAP! I’m serious here!” Glazel cried out, angered and frustrated at his friend’s laughing.

“Glazel, why-why would we need to become super heroes?” Cap asked through a few more guffaws as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“Well, we’re goin’ to these other cities, aren’t we?”

“No, you are going to these other cities. I’m going to sit right here in my nice cool apartment and read the newspaper.”

Glazel got onto his knees, making him kneel on the sofa.

“Please Cap, come with me. I can’t go by myself. Like you said, we both know I’ve never been out of the city. I-I could get myself killed!”

Cap sighed and folded up his paper, placing it on the coffee table.

“First of all, you aren’t going to get yourself killed Glazel. Second off, even if I did go with you, what is with the super hero gig?”

“Let’s say we go to a town and ask for their help, right so who would want to give an out of town coffee shop owner and his two bit lackey a couple gallons of water? No one, but if we approached them as super heroes and offering our protection services in exchange for the water, they’d be willing to agree.”

“In other words, bribe them.”

“No no no no no, compromise, exchange…the whole ‘goods and services’ kinda deal everyone’s always talkin’ about.” Glazel tried explaining.

“Protecting them from what though? There’s no crime anywhere.”

Glazel sighed. On this one note, Cap was right. There was no crime in the quad-town area. The homeless were given homes, the hungry were fed and no one needed to steal cause everyone had a job. Even Glazel was taken care of even though he was on the lower end of most deals. Cap could see Glazel felt dejected. It was rare when the boy received a great idea, and in some ways, Glazel could’ve been right. Someday crime could sweep the area and when it did, he and Glazel could be right there, fighting it every step of the way.

“All right Glaze, how about this. We go to these towns as ourselves ask for the water, and if you’re right and they say no, then we return as our super hero selves. Deal?” Cap offered. Glazel quickly perked up, a grin spreading on his face.

“Deal.”