the bridge of my nose and round my shoulders like Drew Listerman And I’m on Good evening ladies and gentleman Today we’re celebrating a day in the life of Zachary Cooley Maybe you saw his picture in the newspaper on the day he stomped out a bunch of smoldering cigarette butts in the Pinemont Woods preventing what surely would have been Pennsylvania’s most massive forest fire Or perhaps you heard his name mentioned on the radio the morning he spotted a woman walking on the railroad tracks and got her to safety just moments before a speeding train whipped by Certainly you saw the story on the evening news about the time Zack rappelled out of a helicopter and rescued a man swimming in the ocean below Seconds later a school of great white sharks was spotted off the coast Young Zack is credited with saving hundreds no thousands of lives Please join me in welcoming birthday boy Zachary 2
Noah Cooley a real-life superhero I imagine viewers all over the country and around the world clapping and cheering and waiting to see me and I run a hand through my hair so it’s back in my regular style on the longish side and messed up like I just went for a superfast ride in a convertible top down Then I hold my fist out toward my reflection Well first off Drew I don’t know that I’d call myself a superhero I pause for a second and in my head a few thousand voices talk back to their TVs What Zack Of course you are But second of all I’m here to save even more lives with a special message And that message is Listen to your fears I thought the only thing to fear is fear itself Drew says Sorry Drew I say But you and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are sadly mistaken There are more things to fear than you could possibly count 3
Such as Such as Aren’t you afraid to walk too close to the edge of a roof I can see Drew nodding Of course he is You’re afraid because you could fall off I tell him And I bet you’re afraid to climb into the lions cage at the zoo because you know they can eat you These are good fears to have because they stop you from doing something that could hurt you or even kill you Having fears saves lives I’ve never thought of it that way before Drew Listerman says But it’s certainly an important message you’re spreading In fact it’s practically a birthday present to us all When really we should be showering you with presents especially on a birthday this significant Tell me how does it feel to hit double digits It’s a funny thing I say When I woke up this morning something felt different I peer a bit closer into the mirror closer into the camera You ever get the feeling that something is 4
changing in your life that you’re in for something particularly extraordinary As I say it I feel a tingle run down my spine like it’s true Like I’m onto something Like there actually are people out there right now watching me and something big is going to happen right before their eyes And then BOO Quinn yells Ahh I stumble backward You almost gave me a heart attack I shout at my sister What are you doing in here anyway The bathroom door had been closed I’m sure of it I hadn’t locked it but that’s because I broke all the locks in our house a couple of months ago Do you know how many people die each year because they lock themselves into their bedrooms or bathrooms and a fire starts up and no one can get to them in time to save them Okay I don’t know either But I bet a lot of people do 5
