How to be a hero Words by Florence Perry Hyde Pictures by Chuck Ronik Once upon a time, there was a nice boy and his name was Gideon. He lived in a nice house and he had nice parents and lots of toys. There, that's enough for anyone. Well, it wasn't enough for Gideon. Gideon wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be a hero. You know, a hero with his name on the front page of the newspaper. That sort of thing. So how does anyone get to be a hero anyway? He wondered. You have to be strong. You have to be brave. You have to be clever. Don't you? For instance, that one about a princess imprisoned in a tower and she has a weird name like Rapunella and very long hair and this guy sees her and says let down your hair and she does and he climbs up her hair and rescues her. So he's a hero. And the story where a witch gives a girl a poison apple and when she takes a bite she goes into a deep sleep, which is sort of like being dead but not really. And nothing will get her awake except the kiss and someone does see her sleeping there and he kisses her and he's a hero. Just like that. And Gideon thought about the one where someone has a mean stepmother and mean step sisters and they make her dust in sweet and scrub so she never gets to go to parties. But a fairy godmother gives her a party dress and glass slippers and she goes to a big party and loses one of her glass slippers and this guy finds it and gives it to her and that makes him a hero. And just because he found that slipper. He noticed that some of them got to be heroes just by kissing someone. Gideon didn't much like that kissing part but he'd probably do it if he could get to be a hero that way. Once the babysitter fell asleep watching television and he wondered if that would count. If he kissed her. But he didn't think so and he didn't do it. One of his favorite stories was the one about this kid finding some seeds or beans or something like that and they grew up to be a great big fine. And he climbs up and finds some neat things. There's a giant up there but he's asleep so the kid takes home all the good stuff and he's a hero. And he doesn't have to kiss anybody. Gideon thought about how all those guys turned out to be heroes and he decided they didn't have to do anything or be anything. They didn't have to be strong, they didn't have to be brave, they didn't have to be clever. They just had to be at the right place at the right time. That's how you get to be a hero. You have to be at the right place at the right time. And you have to pay attention. You had to keep your eyes open or you wouldn't see someone who was sleeping or someone with unusually long hair or you wouldn't see any glass slipper or any beans or seeds or anything. So Gideon paid attention and he kept his eyes open. He kept his eyes open and that is how he saw the big supermarket. Seeing the supermarket reminded him that he wanted a candy bar. His nice parents had just given him his allowance so he had enough money. Gideon picked out his candy bar and waited patiently in line behind several other customers. He noticed there were balloons and flowers and cakes and as he paid for his candy people suddenly surrounded him, taking pictures, clapped being him on the back, congratulating him. congratulating Gideon for what? What for? Well Gideon was the 10,000th customer to buy something at the supermarket. Everybody was excited. People patting him on the back, a girl kissed him on the cheek. For a minute he wondered whether that might turn him into a print or maybe a frog but nothing happened. The manager said he could come in for a candy bar anytime he felt like having one. His name was on the front page of the newspaper. His picture was on the front page. He was a hero and all because he had managed to be at the right place at the right time. Good!