Francis: Top Secret Warrior Agent

        Francis punched his mighty fist deep into the unwitting snowdrift, feeling the grainy crystals on the surface tickle his uncovered elbow. Within seconds, his hand burned from all angles, under desperate attack from the flame-throwing snowflakes fighting off his aggressive, but necessary advance. Quickly shaking his father’s oversized watch down his wrist with a coat-covered left arm, he focused tightly on the second hand’s movement for comfort just inches from his focused face. The frigid wind gripped tightly at Francis’ neck, while the blistering battle waged below the snowy plane.
        He was saving lives. 
        Any sudden, stupid retreat from this underground attack meant the countless loss of any number of deer, rabbits, squirrels, maybe even some stray cats and dogs. They depended on him. They had families, jobs, lives to live well beyond today or in the bleakness of winter. Beads of anxious sweat formed on his icy forehead from the searing pain below.
        “I won’t let any of you die. Not today.” Francis forced from behind chattering grit teeth. 
        Carefully scanning the area around him for support or survivors, he pushed himself in grave agony, desperate to let the achingly slow, thin gold, spinning wire pass 12 before even pretending to allow himself to think about pulling his hand to safety. Arching his head back with eyelids tight, he screamed out a final guttural growl before swiftly pulling his fist out of the fight, sneaking it into the arm of his coat, before falling a bit backwards down the drift. 
        Gripping his angry arm and stinging hand in the other, Francis laid back into the snow, staring up at the unassuming grey sky, exhausted by another hard-won battle of good verses evil. While many spend their days—their entire lives even—simply going about unassuming and unaware, Francis knew evil was always lurking. Only brave, resourceful people like him, the true agents of goodness and justice, would always keep others safe. 
        At any cost. 
        All he needed was to be called into action. To be alert and aware at all…
        “Francine?!” A voice cried out from far away, behind him. 
        …To be alert and aware at all times and ready to battle evil…
        “Frannie?! Honey?!” The voice called out again, anxiously over the angry wind. 
        Francis closed his eyes gently, feeling far away. Wishing he was. 
        She doesn’t even know. The work I do. The price I’ve paid. The lives I’ve saved. He thought to himself. 
        “Frannie?! Where are you?” The voice cried again, louder. 
        “She doesn’t know anything.” Francis said softly, finally able to feel his own throbbing fingers wiggling free of the frozen fire attack’s paralyzing aftereffects. 
        “Francine Elizabeth!” The voice yelled, now getting frustrated. 
        “I’m coming.” He yelled back, sitting up, scanning the yard again for an ally. 
        The animals knew the truth. They all knew Francis. Oh sure, they’ve heard tale of “Francine”, understood her role in all of this, but they only truly knew the real Francis. The strong, brave, kind, wise young boy, trapped by an evil wizard in the body of someone else. 
        Which was actually good on some days, Francis believed, because the work of a top secret warrior agent was a difficult one. Being able to disguise oneself was critically important to almost every mission. Like a puffy white coat and pants in the fresh snow, “Francine” existed solely for the purpose of covert deception. 
        For now. 
        And one day, when the time was right and righteous, Francis would finally, triumphantly emerge, free from the bonds of confounding camouflage and be rightfully proclaimed as the true hero he’d always secretly been. 
        Standing up to brush off some snow, Francis slid off his father’s watch with a neon red hand, slipping it carefully into his inner coat pocket before retreating to home base, cold, tired, and wishing he could take another mission instead of washing
        Taking his time to walk up the back wobbly snow-covered wooden stairs to the deck, Francis paused briefly at the French doors between him and the warm kitchen just beyond, sneaking a lingering glance at himself. Just like at Halloween, he knew who stood behind this costume, but he didn’t like the fit or the feel. It was frustrating the way people constantly misunderstood or lacked the insight necessary to see beyond their own eyes or experiences. To see him as the costume, but not the boy beneath. 
        Even his own family. 
        Choosing to look through the glass, he watched his mom open the sliding door, to welcome him home from a long battle fought in the snowy tundra. 
        “Hurry in, it’s freezing.” She smiled, “Dear lord, Frannie, you have to stop going out with wet hair, little lady. Your braids are literally frozen solid.”
        “Good. I might have to use them as a weapon one day.” He said carefully.
        “Oh, my goodness. On who?” His mom laughed. 
        “You never know, Mom. But I always have to be ready.” Francis shrugged. 
        He took comfort in knowing he could snap the braids clean off the sides of off his head and throw one expertly down the dark hallway at a stealthy home invader with a hunting knife or fling one precisely through the stained glass portion of the side window at a mysterious threat creeping up on the house with a laser gun. One right after another, he was capable of defending his unwitting suburban family with lethal accuracy. 
        Until everyone was finally safe. 
        Until he no longer had any braids on his head.
        Just one more convenient opportunity to shed some of his disguise.  
        But all in due time. 

I am queer bi-racial author who loves writing about BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ characters just living their normal lives or having extraordinary and wild adventures. I live in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio with my husband of nineteen years and our twelve (yes, 12) cats. I’ve been writing my entire life and have been proud to be published in a wide variety of professional, business, creative and literary outlets: Nonbinary Review, The Writer’s Group, Gaingels, GuideStar, Wild Apricot, Forbes, Thrive Global, VolunteerMatch, and many more. My first nonfiction book The Unashamed Guide to Virtual Management, was published in 2019 internationally by ATD Press.