The Phantom
from Canton

A Perfectly Ordinary Morning

Garrett sat on his bedroom floor, surrounded by his favorite things.

His notebook was open to a brand-new page. His toy cars were lined up in a long, careful row, front bumper to back bumper, exactly the way he liked them. Down the hallway, he could almost hear a train whistle from the tracks near his house. And, he was already thinking about jumping over rows of cars and power ups, just like in his favorite games.

“Today,” he said to himself, “is going to be a great day!”

He reached out his hand... and gave the first car a shove!!

CRASH! The row of cars all shaken up and scattered into a big mess of wonderful kid imagination destruction....

The whole row of cars tumbled and spun across the floor. Some cars flipped and some rolled backwards. Garrett laughed so hard he fell backward onto the floor in delight.

He had no idea that this ordinary morning was about to become the most extraordinary day of his life.

The Notebook That Glowed

Still giggling, Garrett picked up his notebook to draw a picture of the crash.

But something strange happened. The moment his pencil touched the page, the paper began to glow bright red.

Swirls of red light spun up out of the notebook like tiny fireworks. They wrapped around Garrett from head to toe... and when the light faded, he was wearing a brand-new red superhero costume, with a black mask right over his eyes.

He looked down at himself. He looked in the mirror. He couldn't believe it.

A deep, echoey voice seemed to come from the notebook itself.

“Whoever draws in this book,” it said, “becomes the hero of their own story. Your imagination is your super power, Garrett. You are... The Phantom from Canton.”

Garrett grinned the biggest grin of his life.

“The Phantom,” he whispered. “I like the sound of that.”

Outside his window, something was wrong. The sky over Canton, Ohio, which was always bright blue, had started turning a dull, sleepy gray. The clouds in the sky swirled in and turned the weather to gloom.

Mr. Yawn Comes to Town

Garrett ran to the window and gasped.

A strange gray fog was rolling down the street. Everywhere it touched, the color drained away. The red fire hydrants turned gray. The green trees turned gray. Even the cars parked on the road and grass all faded to gray.

Floating in the middle of the fog was a large looming grumpy, droopy creature made of shadows and yawns. He wore a sad gray coat that dragged behind him and shuffled his feet like he'd never had fun a day in his life.

“I am Mr. Yawn,” the creature announced with a giant yawn, “I don't like any fun!” and “I am sick of fun. No more games. No more books. No more trains, no more crashes, no more color. Canton should be gray and boring... FOR EVER!”

He waved a tired gray hand, and a whole shelf of library books slammed shut and turned to dust down the street.

Garrett felt something new rise up inside his chest. Not fear. Something braver than that.

“Not on my watch, Mr. Yawn!!” he said.

He threw open his window, and the notebook in his hands began to glow red once more.

The Mayor of Boredom

Mr. Yawn floated slowly down Main Street, dragging his gray coat behind him like a sad, wrinkled shadow.

Everywhere he passed, something fun stopped being fun.

A dog stopped wagging its tail. A swing set froze mid-swing. A half-built sandcastle crumbled all on its own, like it had simply given up.

“Ahhh,” Mr. Yawn sighed happily. “Isn't boring wonderful?”

He floated past the playground and yawned so big that the slide turned gray and lost its shine. He floated past a birthday party and yawned again, and the music stopped right in the middle of the song. Nobody could even remember what they'd been singing.

“No fun means no messes,” Mr. Yawn said to no one in particular. “No fun means no falling down, no spilling, no laughing so hard you snort. No fun means nothing ever happens at all. And nothing happening is my favorite thing that could happen.”

He smiled his droopy gray smile, the only smile he had.

“When I am finished,” he said, “Canton will be the most boring town in the whole wide world. And then, at last, I will get to nap in peace, forever.”

He let out the biggest yawn yet, and three streetlights flickered gray and dimmed, as if they, too, were getting sleepy.

High above, from his open window, Garrett watched every gray, boring inch of it happen.

The Phantom Suits Up

The Phantom pulled his mask down tight and pointed his notebook out the window.

“Let's go,” he said, and drew a fast, curvy line across the page.

WHOOSH!

A glowing red-and-silver ghost-train burst out of the notebook and screeched to a stop right outside, floating a few feet off the ground. Sitting on top of the train, a friendly T-rex with a black mask that matched the Phantom's mask.... his large dinosaur ghostly tail wagging with excitement.

“That's my super sidekick, Whistle,” The Phantom said, like he'd always known. “Good boy, Whistle!”

Phantom hopped onto the ghost-train, and it rumbled to life beneath him... Whistle let out a loud whistle... train headlights glowing bright red.

“Canton needs its color back,” The Phantom said. “And I know exactly how to bring it.”

The ghost-train zoomed off toward Main Street, leaving a trail of sparkling red light behind it.

Jump. Train. Crash!

The ghost-train roared into Main Street, right into the middle of Mr. Yawn's gray fog.

“There's the fun-stealer!” The Phantom shouted, leaping off the train.

And then... he jumped. Higher than he ever had before, sailing clean over a gray tree, snatching a glowing red star right out of the air. The star crackled with power as it filled Phantom with speed and light.

“You can't stop me,” Mr. Yawn groaned in a slow and mean tone. “Fun is exhausting.”

“That's where you're wrong,” said The Phantom. “Fun is the best part of everything!”

He called out to Whistle, and the ghost-train came zooming around the block, herding rows of gray cars and gray garbage cans into one long line right in front of Mr. Yawn, exactly the way The Phantom always lined up his toy cars at home.

“Now for my favorite move,” The Phantom grinned.

Standing behind the row, he raised both hands... and gave one large CLAP with his hands.... and a large energy wave boomed from his clap... and CRRRAAASH!!!

Everything toppled at once in a huge, colorful, clattering wave, and where the crash shoved the row of cars toward Mr. Yawn.... hit the gray fog, color burst back into the world. Red hydrants! Green trees! The fog cracked apart like glass.

Mr. Yawn stumbled backward, shrinking smaller with every color that returned. “No... no fun... no fun allowed!” he mumbled, and with one last tired yawn, he shrank down to nothing and disappeared in a puff of gray smoke.

Canton, Full of Color Again

Main Street burst back to life. Kids ran outside to grab their bikes. The library doors flew open, and every book landed safely back on its shelf. Somewhere, a train whistle blew, long and happy.

The Phantom stood in the middle of it all, catching his breath, with Whistle wagging happily beside him.

“We did it,” he said, scratching Whistle's belly. “Turns out jumping, and trains, and a really good crash can save the whole town.”

As the sun came out, his costume shimmered, and in a soft red glow, The Phantom turned back into an ordinary kid again, standing on his ordinary street, in his ordinary town of Canton, Ohio.

But he wasn't finished yet. He opened his notebook, picked up his pencil, and began to draw everything that had just happened, so he'd never forget it.

Because that's the secret about being a hero:

It always starts with a really good story.

Back Home, Still Drawing

Later that evening, Garrett sat on the floor of his own room, notebook open on his knees, exactly where his whole adventure had started.

His toy cars were back in their row. The house was quiet. And his pencil was still moving.

He drew the ghost-train. He drew Whistle's big goofy grin. He drew Mr. Yawn shrinking down to nothing, and Main Street bursting back into color.

Every line he drew glowed just a little red before settling onto the page, like the notebook was saving the memory right along with him.

“Best day ever,” he whispered, and turned the page for tomorrow.