The Hero

Lenny Spiderman was the class clown.
We were kids together, growing up on Long Island. And Lenny used to drive the teachers nuts.
He’d build webs up by the ceiling in homeroom, and then swing up there and hide. Mrs. Hentoff never thought to look up, but he’d be hanging there making faces. It was all we could do not to laugh.
But when he got older, he got serious. “With great power comes great responsibility,” that crap.
Peter Parker? Bullshit for the reporters. It was always just Lenny.
But I’m the guy who got him to use the hyphen.