SADIE MAKES BREAKFAST, INJURES ONE

The morning of Sunday, February 3^rd, dawns slightly later than expected, at least in the Graham household, 246 W 30^th St. Sadie Graham, mother of two and adorned in a pink bathrobe and mismatched socks, arrives in the kitchen no earlier than half past ten, with a plan to make pancakes.

Midway through the first batch enter Scott, 10, and Kevin, 15, who sit at the table without speaking, presumably still somewhat asleep, until Sadie hands Kevin a plate, his arm promptly turns to ceramics, and he yells: “MOOOOOOOMMMMMM!”

For the past six months Kevin has been experiencing unexpected manifestations of a skin-changing mutation which his mother refers to as his “chameleon charm.” When the Baltimore Polytechnic High School freshman makes contact with certain materials – which, exactly, he is still determining – a portion of his skin from as little as a finger to his entire body takes on the properties of that object.


Kevin was ejected from a lacrosse game last summer when his arms and torso temporarily became aluminum and a collision with another player resulted in that player's breaking four ribs; however, the call was later retracted on the grounds that lacrosse is a dangerous sport to begin with and the injury was not out of the ordinary enough to to merit such an exception.

But this morning in the kitchen, the Graham family is coping with the more emotional frustrations of adjusting to a newly mutant-human mixed household.

“That's it. I'm not touching anything else, ever,” says Kevin, whose arm is rapidly re-humanizing in a fade from shoulder to fingertips. “I refuse to turn into a pancake.”

“Kevin, honey, don't be stupid. You can use a fork,” responds his mother. A heartfelt supporter of mayoral candidate Grace, Sadie Graham admits that though she believes in the mutants-are-people-too mantra, she is often at a loss for how to deal with her own mutant son.

“True, a fork won't solve the problem, but he needs to eat,” Graham explains. “Teenagers.”

Scott, meanwhile, has remained unperturbed, watching the exchange from behind his plate of syrup with pancakes and only pausing in his food-absorption for a moment during Kevin's arm metamorphosis.

“Pick up your fork and take a bite,” Sadie addresses Kevin in a tone turned suddenly hard. For a few seconds, the two elder Grahams glare at one another and Scott takes the chance to serve himself two more pancakes.

“You follow Grace like a sheep,” Kevin finally growls, “But I'm sick of you humans deciding what's best for everyone.”

“Kevin, you watch--”

“--You included. You don't have a clue.”

“Put the pancake in your mouth.”

“You can't force me.”

Sadie reaches for a fork, stabs a stack and leans toward Kevin, who suddenly panics and yells to her not to touch him. Sadie stops and puts the fork down. Kevin is tilted back in his chair, balancing it on two legs.

He falls back and hits his head after Sadie replies, “fine,” loads her spatula with pancakes, and flings them at his face. “Oh Kevin! Honey-- are you alright?”

This time, maybe, turning into a pancake may have been preferable for the mutant teen.

GRACE'S RACE: NEWEST CANDIDATE SPEAKS TO CITY

“Soon as he said he'd bring HAMMR to Baltimore, I liked the guy,” says Sadie Graham, 32, of Remington, “And after this speech, I might be in love.”

Graham's comment outside the Convention Center following Tuesday afternoon's press conference captured the spirit of a crowd smitten with lately-announced mayoral candidate Cameron Grace.

In a follow up to his announcement of candidacy last week, Grace spoke to a mixed crowd of humans and mutants about his positions on all issues from city education reform to the proposed Chesapeake restocking with Old Bay-Maryland Blue crab hybrids. However, his efforts were overwhelmingly focused on his standout initiative to establish the Nation's next HAMMR location in Baltimore City.

The Human and Mutant Mediated Relations group, which typically goes by the acronym HAMMR (pronounced “hammer”), is the foremost organization dedicated to cultivating peace between the human and mutant races. Founded in Westchester County, NY, by advocacy leader Charles Xavier six years ago, HAMMR has established offices in a dozen cities worldwide and has passed peacekeeping legislation in over thirty countries.

“I believe in Baltimore, and I believe that HAMMR will help break barriers in this city so that it will continue to be the Greatest City in America,” said Grace, “It's time time to work together and fight the chaos plaguing our nation's capital right next door.”

Grace claims he will entice HAMMR to open a development center in the heart of Baltimore, possibly downtown or in Harborplace. He has mentioned an unconfirmed personal connection from within the Xavier Institute, HAMMR's umbrella organization, as well as potential zoning and tax incentives. By keeping the location prominent for both city citizens and tourists, Grace says he plans to make Baltimore an example for other cities struggling with violence and intolerance between races.

Thus far HAMMR been his single most touted pursuit. Though candidate Grace has never overtly worked for a peace group himself, he has spent over a decade working for social justice and campaigning with various peaceable causes in the Baltimore and DC metropolitan areas. He is a board member of nonprofit advocacy groups Marylanders for Mutantkind and Bmore Coexists and holds a law degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

And in a time of uncertainty in both the nation and one's own backyard, people seem ready to at least listen for a while to the Grace doctrine.“They ain't nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded machines down there,” said one unnamed bystander, of Washington politicians. “They just got no idea.”

“But Grace,” said a woman to his left, “He knows what we need– and he'll deliver.”