Marriage and Parenting
The hero of this tale is constantly being advised by his parents to go check on a neighbor “in the meantime” which is their code word for when they are fighting. Portico is smarter than his parents give him credit because he knows the advisory is really so that they can be alone for their “mean time.” Marriage is hard enough as it is and only gets more complicated when kids are involved. Portico’s parents have the best of intentions in getting their son to do something else in the meantime, but that doesn’t fix the damage their incessant arguing is inflicting on him.
Juvenile Anxiety
Kids needs mental health attention just like adults. While it is true that an amazing amount of stuff can roll right of the back of many kids without seeming to advisedly impact them, it is that “seeming” that needs attention. Portico suffers from what he calls the worry wiggles, but at least his mother is attentive enough when battling her husband to recognize it as anxiety. Portico’s means of sublimating his anxiety is to adopt the conceit of being a superhero, but parents of children with similar obsessions need to remember that superheroes exist only to battle villains. An especially good parent will not just dismiss a child’s superhero obsession but try to figure out where that child sees villains that need defeating.
A Celebration of Diversity
The apartment building where Portico lives and carries out his imaginative superhero engagements is filled with a robust assortment of odd residents. Although their peculiarities are not overlooked they are also treated as outsiders. Diversity is celebrated in a rather imaginative way: Portico considers the building to be akin to a TV show in which opening each door is like tuning in a never-before-seen episode. Another metaphor might be to compare it to Mama Gump’s observation about boxes of chocolates: when you open a door in the building, you never know what you’re going to get, but it is sure to be an adventure.
