Chapter 2: Comic Book Confidential

After a hurried aside to Kara to go back to watching TV “while we have a chat,” Detective Spalding hustled Emily out into the corridor.

“OK,” he said in a low voice. “What exactly is going on here? Why is she saying her parents are comic book characters?”

Emily held up her hands to pacify him. “This is a surprise to me too, Detective. I have no idea why she’s answering this way. She sounds sincere…”

“I noticed, or we’d be having a different conversation,” said the detective. “Is she mentally ill? Is this some kinda side effect from the chloroform?” His voice stayed quiet but grew angry. “Could the kidnappers have done this to her, driven her crazy?”

Emily bristled at this choice of words. “She may be under a delusion of some kind but we’d need to have a professional determine that.”

The detective rubbed his head. “She’s our only witness but I can’t use any of this!” He sighed. “Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Who’s next, Santa? Elvis?”

Emily blew out her breath and nodded. “I understand, Detective.” She rubbed her eyes; they felt gritty. “Let me call in our pediatric psychiatrist, and we’ll see what she has to say.”

• • •


Kara looked over to the door when it opened, and noted that besides Dr. Emily and the grumpy policeman there was now a third adult: a middle-aged Asian woman with glasses, another doctor judging by her white coat. She figured she should turn off the TV again and did so.

“Hi…” she offered. “Aren’t my parents here yet?” The adults’ expressions were unreadable.

“Umm, about that, honey,” said Dr. Emily. “Are you sure that number you gave us was correct? We couldn’t get through.”

Kara nodded. “Yes, that’s my mom’s cell phone; 668-555-2049. I call her all the time. Sometimes she doesn’t answer if she doesn’t know the caller ID.” She thought a moment. “Is my phone here? I can call her.”

Dr. Emily said, “I’m sorry, sweetie, but you didn’t have anything except the clothes you were wearing.”

Kara’s eyes widened. “It’s all gone? Oh no… my new phone! And my backpack, and all my books and homework…” She looked close to tears.

Dr. Emily came over and sat next to her, taking her hand. “Don’t worry about that right now, sweetie. Things can be replaced; it’s much more important that you’re safe.” Kara nodded reluctantly.

“Now, we want to understand what happened to you.” She gestured at the new adult. “This is Dr. Penny. She’s going to help us figure things out. Can we ask you some more questions?”

Kara looked among the three adults. “I guess so… You really can’t reach my mom? I can give you my dad’s number. Or Uncle Perry, or Uncle Jimmy…”

The detective grimaced briefly. “We’ll get to that, Kara. Why don’t we start from the beginning?”

• • •


Detective Spalding rubbed his eyes again. He turned to the two women who sat at the table in the tiny conference room. “Let me see if I can summarize. Her name is Kara Kent. She lives with her parents, Lois Lane and Clark Kent, at 348 Hyperion Avenue in Metropolis, Delaware. She also has an older brother, Jordan, and a little sister, Laura.” The two women frowned at his slightly mocking tone.

“She gives us a whole series of phone numbers, for her parents and for her ‘uncle’ Jimmy Olsen and her ‘uncle’ Perry White. None of these numbers have a valid area code. She apologizes that she doesn’t remember the numbers for her grandparents, Jonathan and Martha Kent and Sam and Ellen Lane, or her Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ron in San Jose.

“She remembers being on her way home from school, ‘Larson Middle School,’ when she suddenly felt intense pain all through her body. She remembers a sweet smell, then nothing else till she woke up here.” He held his hands out. “Aside from the smell of chloroform, there isn’t a single thing about that story that isn’t straight out of a comic book!”

Dr. Penelope Tong cleared her throat. “Detective, we all know what she’s saying is some kind of fantasy. I can’t tell you much after just one session observing her, but like you and Dr. Jordan I’m reasonably sure she believes what she’s saying.”

“But why would she be saying it?”

“I don’t know that yet. Children her age engage in fantasy play frequently; the difference here is that she really seems to believe it. In such cases it’s often because the fabrication helps shield the patient from an unpleasant reality. It’s very elaborate, but children’s fantasies often are.”

Emily was nearly dead on her feet but chimed in, “So where do we go from here?”

Penny looked her over. “Well, you should go home and get some sleep. As for Kara—”

“Assuming that’s her real name.”

Penny raised an eyebrow at the detective. “As for Kara, does she still need to be hospitalized?”

Emily thought it over. “No… If this were a normal case we’d discharge her this morning. But…”

Penny continued, “But without knowing her real parents we’ll need to get Children’s Services involved. She’ll have to be placed in a foster home—”

Detective Spalding interrupted. “It has to be in this area or it’ll impede the investigation. If I know Children’s Services they’ll want to ship her off to Wilmington.”

Emily added, “I wouldn’t want her to leave the area either. She had a very high fever last night. Her temperature is still slightly elevated and we need to keep an eye on her for a few days at least.”

Penny nodded. “I’d like to keep her local, too, because I don’t think it would be in her best interests to start dealing with an entirely different set of people. I’d like to keep seeing her, to try to understand why she’s clinging to this fantasy and start helping her away from it. And hopefully while I’m doing that you and your colleagues can make some progress tracking down who she really is.”

The detective thought for a while. “We’ll just have to get her photo and fingerprints and work from those.” He shook his head. “Damn, but this case is turning out to be a lot stranger than I expected. And a lot harder.”

“Meanwhile,” said Penny, “we’re going to have to break it to her that Superman isn’t flying in for the rescue.”

• • •


Kara lay on her side, staring at the wall; the TV was off. She was worried and upset. After the last set of questions from the policeman she knew something was up. And she knew there was absolutely no way her mom would not be here by now if something wasn’t up.

The door opened again; she sat up in bed as Dr. Penny came in. “Where’s Dr. Emily? And the policeman?”

The adult smiled. “Dr. Emily is really tired, Kara. She’s been working for about fourteen hours straight and needed to go home and get some sleep. And Detective Spalding had other things he needed to do.”

Kara nodded slowly. “Can you tell me where my parents are? Did you try my dad, or Uncle Jimmy or Uncle Perry?” She read the expression on Penny’s face. “Can’t you find even one of them?”

Penny hesitated. “Kara, about that… do you really believe your father is Superman?”

Kara’s reaction took Penny by surprise: she giggled merrily. “My dad… Superman? That’s… wait… are you serious?”

Penny nodded.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Of course Dad isn’t Superman. He doesn’t fly around and rescue people. I mean, I love my dad, but Superman? He can’t even see without his glasses!”

Now it was Penny’s turn to be confused. “Wait… so your father isn’t Clark Kent?”

Kara frowned. “No, that’s his name. What does that have to do with Superman? My dad is from Kansas, and Superman’s an alien from Krypton.” She rolled her eyes again. “As if.”

“But… everyone knows Clark Kent is really Superman, Kara.”

Kara peered at the psychiatrist. “Why do you keep saying that? And if you know who he is, why won’t you call him?” She frowned in suspicion, even as her eyes grew shiny. “What is going on? Why won’t you let me see my parents?”

Penny sighed; there was no easy way to do this. “Kara, we haven’t called him, because… because Clark Kent is a fictional character. So is Lois Lane.”

Kara was incredulous. “What?” Her eyes started leaking tears. “They are not! They’re my parents!” She hugged her knees and started to cry in earnest, “I want my mom and dad… I want to go home…”

Penny came over and sat on the bed; she reached out an arm. Kara cringed away at first, but slowly leaned over and accepted the embrace. “I don’t understand… This is so stupid! Why are you saying these things? It doesn’t make any sense!”

Penny slowly rubbed Kara’s back and let her cry, until she seemed to wind down. She then held her gently at arm’s length with one hand, and reached for some tissues from the bedside stand with the other. “Here honey…” She waited patiently while Kara wiped her face and blew her nose.

“Kara, I know you believe what you’re telling us about your family and where you’re from. But you need to understand that everyone else believes what I’ve just told you. As far as we know, everyone and everything you’ve mentioned are characters and places from stories. Superman is a character in a comic book, and so are Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Metropolis isn’t a real city—”

“I live in Metropolis! It is too a real city!”

“I hear you, Kara, but to me and everyone else, it’s not.”

“But…” Kara couldn’t finish and looked down, her brow furrowed. After a while, she looked back up. “How do I know you’re telling the truth about what everyone thinks? You’re the first person I’ve ever heard say stuff like this. Mom always says you have to be careful about believing what people say. I mean, you seem like a nice person…”

Penny smiled. “I’m glad you think so. And you’re right, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear from a stranger. How about I bring you some evidence later this afternoon, OK?”

Kara nodded. “But if what you’re saying is true, then… then why? And what’s going to happen to me?” Her eyes widened in fear. “Do you think I’m crazy? Are you going to lock me up?”

Penny shook her head. “No, Kara, no. I don’t think you need to be locked up. I don’t understand why you believe what you do, but I don’t think you’re a danger to yourself or to anyone else. As to why, I don’t know. I’m going to keep working with you to figure that out, OK? So is Detective Spalding.” She took Kara’s hand. “No matter what, myself, Dr. Emily, and Detective Spalding are on your side. Do you understand? I know you miss your parents, but we’re here for you in the meantime.”

Kara looked down again. “I understand, I guess.” Suddenly her head snapped up. “Wait… if we’re not in Metropolis then where are we?”

• • •


“Kara, are you OK?”

Penny looked on, concerned. Kara was staring at the comic book that lay open in front of her, but her eyes were unfocused. She’d been leafing through the collection of Superman comics Penny had borrowed from her nephew, as well as surfing the web on Penny’s laptop.

Penny had also lent Kara her cell phone and encouraged her to try calling all the numbers she remembered. After that had failed, her young patient had been nearly silent the entire time as she’d read the material, and then had coasted to a stop like a toy whose battery had run down.

Penny had had to wait until her nephew got home from school. She didn’t know where to buy a comic book or which she should buy, and her nephew had come to mind immediately. He devoured them, and her sister-in-law frequently complained about how many he had.

In the meantime Kara had been discharged. She’d had the opportunity to shower and clothes had been provided for her — the police had taken the clothing she was found in for lab tests. However, Children’s Services had yet to put in an appearance, which meant there was nowhere for her to go.

Penny had other patients to see so she’d installed Kara in the waiting room of her office, where one of the nurses kept an eye on the girl. There was a variety of age-appropriate reading material on hand and she’d picked out a young adult novel. The nurse told Penny that Kara had alternated between reading and staring off into space.

Once Penny had had time to deal with Kara again she’d dashed to her nephew’s house and conducted quick negotiations to borrow some of his comic collection. (“Take good care of them! They’re classics!”) His curiosity piqued, he’d tried to wheedle details about her patient out of her, but relented when she reminded him of her professional obligations. She’d dashed back to the hospital with the comics and some other materials, and set them in front of Kara.

Penny oscillated between concern at Kara’s quiet demeanor and hope that she was starting to see some movement towards getting at the truth. She didn’t want to push the girl much to start with, but she did want to do an initial trial to see how firm her attachment to her fantasy world was.

“It’s all so weird. It’s kind of right, but it’s not right.”

Penny came over and sat beside her, sparing a glance down at the comic that lay open. “What do you mean, Kara?”

“I mean, Metropolis doesn’t look like this, all futuristic and shiny. None of the people I know look like these drawings and they don’t really act like these characters… well, maybe some. My dad does wear glasses, but he doesn’t have all these gigantic muscles. I think there was someone named Lex Luthor who died a long time ago, but I’ve never heard about weird monsters or aliens like this Darkseid guy. The only aliens who ever visited were the New Kryptonians. But… the names of the people are all the same, and the Daily Planet and everything… and… I never thought about it before…”

“Thought about what?” Penny was unsure where this was going.

The little blonde girl turned and looked up into Penny’s eyes, the shimmer of tears in her own. “I never thought that Superman could be, like, a normal guy. Like my dad. That he could be Superman just part of the time. I mean, I know about secret identities from the movies and stuff, but Superman…” She took a deep breath. “So if that part is right too, then Dad… he… he… didn’t want to tell me… and neither did Mom. And Superman is just a guy in a costume. My dad in a costume.” Kara looked down, and a tear slowly made its way down her nose. She just sat there, silent.

Penny didn’t understand why Kara was upset. In a fantasy like this the child should be thrilled at the idea of her parent being a superhero — that was the whole point. In fact, it didn’t make sense that Kara would have denied it as she had earlier.

The tale was an obvious fabrication, but she still had to work with Kara’s feelings: they were real. “Kara, looking at it from your perspective for a moment… do you trust your father?”

“Well I did…” the child said morosely.

“Do you think he would do something to hurt you on purpose?”

Kara frowned but didn’t answer. After a while she closed the comic and pushed it away, a little roughly. She reached over to the laptop and brought up a map of Delaware Bay. “Metropolis isn’t there. Neither is Gotham City.”

“Where are they supposed to be?”

“I don’t remember exactly where Gotham City is.” Kara ran her finger along the New Jersey side of the bay. “Somewhere here, I think, in the middle. But Metropolis,” she said, moving her finger across the bay, “is right here.” She moved her finger in a broad oval incorporating a large swath of central Delaware, including Milford. Penny marveled at the girl’s imagination.

“Dr. Penny?”

“Yes, Kara?”

“You said we were in Milford, Delaware, right? Right here?” She pointed.

“Yes, this is Milford Memorial Hospital. You were found over here.” Penny pointed to the spot.

Kara frowned and stared at the map for a while. “I kind of believe you. But… I also know what I remember is true too. I don’t know why all the people and places I know are gone, and now there’s all these comics with stories about them. But I can’t believe they’re not real. I can’t believe my family isn’t real.” She looked up at Penny, her eyes pleading. “I just can’t.”

Penny kept her face composed but sighed inwardly. This was not going to be a quick process; it would take weeks, at least. “Yes, Kara, I understand. I know they’re real to you.”

“So what do I do?” She looked so forlorn that Penny couldn’t help putting an arm around her.

“Well, someone from the Office of Children’s Services is coming, and we’re going to talk about finding a foster home for you to stay in for a short time. Do you know what a foster home is?”

“Yes,” replied Kara, subdued. A couple of the kids who’d attended Shayne Elementary with her had been in foster care.

“Detective Spalding and I are going to keep working on finding out what happened to you, and with any luck we’ll be able to find your parents so you can go home soon.” Penny watched closely to see how Kara reacted to the idea, but she merely looked thoughtful.

“And Kara?”

“Yes, Dr. Penny?”

“About your parents, and where you come from… remember what we talked about, what other people think?”

Kara’s ears tinged red. “Yeah.”

“I think it would be best to talk about that only with the people who already know, like me and Detective Spalding, and Dr. Emily. It will be easier for you. Can you keep it a secret?”

Kara thought that over. “OK.”

• • •


“There are several situations available up north; I can take her back with me.” Reba Morton, a slightly plump middle aged black woman in a business suit, folded her arms. She was from the Office of Children’s Services in Wilmington and was not backing down.

Malcolm Spalding tried to control his temper. “Ms. Morton, we hope to reunite her with her parents within a few days. To help with that we need to have her available to our investigation. We can’t do that if she’s in Wilmington, and this is not a long-term placement. Can’t you find anything local?”

Ms. Morton shook her head. “I’m sorry, Detective, but that’s precisely the point. We simply don’t have an emergency opening in this area right now. If you gave me a week I might be able to find something.”

Penny Tong had been watching the two argue back and forth. It was late in the afternoon and they still hadn’t figured out what to do with Kara for the evening. “I have to agree with Detective Spalding, Ms. Morton, for medical reasons. She’s just been through a very harrowing experience for anyone, much less an eleven year old. Both her doctor, Emily Jordan, and myself feel she’d be better off staying here. I’ve already started a therapeutic relationship with her.”

Ms. Morton opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. “Emily Jordan… why does that name sound familiar?” She furrowed her brow.

Penny smiled; Caitlin Jordan had been a patient for a while. “You’re probably thinking of her stepsister, Caitlin. There was some disagreement when the father died about whether she was best off being raised by a single stepsister going through medical school in another state.”

“Oh yes, I remember hearing about the case; I didn’t handle it. How was it resolved?”

“With a great deal of negotiation, and a fair amount of stress for the child involved. One of the conditions was that Emily had to take the course for foster parents…” Penny trailed off.

Ms. Morton raised an eyebrow. “So she’s qualified?” Penny nodded slowly. “I take it she’s not actively seeking to foster, which is why she’s not on my list. If you’re so keen to keep Kara local…” She tilted her head, and Detective Spalding also turned to look at Penny.

Penny frowned. “I guess neither of us realized Emily qualified, technically. She’s pretty overloaded right now.”

Ms. Morton folded her arms. “I told you, I don’t have any immediate placements in this area. It’s either Emily Jordan, or I take Kara back to Wilmington with me.”

• • •