Chapter 50: A Life in Books

“Now that’s the darndest story I’ve ever heard in sixty years of journalism, and that’s sayin’ somethin’,” mused Perry, shaking his head. “Amelia Earhart a real person, but all of us characters in a comic book?” He smiled. “Well, at least we all have the King in common.”

Neither of the two men who’d arrived as they were clearing the remains of their Chinese takeout had been what Emily expected, despite the stories Kara had told. Perry White was in his seventies and walked with a cane. He spoke with a soft Tennessee drawl and seemed more lovable uncle than irascible editor.

Rather than being a geeky, awkward kid, Jim Olsen was in his mid-thirties, self-assured, and… handsome. The only sign of the cub reporter from the stories in her world was the boyish grin he’d flash on occasion. He was friendly, funny, and easygoing.

The conversation had stayed on safe topics until Laura had crashed around nine o’clock and Clark had carried her up to bed. Then the five time-travelers had related the entire story of Kara’s nine weeks in an alternate reality.

“So folks, how do you think we should write this story up?” asked Perry. “And I want Jim to do it; you two are too close to the story. He already wrote up a quick bulletin for the Web, but readers are going to want more details.”

“We can’t talk about the alternate reality part,” said Lois. “There’s no proof, and it’s so fantastic no one would believe it anyway.”

“You got that right,” agreed Perry.

“And it’s hard to explain without giving away the family secret. So I think we should just say Kara was kidnapped by Tempus, Superman helped us find and rescue her, and it took a week. People know we helped Superman stop Tempus when he took over the country back in ’97 so they’ll understand why he targeted us.”

“So she got away from Tempus,” continued Jim, “and the Jordans took her in, and then Superman found her there?”

“That sounds about right,” said Clark.

“Are we going to be in your story, Mr. Olsen?” asked Caitlin anxiously.

“You can call me Jimmy or Uncle Jimmy, kiddo,” said Jim. He turned to Clark. “I don’t know, but if so I think we can keep your names out of it. Right, CK?” Clark nodded. “I don’t think we need to go into the details about you losing your home and moving here; it doesn’t really play into the kidnapping story. You’ll just be anonymous Good Samaritans.”

“Uncle Perry?” asked Kara diffidently.

“Yes, darlin’?”

“I’m sorry you have to go through all this trouble to hide our secret.” She looked around nervously. “Isn’t it… well… wrong? Mom always says people have a right to know…”

“That’s my girl,” said Lois proudly.

Perry beamed too. “Darlin’, that is an admirable question.” He rubbed his eyes. “And it’s one I wrestled with many a late night when I figured out your daddy had a second job. I knew the right thing was to keep his secret, but I was troubled by it, same as you.

“Thing is, keepin’ this secret may not be the right thing for sellin’ newspapers, but it’s the right thing for Superman, and this world needs Superman.” Perry shook his head. “Still, it does stick in my craw from time to time. For every amazin’ story your folks write there’s another one we can’t print that I’m itchin’ to tell. I sure wish we could tell this one. You still keepin’ that journal, son?”

“Of course,” replied Clark.

“Journal?” asked Caitlin.

“Some day, Lois and Clark are goin’ to put all this in a book. Probably several books. It’s a story that has to be told, just not yet. So they’re writin’ it all down for when the time comes.”

Kara made the mistake of yawning.

Perry smiled. “Sounds like our newest superhero needs to get some sleep.”

“Especially when she’s been exposed to Kryptonite,” agreed Lois. “Come on, honey, let’s get you to bed.”

“Awwww,” complained Kara.

“Go on, now. You get to sleep in your own bed in your own home tonight. In fact,” Lois exchanged glances with Emily, who nodded, “I think all you kids should get to bed. It’s nearly midnight.”

Jordy and Caitlin opened their mouths to complain, but at the looks they received, shut them without saying a word.

“Come on, sis,” said Jordy, helping the sleepy Kara to her feet, “Tomorrow is another day.”

• • •


They both must have been exhausted, because when Caitlin woke the next morning the sun was already well up, the light coming through the thin curtains directly into her face. She turned away from it, opening her eyes and grumbling under her breath.

She was slightly disoriented at first, expecting to be in her own room at the government farmhouse in Milford. Then she remembered: she was in Kara’s room at the Kent home in Metropolis. She was lying on an air mattress much like the one Kara had used, ironically enough. Mr. Kent had inflated it in about two seconds with one breath.

Kara herself was curled up in bed, still asleep, an assortment of plush animals at her feet and her arms wrapped around a plush sea otter.

Caitlin’s eyes wandered around the room; it was an interesting mixture, like the girl who lived in it. There were nature photos of horses and other animals. There was a poster of a girl in the middle of a gymnastics floor routine at the Olympics. There was an astronomical poster of a nebula, and another poster of a mathematical shape Kara had called a fractal. In one corner sat a small telescope, its aperture covered with a cap.

There was an old-fashioned porcelain doll sitting on top of a low bookcase. There was a small steel sculpture on the desk, made of wires welded together, which Kara had said was a ballerina made by her Grandma Martha. Caitlin couldn’t quite see it as a ballerina, but it was pretty in its own way. There was an alarm clock on the desk; it read 9:17 AM.

Caitlin’s gaze was drawn to the bookcase next to her air mattress. She hadn’t looked at it too closely last night, but now the spines of the books were illuminated by the diffuse light coming through the curtains. They were a mixture of paperbacks and hardbacks, mostly fiction, with some science and math books for kids mixed in. She recognized many of them, but her eyes stopped abruptly on the hardbound title next to The Number Devil.

The Girl Who Flew, by Annabeth Houghton

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Quietly, she reached out and pulled the volume from the bookshelf. The book looked old: used, but in good condition. On the cover was an inset line drawing of an elfin woman in a flight suit, a flight cap and goggles on her head. Amelia Earhart.

Caitlin flipped to the colophon, and read Copyright © 1938, Annabeth Houghton. Twenty-second Printing, 1957, Merriweather Press.

She was about to turn to Chapter One and start reading, but hesitated, then put the book back on the shelf. She wasn’t quite ready to read this book. Not yet. She wasn’t sure why; it could hardly have anything about herself or Emily, being set in the 1930’s.

“Mmmm…”

Caitlin turned to look at the bed; Kara was blinking sleepily. Caitlin sat up on the air mattress and watched her roommate wake up.

Kara finally sat up and swung her feet off the bed, pulling her nightgown into a semblance of order as she did. She blinked away the last of her sleepiness and smiled at Caitlin. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

Kara closed her eyes for a moment, then frowned and sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Still no powers.” Kara smiled sadly. “It almost feels like it was a dream. If you weren’t here…”

“I’m sure you’ll get them back,” said Caitlin. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast.”

• • •


“Oh, hey, Jessica! It’s good to hear from you. How are your mom and dad, and Michael? Uh-huh… Yes, she is… Yes… She’s right here.” Dad held out the cordless phone, and Kara was suddenly glad she’d decided not to tag along with Mom and Laura taking Emily and Caitlin to the mall.

“Jessie?” she squealed into the phone.

“You stinker!” came the response. “I had to find out you were OK from the Internet this morning!”

“I’m really sorry… things have been so busy since I got home, I forgot to call.”

“I tried calling your phone, but it says it’s not available.”

“I don’t have it. They never found it, or my backpack, and we haven’t had time to replace it. Um… are you really mad, Jessie?”

“Of course I’m not mad! I’ve been so worried about you, Kara. I’ve been checking dailyplanet.com, like, every thirty minutes all week! Are you really OK? What happened?”

“Umm… like it says in the article. This Tempus guy kidnapped me to get at Mom and Dad. He took me away from Metropolis, but he wasn’t there all the time so I got away from him. It was kind of scary being in a strange place by myself, but some people took good care of me till Superman found me.” Dad gave her a thumbs-up.

“Your parents helped send this guy to jail a long time ago, right?”

“Yes, them and Superman.”

“Your parents have sent a lot of people to jail, Kara. I hope someone else doesn’t get the same idea. It was only ten days, but it felt like forever!”

“It felt that way to me, too.” Kara sighed. “But it’s all over now. I’m OK, but Mom says I can’t walk to school by myself anymore. They’re going to drive me, like Laura. At least till I’m older.”

“Ouch. I guess I can understand that.” There was a moderate pause. “So… school.”

“Yeah. School.” Kara sighed. “I wish you were still here, Jessie. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, and Metropolis. Portland is OK but it rains all the time. I just wish it wasn’t so far away. At least we can talk on the phone, and someday we’ll get to see each other again.”

“Yeah…”

“Kara, are you crying?”

“Yeah.” Kara sniffled. “Jessie, I’m really happy I still get to talk to you.”

• • •


Kara was just sitting on the sofa, staring at the cordless phone but not really seeing it, when her dad came in from the kitchen drying his hands on a towel. He sat down next to her, and she looked up and smiled at him in an absent-minded way.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about so hard, Kara mia?” He put an arm around her.

She sighed. “Just… my friends. My other friends. Bailey, Megan, and Kevin.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“I… I just wonder what they’re doing. I hope they’re OK.”

“I didn’t want to say this in front of your friends, but I told President Hunter that if anything bad happened to them I’d find out about it somehow. He told me he’d make sure they were fine. No one there wanted to make us angry, not even the bad guys. They just wanted us to stay.”

“But how can you be sure they’ll be OK?”

“I checked already, sweetheart, before we left that day. While I was time-traveling, after I found the device we needed to come home I traveled into that world’s future a little. As far as I could tell they were fine.”

Kara hadn’t realized how worried she was until it faded away. “Why didn’t you say anything when you got back?”

“I didn’t want your friends to know I’d seen their futures.” He smiled. “And before you ask, no, I’m not going to tell you what I saw. Not yet, anyway.”

Kara nodded, and was quiet for a while. “Dad?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Where would their houses be, if they were here in Metropolis?” She scrunched her eyes closed. “I can’t figure it out without my powers.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Well, I just thought… you know… if I went and stood there it’d be, like, ‘they’re standing in the same place I am, just in another world.’ Does that make sense?”

Dad smiled; his eyes lost focus as he thought about the question. “Hmmm.”

“What?”

Dad sighed. “That part of Milford corresponds to the middle of the West River in our world, honey. If you stood there you’d be underwater. Milford was above sea level, but the same place in our world isn’t. That’s one of the things I noticed when I was there — the land is a bit different.”

“Oh,” said Kara, downcast. She could stand there once she got her powers back, but she’d be at the bottom of a river. That would be kind of dumb. Not to mention totally disgusting, since the West River wasn’t renowned for cleanliness. Unless… “When I can fly again, I guess I could float where they’d be…”

“There’s a fair amount of boat traffic on the West River, sweetheart, not to mention people on the shores and bridges. You’d be seen.”

“Would it be OK if I was Supergirl again?” She smiled winningly at her father.

“Well, Mom and I have talked about that…”

Kara sat up straighter. “Really? Can I be Supergirl again?”

“We’re still talking about it; it’s not a simple question.”

“Oh.” Kara’s face fell.

Dad put a hand gently on her shoulder. “You can understand, sweetheart, can’t you?”

Kara sighed. “Yeah. I mean, Emily explained it all on that TV show. I get it.”

“We’re proud that you and your brother want to help, and we both know how you feel. I felt the same way when I was growing up, and Mom had her time as Ultra Woman—”

“Wait, Ultra Woman was Mom?”

Dad nodded. “Thanks to a red Kryptonite laser she borrowed my powers for a few days. So she knows what it feels like, too.

“I’ll help you and your brother practice your powers and get ready. I just can’t promise yet when we’ll let you help.” He hesitated. “By the way, have any of your powers come back?”

Kara looked down. “I don’t think so,” she said, crestfallen.

“You might be invulnerable, like you were before this all started. We could check; it wouldn’t hurt at all.”

Kara looked up at her father and shook her head. “I think I just want to wait.”

• • •