***
Never On Sunday: Ellen Lane
***
Fear. It’s eating me alive from the inside out. Marriage is such a risky business, so much potential for irreparable damage, and Lois is so irrepressible that it will completely destroy her when this blows up in her face. Which it will--they always do--it’s so unrealistic to expect that starry-eyed love will last past the first few ugly early mornings and cranky arguments and pretty distractions. Men are allergic to hard work and they don’t like commitment and there’s just too much new and exciting out there to tempt them away from what’s holding them back at home.
I should know. I do know, but Lois won’t listen to me. She hasn’t for years now, so sure of herself, so stubborn that I’m not surprised at all it’s taken this long for her to get caught up in the trap that is marriage.
Oh, Lois, what a mistake you’re making! Weddings are beautiful, of course; it’s what comes after that will lead to her being in rehab sooner or later. But naturally Lois knows best, so I have to find other ways of trying to deter her.
A domineering wedding planner, a million decisions with no clear-cut yes-or-no answers, family loyalty to sway her, the realization that she’ll be alone to face all this just like she will be as soon as the ‘I dos’ are spoken… I have picked up some tricks over the years.
It’s not that I have anything against this Clark Kent. He seems nice enough, I suppose, but men are all the same when you get right down to it, and if it comes to him or Lois, I have to pick my daughter. Besides, as good as Clark is at the façade, the cracks are already starting to show. I can see the warning signs even if Lois can’t.
The abrupt exits.
The late arrivals.
The clumsy excuses.
Why, during that whole business with Superman sick in Clark’s own apartment, he didn’t even bother to call once and check in on his fiancée, but I’m supposed to believe she’s the woman he loves enough to swear his entire life to? No, I may have a youthful face, but I wasn’t born yesterday.
As soon as Lois let him put that ring on her finger, she was doomed.
Poor Lois. She’s already been through one fiasco of a wedding. I can’t let up now, not when it could save her from walking straight into another disaster.
As if to underscore that, Clark takes off running with no explanation at all. Which, I have to say, does surprise me--he’s usually better at playing the adoring suitor. It’s not long before Lois runs after him, the foolish girl. I ran after Sam, too, over and over again, but all that does is make them run faster.
“Oh, my,” Beverly says. “He’s going to be difficult, isn’t he?”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
***
