Chapter Twenty-Seven—Rescue and Shanghai
Due to the widespread locations of everyone involved with wedding preparations Lara put together directions so that everyone could collaborate via computer. At exactly 7:00 p.m. Central Time Lara fired up her computer. Moments later all participants signed on for their first online meeting.
Lara watched as each window opened to show a different family member. “All right, is everyone ready?” Lara asked once everyone was online. A chorus of agreement confirmed their readiness.
Lara, being the moderator, introduced Martha and her friends, Sally and Ashley, to the members of the McCarthy family. After the introductions, Lara gave out assignments from the list that she’d made earlier. Lara, being local, took the initiative to secure the church, the venue for the reception, and the photographer. Lydia, with input from Martha, would put together the guest list. Amy volunteered to secure the entertainment and Audrey took the design, printing of the invitations. Sally and Ashley volunteered to address and send the invitations. They decided that they should meet weekly for status updates and to discuss other items that might come up. Once the business at hand wrapped up, they spent the remainder of the evening getting to know each other, which turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the call.
**********
Two weeks later all preparations for the wedding were complete. The church, ballroom for the reception, the DJ, and photographer were set and the invitations were in the mail.
The only thing left was who Ken would have to stand up with him.
**********
Lara and Ken were on his couch snuggled together the next evening ostensibly watching television, though there was more kissing than watching going on.
“Ken, the wedding preparations are going well but we haven’t talked about who you want to stand up with you,” Lara said when she sat up after a particularly pleasant kissing session.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’ve asked my brothers to stand up with me. Dave, being the oldest, is going to be Best Man and Ted is the Groomsman. Do you think your friends can put up with a couple of old married men for partners?” Ken asked with a grin. “They may be hoping for a couple of handsome single men to dance with.”
“There are going to be several single guys coming. A lot of your firefighter friends are coming, correct?”
“Oh, yeah, they can’t wait.”
“Well then, they’ll be just fine. Sally’s boyfriend is coming with her so it’s only Ashley that might be on the prowl.” Lara grinned. “Do you think we should warn your friends?”
“Nah, let ‘em be surprised.” Ken looked at Lara seriously now, and he gazed into her eyes. “You know there are a couple of things we should talk about.”
“Oh, sure, go ahead.”
“We’re not interested in having children quite yet, so, um, we should discuss birth control.”
“I’ve thought about that too. I don’t know if I ever told you, but medicines don’t work on me due to my invulnerability, so… that means we’re going to have to use an alternative method.” Lara blushed and lowered her head.
Ken, with a mock horrified expression, asked, “You don’t mean abstinence, do you?!”
Lara’s eyes grew wide and she whapped him on the shoulder. “No! You’re going to have to use something!”
“Oh, good. I was worried there for a minute!” They looked into each other’s eyes then they broke down in a fit of giggles.
When they calmed down again Ken grew serious once more. “That does bring up another question. I know that you’re a virgin.” Ken said, his expression full of concern, “How is your invulnerability going to affect our honeymoon night? We’re not going to have to bring Kryptonite with us, are we?”
Lara smiled at her fiancé and cupped his cheek with her hand. “I’m way ahead of you my love. I too wondered how my heritage might affect things so I asked Lois for help.”
“Lois? What could she do?”
“She put me in touch with a scientist from S.T.A.R. Labs. He has this device that measures the auras of living things. Anyway, he measured mine and, after some data analysis, he determined that if I’m in intimate contact with my husband, there shouldn’t be a problem. Do you think you can handle that?” Lara wiggled her eyebrows and her eyes lit up with mischief.
“Intimate contact, huh? Yeah, I think I can do that!”
“As a side note Dr. Klein, the scientist I mentioned, said that there is a possibility that my aura could have beneficial effects for you.”
“Oh, he did? How would that work?”
“He told me that my aura is what allows me to interact with people at superspeed without causing catastrophic injury. He says that my aura gives them a kind of temporary invulnerability.”
“Hmmm, that makes sense. It must be the same kind of thing that allows me to fly with you and not get hurt.”
“That’s right. He theorizes that prolonged contact with my aura could be good for you. There is one thing though. He wants us both to come in for tests periodically.”
Ken grew concerned. “Tests? What kind of tests?”
“I’m not sure, exactly. He promised that they wouldn’t be invasive. He just wants to see if he can validate his assumptions.”
“Wouldn’t you have to tell him who you are? I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.”
“No. I don’t think so. If it becomes necessary you can wear a mask like mine.”
Ken paused for a moment to consider his reply. “Okay. If we can do that, I think it’s something we can accommodate.”
“Good. The next time I see Dr. Klein I’ll let him know.
**********
With wedding preparations well in hand life for Lara and Ken progressed smoothly. They spent as much time as possible with each other, enjoying being young and in love. Lara’s career also progressed nicely, her partnership with George over she now worked independently. She developed her sources and, overall became a valued member of the Tribune staff.
One morning, around the middle of April, an unseasonable snowstorm hit the Chicago area. It caused traffic problems across the city with one of the worst being I-94 inbound.
Lara was getting ready for work when she heard the call for ambulances and other first responders to go to a massive pileup near the North Avenue exit. Lara put her work plans on hold then spun into her suit. After a quick flight to the site, she hovered over it to assess the situation. Then she pulled out her cell phone and called George Jones’s desk.
“Jones!”
“George, it’s Lara. Can you cover for me? Something just came up and I’m going to be in late.”
“Sure thing, kid. You’re lucky you caught me. I was just headed out to a pileup on the highway.”
“Yeah, I heard about that on the radio. Thanks again George, I gotta go.”
“Bye!”
Lara saw that the road surface was icy with a light coating of snow. This wouldn’t have been as much of a problem except that this was an elevated section of the highway. As such, it froze over before the rest of the road surface which caused a massive chain reaction pileup. A glance told Lara that there were over fifty vehicles involved. The situation reminded her of her first official rescue so she set about clearing the accident as quickly as possible. Every few minutes she had to stop what she was doing to bring arriving ambulances to the front of the crash where a triage area had been set up. The number of ambulances topped off at twelve!
She helped first responders free trapped motorists, in between moving damaged vehicles from the roadway so traffic could begin to move once more. After two hours, traffic was flowing again, though only one lane was currently open. I-DOT trucks slowly moved severely damaged vehicles off the roadway and all the injured had been either transported to local hospitals or treated at the scene and released. When Lara finished, she noticed two news helicopters overhead and a large crowd of local journalists crowded near the roadway.
“Superwoman! Superwoman!” the crowd called out to get her attention. Lara sighed. It looked like she wasn’t going to be able to get to work quite yet. She thrust her shoulders back and floated over to land a few feet from the crowd.
Lara raised her hands for attention then waited until relative silence reigned. She saw George in the front row so she called on him first.
Lara pointed and said, “You, sir.”
“George Jones, Chicago Tribune. What can you tell us about the accident?”
“The late snowstorm caused icy conditions across the city but this section of elevated highway allowed the surface to freeze well before the other sections. The speed of the vehicles was too fast for conditions and when this happens the smallest mistake can result in tragedy.”
A blonde woman a few rows back called out. “Jamie Jacobs, WIND AM 560. How many cars were involved?”
“I was told by the Chicago Fire Department that almost sixty cars were involved, most of them sustained minor damage though there were some injuries.”
“Amy Sweeny, Chicago Sun-Times. Can you tell us how many were injured?”
“Fourteen people were transported to local hospitals with another thirty-two treated at the scene and released. Thankfully there were no fatalities, I don’t know any more than that.” Before another reporter could raise a question, Lara floated off the ground, “I’m sorry but I’m needed elsewhere.” whereupon she zoomed out of sight. After a quick flight home to finish dressing Lara flew directly to work only an hour late.
“I’m sorry for being late, Pam,” Lara said as she knocked on her boss’s door. “I’ll be staying late to make it up.”
“That’s fine, Lara, everything okay? George told me you had a problem?” Pam looked at Lara with concern.
“It wasn't too bad, and I got it sorted, thanks for asking.”
“All right then, I still need that story and sidebar for mockup in an hour.”
“Sure thing, boss, I’m on it!” Lara had just seated herself at her desk when George walked into the newsroom.
“Thanks again for covering for me George,” Lara said once he settled into his desk.
“No problem, kid.” George pulled his keyboard towards him and began to type at a furious pace.
“What’s the hot story, George?” Lara asked. Though she guessed it was probably about the crash this morning.
“Big pileup on I-94 near North Avenue. Almost sixty cars and Superwoman was there. She even called on me!” George replied with a big smile on his face.
“You’re going to be full of yourself all day, aren’t you?” Lara chided.
“Well, you know me. I’m popular with the ladies, especially those super ones!” George’s grin widened even more before he returned to his story. Lara smiled a satisfied smile, pleased that she’d been able to make her coworker’s day.
**********
It had been a very busy time for both Lara and Ken. Between a spate of fires, they were out every night for over a week. While most of the fires were minor some required Lara to rescue people from burning buildings. Luckily there were no deaths for which Lara was very thankful. So it was that on their first quiet morning in a while they were walking along the lakefront hand in hand so they could enjoy the warm Spring weather.
“Hey I’m getting hungry, we didn’t have that much for breakfast, you know,” Lara said as she turned to face her fiancé.
“Yeah, me too, what do you feel like?”
“Ummm, how about Chinese?”
“Sounds good. Let’s turn around and head to Chinatown,” Ken said, turning back the way they had come.
“I wasn’t thinking Chinatown,” Lara said mischievously. “I was thinking more along the lines of Shanghai.”
Ken’s mouth dropped open with surprise. “Shanghai… as in Shanghai, China?!”
“Yes, I’ve been meaning to take you to my favorite Chinese restaurant for a while and today is the perfect day for it. What do you say?”
“I say lead on!” Since they were on the lakefront and there were no sheltered places to take off from, they drove quickly to Lara’s apartment. As they had done many times Ken wrapped his arm around Lara’s shoulder and she grasped him around the waist. “Ready?” Ken nodded and they took off.
“How did you find this place?” Ken asked once they were in the air.
“Dad found it when he was in China on his world travels. He’d been working day labor on the docks and one of the workers took him there for dinner. He loved the food and he got to talking with the owner, Mrs. Kwan. She’d lost her husband a few years earlier and she took over the restaurant. Dad spoke Mandarin so well that she offered him a job as a waiter. The job paid less than the dock job but he loves working with people so he went for it. He worked there for a few months before he moved on.”
“When did you first go there?”
“I was ten. I’d finished my homework and when I came downstairs Dad and my grandparents were sitting at the table. The weird part was that there was nothing cooking so I asked them what we were having for dinner. Dad said that he was treating for Chinese and he wanted me to go with him. The only Chinese place in Smallville was a hole in the wall called Joe’s Pagoda. The food there was terrible and I told him so.
‘I want to take you to a friend’s restaurant, the Dream Palace,’ he said.
‘Is that in Wichita, Daddy?’
‘No, Pumpkin. It’s in Shanghai.’
‘Shanghai… China?’ My mouth hung open and Dad grinned.
‘Yep, so do you want to go?’
I bounced on my toes and clapped excitedly. ‘Yes! Let’s go!’
“I was mostly invulnerable by then so Dad was able to fly much faster than I can with you so we made it there in about a minute. We landed in a deserted alley then we walked a block or so to the restaurant. I’d never been to China before so I was trying to look at everything at once. We entered the restaurant and a woman who looked to be late 30’s or early 40’s ran up to Dad and hugged him. They spoke Mandarin for a bit then Dad switched to English.
‘Mrs. Kwan, this is my daughter, Lara. She’s ten.’
Mrs. Kwan turned to me and bowed. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Miss Kent,’ she said. I returned the bow and said, ‘I’m pleased to meet you too, Mrs. Kwan.’
Dad gave her our order and while we waited, he told me how he’d first met her. Before long she returned with half a dozen woven baskets filled with delicious smelling food. We made our way back to the alley and Dad flew us home. He brought me back a lot until I graduated from high school. I could fly then so I came by myself during college.”
“Did your dad ever bring Lois there?” Ken asked.
“No, but he did bring her takeout. One night, not long after he started at the paper, they were working late and Lois got hungry. Dad said he’d get Chinese and he got up. When she tried to tell him what she wanted he told her he’d bring an assortment. He wasn’t gone very long and they dug in. Lois loved the dumplings. Later she drove herself crazy trying to find the place he’d brought the food from but she never could. After she found out the secret she understood why.”
While Lara could make the trip in seconds flying at top speed this trip took a bit longer. Even so, she flew faster than she usually did.
“You okay? I’m flying a bit faster than usual,” Lara said.
“Fine, no problems at all. How long do you think it’ll take to get there?”
“Ummm, half an hour, maybe?”
“That’s amazing! I knew you were going faster than usual but I would never have guessed…” Ken trailed off as he watched the land below him pass by at tremendous speed. Once they were over the Pacific Ocean there wasn’t much to see except water as far as the eye could see. Lara hugged Ken into her side reveling in the closeness that flying together always gave her. They got to China after the sun set as Shanghai was thirteen hours ahead of Chicago. Since they had left at 10 o’clock it would be about 11:30 p.m. when they landed, luckily Mrs. Kwan stayed open late on weekends.
It seemed like it was no time at all before they could see the lights of the city on the horizon. Lara scanned for a safe place to land and when she found one, she zipped down to land in Changfeng Park. There was a subway station there which had a stop one block from the restaurant. Lara led Ken to the subway and paid the fare.
“You have Chinese money?” Ken whispered once they took their seats.
“Yes. Dad and I keep local currency for places we go to a lot. Otherwise, most places take U.S. dollars.” They got out at the next stop then walked one block to the Dream Palace, Mrs. Kwan’s restaurant.
“Miss Kent! It is so good to see you,” Mrs. Kwan said when the couple entered. “And who is this handsome man with you?” Mrs. Kwan’s eyes twinkled with mischief.
“This is Ken McCarthy, my fiancé,” Lara said speaking perfect Mandarin. “He doesn’t speak Mandarin.”
Mrs. Kwan nodded sagely and turned to Ken. “Pleased to meet you,” she said in heavily accented English as she bowed to him.
“I’m pleased to meet you too,” Ken replied, returning the bow.
“Come, sit down,” Mrs. Kwan said, switching back to Mandarin. She escorted them to a table for two near the window and handed them two menus. “I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll send Mei Ling over with tea.”
Ken picked up the menu and flipped through it but he quickly set it back down. “It’s in Chinese,” he said with frustration.
“They don’t get a lot of English-speaking people here. What do you want?”
“Do they have shrimp fried rice?”
“Yep, they sure do. Do you care what appetizers we get?”
“No. Whatever you like is fine with me.” Just then Mei Ling arrived with a pot of tea which she poured before she left.
“So, Miss Kent, what will you have?” Mrs. Kwan said when she got back to the table.
“You don’t have to wait on us,” Lara said.
“Hush, I don’t get to see you as often now so I want to. What would you like?”
“I’d like Moo Goo Gai Pan and Ken would like shrimp fried rice and we’d also like crab Rangoon and pot stickers and dumplings as appetizers. Thank you.” Lara handed Mrs. Kwan the menus.
“I’ll get that going right away.”
Now that they were alone Ken took a sip of his tea, the hot liquid warming him.
“So, how many languages do you know?” Ken asked curiously. “We’ve never talked about that before.”
“I speak about a dozen languages fluently and another dozen that I can get by in. Dad and I always joke that we can order breakfast in 347 languages!” Lara grinned.
“Wow! Though considering what you do it must come in very handy to speak the local language.”
“It does. When I get to a disaster it saves a lot of time when I can talk directly to the officials on-site without having to look for a translator. I think it also helps to be able to speak to people I rescue, it gives them comfort and hope.”
“Can you read and write all those languages too?”
“No. I’ve been able to learn Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese so far but I want to learn more.”
“Do you find it difficult? I took French in high school but not a lot stuck,” Ken said as he sipped his tea.
Before Lara could answer the appetizers arrived. “You have to try the dumplings, Ken, they’re amazing.”
Ken grabbed his fork taking two dumplings, two pot stickers, and two crab Rangoon and put them on his plate. He picked up a dumpling with his fork and took a bite.
“Ummm, this is delicious! If the rest of our meal is as good as this you’ve spoiled me for our usual place!” Ken grinned, popping the rest of the dumpling into his mouth.
“I know! Mrs. Kwan’s is the best Chinese food I’ve ever found anywhere in the world.”
“You were about to tell me if it was difficult learning all those languages,” Ken said reminding her of their interrupted conversation.
“Not really, no. I think it has to do with our eidetic memory but that might be a Kryptonian trait too, who knows.” Lara finished the last pot sticker just as Mrs. Kwan headed their way with their meals.
“Moo Goo Gai Pan, for you Miss Kent and shrimp fried rice for you Mr. Ken,” she said speaking English for Ken’s benefit.
“Thank you, Mrs. Kwan, the appetizers were delicious.” Ken smiled appreciatively. Mrs. Kwan’s eyes lit up with pride then she left them to their meals.
Ken picked up the cover and released the tantalizing smell of steaming shrimp fried rice. After the delicious appetizers, he was looking forward to his meal. He scooped out a large portion onto his plate, picked up a forkful, and took a bite.
“My God, this is good!” Ken said in between bites.
“I told you, this is the best in the world as far as I know,” Lara said as she took a bite of her meal. Talking took a back seat for a while as both ate, savoring the delicious food.
“You know, I’ve been thinking. We haven’t discussed where we want to go on our honeymoon,” Ken said while he spooned out a second helping.
“We’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to think about it. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I do. I hope you won’t get upset but… I think I’d like to go to Africa,” Ken said carefully.
“Africa?!” Lara asked, stunned, with an agonized expression on her face.
“Hear me out, please?” When Lara nodded her head he continued. “After we met, I read the articles you wrote on your world tour. Your experiences in Africa touched me and I saw how they affected you. After I proposed I thought that I’d like to go to Africa. We could make new, happier memories to, hopefully, bring some balance to those negative ones.
“I was thinking we could start in Egypt. We could see the pyramids, the sphinx, and the Cairo museum and maybe Luxor and the Valley of the Kings then later we could take a safari. I looked on the internet and found Kenya Wildlife Safari tours. I think it might be fun,” Ken said hopefully. When Lara didn’t reply for a few moments Ken got worried, were they about to have their first fight?
“Lara? Honey? Please say something. I’m sorry if I overstepped.” Ken’s expression grew troubled when he noticed tears forming in the corners of her eyes. His heart soared when, despite the tears, he saw her smile a tremulous smile.
“That’s the most wonderful thing you could have suggested and I love you for it. I’d love to make new memories with you, Ken. Africa is not just pain and despair and with you there I can learn to see the beauty of the continent.” Lara wiped her eyes with her napkin then she leaned over the table to meet him halfway for a kiss.
“Whew, I was worried there for a minute.” Ken took a breath. “I thought we were going to have our first fight right here and then what would Mrs. Kwan think of me?!” Ken chuckled, relieved.
“She’d think you were the most wonderful man in the world just like I do!” Lara said. They spent the rest of the meal talking about the trip and planning their itinerary. When the bill came Lara paid, leaving Mrs. Kwan a generous tip.
“You two come back soon, okay?” Mrs. Kwan said with a smile.
“We will, Mrs. Kwan, thanks again!” Lara said.
“The meal was delicious, Mrs. Kwan, the best I’ve ever had,” Ken said, appreciatively.
“Thank you, Mr. Ken,” she said with a bow.
Lara and Ken walked back to the subway station then on to their stop. Hand in hand they walked deeper into the park to where they had landed. Lara quickly scanned the area then she spun into her suit and they took off. They talked more about the details of their honeymoon trip on the way back to Chicago finally landing on her balcony half an hour later.
“Ken, why don’t you fire up my laptop while I get us drinks?” Lara said. She walked into her kitchen and grabbed two soft drinks then she joined Ken on the sofa.
“I figured we’d look at safari tours first.” Ken turned the laptop so they could both see the screen. “I filtered for seven-day tours.” The couple scanned through the list, clicking on the various listings until they found one that fit their needs. They settled on Wildlife Wonders Group Departure and then clicked the link to book their trip.
“Okay, now let’s look at Egyptian tours,” Lara said, excitedly. She grabbed the mouse from Ken’s hand and scrolled down for tours that fit their itinerary. They found one that had good customer reviews so they booked the Golden Egypt trip.
“This is just what we’ve been looking for,” Ken said, “we hit the Pyramids at Giza and the temples of Luxor & Karnak, the bazaars, and the museum of Cairo. It’s perfect!”
“It is, I can hardly wait!” Lara grinned then she drew Ken in for a sensuous kiss. The kiss turned passionate but before it could flare out of control Ken drew back reluctantly. Their chests heaved, their eyes hooded with desire.
“Whoa… sweetheart… we gotta take it easy or we won’t make it to the honeymoon!” Ken said, hugging Lara close.
“I know, it’s just that kissing you is so… amazing, I get carried away,” Lara whispered. She lay her head on Ken’s chest and he bent his head, to place kisses on her head.
**********
Continued in Chapter Twenty-Eight
