Chapter Twenty-Nine—Getting to Know You
Lara Kent exited the elevator, headed for her desk when her boss called out to her.
“Lara, my office, please?”
Lara changed direction then she settled into the leather chair in front of the desk.
“What’s up, Boss?”
“I’m glad to see you in today, how are you feeling?”
“I’m much better, thank you. It turns out that I had food poisoning and nothing worse. Ken took me to the doctor and he gave me something to help with nausea but I just needed bed rest.”
“Good, glad to hear you’re feeling better. Oh, by the way, I got the invitation to your wedding. I’m looking forward to it!”
“Will you be bringing anyone?” Lara asked curiously.
“Yes. He loves to dance so he’s looking forward to it as well.”
“Great! If there’s nothing else…?”
“No, make sure the recycling plant explosion story you’re working on is ready by noon.”
“Will do.” Lara got up and hurried to her desk but several of her colleagues inquiring about her health as she went by so it was at least five minutes before she was able to reach her desk. Once there she pulled out her phone to call Lois.
“Lois Lane.”
“Hi Lois, it’s me, Lara.”
“Oh, hi! How are you? I saw the coverage of the earthquake so I’m glad you called.”
“I’m okay. I went over to Ken’s when I got back and we talked. He helps me deal with things, you know?”
“I’m so glad, he sounds like a wonderful man.”
“Speaking of Ken, he’s why I called. Would you like to meet him?”
“Yes! Of course, you have to ask?” Lois said excitedly. “When can you bring him?”
“What’s a good night for you? He’s working days this week so any night is good for us.”
“How about tonight, no time like the present, right?” Lois suggested.
“Tonight works, what time?”
“8 o’clock work for you? I can order food if you want. How do you feel about Thai?”
“8 o’clock is perfect and we both love Thai. Can I bring anything?”
“Nope, just that handsome fiancé of yours. See you tonight!”
**********
At 7:55 p.m. two black shapes landed on Lois Lane’s balcony.
“Come in, come in!” Lois exclaimed as her two guests entered. Lara spun out of her suit to stand beside her fiancé.
“Lois, this is my fiancé, Ken McCarthy. Ken, this is my mother, Lois Lane.” Lara said. Ken smiled warmly and extended his hand.
“Ms. Lane, I’m pleased to meet you,” Ken said as Lois took his hand.
“Please, call me Lois. May I call you Ken?” Lois said returning the welcoming smile.
“Of course, Lois.” Ken looked around the apartment with interest. “You have a lovely home.”
“Thanks. Are you two hungry? I’ve got everything set up in the kitchen.” Lois gestured towards the kitchen and followed the young couple.
“Lara, would you mind warming up the food?” Lois said. “What do you two want to drink? I have coffee, tea, or soda.”
“Soda is good for us, thanks,” Lara said as she bathed the food with a low-level blast of heat vision. Everyone dug in, piling portions of food onto their plates.
“Ummm, this is good. It’s almost as good as that Thai place you took me to last month,” Ken said in between forkfuls of Panang curry.
“Considering that we went to Thailand for it that’s high praise,” Lara replied with a giggle. “Where did you get this, Lois?”
“It’s a relatively new place in the city. Clark enjoyed it as well the last time he was here,” Lois said. She glanced at Lara with a grin.
“Oh, when was that?” Lara asked.
“Soon after we found his ship. He came over to thank me for my part in finding it.”
When the food was gone Lois invited them into the living room. “Anyone for coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Ken said, “Can I do anything to help?”
“No, thanks Ken, I’ve got it.” Lois put the carafe of coffee along with cream, sugar, and some cookies onto the tray and she followed Lara and Ken into the living room. Once there she poured coffee and everyone sat back, relaxed.
“So Ken, if you don’t mind, would you tell me how you met Lara? I’ve heard the story from her point of view but I’d love to hear yours,” Lois said, sipping her coffee.
Ken, too, took a sip of coffee while he gathered his thoughts.
“We were fighting a big warehouse fire on the South Side and we were having a real hard time of it. The hottest part of the fire was at the rear and we were having trouble getting our hoses into the area. We got a message from our lieutenant telling us to pull back as Superwoman was going to help. When we heard that we hightailed it back towards the front of the building to concentrate on dousing those flames. I found out afterward that Superwoman had used a railroad car to get water from Lake Michigan and used it to put out the fire. Once the fire was out the lieutenant told us to check for hot spots that might flare up again and to make sure there was no one left in the building. Sometimes homeless people camp in buildings like that so, if there were any, we were looking for bodies.
“We were checking out the area when I thought I saw movement off to my right so I took off thinking that, as unlikely as it would be, that there might be someone alive. When I got there, I didn’t see anything but I did hear a cracking sound. I looked up and saw a section of the roof giving way so I dove under a huge wooden beam that had fallen as there was an open space beneath it. I got under it just in time but a portion of the truss hit my left leg. The pain told me I’d broken my leg but I didn’t know how badly. When I tried my radio, I found that it wasn’t working, it must have broken when I dived under the beam. So I was lying there in excruciating pain with no way to call my buddies. I knew they’d find me sooner or later so all I could do was lay back and wait.
“Not long after I heard a female voice telling me everything was okay and she’d have me out of there in no time. Superwoman was so calm and reassuring, she told me what she was going to do then she lifted the truss off me and picked me up as easily as you would pick up a baby. She cradled me carefully so as not to hurt my leg then she flew me to the ambulance, laying me on the gurney. I was in a lot of pain when they closed the doors and they’d driven off before I had a chance to say thank you to her.
“At the hospital the doctor had almost finished putting my leg into a cast when this beautiful brunette poked her head into the emergency bay. The painkillers had kicked in so I was feeling much better but when I saw this woman, she took my breath away. I told myself right then that I was going to marry this woman somehow. I’d never felt like that before and I knew she was someone special. She interviewed me about the fire and my injury then she gave me her card with her cell number on the back. When our hands touched, I felt a tingle that surprised me and it looked like she felt something too. Before she left, she told me to give her a call, which I did a few days later, and here we are.” Ken said, finishing his tale.
“Thanks for telling me your story, Ken. I find it interesting how two people view the same event and your story, while it mirrors Lara’s in many respects, has insights she couldn’t know,” Lois said.
“Lois is right. I find it fascinating to hear it from your point of view. I’m glad that you thought I was calm and reassuring that night. I try to make people I rescue feel safe but it’s always nice to know I succeed.” Lara leaned over to give Ken a quick peck on the lips.
“So Lara, how are the wedding plans going?” Lois asked pouring herself another cup of coffee.
“Great. Everything is under control, with the help of Grandma, Ken’s family, and my friends, of course. The only thing left is for Ken and me to show up!”
“That’s wonderful. It must be a great relief to have such support. Oh, by the way, I talked to my mother the other day, she and my father are looking forward to the wedding.”
“That’s wonderful, I’m so glad.” Lois, Lara, and Ken talked about their honeymoon plans and where they planned to live afterward.
“… of course we’ll be looking for a bigger place later on but it has to meet Lara’s criteria,” Ken said glancing over at her.
“Oh, what criteria is that?” Lois asked, curiously.
“A balcony with minimal sightlines for Superwoman takeoffs and landings!” Lara replied with a chuckle.
“I suppose that is important to you. I know what you mean though, I’ve had a lot of super visitors on my balcony of late. Speaking of which, I’ll be right back.” Lois rose from her chair and returned a few moments later.
“There’s a rooftop garden for the residents of this building so I was thinking it might allow for more… discrete visits in the future.” Lois handed Lara two keys.
“Two keys?” Lara asked.
“One for you and one for… Clark,” Lois said with a grin.
“I’ll make sure he gets it, Lois,” Lara replied with a wink and a smile.
“You know, Honey, it’s getting late. Maybe we should try that roof garden out.” Ken stood, extending his hand to Lara.
“It was very nice meeting you, Ken,” Lois said rising as well. “I’m so glad we had this time together before the wedding. It allowed us to get to know each other better.”
“Me too, Lois. Thanks for inviting me.” Ken walked over to Lois and enveloped her in a hug which Lois returned enthusiastically.
“You’re very welcome. I hope you two will come to visit more often now that we know each other better.” Lois said, hugging Lara as well.
“We will, Lois you can be assured of that.” Lara grabbed Ken’s hand, interlacing her fingers with his. “You ready, honey?”
“Yep, let’s go.” Lois saw the couple to the door, telling them that they could take the elevator to the roof garden. The ride up was quick and they stepped out onto the deserted garden.
“This is very nice, private too.” Ken stood back while Lara spun into her suit then they took off, headed back to Chicago.
**********
Lara and Ken were watching the History Channel series on George Washington one evening when an advertisement came on for a special documentary called Nightfall: 25 Years Later. The ad touted interviews with EPRAD and other scientists involved at the time, world leaders, including former President Garner, and a completely new interview with the Man of Steel himself! This information piqued Lara’s interest because her father hadn’t said a word about it.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me about the Nightfall special?” Lara asked when her father answered the phone a few minutes later.
“Well, hello to you too, Pumpkin,” Clark teased.
“Hello, Dad. Now, why didn’t you tell me?” Lara replied doggedly.
“It’s not that big a deal. The interview only took 15 minutes and I forgot all about it afterward.” Clark replied nonchalantly.
“We have eidetic memories, Dad, we don’t forget things.”
“Honestly, sweetheart, it’s no big deal. I don’t know why they even wanted to do it,” Clark’s response told Lara that he felt the whole thing was making a lot out of nothing.
“It’s history, Dad. You saved the world, that’s important,” Lara said seriously.
“Yes, it was, but it’s behind me and, I prefer it to stay that way.”
“Okay, Dad, if that’s the way you feel about it, I’ll respect your opinion but I’m gonna watch! Goodnight, Dad.” Lara ended the call, returning to the documentary they were watching but she made a mental note to set her DVR.
**********
The day after the special ran Lara skimmed through the program for the interview with her father. When she found that part of the program, she stopped scanning.
“First I’d like to say thank you for agreeing to this interview, Superman,” the female interviewer said.
“You’re welcome, I’m glad to do it.”
“Superman, we’ve been showing the video of you from that day and you looked very confident. I have to ask, weren’t you nervous?”
“Yes, I was. Nightfall was the biggest asteroid ever to be on a collision course with Earth since the destruction of the dinosaurs and I wasn’t sure I would be up to the task.”
“Had you been briefed by scientists on what to expect?”
“Oh, yes. EPRAD’s scientists gave me a full briefing before I left and they were also in contact with me during the flight. I knew that, even with the nuclear backup plan, I needed to destroy it to give the mission the best chance of success.”
“After you impacted Nightfall you disappeared from EPRAD tracking, what happened?”
“I flew into the asteroid at full speed but it destroyed my communications device and it severely weakened me. I needed time to recover. I couldn’t fly for a while, but, thankfully, I recovered in time to deflect that remaining chunk before it could cause any damage.”
“When you were hurt, where did you go?”
“I’d rather not discuss that,” Superman said shutting that line of questioning down.
“While there have been no other near-Earth objects found it must be comforting to know that you have your daughter to help if the need arises, correct?”
“Yes, it is. Superwoman has been a great help to me and, if the need ever arose, I know she’d be right there with me. I’m very proud of her.”
“Thank you, Superman.”
“You’re welcome. I hope your program is a success.”
Lara skipped the rest of the program knowing that it was going to be a bunch of boring interviews and she’d seen everything she’d wanted to see. Lara picked up her phone and called Lois.
“Lois Lane.”
“Hi Lois, it’s me. Do you have some time to chat tonight?”
“Sure, 8 o’clock?”
“See you then.” Lara glanced at the clock and saw she had an hour before she had to leave so she rewound the recording to watch the Superman interview again.
**********
Lara landed on the rooftop garden and spun into her jeans and her dark blue cotton blouse. She pulled the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door then she took the elevator down and got off at the 51st floor to apartment 5105.
“Lara, please, come in,” Lois said. She gestured for Lara to join her in the living room. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“Sure, one of those cold cream sodas sounds good right about now.” Lois opened her refrigerator and withdrew two cans of the requested beverage.
“So what brings you here tonight?” Lois said, popping the top of the can and taking a sip as she sat down on the couch.
“Have you seen that special on the History Channel, Nightfall: 25 years later?”
“Actually, no. I didn’t watch it. They asked me to participate but I turned them down. Frankly, I’m kind of surprised Clark participated.”
“That’s kind of why I wanted to talk to you. I asked Dad about that time but he didn’t want to tell me much.”
“That was a hard time for your dad. He hadn’t been Superman very long when along comes the military and EPRAD asking him to fly millions of miles into space and ram into an asteroid the size of Metropolis. I always felt that they used Superman because they had no other viable options and if he didn’t succeed their backup plan, nuclear weapons, was only a last resort. I think they were also scared of Superman and if he died in the process of breaking up the asteroid it was a win-win for them!” Lois said angrily.
“Those bastards!” Lara exclaimed, her eyes glowing red. “How could they justify using him like that?!”
“They, the military especially, saw Superman as a potential threat. I’d written several articles praising him and all the good works he’d done, but that didn’t seem to matter to them. He was an unknown and they didn’t have any way to neutralize him. That was before Kryptonite was discovered you know.”
“No, I didn’t. I saw during Dad’s interview that he had disappeared for a few days. Do you know what happened?”
“Oh yes. At the time I didn’t know I was dealing with Superman but I got a call from Inspector Henderson, I told you about him. He asked me to come down to the station to pick up my partner, Clark. They told me that a homeless man found him wandering the streets. A beat cop recognized him and called Henderson who told me that he’d lost his memory. Clark had an ‘accident’ earlier in the week so I attributed his memory loss to that.”
“An accident?”
“I don’t know exactly what happened but I think he stopped a car from hitting him when Nightfall caused a mini-eclipse and he faked being hit. Anyway, I took Clark back to his place because the police psychiatrist said being in familiar settings would help his memory. Once I got him home, he and I were talking and he asked me if we were friends, and I told him yes. Then he asked if we were more than friends and I got nervous and told him that we weren’t that close. He seemed very sad when he heard that. I know now that, even without his memory, he had real feelings for me but I wouldn’t acknowledge them. It seemed no matter what I did Clark’s memory wouldn’t come back. Martha and Jonathan even came out, to try to jog his memory. He’d destroyed a large portion of the asteroid but there was still a really big piece coming straight for the planet.”
“So what finally worked? How did Dad get his memory back?”
“We were talking about Superman. Clark wanted to hear about him from my point of view. Again, I didn’t know this at the time, but Martha and Jonathan had told him he was Superman but he didn’t believe them at first, and even when he did, he couldn’t remember how to fly. Something I said triggered his memory and Superman returned and took care of that remaining piece, pushing it out of the way this time instead of ramming it with his head!”
“That’s amazing. I read some of your articles from that time but I could tell that you’d left out a lot. I’m glad you were able to fill in the blanks.”
“I’m glad I could give you some insight into your dad back then. They treated him badly even though he put his life on the line for the whole world. Clark would never say it but I will. Every person on this planet owes him for their very lives. That’s why I declined the offer to interview me. I couldn’t hold back how I feel and I didn’t want to give that ‘documentary’ any legitimacy.” Lois’s body language told Lara that, even after 25 years, she was still very upset.
“I never knew…” Lara said, stunned at how people treated her gentle father just because he was different. If Superman had never existed life on Earth would have been vastly different, if it had survived at all. Shaking herself out of her reverie she now had a whole new level of respect for her father.
“Well, that’s enough of that,” Lois said, changing the subject to lighten the mood. “What have you and Ken been up to lately?”
**********
Continued in Chapter Thirty
