Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhen we last saw Lois in Part 143 she was talking to Perry on the telephone...(A/N: Just a reminder, for purpose of coded language: "Dad" = Perry. "Mom" = Clark.)
“I’m at the Fifth Street Mission,” Lois informed him. “I figured that I better get started on that community service obligation.”
“Uh-huh. How’s that going for you?”
“It’s slopping gruel. How do you think it’s going?” she replied.
“They… they aren’t making you cook, are they?” Perry asked hesitantly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lois snapped.
“I mean, you’re there to help the unfortunate, not hurt them.”
“Yeah. They love me so much, perhaps I’ll move in once I work off my service,” she snapped. “I’ve got to go.”
“Wait! Wait. Lois, honey. Come home,” Perry said. “We’ll find another way.”
“What happened to supporting me a thousand percent?”
Perry sighed. “You’re in too deep.”
“I can handle it.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” her boss admitted.
“You won’t,” she reassured him.
“You don’t have backup.”
“When have I ever needed backup?” Lois said, letting her voice raise above a whisper. She brought it back down with a glance around. “Hold on. You don’t think I can do this alone? There was a time you believed in me.” Perry’s lack of trust in her and her abilities pierced her like a red-hot poker. Had he thought she’d grown weak? She’d prove him wrong!
“I do believe in you, but I also want you to make it out alive,” he replied. “After everything that Kent found out about him…”
Right. “So, how’s everything with you?” Lois interrupted, not really wanting to hear about the investigation Clark did behind her back. “Were you able to find a new buyer for your house?”
“I’m still working on it, honey. There aren't many people in town who don’t flinch or bow in the presence of your fiancé,” Perry said.
“My company excluded. Perhaps I should start buying Lotto tickets,” Lois murmured.
“Speaking of fiancés, any news on the wedding front?” the Chief inquired, saccharine sweetly. “Planet readers want to know.”
“I haven’t given him an answer,” she sneered, tempted to push Lex off his balcony the next time she saw him for not insisting that they hire her at LNN. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call again when I can. Give my love to Mom.” She hung up the phone, glanced in the mirror, and shook her head. No wonder she didn’t get the job. She already looked as if she had completed her shift over the hot steaming food.
Clark, where are you?***
Part 144Her work on the hot dinner line completed, Lois took a dishrag and walked out to the dining tables to help clean up. The kid from the Luthor House had come for dinner again. He hadn’t come in last night when she was a wreck from LNN’s rejection and the unnecessary detour away from her investigation.
The kid had been the last one in before the cut-off. He had piqued her interest in what he meant by ‘held captive’. Did he know Denny and his brother? Did he know of others treated in a similar manner as Denny’s brother? Had he been subjected to Luthor’s ‘no mouthing off to Mrs. Cox’ policy?
Lois cleaned off three tables before approaching the one where the young man sat, silently eating his food. He wasn’t a talker as some of the homeless she had witnessed were, who were happy just for a hot meal and companionship. He was one of those who kept to himself.
“Hi,” she greeted him.
The young man wrapped his arm around his plate and turned away. “I’m still eating,” he replied.
“I’m just saying ‘hi’,” Lois said, not letting his brashness scare her off.
The kid looked her up and down. “What do you want?”
Straight to the point. She liked that. Lois pretended to clean the table across from him. “You mentioned the other day that you used to live at the Luthor House. May I ask why you left?”
“I’ve got my reasons,” he answered.
Fair enough. “May I ask what you thought of it? Of Mr. Luthor?” she inquired.
“Who
are you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“A friend.”
“You don’t look like any friend of mine,” he replied, taking another bite of food. Lois could tell he was trying to scare her off. He wasn’t going to succeed, but she had to make sure that she didn’t scare him off.
“Where do you live now?” she asked.
“I make do. Don’t worry about me,” he insisted. “I’m nobody’s charity case, lady.”
“I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Lois,” she said, holding out her hand.
He looked at her out-stretched hand and scoffed. She had forgotten Denny’s similar reaction at the Luthor House’s Christmas Eve dinner, she realized as she drew her hand back.
“What’s your name?” Lois finally asked after he didn’t supply it.
The kid wiped the gravy off his plate with a slice of bread. “People call me ‘Rat’.”
“‘Rat’?” Lois repeated hesitantly. “Why ‘Rat’?”
He shrugged. “I’m fast. I know my way around the sewers. I’m skittish around other humans,” he said, implying her. “I live on refuse. The only way to get rid of me is with poison, to drown me, or to hit me with your car or with a bullet. Choose one.”
Despite his impertinence, Lois liked the kid. He reminded her of who she used to be, at seventeen, when she had walked out on her Dad, full of piss and vinegar. She needed to do something to build a rapport with him and gain his trust so that he would talk to her of what happened at the Luthor House for Homeless Children. “Do you do odd jobs, Rat?”
“Lady, all jobs on the streets are odd,” he explained. “Tell me what you want done, and I’ll tell you if I’ll do it.”
“I need a note delivered,” Lois said.
He stared at her. “Take it yourself.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Rat’s interest was suddenly piqued. “Why not?”
“It’s a long story.”
He held out his hands as if to say, ‘where do I have to go, lady?’
“And private,” she added.
“Not from Bobby,” he mumbled, taking the last bite of his bread.
Lois turned and stared at the homeless man washing dishes. “Has he been asking about me? Oh, no. This is stupid. Forget I mentioned anything,” she sputtered, moving to the end of the table to finish wiping it down.
Her reaction to his mentioning Bobby seemed to draw Rat out of his shell. “What does a classy broad like you have to be afraid of?”
Broad? She gave him the evil eye. “I’m not afraid of anything,” she stated.
The kid smiled. “I know a fellow liar when I meet one, lady.”
“It’s ‘Lois’ not ‘lady’, and I’ve got my reasons,” Lois admitted, shooting back his line.
Rat leaned towards her and lowered his voice. “What kind of note is it?”
“Just a note,” she murmured, pretending as if they weren’t talking.
“What’s in it for me?” he asked.
“The reward of helping out your fellow man… or, in this case, woman,” Lois replied.
He pulled back. “You’re one cheap…”
“And five dollars.”
The kid thought about her offer. “Tell me more about the delivery,” he said as she started wiping down the next table over.
“Just slide it under the door,” she said.
He gazed at her skeptically. “Sounds dangerous. Tell me again why you aren’t doing it yourself.”
Lois caught his eye. “No.”
Rat shrugged as if he didn’t really care.
“You want some seconds? We have a little left,” she offered, picking up his empty plate.
“Can’t say ‘no’ to a pretty lady handing out free food,” Rat replied.
“But you can say ‘thank you’,” Lois retorted under her breath on the way back to the kitchen.
“Don’t hold your breath, Lois,” Rat called after her, causing her to pause her steps.
Clark had said that to her once, or had she said that to him? She took it as a sign, either way. A few minutes later, she returned with more beef and vegetables, rice, white bread, and a note tucked under his plate. Paying in advance wasn’t her usual style, but she wanted to build up this kid’s trust. If she couldn’t bring Lex down for anything else, she’d get him on child abuse charges and let the system take care of him. She owed that much to Denny’s brother, whoever and wherever he might be.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she placed the plate in front of him.
“You’re welcome,” Rat replied snidly, before digging in.
Lois didn’t know if Rat would toss her note in the nearest trashcan, or if she could trust Rat’s word, not that he had ever said he would deliver the note. She had no way of knowing for sure, unless she followed him.
Just the thought of being on the hunt again and of going where she shouldn’t without being caught made her shiver with anticipation. Maybe she could even catch a glance of Clark. Okay, that part was a long shot, she knew, but if he didn’t put in an appearance soon, she would have to make another trip to her dojo. Then a blonde with short spiky hair would do a little B&E over on Clinton Street.
God, Lois loved investigating.
***
Jack left the Fifth Street Mission not only feeling fuller than he had in months, but also both intrigued and perplexed by the woman Big Louie had sent him to meet. It was dusk now, and he ducked into the entrance alcove of a convenience store to pull out of his jacket pocket the envelope and five dollar bill Lois had tucked under his second helping.
The outside of the envelope was blank. He flipped it over. How was he supposed to deliver a note without an address? Weird woman. He went to toss the envelope into the trashcan nearby, but hesitated, thinking about when he met Big Louie several days before.
Two guys with more muscles than brains had handcuffed Jack to a chair in the back storage room behind Big Louie’s office after he had tried to coat hanger a car. The storage room was full of stuff no self-respecting pool hall owner should have: televisions, stereos, mobile phones, computers, and that sort of thing, brand new and still in their boxes. Since Jack had been caught breaking into Big Louie’s car that morning, all Big Louie had gotten out of him was that Jack had escaped from the Luthor House for Homeless Children. Big Louie had been in the process of giving Jack a hypocritical lecture about keeping his nose clean or ending up with it broken, when a squirrely man with a dragon tattoo on his neck knocked once and then entered.
“A broad named Steffi Graf is here to see you, Big L,” the man had announced, indicating with a gesture that he hadn’t looked past Steffi’s chest. “You want me to keep her entertained for you until yous is ready for her?” He bounced his eyebrows a couple of times in case any of them were brain dead.
Big Louie had grabbed dragon tattoo’s shirt and brought him up to his face. “You touch one hair on Steffi’s head, and I’ll let…” He looked over at Jack. “What’s your name, kid?”
Jack had coughed an expletive and said, “Jack.”
“I’ll let Rat, here, take a piss on what’s left of you in the alley,” Big Louie had continued. “Got it?”
Rat? Who’s ‘Rat’? Jack had wondered, tugging on his handcuff chain. It hadn’t budged.
The dragon on the man’s face had nodded along with his head.
“Send Steffi back to my office,” Big Louie had commanded, smacking dragon tattoo in the arm. “And be nice about it. She’s a lady.”
When dragon tattoo had left, Big Louie turned to Jack. “If I hear one squeak out of you, Rat…”
“Yeah. Yeah. I know the drill. Dragon tattoo will leak on my dead body in the alley,” Jack had replied as if the big guy’s threats were boring him. “I got the memo. You’re the Boss, and I’m just a peon.”
The color drained out of Big Louie’s face, and he leaned forward so close to Jack that he could smell the onions on the man’s breath. It was a testament to how hungry Jack was that the smell had made his stomach rumble instead of queasy.
“
I’m not the Boss,” the big greasy caricature of a mobster said. “I’m just a business man named Big Louie.
Never, and I mean
never, confuse us again.”
With that cryptic threat, Big Louie had grabbed his hero sandwich, tore a corner off it to toss to Jack, and went into his office, leaving Jack alone with these weird thoughts in the cold store room. At least, he had roughly an inch of cold cut sandwich with extra stinky stuff to tide him over the long wait.
Jack had looked around for something to pick the handcuff lock, but that was when he noticed that the Muscle Brothers hadn’t left. They were standing by the back exit they had dragged him through, blocking the door with their arms crossed.
Big Louie had stayed in his office with Steffi for a long stretch, and Jack wondered if Steffi was Louie’s woman on the side. Eventually the door opened, and Big Louie had returned. From behind Big Louie, Jack had been able to see a glimpse of the shapely butt of a blonde woman with short spiky hair, as she pulled on a pair of track pants.
It was as close as Jack had ever gotten to seeing an actual live naked woman, and she’d still been covered by a leotard. The women on the street cost too much or were more interested in drugs than personal hygiene.
Anyway, Jack was saving up to break Denny out of the Luthor House before his little brother was shipped over to the Beckworth State School as Mrs. Cox had threatened to do because of Denny’s high test scores. Jack had heard rumors from some of the other kids that at Beckworth students were used as rats for medical experiments. Jack shivered.
Was that why Louie had called him ‘rat’? Jack decided he needed to get Denny and himself back on the streets, where they could fend for themselves. They might not eat as regularly or have a clean bed to sleep in, but they would be free from being slaves and they could be able to fend for themselves.
He looked down at the five-dollar bill in his hand that Lois had slipped him with the note. It was the first time, since he escaped during the Nightfall panic that he had earned money legitimately. He felt like celebrating. It wasn’t his fault that the crazy woman had forgotten to include the address where she wanted her note delivered.
He pushed open the door of the convenience store and went over to the candy aisle. He knew he should put all of this money in his stash for getting a real place for him and Denny to live, but he felt like having a treat. He hadn’t had any sweets since Denny had snuck some pastries into his cell from the Christmas party Luthor had held for the kids worth removing from the streets. Jack and some of the other less-controllable kids hadn’t been invited. His eyes moved slowly up and down the racks. The decision was a difficult one. Finally, he chose a Double Fudge Crunch Bar. He would put the change into his stash. He set the candy bar and the five-dollar bill down on the counter. Just as the cashier finished ringing up the sale, Jack noticed writing on the bill. He snatched it up.
“Hey, kid. Seventy-five cents for the candy bar,” the cashier complained. “You can’t just show it to me.”
“Just a sec,” Jack replied, shifting the bill so he could read it properly.
Someone had written on the bill:
344 Clinton St. Top Apartment.Jack handed the bill back to the cashier, front pocketed his change, and whisked his treat off the counter and into his jacket pocket.
Back outside, Jack looked up and down the street. He had thought he had seen a shadow lurking outside while he had been inside. Thugs around that neighborhood didn’t care if all you had was four and a quarter, if you had
anything and let them know it, you were a potential victim. He opened the candy with one hand inside his pocket, so nobody could see. He pulled out one chunk at a time, savoring every bite as it melted on his tongue as he continued down the street.
Clinton wasn’t close, but it wasn’t too far. It wasn’t a great neighborhood, but it wasn’t as bad as where Jack was currently living either. Five dollars wasn’t much money, even for someone with nothing, but he knew Lois was just testing him.
Big Louie had said that a pretty brunette lady would make contact with him at the Fifth Street Mission, and if Jack played his cards right – and never mentioned Big Louie or his storeroom to anyone, ever – Lois could be Jack’s ticket off the streets. Louie said that she had connections in high places, and was good people. She would ask Jack a bunch of questions about Luthor House and Mrs. Cox, and pay him for the answers, but he was never to lie to her. If Jack lied to the lady, and she found out about the lie, she would lose her respect for Jack and never pay him for information again.
Jack’s main job, though, the reason Big Louie had set him free, was to keep an eye on the brunette while she walked on the wrong side of the tracks. Big Louie was sure her life was in danger. If anything happened to her, Jack was to report it back to Louie immediately, and he’d take care of it. Jack was to keep his nose clean, and, for heaven’s sake, stop breaking into apartments and cars in Big Louie’s territory.
Jack wasn’t sure why Louie thought Lois was in imminent danger. She already had one man tracking her. Bobby had pointed him out to Jack after dinner on Sunday.
“See that guy over there,” Bobby had whispered. “But don’t look! Aw… Jack, you looked. He’s a private dick. See how he keeps making notes in his notebook? That’s how you know. He’s following that pretty brunette woman Lois, working the line. She arrived about fifteen minutes before dinner and him, not a minute later. He sat down on the bench and has been waiting ever since, and that was over two hours ago. I don’t think she even knows that he’s following her. I saw him right away, though. Nobody from these parts would sit there, let alone for several hours. It’s said to be haunted by the spirit of Frozen Freddie, who froze to death on that bench of ’88 during that freak ice storm. I think it’s a myth though, because Freddie’s never shown himself to me and we were friends.”
Jack knew Bobby from back before he and Denny had checked in at the Luthor House. Nobody, but nobody, knew more about the streets of Metropolis than Bobby did. He knew who was safe to trust, and who to avoid. He knew about new rackets, and when new fish tried to move into a territory. Jack had asked him about Lois, after she and her tail had left that first night. His one regret was not asking Bobby about the Luthor House for Homeless Children before he and Denny had gone there.
Bobby said that he was on the fence about her. Lois was complex. She seemed good, but hung out with bad people, and he wasn’t sure why, because she also knew good people,
very good people, but Bobby didn’t elaborate on who those
very good people were.
Jack understood about bad people, but had never met a truly good person. Bobby was probably the closest he had come. He had told Jack earlier that he had asked around town about Lois, but everyone always gave him a different answer. Bobby seemed to like that Lois was a puzzle. Jack suspected he might have a bit of a crush on the woman. With Jack, Bobby, and her tail keeping an eye on her, Lois must have been the safest person on this side of Metropolis.
Unfortunately, nobody but nobody had a bigger mouth than Bobby did, either. Give the guy a decent meal, and he’d ramble on and on and on. It wasn’t his fault. Bobby had a glandular problem, which meant his metabolism was in a hyper drive and he burned calories like Superman. Thankfully, Bobby was about the friendliest guy on the streets. He had to be, otherwise nobody would give him free meals, and mealtime was his conversation time. That was when people talked, and when he listened. His one weakness, though, was gourmet food; give Bobby good food and he’d tell you anything. So-so food and he would pick his way through the food and not have much to say.
Even though Bobby spent mealtime at the shelter, he wasn’t homeless; he just had a difficult time keeping a job due to always being hungry. Apparently, restaurants didn’t like that he picked off the customer’s plates before they were served. Bobby volunteered at the Mission in exchange for free meals. Being that he was a top graduate of the Metropolis Culinary Institute, the people who ran the Mission were thrilled at what he could do with the food they had.
The only reason Jack knew so much about Bobby was that the man didn’t know how to shut up, especially while eating. Bobby usually listened to people when they ate, learning
their secrets, but Jack and his brother weren’t talkers, so Bobby had a tendency to ramble to fill the silence.
Jack turned off Fifth Street and went down Cranston. After a few more turns, he arrived at the building on Clinton. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but if one liked lots of concrete, lofts, and no view, it could be paradise. He tested the blue door at the street level and saw that one didn’t need a key to enter.
Really? In this day and age and in Metropolis? Jack would certainly be back here to bust down some doors. It was far enough from Big Louie’s that he doubted it would be counted as his territory.
He climbed the stairs to the top. No elevator? Jack shook his head. There was a nice terrace at the top, which led to this guy’s apartment.
‘
Just slide it under the door,’ Lois had said, so he did just that.
There was a couple of Daily Planets in front of the door, which meant the man was either dead or out of town. Jack hoped for both his and Lois’s sakes the man wasn’t dead inside. He ran his hand up the solid oak doors with the toughest deadbolt keeping them securely fastened. This type of French door setup was actually the easiest type to kick-in, but these doors looked reinforced. Either this secret guy friend of Lois’s had been robbed before, or he had something to hide.
Jack was more than happy never to interact with the fellow; the fewer people he met, the better. He walked down the stairs again, stopping at the mailboxes on the ground floor landing just on the inside of the front door to the building. Looking at the box numbers, he guessed the top floor belonged to one C. Kent. He would ask Bobby if he knew of Kent the next time they met.
He heard a noise and spun around, but nobody was there. Jack decided not to take any second chances and split.
***
Sneaking back into Carlos’s ICU room, Clark sat down beside the sleeping priest’s bed. “I’ve saved your rainforest,” he whispered.
Clark had done it. He had given up his life and that of Superman’s to live the last few days as the Jaguar in the rainforests of Brazil.
It hadn’t been difficult to take over the Jaguar persona. Clark had returned to the parish house in Pequenópolis and entered Padre Carlos’s room via his balcony after dusk. It had been obvious that someone, possibly the police or maybe the men who had done this to Carlos, had searched Carlos’s room. Knowing what he did of himself and of keeping this kind of secret, Clark hoped that Father Carlos had prepared well for such an intrusion.
With a quick glance around the room, Clark had found the secret panel under Carlos’s closet. Inside he had found the Jaguar’s uniform and notes about illegal poaching and reckless endangerment of the water table, and a map indicating where clear-cutting had happened. Someone had clear-cut a section of the nearby forest and caused a forest fire, which burned a large swath of the forest. Clark had seen this many times before. The criminals would plow the clear-cut land to make fields for growing of poppies, marijuana, or coca. They then would harvest the plants for the illegal drug trade.
This clear-cutting was all too common with the drug trade here in the Amazon rainforest. The drug traffickers felt it was a perfect way of hiding in plain sight. The problem was, besides endangering the animals that lived in the forest, the slash and burn ‘farming’ wreaked havoc when a heavy storm passed through. The trees held the soil in place. No trees and these newly cleared areas were more prone to mudslides and flash floods, which endangered animals and villages downstream.
Clark wished he could view impersonating the Jaguar as an entirely selfless act on his part, but the truth was he had also used it as an excuse to avoid his own problems. Sneaking through the forest to catch illegal drug farms and animal poachers helped him keep his mind and heart off Lois. In his own way, Carlos was helping him despite being stuck in this hospital bed.
The day before when he had visited, Carlos had just come out of his coma and had been surrounded by doctors and nurses. His self-imposed assignment to help the Jaguar complete, Clark hoped that he would be able to have the privacy to speak to him today. He sighed, dropping his head into his hands and feeling guilty for this selfish wish. With the current Jaguar crisis solved, Clark’s troubles returned to the forefront of his thoughts.
“Clark?”
He glanced up to find Carlos staring at him.
“Did I ask for your help?” the priest asked hoarsely in English.
Clark blinked the tears from his eyes to focus them on Carlos’s bruised and swollen face. “No, but you received it nonetheless,” he replied in Portuguese, as a heavy weight rose from his chest. “Us heroes need to stick together, you know, so we're not so alone. I’ve learned recently that perhaps it’s not best to save the world on our own.”
Carlos’s eyes drifted shut, and Clark wondered if he fell back asleep. “That’s good advice,” the man whispered, switching back to his native language.
“I made sure that several people spotted the Jaguar down in the south and by the sea.”
“
Obrigado, amigo,” Carlos replied. “I took too many risks and I got caught. I only wish I hadn’t led those men to the orphanage.”
“The men, who attacked you, were found due to an anonymous tip left at the Pequenópolis police station,” Clark explained. “They won’t be bothering you or Pequenópolis, again.”
Carlos opened one eye. “Anonymous?”
Clark shrugged sheepishly.
“Why are you here, Clark?” Carlos whispered.
“I’m helping you.”
“
Não, senhor, that may be what you are doing, but it is not why you are here,” Carlos answered. He reached for a cup of water with a straw sitting on the bedside table.
Clark picked up the cup and held it for Carlos to take a drink. This was why Clark liked speaking with the man. Carlos seemed to know and understand Clark better than Clark himself did.
“
Obrigado,” Carlos murmured before focusing his gaze on Clark. “Tell me about Lois.”
“I’ve decided to take your advice and abstain until marriage,” Clark announced in Portuguese.
Padre Carlos closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly. “
Bom,” he finally said. “Although, I have to wonder if it was my advice which had you choose this course, or fear of the curse.”
Neither. Clark cleared his throat, causing Carlos to open his eyes. “Sorry,” he apologized before explaining, “I promised God I would do it if you lived.”
“I see.” Carlos was quiet for several minutes.
Clark again wondered if the priest had fallen back asleep.
“I would hate to have to end up in hospital every time I wanted you to take my advice,” Carlos said.
Clark couldn’t help but smile. “As would I.”
“Do you think God accepts bargains such as yours to get what he wants?” Carlos asked.
“I… uh… don’t…” Clark flushed.
“Do you think God would kill me, if you discovered tomorrow that there was no longer a curse and you succumbed to temptation with Lois?”
“No!” Clark gasped in panic. “I hope not.” He closed his eyes. It would be just his luck to find out that the curse had been lifted
after Lois had chosen Luthor.
“Me, too,
meu amigo,” Carlos whispered. “Me, too.” He opened his eyes long enough to wink. “Rest assured, my friend, if you break this vow, I will not die. Well, I might die, but not because of that. I am mortal after all. I have faith in God and that he will not kill me for your mistakes, only for my own.”
“All of Pequenópolis is praying that you don’t die at all,” Clark told him. “They miss you.”
“I don’t deserve their kindness after bringing fear into the village,” Carlos replied. “But I am not so proud as not to accept assistance from those who offer it to me out of the kindness of their heart.”
“And you may rest, knowing that there is no fear of me breaking my vow tomorrow, or ever,” Clark said.
Carlos raised his hand enough to pat Clark on his. He sighed. “You told Lois about the curse, then?”
“No.”
“You told her who you are?” Carlos guessed.
“Yes… well, no… she figured it out on her own… somewhat,” Clark admitted. “Then I told her the truth.”
Kind of.“Did she reject you for being different?”
“No,” Clark replied. “Yes.” He winced, unsure that was correct. “No,” he finally decided emphatically.
“Then why did she reject you?”
Clark sighed. It must have been obvious that only Lois’s rejection would’ve brought him to Brazil. Guilt washed over him once more. “Because she’s in love with my bitterest enemy.”
Carlos stared at him. “The woman you love is in love with a man you hate, and you’re making pacts with God over
my life? I feel honored.”
“She’s marrying him because I lied,” Clark said. “She rejected me mostly because I lied to her.” Saying the words aloud didn’t make them any less painful.
“She is marrying him, because you finally told her the truth?” Carlos asked. “I do not understand.”
“It’s complicated,” Clark explained.
“No. Love is easy,
meu amigo. You are making it complicated all on your own.”
A hint of a smile tilted the corner of Clark’s mouth upward. “That sounds like something my mother would say.”
“I never knew my mother,” Carlos whispered.
“I never knew my birth mother either. I was speaking of Martha Kent,” Clark clarified.
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
“She is.” Clark nodded. “Get better, and I’ll introduce you to her.”
Carlos’s eyes drifted away from Clark’s and he didn’t speak for a few minutes. “What did she tell you to do, this wise woman?”
“Talk to Lois.”
“And?”
Clark cleared his throat, not wanting to think about what he last witnessed at Lois’s apartment. “And that Lois had every right to be mad at me.”
“Anger is no reason to marry,” Carlos stated the obvious. “Love is the only reason to marry.”
“I heard Lois talking to him on the phone,” Clark said, staring at his hands. “She told him that she loved him.”
“Ah.” Carlos closed his eyes and rested. “Have you also heard it isn’t wise to eavesdrop?” he asked a minute later.
Clark shrugged sheepishly. “Occupational hazard.”
Carlos lifted his hand and pointed at Clark. “See. You make your life complicated.” A fit of coughing rattled through him, and Clark handed him his cup of ice water. “It’s good to see you,
meu amigo, but go home.” He took a sip and handed the cup back to Clark. “I need to sleep.”
“Of course,
Padre,” Clark said, rising to his feet.
“Talk to Lois. Tell her that you love her,” Carlos instructed.
“She knows that I love her.”
“Tell her again. Rumor has it that people like to hear this more than once,” Carlos teased. “Then stand back, and let her make her own decision.”
“But what if she chooses wrongly?” Clark asked. “What if she’s already chosen?”
“Love her anyway. Sometimes people change their mind.” Carlos looked up into Clark’s eyes. “Will this man hurt her?”
“I… don’t know.” Clark sighed. “I fear so.”
“Then protect her from him.”
Clark hung his head. “She doesn’t want my protection.”
“So, she should be allowed to be hurt by him, because she’s stubborn?” Carlos winked. “Protect her anyway.”
Clark nodded and headed towards the door.
“
Muito obrigado por salvar a minha vida,” Carlos whispered.
Clark paused and looked back at him. “But I didn’t save your life,
Padre.”
“
O cair da noite. That wasn’t you?” Carlos asked wryly.
“You’re welcome,” Clark replied hoarsely, not wanting to mention that the danger posed by the Nightfall asteroid was his fault. He raised his hand to wave goodbye, but Carlos had already fallen back to sleep.
***End of Part 144***Portuguese / English Translation
meu amigo = my friend
Não = No
Obrigado = Thank you
Bom = Good
Muito obrigado por salvar a minha vida = Thank you so much for saving my life.
O cair da noite = The Fall of Night (i.e. Nightfall)
Part 145 Comments
