Oooo, one of my favorites. Ambition by Tank and Wendy. {So good...}
Next up
It was an old photo of the
young Superman, a boyish twenty-something figure. He
guessed it must have been taken at least twenty-five years ago,
but it was still a more popular image with kids than the
somewhat avuncular Superman of the present. Come to think
of it, Superman looked to be about the same age as his own
parents, he thought, remembering the handful of newspaper
photos and TV interviews he'd seen recently. A hale and
amazingly strong figure, but undoubtedly middle-aged. *Why
does that poster seem so familiar?* he wondered. It had been
a dozen years or more since he'd had the same one, and while
he certainly had no trouble recognizing Superman, that didn't
explain the feeling of everyday familiarity he got from looking
at it. It was as if he were looking at a picture of ####, or $$$$ and @@@@, or his roommate, or...
****, who at that opportune moment appeared in the
doorway, smiling and bidding them a cheerful good morning.
With a Herculean effort, ```` kept his jaw from dropping and
his eyes from popping and returned her greeting in something
resembling his normal voice. She couldn't see the poster, since
it was on the same wall as the door, and ```` remembered that
she hadn't been in ####'s room at all yet. He wondered if she
would've stayed where she was, looking as she did, if she had
known. She'd just come from the shower and was enveloped
in a red terry robe. Her wet hair was combed severely back in
unconscious mimicry of the figure on the poster, not a yard
from where she stood. Thad's normally ordered thoughts were
an unaccustomed jumble. *What the...?* *How on...?*
*Who...?*
#### shared none of his confusion. "*You* look just
like Superman," he informed **** in a matter-of-fact voice.
She giggled nervously. Giggling was uncharacteristic
of her; when she was amused she either chuckled or laughed
heartily. Then she crossed her arms across her chest,
unwittingly enhancing the likeness, and said, "I dunno, ####,
our hair and eyes are about the same color, but the world is full
of people with dark hair and eyes."
#### accepted her explanation, being young enough
still to be distracted by the fact that she was a woman in a
bathrobe rather than a man in tights and too young to realize
the implications of the resemblance. ````, however, saw
****'s explanation was. Same hair
and eye color, indeed! There was that, plus the same broad-
shouldered, athletic frame, the same large hands, the same
posture and mannerisms, and most of all the same facial
features. Her nose was a little narrower, and there were other
small differences, but overall her features and Superman's had
the same unusual combination of smoothness and strength. He
had never seen two people resemble each other so much unless
they were closely related, siblings or parent and child, and not
often then. He certainly didn't look that much like either of his
parents. But that would mean...that would make her...how
could that *be*?
