This is hauntingly melancholy and brilliant as ever, Shayne. The war is still going on? I guess I was dense, but I didn't quite get that before. Are the Kryptonians still there? Are they still attacking humanity? Somehow that makes it easier to understand that so many people hate Clark so much. But still... the nurses hate him so much that they can't be trusted to shave him?
It was good to see Jimmy, loyal and boyishly optimistic as always, even though his enthusiasm perhaps seemed a little bit tempered here. It was nice to see that he had written a very supportive book about Clark. It was highly appropriate, too! Just think of all those years when Jimmy had his own comic book, "Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal"! But - Jimmy, a good investigative reporter, couldn't locate Clark on his own?
If I didn't still have a little pull with the President, I never would have gotten in, and I'm not exactly sure where we are.
Clark's location is
that secret? And Jimmy "still" has "a little pull" with the President, with Lois? What has happened between Lois and Jimmy? Did they have a falling-out over Lex?
Aahh, Lex. He killed Nor with a chunk of Kryptonite. How appropriate. And the Kryptonians killed Lex. Poetic justice, I suppose. But Clark was surprised that Lex got to be President of the United States in the first place:
He would have thought the American people would have had better sense.
Well, I don't know. Several of the most brilliant and amazing politicians in the history of humanity have served as Presidents of the United States - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt to name a few - and let me tell you Americans that most of us Europeans thought that Bill Clinton was great, too. It's kind of amazing, when you think back, how much safer and happier the world seemed to be when Clinton was in office, compared with what it is now.
And - Lois became President after her husband, the President, had been killed? Wow, people, that's kind of amazing. Reminds me of an almost tribal society, where the widow or a son or daughter or cousin takes over when the leader has died. Of course, seeing that George W. Bush became President of the United States only eight years after his father, George H.W. Bush, left office, maybe the idea of an all-in-the-family Presidency of the United States isn't such a far-fetched idea after all....
Sorry. Couldn't resist that. I won't say anything more along those lines.
And not everything that goes bad in a country is the President's fault. You have done a good job of convincing me that Lois is a good President, and that she tries her damndest to be as good a President as possible. Yes, she tries her best to be a good President, and she still loves Clark. I so, so loved this part of chapter five:
He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the shadowed figure sitting in the chair by his bed. It began pounding as he realized who it was.
Lois.
She was crying.
Quickly, he moved around the bed and dropped to one knee beside her.
She seemed almost oblivious to his presence, but then she slipped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
Minutes passed before she could get control of herself. Finally, she pulled away and spoke.
"I had to send people away to die again today."
He wasn't sure what she meant, but instinctively realized that he didn't have to say anything. He stood up and sat on the bed.
"It doesn't get any easier...I wonder sometimes if getting into it in the first place was even worth it."
Lois cares. She certainly does. But why does she have to send people away to die again?
And Clark is asking her about Lex. Oh, Shayne, you must hurry up and post part six, so that we get to hear Lois's answer.
Ann
