Alternate ending (ie: happier one)
----
My tendency to let things slip isn't the only reason why my parents hadn't told me all of this, however. The fact of the matter is they were putting it off. This was at the very top of their own "chats we're not looking forward to having with our son" list. I didn't know parents had these, but apparently mine did. Not that I blame them, really; stuff like what they've told me can really mess with a kid's head! ----
I have to admit, was quite relieved to find out that I'm not a mutant. I mean, think about it, who knows how weird and scary I could have turned out to be - heck, I could have started growing scales and turned a funky shade of green! Who can tell what happens when your DNA runs amok?! This is a lot safer. A lot more responsibility, too, but so much safer than having no idea what's going on inside your body.
I'm still trying to accept the fact that I'm half-Kryptonian and I often wake up wondering if perhaps it wasn't just a really odd dream that I had. Can't say that I'm crazy about the "being different" part, but this is actually a really cool kind of different, when you think about it.
For the moment, all I can do is that laser vision gizmo - Dad says I should call it "heat vision", sounds more intelligent
(Edit: I've now taken this out of the first part) - but I might develop other "powers" over the next few years. Then again, maybe I won't. Oh, I do have some degree of invulnerability - can't burn myself with the heat vision, for instance - but this isn't something I can *do*, it's just *there*. There's no way to know for sure if I've inherited any of Superman's other abilities. I wouldn't mind not having the super breath, but I really hope I'll be able to fly. Please, please, please, let me have gotten that power! I swear I won't complain if it's the only other one I ever develop! Can you imagine? Flying. Blows my mind just thinking about it!
Dad has started teaching me how to control the heat vision so I won't inadvertently cause a building to go up in flames or something. Then again, I'm not allowed to use it in public anyway. But it's not exactly as easy as turning the thing on or off, so I need to be able to control it really well. I've managed to avoid burning down the house, so I suppose I'm doing Ok. When we're in Smallville this summer, Dad promised to show me the place where he used to practice using his heat vision, in the barn. I wonder, though, if he burned a hole in a wall there wouldn't my grandparents have made him fix it? Or is this the sort of thing parents like to keep around, like that silly scale on the side of the door with the marks that show how much you've grown each year? Adults can be so weird!
I wonder if having a super-power means I'm going to have to be a superhero when I'm older? Then again, I don't think I'd be really very useful if all I can do is burn holes through things. Doesn't exactly save lives, does it? And I don't think I want to walk around in tights and a cape, to tell you the truth. It works for him, but I'm not sure I could pull that off! I'm going to need to have a serious discussion with Dad about all that.
As soon as he flies back in from that pileup on the interstate that's he's gone off to help with, we're going to a little chat; super-powered alien to super-powered... huh... son of the alien.
~The
other End~
