Lisa stiffened as she noticed someone staring at them. A blonde woman wearing a big hat. She'd always thought it was polite to take hats off indoors, but it didn't seem to bother this woman.
Her first impression of the woman was hair. She could barely see her face due to the profusion of blonde hair. Huge sunglasses covered her eyes, and her lips were covered in a lipstick that was startlingly red.
Even from here, Lisa could smell the scent of cigarettes. It didn't seem to bother her mother, who was usually sensitive about these sorts of things, so Lisa assumed it was another one of those things she shared with her father.
Worse though was the vague smell of rot. There was something about this woman that wasn't right, and Lisa had an uneasy feeling it was some sort of sickness.
The woman rose slowly to her feet and Lisa could see that she was painfully thin. Her dress was beautiful. It reminded Lisa of something she'd seen Audrey Hepburn wearing in an old musical.
This description is as fascinating as it is horrifying, Shayne. All that blonde hair makes me think of a wig. And a wig makes me think of a bald head. And a bald head makes me think of Luthor. Lana Lang Luthor, eh?
A bald head also makes me think of cancer. In the comics in the late eighties, Lex Luthor got cancer because he had been wearing a kryptonite ring. Has Lana got cancer? And if so, did she get it from keeping kryptonite close to herself?
Perhaps it was just that she could hear the blood pumping furiously through the woman's veins, and her heart pumping rapidly. Although she appeared to be calm on the surface, she sounded like a woman who was furiously angry.
The woman smiled, and although Lisa couldn't see it because of the sunglasses, she knew the smile didn't reach the woman's eyes.
“I'm sure we're all going to be the best of friends.”
Lisa didn't have to hear the woman's heart racing to know that was a lie.
Lana hates Lisa! Is it because she feels that she herself should have been the one who had Superman's child? What happened to Lana anyway? Is Clark in any way responsible for her bad health and childlessness?
This is totally captivating, Shayne. I've said it so many times before, and I have to say it again: This is a fantastic story.
Ann
