“Kent! Come here!” Perry opened his door and yelled.
He nodded at Lois and stood up, straightened his tie and headed over to his editor’s office. “Yes, Chief?”
“Clark. I’ve got something I want you to do…”
Lois’s thoughts drifted about, dancing with Superman that night in her apartment after Clark had won the Kerth Award, kissing him. “Humm” she moaned aloud before coming to when her phone rang.
“Lois Lane?”
“Hello, Ms. Lane?”
“Yes.”
“I was wondering if you take tips from the public?”
She reached for her pen and paper. “Yes, of course. Who am I speaking with?”
“Well, I’d rather remain anonymous. You are friends with Superman aren’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” more than just friends, she’d like to believe.
“Well, I think there’s a bus down at the transit parking lot that has a big handprint on the front of it.”
“A handprint?” Lois’ eyebrows went up.
“Well yes. A few days before Superman came to Metropolis, a bus was out of control in front of the Daily Planet where you work. I was walking across the road down the hill, with the light of course. There were a whole lot of us in the crosswalk when this bus came barreling down at us. I was in shock as a man ran out in front of the bus and stopped it with one hand. I tried to tell everyone, but the man ran off before anyone would listen to me.”
“This was *before* Superman came to Metropolis?” Lois replied, her brain churning out questions. “Can you describe the man to me?” Lois was quick on her toes.
“Well, I must say, I’ll never forget that man’s face. He looked right at me. He seemed to be afraid someone would recognize him and he ran off. But I’ve been really interested in this, ever since that day. It was so soon after that when the pictures of Superman were everywhere, after that Prometheus bomb. I have a picture of Superman in front of me now. It was him, Ms. Lane. Except he had on black rimmed glasses and he was wearing a trench coat.”
Lois was stunned. She didn’t know what to say. “Thank you, Ma’am. Are you sure you’d like to remain anonymous? I’d love to meet with you. I could keep your remarks strictly private, leaving you out of any article I may write.”
“Well, I guess that would be okay. My name is Polly Plume.”
“Could I come over to visit with you this afternoon?” Lois pressed.
“Well, I don’t know what else I can tell you, Ms. Lane, but I guess that would be okay.”
“What’s your address Mrs. Plume?”
“Just call me Polly. It’s 459 Mercury Blvd.”
Clark came back over to Lois’ desk just as she was hanging up the phone. They exchanged smiles. “What did Perry want?”
“He’s got a conference he wants to send me to.”
“Oh? What’s it about?”
“Well, I told him we were working on something together right now and asked if he could send Ralph or someone instead.”
“And?” She thought it might be better to have Clark’s help with this. Lois looked over at Perry through his office windows. He was back at his desk again, this time with Ralph in his office
“Yeah, he’s going to send Ralph.”
“Oh. Okay. Good. Listen, we’ve got a lead.”
“A lead?” Clark said, unsure how surprised his face looked.
“Yes, a woman just called,” Lois ripped the paper off the notepad, “Polly Plume. She says she saw a man stop a bus just out in front of the Planet before Superman came to Metropolis. I want to check this out. It looks as if it was Superman wearing his disguise. She can meet with us this afternoon. Let’s go get lunch and then head on over there.”
Clark remembered that bus. He remembered the lady in a brown plaid coat seeing him and yelling, trying to get people’s attention to see the man that had stopped the bus. That was one of the major reasons he’d asked his mom to help sew him a disguise costume. He’d forgotten about that incident. That was back on the first day when he’d come to metropolis. He felt a wave of despair, as if a tidal wave was about to wash over him and drag him to the bottom of the sea.
“What’s wrong Clark? You look awful. Are you sick?” Lois stood up and put the back of her hand on his forehead, jerking him back to the present.
“Oh, I'm fine Lois, maybe it’s time for lunch, I didn’t have much breakfast,” he lied, yet again.
“Well come on then, partner,” she said, gently whacking his stomach with the back of her hand before she poured the rest of her coffee in the plant. “Don’t want you to starve to death!”
“Does Perry know what we’re doing?” Clark asked suddenly. “I mean, aren’t there other things we’re supposed to be working on?”
Lois looked at him and shook her head. “Nope. We’re done with the assassination story. Nothing bad has happened yet. Let’s see how much we can do on this before the sky falls on us again.”
He glanced at the television that was always on in the background, informing the newsroom of any breaking stories. Lois grabbed her large brown sachel and headed with Clark toward the ramp. “Where in the Sam Hill are you two off to now?” Perry bellowed as he came out of his office.
“Hi Perry, we’re following a lead on another story.”
“Aren’t you supposed to clear stories with me before you head off on something?” He had that look on his face again.
“Well, Chief. I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out just who Superman really is?”
“Darn right it would be, honey, but don’t you think maybe you’re going a little hastily on this? I mean, the man has the right to his privacy.”
Lois gave him one of her looks. “Perry! I remember you telling me to get everything I could on him. You had the whole newsroom working on where this hero in tights came from!”
“Well, that was a long time ago, honey, things have changed.” he said sheepishly.
“But Perry! It’s the news!”
“Well, Lois, I guess you’re right. I just, well, I don’t want to hurt this guy, he’s done so much for Metropolis, for all of us, including you!”
Clark liked Perry so much. He was a really decent guy.
“So I can keep digging?” Lois asked, knowing she was going to keep digging no matter what Perry answered. She’d just like to do it on work time with Clark.
“Well, okay, hun, but we’re going to have to be pretty careful what we print. I think I know why you’d like to find out if he has another identity. I’ve seen you sitting at your desk daydreaming more than once since he came to town.”
Lois grinned from ear to ear. “I think we’ve got something, Perry. A woman says she saw a man stop a bus with one hand, BEFORE Superman came to Metropolis. Before he was wearing the suit anyway!”
Clark shrugged at Perry and followed Lois up the ramp to the elevator before Perry had a chance to respond. He called up after them,
“Lois and Clark, keep your beepers on. If anything important breaks I'm moving you over to it. Got that?”
“Right Chief” they both said, glancing back at him.
They stood in front of the elevator. Clark looked at his shoes. What was he going to do about this one? He could just imagine it now. There they’d be, sitting in Polly Plume’s living room, listening to her describe this man that looked just like Superman, only wearing glasses and a dark trench coat. She’d probably point to him and say, ‘He looked just like him.’
The wave of despair was hovering above his head as he imagined what was going to happen next. His cover would be blown. Lois would know. She’d probably hate him for pretending to be her partner who she was beginning to accept as more than a hack. Would she think he had cheated her by taking her dancing above the ground wearing his Superman costume? Probably. There wasn’t much he could do about things now. Soon it would all be over. He felt sad. The woman he loved would discard him like an apple core. Surely there must be something he could do. Well, for one thing he couldn’t sit in that woman’s living room.
But then, lots of people look alike. He’d seen people all his life that looked like other people he’d known elsewhere. How well had she seen him anyway, he mused? It was no good. No matter what, his cover was about to be blown. He sat looking morosely out the window as Lois drove her silver jeep to a restaurant on the way to Mercury Blvd. Tall leafy oak trees lined the road. A few children played catch in a playground. Happiness. He felt it fleeing from him like the string of a kite when the wind catches it too hard. Slipping through his hands.
“Clark?” Lois asked, putting her hand on his arm. He turned to look at her. “Clark, what’s wrong? You’ve not said a word since we left the office.”
“Humm?” he responded, trying to hold his emotions in check as he looked at her, feeling betrayed. How could she do this to him? Didn’t she have any feelings for him at all? She cared about him. How could she be so cruel? Did she want him to leave and go start a new life in some other city? Wouldn’t she miss him?
“Clark, what’s wrong, you look like I just ran over your dog?”
He had to shake himself out of it. She wasn’t doing anything to him, it was to Superman. He needed to go flying. He needed to do something. An idea came to him with a flash of hope. “Lois?” he paused. “Lois, why do you really want to do this?”
She finished parking the jeep, turned off the motor and opened the door.
