The sun was shining brightly through the leaves in the tall tree overhead. The sound of the wind was rustling them. Clark paused on the porch to look out over the scenery. He could hear a bird dragging a twig around in its nest overhead, then saw a robin fly away. Children were playing in a schoolyard somewhere in the neighborhood, their happy shouts a dull roar in the background.
He could hear a woman digging in her flower garden a few blocks down the street. The sound of heavy traffic on the distant freeway sounded like there it was right beside him. Suddenly, the sound of crunching metal, followed by horns, screams, screeching tires and more metal on metal jarred him. He froze. He had to go, what would he tell Lois now? He didn’t have time to think of an excuse, oh, ‘he was going to walk, get some fresh air,’ that was it. He didn’t dare leave her though. No telling what she’d uncover. He was torn again, like usual, but he had to go.
“Lois, I think I'm going to walk, he said, catching up to her as she opened the door to her jeep.”
“Clark, are you nuts? We’re all the way across town.”
“I know, but I think I could use a bit of exercise.” He patted his stomach. “ I think I’ll just walk for awhile then take a taxi. I’ll meet you back at the Planet,” he said, grabbing his tie and turning down the street.
She looked at him like he was crazy. She wanted to talk to him about what they’d just seen and heard. “I’ll come with you Clark,” she was saying, closing the door, “I could use a bit of fresh air myself. It’s sure a nice day. She came back to the sidewalk, but he was gone. “Clark?”
She stood there with a puzzled look on her face. “He sure is a strange one, that Clark Kent.” She opened her purse again and pulled out Polly’s picture of Superman. If he were in disguise, wasn’t this what Superman would do, dash away when he had to be somewhere to save the day? She looked at the picture, held it away from herself and shook her head. Boy, it looked like Clark. She looked up the street and down, then dashed to get into her jeep and sped down the long straight residential street to find Clark. He couldn’t be far, well, if he were only Clark. After going about a mile, she pulled into a driveway and turned around, then sped back up the street, at least another couple of miles, then took every side road, searching the neighborhood for Clark. He wasn’t there. She picked the picture back up and looked at it again, her brain churning. Her heart was pounding, hammering in her chest.
She looked down the road. Where the heck was he, of course he’s not here? A phone booth caught her attention, and she drove down the road and parked in front of it.
“Michael Goodman,” she mumbled, flipping through the pages until she found the name. She could barely stand up straight, her knees were giving out.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Goodman? Michael Goodman?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, my name is Lois Lane from the Daily Planet. I got your name from Polly Plume.”
“Oh yes, Polly from SAVED.”
“Yes, Mr. Goodman. I wondered if I could ask you some questions about the time you were in an accident in a manhole?
“Of course. I refer to that day as the beginning of my life, the day I was Saved!”
“Could you tell me about that incident?”
“Oh yes. Well, we were working down in the sewer, just outside the Daily Planet, welding some water pipes that we were replacing. I guess the gas line must have been alongside the old pipe, because when I lit the torch, it exploded. It hit me pretty hard and knocked me off my feet. I got a bad bump on my head. But just about as soon as it happened, a man appeared in the sewer beside me. He lifted me up and out the manhole. Before I’d had a chance to thank him, I was on the pavement. But then there he was, right on the other side of the barrier we’d put up while we were working in the hole. I thought I must have been dreaming, I mean, people don’t climb down manholes and back up again as fast as that. And when he picked me up, it was as if I was as light as a feather. I thought for sure he was an angel. That’s why I probably have such a good memory of it and all, coming so close to death.”
“Can you tell me anything more about the man that saved you?”
“Well, he was standing right beside you. You were there weren’t you? Didn’t you see him? You were the reporter writing in a notebook? He looked pretty dirty, I guess from being down there in the sewer. When I pointed to him and said he’d saved me, he pointed to me and said, “He’s delirious!” I was really shocked by the way he said it, acting as if I were some sort of a lunatic.
“I remember,” Lois muttered in amazement and disbelief, the phone booth starting to spin. The gears in Lois’ head were turning, finally. She recalled that day. Clark had been following her out of the Daily Planet. They’d heard the explosion and seen the smoke coming up from the manhole. She’d grabbed her notebook out of her bag and rushed to get the story first. She hadn’t noticed where Clark was, just that when the man pointed to him, she’d seen how filthy he looked.
Lois wasn’t sure she could stand up, if she could walk to her jeep, if she was going to pass out.
“Thank you very much for your time, Michael,” Lois said shakily. She had heard enough, said Goodbye and hung up the phone.
Lois sat in her jeep, dumbfounded, unaware of the increasing traffic in the neighborhood, of the sun getting lower in the sky. Her breathing was erratic, her heart was pounding uncontrollably. She leaned her head on the steering wheel to keep from passing out. Darkness was overwhelming her. Her head was swimming too fast.
The street lights were coming on when she finally felt in control enough to drive. Could she remain consciousness long enough to search Clark’s apartment?
Trying to see if she was alert enough to function, she made a list in her notebook.
Similarities to Clark
1. Polly’s picture
2. Michael’s manhole story
3. Clark’s dirty face and jacket
4. Clark being gone right now
5. His always running away
6. His knowledge of Superman’s life
7. glasses
8. Superman on his balcony a lot
9. gold CK letters on suitcase?
She ripped the paper off and stuffed it into her suit jacket pocket, with the pen, in case she had any more things to add to the list she might find in his apartment.
She no longer doubted that Clark was Superman, but she had to see that suitcase.
She wiggled the opened paperclip in the lock on the door, then turned the handle and went in. She went to the closet and looked inside. She pulled out the small flashlight she kept in the bottom of her big brown leather bag and shone the light into the top of the closet. Shoes. Dress shoes, running shoes, the ones she’d seen him wear at work. She felt strange invading Clark’s privacy like this. Not bad really, just, well, okay, maybe bad. On the floor the flashlight scanned over a few boxes, a tennis racket, a basketball, a bat, ball and glove. She fumbled through the clothes on the rack, stopping at a long trench coat she’d not seen Clark wear before. She looked back at the picture. It had the same rounded collar on it as Polly had drawn in on the picture, not the normal lapels like most trench coats had.
She breathed deeply, thinking about the dirty suit, the lame excuses every time he disappeared. Was he ever pulling a good cover, acting dumb, letting her find Trask in a picture while pretending he had bad eyesight. He was he a good liar, she had to hand it to him!
A weak smile crossed her mouth. He was practically as good as she was! She shone her flashlight further inside. A glint of gold lettering caught her eye. She reached into the darker part of the closet and pulled out an old battered leather suitcase. It was light brown and looked like it had been all over the world. The letters CK were engraved on the side of it. Well, this was it, wasn’t it?
How could she have been so blind? She remembered when she’d shared her darkest secret with him and his had only been that he thought his mother was having an affair.
She still hadn’t found where he kept the suits. Wondering about a secret compartment like her father had for his cyber parts, she knocked on the back of his closet wall. It sounded hollow. She felt around for something that might move to open the wall, finally moving the tie hook. Suddenly the wall slid sideways, exposing several Superman suits. Beneath them stood three pairs of boots. She pulled one suit out and smelled it, then another, then another. They were all clean. No sign of chemicals or grease or smoke. They didn’t smell like Clark, but they didn’t smell like Superman either. She picked up a boot and sniffed inside, then picked up a running shoe. Definitely the same smell!
She’d never compared how Superman and Clark smelled before. That was one thing you couldn’t really fake. What about the aftershave? She went to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet over the sink to continue searching. A few bottles stood on the shelves. One at a time she smelled the bottles. This was the one Clark had worn to the Kerth awards. She remembered that smell. This was the one he always wore. She couldn’t remember what Superman’s was like. She tried to picture being in his arms in the air, closed her eyes and smelled each bottle again. This one, she decided, opening her eyes. It was the one Clark wore all the time. She grinned from ear to ear.
She stood there smiling at herself, not wanting to hurry to leave, but knew that having broken and entered, she’d better get moving. She didn’t feel like dancing, the way she thought she’d feel. Suddenly she heard a key in the lock of the door. She’d left her purse on the floor while she’d searched the closet for the suitcase. She’d left the suitcase out. She ran for her purse, shoved the suitcase back in the closet and closed it, then dashed to the fire escape, opening and closing it behind herself.
Clark stood on the top of the steps with his key in the lock. He heard something inside his apartment. He looked through the door and walls and saw the intruder, Lois, rushing across the room and out onto the fire escape. He was superman, did he go wait for her at the bottom?
