Lois was typing her short article for the Planet’s evening edition, when her newly-purchased mobile phone rang. She hastily grabbed it and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Lois!”
“Oh, Jimmy, it’s you.” She sighed in disappointment.
“Who did you think it would be?” he asked curiously.
“Barney the Dinosaur,” she mocked. “He took my rattle and I want him to bring it back.”
“Very funny, Lois.”
“So, what did you want?”
“I wanted an opinion. You know Sue, my girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“It’s our first month anniversary and I’m thinking about a nice present. But I can’t afford to spend much. And, well, I was passing by this shop, and was thinking… would a stuffed animal be a good idea?”
“A stuffed animal,” Lois repeated.
“Yes… There’s this cute pink little bear, and a white bunny, and a panda… What do you think?”
“Well, it’s not a bad idea…” she said, her mind over to her favorite Clarkie bear.
“All right. So, which one would you like best?”
Lois took a moment to think. “The panda,” she said, eventually. “It’s more original.”
“Okay. Thanks, Lois.”
“You’re welcome.”
She hang up the phone and resumed typing. Some time later, Clark entered the newsroom and headed to her desk.
“What’s up, Lois?”
“Clark!” she said, her tone exasperated. “At last! Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for hours! We’ve fallen behind in our investigation,” she added, her voice lower.
“I know,” he said evasively, “but… I had a problem or two.”
“What problem?”
He needed to think quickly. He couldn’t tell her he had gone to Smallville to see his sick mother.
Or could he?
“My parents are here,” he lied. “And… my dad had some business to do, and I had to stay with my mother. She’s caught a bad cold. Imagine, the only thing she can eat is mashed peas. Everything else turns her stomach upside down.”
“Oh, poor woman,” Lois said sympathetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. So, how’s the investigation going? Any progress?”
“I found something.”
She clicked on a file where she had saved some recently-acquired information. Clark dragged a chair closer and sat near her.
“Look,” she pointed at a paragraph. “Last month, they manufactured in total fifty beds, thirty tables, one-hundred and forty chairs and ten cribs. And yet their income reached ten million dollars. Don’t you think it’s too much?”
“Definitely.”
“Still no connection to the drug dealers, however,” she pointed out in disappointment. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee,” she said, rising on her feet.
“Okay. I’ll do some research with my computer.”
As she headed to his desk, she walked to the coffee machine. Thankfully, there was still some hot coffee. She served herself and went back to her desk.
She sat on her chair and started drinking. Suddenly, she felt a forceful push. The cup fell from her hands and coffee spilled all over her clothes.
“Oh, sorry,” Ralph said, realizing what he had just done.
“It’s you!” Lois yelled in disgust. “Get out of my sight!”
Ralph disappeared, while Clark was hastily approaching Lois.
“Are you okay?”
“Look at me!” she said, trying to wipe the coffee with a tissue she produced from her drawer. “I didn’t know I should be wearing a bib at work!”
“Come on, it’s not so bad. Why don’t you go home and change clothes?”
“You bet I will!”
Lois stormed out of the newsroom, went downstairs and took her Jeep to go home. On Potts avenue, however, she encountered a huge traffic jam. No car was moving at all.
She groaned and opened the window. “Hey!” she called to a pedestrian. “Why isn’t anyone moving?”
“A truck that carried bottles of formula collided with a car. The bottles are all over the road and the cars can’t move.”
Lois leaned back on her seat, desperate.
“Guess that will teach me not to question Clark’s lame excuses ever again,” she said to herself.
THE END.
