Dead or Alive
Pt 3
Lois dropped the phone noisily in its cradle. In a moment, she was seated on the edge of Clark's desk. Her mouth was slightly open. Her eyes were wide.
Clark turned from the article he was writing to look at her. “What's up, Lois?”
He was trying to forget about Superman and it was working pretty well, all except for the part where Lois was concerned. She was certainly taking it hard. Well, she' get over it.
“His body's gone. The funeral parlor guy came to get his body and it's gone.”
“You're kidding.” Clark said, matter of factly.
“Come on, Clark, we've got to get over there and find out.”
“What’s there to find out, Lois They guy’s either dead or alive. If he’s dead, it’s over. If he’s alive, he obviously wants people to think he’s dead. Let’s give the guy a break.”
She looked at him incredulously. “Are you telling me you’re not coming with me?”
Clark shrugged. “I’ve got work to do, Lois.”
“Clark Kent, get off your butt and come with me. This is BIG news.”
She spun his chair around and practically dragged him out of it. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.”
He looked over at Perry’s office as the door opened. Lois pulled Clark along beside her and met her editor’s gaze. “Clark’s working with me today, Chief.”
Perry’s eyebrows went up. “Kent. I want a word with you.”
“Not now, Perry, Lois is hot on the trail of something. Corpse stealing, you know.”
Perry watched as they headed up the ramp to the elevator. “What was wrong with that boy? He wasn’t acting like himself, that was for sure. Of course maybe being dead did that to a person.
They stood in the elevator together. Clark smelled Lois perfume and edged a bit closer to her. He was missing holding her as Superman. He fingered the bit of stone in his pocket and sighed.
Soon they were in Lois jeep. He’d not been in it for a long time, she and Superman always flew. He looked around, taking in the items she carried around with her. A book lay on the back seat, upside down. He reached back and flipped it over to read the cover.
She got in and he turned to the front again, a bit embarrassed he’d been snooping. “Nice jeep, Lois.”
“Thanks, Clark.”
He reached over and turned the radio on. As the news came on, he changed the channel to something with a good beat. In spite of the radio, a distant scream caught his attention. He turned his head and listened intently. Lois noticed him.
“What is it?”
He looked back at her. “Oh, nothing.” He looked ahead as she pulled ahead out of the parking garage. He pulled out his phone and dialed 911. “Just a minute Lois, could you stop a second?”
He stepped out of the vehicle and standing beside it out ,of her earshot, he explained to the emergency operator what he’d heard as if he were an eyewitness. He got back in, putting his cell phone back in his pocket. What a good way to deal with emergencies, he thought. Now Superman could do some good without donning the red and blue.
“What was that all about?”
“I just had to cancel an appointment, but the reception in here wasn’t so good.”
“Oh.” She put the vehicle in drive and pulled away from the building. “So what have you been working on lately Clark?”
“Nothing much.” He wasn’t interested in work. Not in talking about it, not in doing it, and most of all, not in going to the morgue to find out he wasn’t there. Maybe he could fake it and get in the coffin before she saw him! Now there was an idea!
“I’m here to find out about Superman. I was told his body had disappeared from the morgue.”
“Oh yes, Ms. Lane. I’ll call the coroner, he can take you in to see.”
They were led down the elevator and then a hallway. In a cold room, the coroner stepped toward the wall of metal drawers. Clark x-rayed the wall and saw which one had been given to Superman earlier.
“Uh, I don’t think I want to see this,” Clark said, and headed back to the hallway. He didn’t have his suit with him, but what the heck. Lois needed to see a dead body. Superman’s dead body.
He stripped and flew into the room, vibrating fast enough to molecularly move through the drawer without having to open it.
The coroner checked the label on the end of the drawer, then pulled it open. Superman’s slicked back hair was the first thing she saw. His face looked pale and deathly. She felt his cheek. It was cold. When the coroner realized the body was naked, he didn’t pull the drawer open any further than Superman’s shoulders.
Lois was stunned. He was dead alright. She felt his neck, but there still wasn’t any sign of a pulse.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lane, I don’t know what could have happened. I’ll call the funeral home again.”
The housekeeper didn’t notice the clothes on the hallway floor outside the morgue where she was sweeping up into the laundry, weren’t hospital clothes. It had been a busy day for her. She also didn’t notice the red stone that had rolled out onto the floor.
Clark was glad that he’d fooled Lois. It was better that he be dead. She’d never get over him if he were still alive out there somewhere. He should never have cast doubts on Superman’s death.
He could feel her finger on his neck. He’d slowed down his heartbeat many times before. It wasn’t difficult. What had been hard was not reacting when his molecules had excruciatingly recombined.
Lois and the Coroner left the room. She looked around for Clark, who she assumed was in the hallway just outside the morgue. “Clark?” she called.
She looked down and spotted the glowing red rock. Red Kryptonite. Superman had certainly been affected by that stone. But where had it come from? “Clark?” she called again, heading down the hallway.
Clark molecularized to get out of the locked drawer, but in the hallway, when he realized his clothes were gone, he decided maybe it was better to just stay dead till after the funeral and burial were over. That would be a good idea, actually.
In the funeral home, they abandoned the idea of embalming Superman, when they couldn’t make the incision necessary to replace his blood with embalming fluid.
Clark was quite disgusted by some of the funeral workers who thought it great fun to poke and prod at Superman. He pretended he wasn’t in his body until they went away.
They dressed him in a Superman outfit that someone bought from a local costume store. The funeral was to be preceded by an open coffin walk-by. His body was moved to the top of the stairs at city hall where it was to lay in state. Hundreds of thousands of people lined up to walk past Superman, to pay their respects. His eyes were left open, so he was able to take in the experience. He’d not planned on things happening this way. He’d thought he’d just be buried and that would be the end of it. But no, he was Superman. How had he thought it would have been otherwise?
It was quite humbling when the red kryptonite began to wear off. He saw many people whose lives he had saved. Many women bent down to kiss him, some in a much more familiar manner than he cared for. But he couldn’t move. He couldn’t let on that he wasn’t dead. He was doing this for a reason. Flowers began to cover the yard of the courthouse. A band played solemnly in the background.
The shady element also came to bear their respects. Lex Luthor even stood in line, well, he had someone stand in line for him, but he came up in turn. He bent down and whispered, “And so ends the game. Better luck next time, ole boy.”
Bill Church wanted to make sure for himself that he was really dead. Clark had forgotten how many criminals he’d put away. It looked like they were just walking the entire prison of inmates past his coffin. He heard chains rattling and caught a glimpse of a reflection in someone’s glasses. Sure enough, just like a chain gang, these were prisoners filing past his coffin. Of all the nerve. He made sure his heartbeat was still retired, his breathing was only one slight bit every twenty minutes, and the twitch in his jaw was paralyzed. His flesh remained cold to the touch. But his hearing was unimpaired. He heard quite a few comments about himself, both the good and the bad.
He wished he could round up a few of these criminals that he’d not known were up to no good. Imagine them admitting to him in their taunting ways that they’d be walking free now and that Metropolis would be theirs. Perhaps Clark could deal with them later.
Perry, Jimmy, Cat and many others he knew came to say a few words to him. Lois came in turn, bent down and kissed him as she had many times. That was the hardest thing about his decision, the hardest thing about the whole day, not reacting to Lois’ kiss. He couldn’t even sigh. His eyes were open. She was crying against his cheek. When she’d left, he wondered if the tear on his face was hers or his own. How he’d like to close his eyes and be done with all of this.
He was very relieved when the top of his coffin was closed and he was loaded on an airplane. His body lay in state in Washington for the next two days. Dignitaries from all over the world came to pay their respects to the superhero who had saved them from so many disasters.
Lois sat at her computer trying to type, but the words wouldn’t come. She didn’t care about anything but Superman. Perry had told her she could take the rest of the week off till after the funeral if she wanted. He knew how close she and Superman had been. He couldn’t for the life of himself figure out why Clark was doing this.
She looked over at Clark’s desk. They’d always sat across from one another. He must be taking it pretty hard, she imagined. He’d left that day at the morgue and she hadn’t seen him since. She shouldn’t have dragged him over there with her. Well why not, it was work related wasn't it?
The funeral was held in Metropolis at the coliseum. It was the only building large enough to accommodate the number of people who would attend.
Clark had endured this hoax for a long time already. He was bored. He was embarrassed that he was being lauded as such an honest guy, when here he was, not even the slightest bit dead. What a way to kill a mood! He didn’t even have that bit of red kryptonite anymore to take the edge off being dead and the guilt that was threatening to kill him.
The coffin was moved to the cemetery. The final prayer was said. Just as the lid was being lowered, a bullet of kryptonite landed in the coffin beside him.
What happens now??? Can't wait to read more! 