Table of Contents From Installment #5:
The Clarks gave their Loises one last goodbye kiss, and headed towards the machine with Herb. Within minutes, it disappeared completely from view.
LL felt her heart go with him into the other world. An emptiness she hadn't felt in over a week transcended her. Their telepathic connection was gone.
"Isn't it awful?" asked Lois, empathizing with her. "The soul-mate connection that we have with them… it just makes you feel so lost, when they go away like that."
"It sure does," LL said, her eyes misting over. "I never thought I could love someone that much."
"I know; I feel the same way. Even though Clark and I have kids, we still act like teenagers in love. It deepens and gets better with time. You'll see."
At that moment, the time machine re-materialized. It was time for them to travel to San Diego, circa 1973.
~~~~~
6
"Jimmy" and "Pete" had been dropped off in the middle of what appeared to be a corn field. As soon as they exited Wells' time machine, he de-materialized immediately, but not without leaving a circular impression where his machine had flattened the growing plants. The two Supermen reasoned that this would be the mark of their meeting place, 24 hours hence.
"It seems really quiet around here, for a world that was supposedly overrun with rogue Kryptonians, doesn't it?" commented CK.
"Calm before the storm, especially in Kansas," retorted Clark. "Any good *farmboy* knows that."
They both smiled at the expression *farmboy*; although Clark's Lois had never described him that way, he had heard CK's Lois refer to him as "farmboy" repeatedly when he had visited their world.
"There's where Ma and Pa used to live," Clark said, pointing to the ruins of a yellow farmhouse about ½ mile away. "It looks like it's been deserted since Wells spirited them away. I wonder what the New Kryptonians thought when Kal-El's earthy parents disappeared?"
"I don't know; I'm sure they noticed, but were too busy executing town folk to really care," responded CK.
"Are they truly that barbaric? It's frightening that this is our heritage, isn't it, CK?"
"Yes, and I had the unfortunate experience of having dealt with them, both on New Krypton, and when they traveled to *my* earth. Some were really good people; however, the lure of power, acquiring these enhanced abilities while on earth, was too strong for others that were much weaker in character. If they're still here, we should be able to spot them flying, or using their powers in some fashion," CK stated. "Let's investigate."
They quickly lifted off, faster than the human eye could see, to get a bird's eye view of the remainder of Smallville. What they saw made them stop dead in the air. (To be detailed in an upcoming story).
~~~~~
The Loises decided that if they were going to travel back to the 1970's, they needed to dress accordingly. Realizing that bell-bottomed jeans, halter and tube tops, and long hair, parted in the middle, would be in fashion, they felt ill-prepared to jump in Herb's machine with their current attire. "Mary Lang" came to the rescue, as usual.
"It just so happens that Clark never threw out his parents' clothes; after they passed away, he left everything in the house almost intact to preserve their memories. I didn't feel comfortable disposing of them, either. This world’s Martha died when Clark was 10, in 1976; let me see what's there that you gals can use," she suggested.
"We'll help you," said the Loises.
Several minutes later, Lois and LL were pleased to find several pairs of bell-bottomed jeans (Martha was in her latter thirties when she passed); they found several 70's-period tops to go with them, and they parted their hair in the middle, adorning it with scarves.
Martha and Mary laughed. "Wow, we had those same clothes back then. This is hysterical," Martha said. "It's amazing how your other-world twin is exactly like you, but still a bit different."
"It sure is," Mary agreed.
Lois and LL agreed that they would tell whoever asked that they were twin sisters, Martha and Mary Kent, visiting San Diego from Smallville. They called out to Herb that they were, finally, ready to start the journey.
"My, it's like a masquerade ball around here today," he remarked, smiling at the two women dressed in 1970's-period clothing. "Double L, you've never time-traveled before; you may expect a little discomfort and you may be a bit woozy when we arrive. Lois has traveled with me, alas, many times."
Lois rolled her eyes. "Yes, *too* many times, I'm afraid. Don’t worry though, you'll be fine. A glass of soda will ease your queasy stomach afterwards."
"Whatever. I have to do this; it's the only way for me to find out if that scumbag Thorul lied to me. Let's go!" she asserted.
Wells' time machine was in a state of "continuous improvement ". If he set the mode for multi-dimensional travel, then it had to materialize in exactly the same spot in the parallel world. However, when he set the machine for time travel, he could specify what part of the world he wanted to arrive in, as well as what era. He had an onboard satellite directional system similar to On Star®. He clicked on the city he wanted to arrive in with the mouse. He could even fine-tune it so the machine landed in an alley or in the forest!
He set the machine to land in a wooded area of Balboa Park, near the world-famous San Diego Zoo. When the ladies were strapped in, he hit the "enter" button with the mouse, and soon, they were adjacent to a treed area in a park. Wells had set his machine for them to arrive at early evening, after sunset, so no one would spot their arrival. He set the camouflage/cloaking device that would ensure that the machine would not be visible.
"Welcome to San Diego, May 16, 1973," Wells announced to the Loises.
LL had a headache and felt slightly off-balance, gripped with waves of nausea. Lois, who had several of these trips under her belt, was mostly fine.
"Double L, let's get you a glass of seltzer or a soda somewhere. You'll feel much better," she suggested. "The queasiness passes fairly quickly."
"Uh-oh! I don't think I have any money that is 30 years old with me… what if they notice the date on the bills?" LL croaked out.
"Fear not," said Wells. "With all of my trips, I have collected currency from various time periods. You leave me one of your twenty dollar bills, and simply swap it for one dated 1973 or earlier." Herb brought out a metal money tray, and astonished the Loises with his wide selection of the various styles and denominations of currency valid for the various decades he had visited. Thankfully, the two Earths used the same "dead presidents" on their bills!
"Wow, Herb, you really do think of everything," Lois exclaimed. "I never knew you had all of this, all of the times I've traveled with you."
"In my line of work, my dear… it's a necessity," he smiled. "Let's go get Double L that soda, shall we?"
They found a roadside stand selling ice cream and soda, complete with folding chairs and card tables. Used to paying at least $1.00 for a can of soda, they were pleasantly surprised to find that they could buy two sodas for $1.00. They had also forgotten how heavy soda cans were back then! Herb opted for an ice cream sandwich.
"So, since we don't have computers here, how do we try to track down the Thorul family?" LL asked Lois.
"The library will have city directories. They list people alphabetically, as well as by street. They also list your present occupation, at least as of the last census bureau information. San Diego County is huge, so we'll have to go to the best library in the city," Lois stated.
"What about UCSD?" LL suggested. "I would think a great university like that would have everything we would need. Let's try there first."
"Great idea, but what if you need a student ID card to get in there?" Lois inquired. "Herb, you have any fake ID's in that time machine of yours?" she joked.
In response, Wells rolled his eyes at her. He had learned that technique from Lois Lane herself.
"As long as we don't try to check anything out, they're not going to need to ID us, Lois."
"You're probably right. OK, I'm game. Let's hope the library's open until 11:00 p.m. And it's probably final exams week; the semester is just about over," Lois replied. I guess we're going to need to hail a cab to get there."
It was about an 8-mile ride to the posh suburb of La Jolla where the main UCSD library was located. The ladies noted thankfully that San Diego cabbies were a tad more sedate than those in Metropolis. Their stomachs had been upset enough for one day!
"Do you want me to wait?" asked the cabbie, waiting for his fare to be paid.
Herb paid the required fee, and gave him a modest tip.
The driver looked at the cash in his hand, and quipped, "I guess not," and drove off.
The three of them stopped a glazed student who had obviously been studying too much, and asked him to direct them to the quickest way to get to the campus library.
Soon Herb, Lois, and LL were entering the building and heading towards the
reference section. The city directories were divided by town. In the San Diego area, there are several cities; all are considered part of San Diego County: La Jolla, National City, Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Visa, Lemon Grove, and El Cajon. Each one of the trio grabbed a directory, and started perusing through them for the last name of "Thorul".
Ironically, it was Herb who got lucky. "My word, ladies - I do believe I have found a 'Lena Thorul' in Coronado. It says that her occupation is that of a front desk reservations clerk at the famous Hotel Del Coronado."
"That means that Lenny is probably a student at Coronado High School!" yelped LL. "Herb, what day of the week is May 16th? I'm completely out of sync here."
"I do believe it's Wednesday evening, Ms. Lane," he replied.
"This is so cool. We left on a Friday night, and we can go back the same night, even though we can spend a month here if we want!" LL exclaimed.
"It'll be like we never left!"
"May I remind you, Ms. Lane… that it's never a good idea to spend any length of time in the past, lest you inadvertently alter history? And we need to pick up your respective spouses in 24 hours hence!" he admonished. "I have to get you back to Smallville, and then I must place the time machine in the exact spot I left them in order to have a proper rendezvous with them."
"OK, OK. I frankly don't want to have to wear these 70's clothes much longer anyway. So we're going to Coronado High School tomorrow," crowed LL. "We have to come up with some excuse why we need to see their yearbook. Usually, the underclassmen are listed in their homerooms alphabetically. If he's there, then I'll know he wasn't lying to me, and that he's not some gross, frog-eating clone," she ranted.
"What if he went to a private school?" suggested Lois.
"If his mother is a desk clerk, I doubt she has the money for the tuition," LL reasoned. "Ok – new idea. Let's go to the Hotel Del Coronado. Maybe we can strike up a friendship with his mother. Woman *love* to brag about their sons. Maybe she works the night shift. Can we get a room there? I have no credit at all, since I've been considered dead for the last ten years! And, I doubt that any of *your* credit cards will work in this time period, Lois." It was a full "Lois Lane babble", and her twin understood every word.
Lois nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, the issuing financial institutions won't even exist for decades, what with all of the bank mergers, at least in my world, in the 1980's and 1990's."
"Well, the Hotel Del is a really classy place," LL said. "Classy equals 'big bucks'!" She turned to Wells. "Herb, what do you have on you for cash?"
"Ms. Lane, thankfully, I always carry more cash than I believe I'll need. That is, before I decided to time-travel with two Lois Lanes. I'm afraid this endeavor might break the bank," he lamented. "You see, when I first started this time-traveling business, I found that coin dealers place a high value on the money of my era, especially when it is in pristine condition. I have been able to exchange coin worth virtually nothing, in *my* time period, for sizeable sums!"
"Wow, Herb. I never thought about that. Very clever of you," LL commented.
Another cab ride later, with yet another ticked off cab driver (Herb just didn't understand the concept of tipping 15-20%), and soon, the three of them were stepping onto the bricked sidewalk leading to the entrance of the glamorous, reddish-orange and white, world-famous Victorian hotel.
"Wow, how beautiful this place is," breathed Lois. "When I get back to my world, I'm going to have Clark take me to the one in my world some weekend, for a second honeymoon; Martha and Jonathan can watch the kids. It looks so romantic."
"Yes, it's the largest wooden Victorian building in the world," stated LL. "And the beach is one of the best in the country. Years ago, pre-Congo, I did an article about this place for the DP. It was a real 'fluff piece', not my usual hard-hitting exposé, but the perk that sealed the deal for me was that I got to stay here for a weekend. Let's go up to the front desk and see if Lena Thorul is on duty tonight."
A blond woman, slightly older than the two Loises, was waiting on several guests checking in. Her name plate indicated that she was indeed "Mrs. Thorul". The three of them waited patiently, as they were next in line.
"May I help the next guest?" she called out.
Lois marched up to the counter, which had a rich, very shiny wood veneer. "Yes… 'Mrs. Thorul', is it? I was wondering if you had a suite available for a one night stay."
Used to seeing reservation clerks click away on their laptop computers for available reservations, Lois was somewhat taken aback with the archaic method Mrs. Thorul had to employ – checking index cards, one for each room in the hotel – to determine the availability of her request. <Thank God for modern technology. How did we survive without computers? Yikes!>
"We have one suite left. Ocean view, two bedrooms and one shared bathroom," she finally said. "Will that be acceptable?"
"Sounds perfect," gushed Lois. "Herb? What do you think?"
"Will you accept cash?" Wells inquired, smiling at her.
"Why yes, of course," she replied, beaming back at him. "We don't accept checks, after all."
LL and Lois both wore twin-like smirks on their faces. A cash payment for a hotel stay, in their time, would be considered odd. But, in the early 70's, not everyone had a credit card. The world wasn't plastic-happy back then. If you had a "Master Charge®" back then, you were really something special!
"That will be $200 plus California taxes, for a total of $232.00," she informed him. "Are you going to need to purchase a parking space for your vehicle?"
Wells was having a hard time keeping a poker face. After all, he was from a different century, let alone decade, and this figure seemed like a month's – a very *good* month's - salary to him. "No, Mrs. Thorul, we traveled here by taxicab," he managed to reply.
Lois and LL were whispering to each other that a suite at the Hotel Del in the year 2003 would be more than $1000.00 per night, especially if it had an ocean view, like this one apparently did.
"Very well, then. Please fill out all of the guest information. You will be on our 4th floor."
Wells, using the "Lane eye-rolling technique", opened his wallet and paid for the room in full. He then began filling out the guest register, as directed.
LL piped up. "Mrs. Thorul, do you have a son named Lenny?"
Lena Thorul stopped what she was doing, and smiled pleasantly back at LL.
"Yes, I do. How do you know him?
<He's going to be my *boss* in the future, lady… and my worst nightmare,> LL thought.
"I substitute teach sometimes," she said, totally winging it. "He's a student at Coronado High School, right?" <I'm reaching here; I hope I'm right, or she's going to think I'm sleeping with her underage son, and that's how I know him. Ugh. What a thought!>
Lois smiled at her twin. <The two of us really think alike!>
"Yes, yes, he does go to school there. He's almost a junior in high school now. At least, he will be, in the fall," she informed her with pride. "He makes high honors every term. What subject did you say you taught?"
<Oops!> "English, mostly," she replied. <Everyone has to take English… that should be a safe answer.> "I'm looking for a full-time teaching position now, but since there aren't too many openings, I decided to be a substitute teacher in the interim."
"My, my! Well, my Lenny does very well in English. That must be why you remember him," she said. "Does your twin sister here teach school also?"
Lois smiled, not being able to picture herself as a teacher. She had too little patience for that job! "Actually, Mrs. Thorul, I'm a writer. My sister likes to *teach* English; I have written several romance novels. I hope to have one published some day."
"You know, your last name sounded familiar, and I remembered your son's first name, but I can't place his face. Do you have a picture of him?" LL asked. Thankfully, there was no one in line behind them.
"I wouldn't be a good mother if I didn't," she replied, reaching for her purse.
She handed LL what looked to be a school picture of a 15-year old Lenny Thorul. "He's turning 16 this summer," she said, "so he's going to get his license and find a part-time job to help me with the bills and such."
LL noted the curly red hair, the freckles, and the geeky glasses. Based on the picture, she guessed that Lenny didn't have too many friends; he was probably too focused on his academics, being a very serious student. What a contrast to the overly confident, pugnacious, evil man he was in the present day!
"Oh, you're not married, Mrs. Thorul?" Wells asked. "You're such an attractive woman…why would someone like you be alone? Oh, dear! What a shame!"
"Yes, my husband passed when Lenny was a baby," she told him.
<Liar!> LL remembered what Lenny had told her: that Lena, his aunt, this woman talking with them, had moved west when Lenny was born, so that Lex's father wouldn’t know that his wife, her sister, had twins; she changed her name to "Thorul" legally and put "unknown" for the father on Lenny's birth certificate.
Wells, who didn't know the story as well as LL did, of course, said, "My dear, it must be so difficult to raise a teenager, especially a son, by yourself. How indeed do you do it?"
<Herb… are you looking for a date here? What's up with the flirting? You could be her father!> LL pondered, smiling. By the look on Lois' face, she was thinking the same thing.
"I’m very lucky that my Lenny is a good son. Helps me around the house, even cleans up after himself, does well in school. I couldn’t be luckier," she replied.
"Here are the keys to your suite, number 416. Enjoy your stay at the Del. Please let me know if we can be of further assistance," she continued, noting that finally, there were guests behind our trio waiting to check in.
"Thank you, Mrs. Thorul. It was lovely chatting with you," Wells gushed.
~~~~~
Upstairs in their beautiful, Victorian-era suite, Lois said, "Hey, the Hotel Del in my world is supposed to be haunted. Do you think this one is?"
LL laughed. "Yes, there are stories about the Del ghost. Again, I know about it from the background research I did for the story I wrote on this place. Apparently a beautiful woman checked into a room here one night, all alone. Everyone thought she was waiting for a male friend to show up. No one ever came. She died in her room. Legend has it that you can see her floating spirit dressed in a white flowing robe at night, down by the beach. Let's go take a walk! Maybe we'll see her."
"You ladies go ahead, I am quite fatigued," Wells said. "I'm really too old for this type of excitement."
"Tired? Really? You sure were playing up to 'Mrs. Thorul' back there," LL teased. "Herb, was there ever a 'Mrs. Wells'?"
Lois realized that she had *never* asked Herb that, and she had known him a lot longer than her twin had.
"I'm afraid, Ms. Lane, that my work always took precedence over my personal life. But it's sweet of you to ask. And, yes, Mrs. Thorul is quite an attractive woman, isn't she?"
The Lane women giggled. How cute was that - Herb had a crush on someone!
"Lois, let's go chase our ghost by the ocean, and leave Herbert alone with his fantasies," LL said.
Herb had turned crimson at her remarks; he was grateful for even the briefest period of peace and quiet, as well as a break from two strongest female personalities he had ever encountered!
~~~~~
"It makes sense, now Lois," LL said, as they walked along the shore.
"What does?"
”Why Lex brought me out to San Francisco that night. His brother was living out here – the West Coast, anyway. They were on the phone that night when I overheard them. Perhaps they even had a meeting later that night, while I was sleeping. I was so naive!"
"Lex had me hoodwinked, too. Let me tell you what he did to me – and Clark, actually – in my world," Lois said. At that, she explained how she had almost married Lex, how he miraculously came back from the dead, the clones… the entire bizarre story.
"Well, it looks like this Lenny Thorul actually exists, so I don't think he's a clone. What's our game plan for tomorrow?" LL asked.
Lois was frozen, staring down the way, at the surf. "Double L, do you see that?"
There was a white apparition that appeared to be floating over the water.
LL yelped, "It's her! She exists! It's really the ghost," and took off jogging down the beach, with Lois right on her tail.
When they got there, of course, there was nothing there.
"You were my witness on this… when *my* Clark tells me I'm crazy, you're going to back me up, right?" insisted Lois.
"You saw me running on the sand after her, like a fool! Of course I'll back you up," she agreed.
"So, anyway… the game plan for tomorrow is: we go to Coronado High School and tell the office that we would like a tour, because we're thinking of relocating our family here from Kansas. The thing is, both of us will start the tour, but one of us will take a wrong turn and will go find Lenny Thorul. Agreed?" Lois asked.
"It's a plan," LL agreed.
~~~~
TBC
