Okay, all you followers of this highly unlikely story…as you’ll recall (I’m recapping her for your reading enjoyment)
First of all, you’re going to hate Superman at the beginning, as well as Lois soon thereafter. But by the end of the story you’ll be happy again.
Lois and Superman were sleeping in the clouds. He was feeling very mistreated by her, and had been using red kryptonite to be able to withstand her meanness and her selfishness. He rolls over, she falls out of the clouds and he catches her at the last minute, thanks to an airplane’s radio. She is furious with him and pushes him out her window when he takes her home. When he lands on the sidewalk, he decides to pretend he’s dead. It gets out of hand and he ends up pretending all the way through a state funeral and everything.
He discovers treasures in his coffin when he’s buried. A phone, a wedding ring, a flashlight, candy… and kryptonite. He gets out, breaks up with Lois who discovers Superman is actually Clark. Then he investigates who put the ring in the coffin. It turns out to be Kara. He meets her, and they date. She is from Kansas and actually knew of him and was saved by him once as a teenager….
And so we pick up the story at this point, Clark’s first date with this girl who left a note with the ring in Superman’s coffin. Maybe I’ve given too much away, but at least you’ll know what you’re reading in case you’ve forgotten since I posted the rest so long ago!
The toc is at http://www.lcficmbs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000427
Happy reading. And please, advice, good and bad can change the story altogether! Grin.
End of pt 17
He really didn’t have time for this. Perhaps he had a bank card or a credit card in his dresser drawer. Thinking about his date with Kara, he hopped up and headed into the bedroom. There, under his shorts were several credit cards he’d removed from his wallet. A bank card for an account he used for a savings account at Metropolis First National lay among the pile he rifled through. Great. He wouldn’t have to talk to Lois again. Not yet. Perhaps she’d just drop off his wallet tomorrow. But knowing Lois, he was in for the third degree. He sighed. That was tomorrow. Tonight he had something pleasant to look forward to. What he needed was a nice social life.
He headed into the shower. A few minutes later he was leaving the apartment. He checked himself in the mirror again, and then skipped down the stairs to flag a cab.
Part 18
“How are you tonight, Sir?” Clark asked as he got into the cab and pulled out Kara’s business card. Why she had her home address on her business card was beyond him. “ To 454 Oak Street, please. How’s the taxi driving business, tonight?”
“Good. It’s early enough not to have the drunks I usually get on a Friday night.”
Clark continued to chat with the driver, noting the general air of peacefulness on the streets as they drove. His blitz as Superman had been quite productive. It had been quite tiring to have to reestablish himself, but the darker element seemed quite aware that he was back and in full force. Perhaps he could have a nice evening with Kara without having to dash off. That was wishful thinking though, he knew well enough.
Kara lived in an apartment on the top floor, Clark realized as he looked up her name on the directory in the lobby. He pushed the button and waited for her response.
“Hello?”
“It’s Clark.”
“Oh good, come on up. I’m almost ready.”
He waited with his free hand on the door handle while she buzzed to open it. The other hand held a bouquet of large daisies from the vendor up the street.
The apartment building was newly renovated and looked quite nice. The carpeting in the lobby was a short tight weave and the lighting was elegant. He found the elevator and waited for it, lowering his nose to smell the fragrant daisies that reminded him of Kansas.
“Oh, thank you, Clark! You didn’t have to bring me flowers!”
Clark shrugged, “I thought you’d like them.”
“I do!” She turned to the kitchen, “I’ll just put them in some water.”
Clark looked around the room. A large picture window looked out over the city. Plants hung in front of the windows along the wall as well as one of the sliding doors onto the balcony. The balcony was filled with lush greenery, too. Ripe tomatoes and yellow flowers caught his attention. The view of the city overlooked most of the buildings nearby. He could see the globe of the Daily Planet as well as the roof, much farther away than the State Farm building where she worked. He noticed a pair of binoculars on the window sill.
This must have been how she’d realized Superman was Clark. She’d probably seen him many times landing and changing on the roof. He turned back to the living room. She had a cozy apartment. An overstuffed couch, upholstered in a floral design sat against one wall. A grand piano was against the opposite one. Several other comfortable chairs dotted the room. A television and VCR along with a stereo system were along another wall. Bookcases filled with textbooks, reference and how-to books stood at either side of it. A glass topped coffee table stood on a plush carpet in the center of the room. The bedroom door was open and a printed comforter covered the bed.
Clark moved toward the kitchen which was just off the living room to watch her cut the ends off the flower stems. Lois always did that, too, he recalled.
She came back with a vase of the white and yellow daisies, set it on her coffee table, picked up her clutch, and came to stand beside him. She looked lovely. Her face was radiant; her soft green dress was modest and comfortable-looking. It certainly went well with her bouncy red curls. Clark put his elbow out to her, “Shall we go, then?”
She slipped her hand through his arm and smiled, “Sure.”
Clark’s heart skipped a beat when he felt her hand on his arm. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman as Clark Kent. It felt good. She was certainly nice and not full of herself like Lois always seemed to be.
He wasn’t quite sure what to say and it appeared she was feeling a bit tongue tied herself, as they stood waiting for the elevator. She spoke first, “So what did you do at work, today?”
She acted like she’d known him for years, not like they’d just met. He had to think for a moment. What had he done at work today? He’d made a Superman rescue, no lots of them. He’d researched her mostly, the jewelry box, the website, the jewelry store. He’d been looking for his wallet.
“Just the usual stuff, investigations, and articles.”
“Oh. Anything interesting?”
Clark remembered the man who had shot the woman and the bomb. “I’m looking into an explosion at a daycare center.” He didn’t want to bring up the subject of Superman. He’d just leave him out of this evening if he could, although he did want to know what Kara knew about Superman, but he wasn’t ready yet to find out. It was nice to just spend a little time with Kara.
“Oh no, at a daycare center? Was anyone hurt?”
“Not at the daycare center. But hey, let’s talk about something else.” The elevator arrived and Clark let Kara get on first before stepping in behind her. “What did you do today?”
“I bought my plane ticket to go home for the long weekend.”
Clark nodded. “Do you get home much?”
“Whenever I can.”
“Where is home?”
“Kansas.”
“No! Really? Me too, Smallville. Where are you from?”
“Ridgeside.”
“Isn’t that just down highway 23 from Smallville, about a hundred miles or so?”
She nodded with a smile. “I think we played against your high school sometimes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. What a small world. I wonder if we ever met, or saw each other.”
“I used to be on the bike team, we’d ride all over the state. It’s so flat. I remember going through Smallville on some of those weekend-long tours.”
“Huh. Who would have thought?” The elevator stopped at the lobby and they got off and headed to the front doors. “So what made you decide to move to Metropolis?”
“I just wanted to get away from the farm and Metropolis was about as far away as I could get. I had heard how different city life is from the country and I just had to find out for myself.”
“And what have you found out?”
“It’s about as different as you can get!” she chuckled, pushing her long curls back over her shoulder.
“Do you like it?”
“I guess. I miss a lot of stuff about home. I miss the animals, my folks, the stars. I told you that already. I miss the wide open spaces; kite flying…but I do like it here.”
They walked down the street toward the restaurant district. “You don’t mind walking do you? I thought we’d choose a place to eat down there.”
“No, I like walking. I don’t do enough of it really, not like I used to, at home.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Kara still had her hand through Clark’s arm. The sidewalk was quite busy. Music carried on the air from the well-lit area a few blocks ahead.
Kara spoke first, “How about you, why’d you leave Smallville, same reason?”
“Yeah, I guess so, I wanted to see the world, find out what I was missing, and meet people…”
“And what did you find in the great big world? Was it what you thought it would be?”
“No, not really. It was a lot bigger. There were so many cultures and languages. I guess I’d never realized how different people in other countries are. You know, even though I really knew better, I guess I just figured that everyone was about like they are in Smallville. English speaking, easy going, farm or town people, families.”
“That must have been quite a shock for you!”
“I guess it was, at first. I traveled as much as I could. I knew I’d have to settle down at a job one day so I thought I’d better see it all, while I could.”
“So where did you go?”
“I went all over the world.” They were walking at a leisurely pace, behind other couples that were also in no hurry to get where they were going.
“Yeah?”
“Well, mostly. I got a map of the world and started marking on it everywhere I’d been. When I had been to a lot of countries, I sort of made the goal to go to every country and every island.”
“You’re kidding. How in the world did you afford to do that?”
“I worked in different places. I’d do freelance journalism, write stories for magazines sometimes…and I’d do farm work and odd jobs. It was the best way to meet the people, I thought. I didn’t really want to just stay in the cities and be a tourist.”
“But you didn’t do that in every country!”
“Oh no. Some countries I’d just travel right through. I did that with a lot of them.”
“Did you ever bike?”
“I did buy a bike at one point and saw a lot of Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America that way.”
“Wow. How long did that take you?”
“About three years. And you, have you ever been outside this country?”
“A bit. I went to Europe and studied in Switzerland for one year. My parents were big on vacations, so we’d go to different southern resorts every winter. We couldn’t travel in the summer because that was when the fields had to be tended and stuff.”
Clark nodded. “I remember that. Do your parents still farm?”
“Yes. They rent some of the land out, but they still have their cows and a bit of pasture land. I must say I do miss watching things grow. My balcony is full of plants.”
“Yeah, I noticed. They looked really healthy. You must have quite a green thumb.”
“I try, but some things still die.”
Clark nodded. They stopped to wait for a traffic light. Music and chatting came from the open windows of the cars at the light. A large group of pedestrians crossed Oak Street, crowding the corner as they all waited for the light to change.
Clark and Kara hung back a bit to let the crowd onto the road in front of them before they stepped out into the crosswalk at the tail end of the crowd. A car came careening around the corner heading at them. Suddenly Clark lifted Kara slightly off the ground and moved her the four feet to safety before she’d noticed the danger. She turned around as the car skidded around the corner, bumping up on the sidewalk and back down into the road before gunning the motor and taking off down the side street.
“Boy that was close, are you okay?” Clark asked, his arm still around her waist.
She looked down at his arm and at his concerned face, then at the car pulling noisily into the distance. “Yes. Thank you. I didn’t see it coming.”
“I guess they’d waited till most of the people had crossed and just gunned the motor to go afterwards. They must not have noticed us.”
“No, I guess not.” She took a deep breath and turned back to look where they were headed, “Thanks, Clark.”
He smiled, “No problem.” He dropped his arm from her waist and she put her hand through his arm again.
She was noticeably shaken. They soon arrived at the row of neon signs that boasted the various foods served. Café tables were set up along the sidewalk, surrounded by low iron grillwork of various designs. In front of the entrance to each restaurant, a smartly dressed man stood with menus, suggesting to people to come in and try the cuisine.
Clark stopped. “What type of food would you like to try tonight? It looks like we have Thai, Mexican, Swiss, Greek, Italian, Turkish, Chinese…” he stretched his head up to see the restaurants further down the street. “I’ve never been very good at making restaurant choices. What do you fancy?”
tbc...
let me know in your feedback how often to be posting...midweek and weekends? M, w, friday?
