EPILOGUE
The next spring:
Karen Middleton (how she loved the sound of that!) stood beside the sloping boat ramp as her husband of two weeks backed the boat trailer down the ramp into the water of the marina. She gave a catcall, and then a Bronx cheer, as he missed his aim twice, and had to pull forward and try again; but secretly, she was proud of how well he was doing. The boat was now floating up off the trailer; and she watched while Walter set the vehicle's brake, hopped out, and shoved the boat out into the water, while firmly holding the tow line until he could guide it over to the nearby dock, where he carefully tethered the craft.
Walter came over and opened the cargo door of the four-by-four, and beckoned her over. "Here you go. How about you take these down and put them in the forward stowage area -- but keep two of them out for us." He proceeded to hand her four life vests.
As she accepted the vests, she indicated one of them. "This was a good idea -- putting the boat's name on the life jackets." Walter glanced at her oddly, but said nothing. As she walked over to where the little boat was tied off, she noticed that only one of the jackets had the vessel's name written in it; apparently he hadn't finished what he'd started. Also, the labeled vest appeared to be much smaller than the others. Hmm, she thought, I'll have to ask him about that.
As she was setting one of the jackets on the seat, she realized that she was standing with one foot on the front seat of the boat and the other on the dock, and was being spread-eagled as the boat drifted out from the dock. Well! she thought as she quickly hopped into the boat. That was one mistake she didn't intend to make again. She set about buckling on one of the larger floatation vests.
By now, Walter had pulled the car and trailer over to the parking area, and was on his way back. He grabbed the tether and pulled the boat back to the dock. "Hand me that other jacket, would you, love?"
"Oh, just hop in; you can put it on as we travel."
"Karen," she glanced up at his use of her first name, "I don't get into a boat unless I'm already wearing a life vest."
Well, she thought, the honeymoon is definitely over, and we're in the Period of Adjustment. This was an idiosyncrasy she would have to remember about him. Maybe she would ask him about it sometime.
Once the life vest was in place, Walter untied the line and stepped lightly into the boat. He settled in behind the wheel, and turned the key. The engine immediately roared to life. "See, winter hasn't hurt it a bit! Good thing I drained the fuel last fall." He put the boat in forward gear, and began motoring toward the marina entrance to the bay. Once out of the marina, he motored out a few hundred yards, and then changed course to parallel the shore, and adjusted the throttle to about half-speed.
"Honey, this was a good idea. I've been itching for a ride in this ever since you told me last summer that you were going to buy one."
"That was nice."
"What was?"
"You called me 'Honey'."
"Part of my ploy to settle you down into domesticated married life," she said sweetly. "I'm getting hungry already. Are you sure your friends will be there with the picnic stuff?"
"Lane and Kent are pretty reliable. I think you can count on food very shortly."
"I'm dying to meet them. I've never even seen their pictures. Did they really persuade you to change careers?"
"Yep, they are totally at fault. They told me that I seemed to have a flair for investigating, and a way with the words. So I got this bee in my bonnet, took a couple more journalism courses while I waited for you, and decided to apply at their paper, The Daily Planet. They actually recommended me to their editor. The position's definitely entry-level; but after a couple of years as a research assistant, I might get to try out as a reporter. I know this is quite a cut in pay; but with the inheritance from my folks, we won't be having financial troubles until I can work my way back up the career ladder."
"I confess, I was worried when you said you wanted to change jobs; but if it makes you happy --"
"I just think it's great to have Clark Kent and Lois Lane as mentors, not to mention others at the Planet, like James Olsen. Lane and Kent are the best in the business."
She looked away from the scenery and gazed at him instead. There sat a happy man. "So how did you happen to meet them?"
She almost blinked in surprise as Walter's expression suddenly sobered. "I, ah, I met them as a result of an accident I had shortly after I bought the boat."
Her heart wrenched as she caught the look on his face. "Was it serious?"
"Karen, the boat capsized. A freak accident. I very nearly drowned."
She gasped. "Walter, that's terrible! Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"There were -- reasons. I'm sorry, but I didn't feel I could go into it at the time."
"Oh, honey! Well, I hope that someday, you can tell..." Her voice trailed away as she looked out over the water ahead of them. Now, that was weird. For a moment she had thought that she could see... She stared ahead, rising slightly to get an unobstructed view over the windscreen.
"Walter, what's that ahead of us?"
"What does it look like to you?" he responded in an odd voice.
She didn't reply, as they continued to approach the thing which her mind was telling her she couldn't be seeing. A child seemed to be hovering in the air a few feet above the water. She blinked hard several times, shaking her head; but the apparition remained.
Walter throttled the engine back to idle, and they slowed as they coasted toward the figure. He cut the engine, and the boat slid to a halt about twenty yards from it. She quickly glanced at Walter; but his expression was unreadable. "This is where it happened," he said quietly.
Where what happened? What was he talking about? she thought, trying frantically to drag meaning out of what he was saying, while her attention was riveted on the impossible scene before them.
As the boat halted, the figure began to move, drifting directly toward them. It paused immediately over the bow, and then descended the two or three feet to stand barefooted on the fore part of the deck. As her wild heartbeat began to slow, Karen saw that it was a little girl, six or seven years old. She wore a white dress which caught the sun in brilliant highlights, and which came down to an inch or two above her knees.
Unexpectedly, she heard Walter speaking. "It's good to see you again."
The girl folded her arms across her chest, and looked directly at Karen. "Is this her? Your new wife?" Then she smiled. "She's nice. I like her." She knows me? thought Karen wildly. Although, for some reason, as she looked at the girl, she could not shake a feeling of familiarity.
The child took a step forward. "Hold it, kiddo," said Walter immediately. "New rules: No one comes on this boat without a life jacket." He gestured toward the cargo space under the deck. What in the world...?
The girl glanced down, *at the deck*, and her eyes seemed to light up. "You wrote my name in it!" Walter reached under the dashboard, picked up the small-size life vest, and placed it on the deck just beyond the windscreen. Karen's mind whirled. The girl had seen the vest with the name on it *before* Walter had pulled it out. She had seen it though the deck! And she could ascend, and descend, through the air! Waitaminute... her thoughts stopped abruptly. You wrote my name in it. My name... Lara. The name on Walter's boat; the name he had refused to explain.
Suddenly, Karen recognized the feeling of familiarity. The face, the dress... she was the girl from the picture -- the one Karen had repeatedly noticed on the end table in Walter's sitting room. She had asked him about it; but he had looked very sober -- almost regretful (or sorrowful?) -- and had said that he couldn't tell her about it right then. But maybe someday, perhaps after they were married...
As she thought this, suddenly the memory of Walter's words a few moments ago slammed into her consciousness: This is where it happened. Karen's breath caught in her throat, and her heart clenched. Oh, the poor, poor child! Walter must have been devastated with grief. And guilt, if the comments about the life vest meant anything.
Suddenly she was distracted by a movement from the girl. She was wriggling around, squirming as though...as though... "Walter!" Karen hissed, through tightly clenched teeth. "There's an *angel* doing a strip-tease on the prow of our boat."
With a final wriggle, the girl shimmied out of the dress -- to stand revealed in a modest, white, one-piece child's swimsuit. "You look great, kiddo." She glanced at him; Walter was smiling! Kiddo... She belonged to him!
Without taking her eyes off the girl, Karen said very quietly, "Walter, whose child is this?"
"She's mine," said an equally quiet voice -- a voice which came from directly behind Walter -- from the rear seat which had been vacant five seconds ago. Karen froze, feeling the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise. Without turning her head, moving only her eyes, she made out the figure of a petite, brunette woman sitting in the seat directly behind where Walter was seated. She appeared to be dressed in a blouse and slacks such as would be appropriate for an outing such as this -- and both were white. "Hello, Lois," Walter said without turning.
A double tragedy, Karen's heart cried. A mother and her daughter. And then her mind made the final leap: 'Is this her? Your *new* wife?' "Walter ... this woman ... is she ... was she your w... your w..." Karen's mouth wouldn't form the word.
There was a full, rich laugh from directly behind her; and again she froze. "No, Mrs. Middleton, she's mine!" She whirled around to find a man seated behind her; his face was quite handsome, and he was sporting a megawatt smile.
Then what he was wearing registered.
"Love," Walter was saying, "meet my favorite family. The man behind you, who seems to have scared the heck out of you, is Superman. This is his wife, the once -- and hopefully future -- Ultrawoman. And here, doing a dance on our very own stage, is their daughter, Lara, who thinks that one day she might become Superlady!" He winked at the girl, who stuck her tongue out at him and then dimpled.
There was a gasp from the woman behind Walter. "Don't let that dress get wet, young lady. Quick, grab it!" As the fluttering dress blew off the deck, Lara became a blur, and vanished, along with the dress.
Karen turned back around, to find Lara now seated on her father's lap, holding out the dress to her mother, who was saying, "It's so small I doubt you'll ever wear it again; but it's a keepsake."
"Walter," said Superman, "we ought to get back to the picnic, before someone else decides that it's theirs. So if you'll just crank this boat up and head for shore..."
"No," said Walter.
"No?" questioned Superman, raising an eyebrow.
"Not until everyone -- except you, or course -- is wearing a life jacket. You, too, kiddo," he said, passing the small vest back to Lara, and then handing the one remaining one to the woman behind him.
Karen blinked, now thoroughly overwhelmed. "But I thought you said we were picnicking with Lois Lane and Clark Kent..." waitaminute, waitaminute ... 'Hello, Lois' ...?!!
"Um, Karen..." Superman was saying, "May I call you Karen? If you'll just bear with us 'till we get to where the food is, do we ever have a story for you!"
--The End--
As you have quickly figured out, the story which served as the springboard for this piece is "Super Santa Claus Man" by Lynn M. The zinger which caught my imagination was the final line of that vignette. I asked Lynn if she would mind if I used that idea; and she very graciously consented, inviting me to use Emma's character and history; and she even encouraged me to post the story on these boards. She indicated that the portrayal of Emma Kent in her story was based on her own daughter at that age; so I hope that I have not mis-represented her. Thanks, Lynn, for the loan of a great character!
