Lois picked up the ringing desk phone. “Lois Lane, Daily Planet.”
“Lois!” a voice hissed. “Got something big!”
One of her snitches. But which one? “I assume you’ll want your usual fee?”
“I don’t care if I get a single Fig Newton out of this! You need to get to the docks and meet the Star of New Troy!”
Ah, Bobby Bigmouth. He always had good stuff. “Why? What will I see?”
“Just get there! Intergang! Lives depend on it!”
“But what—”
“I’ll meet you there and fill you in! Hurry!”
“Bobby, I—”
The click in her ear told her he’d hung up.
The last two times she’d talked to Bobby, he’d been surly and barely communicative. She’d gotten good info both times, and he’d accepted the food she’d provided, but he’d refused to banter with her. Apparently he was in the it’s-Lois’-fault-Clark-is-gone camp, along with much of Metropolis. Two months – eight long weeks and a couple of days – wasn’t long enough for some people to forgive and forget.
No matter. Intergang was trying something involving a cruise ship. And she had inside information on it.
Mad Dog Lane was on the job.
She grabbed her purse, jacket, and work tools, then yelled, “Perry! Going down to the docks! Got a hot tip on something!”
She didn’t wait for her boss’ puzzled shout of “You what?” before she sprinted up the ramp and down the stairs.
*****
The dock on the north side of Metropolis wasn’t too crowded, but more than forty media people jostled for what each thought was the ideal position. All of them held notebooks or still cameras except for two TV crews with cameras on portable stands. A newly christened cruise ship was coming to the city, and this was an event sure to capture the attention of most citizens for at least an hour or two.
Lois saw Bobby at the edge of the parking area and casually hurried to him. All he had time for was two quick sentences about a threat to the new ship and a name – Sean McKenzie of Intergang, also known as The Mad Bomber – but it was enough. Then he vanished as if he’d never been there.
One day she’d follow him and figure out that little trick of his. Just not now.
In a moment, she was among those who watched as the “Star of New Troy,” the newest ship of the Mid-Atlantic Cruise Line, approached its berth on the south shore of Hob’s Bay. The ship was due to dock, take on supplies and fuel, perform any necessary last-minute maintenance, then four days later she’d board her passengers for an end-of-summer cruise and set sail for the Florida Keys. Lois shook her head and wondered if she could convince Perry to put her aboard the ship to report on its first voyage. She could sell it as a working vacation – yeah, go as a single woman looking for adventure, and she could just picture how well Perry would—
Not two seconds after the thought came to her, she and the rest of the media teams felt a strong vibration in the dock under their feet. A moment after that, the sound of a distant explosion reached their ears.
Smoke billowed from the liner’s stern even as Lois watched. Bobby Bigmouth had been right again – Intergang was trying to mount a campaign of extortion and intimidation in Metropolis. The cruise line’s owners hadn’t paid the two million dollar protection fee, and now their flagship was in danger.
Her first panicked thought of
Where is Superman? was immediately replaced by the angry retort
He’s in Kansas, you idiot! Where you sent him! Superman was needed here in Metropolis. It was Lois’ fault he wasn’t available.
She shoved that guilty thought aside and began dictating into her hand-held recorder. “This is Lois Lane at the north dock of Hob’s Harbor. The Mid-Atlantic Cruise Line’s latest addition to their fleet, the Star of New Troy, has just suffered an explosion in the stern. Unconfirmed reports say that this is not a terrorist attack, but rather the result of the cruise line’s refusal to pay a protection fee to blackmailers.”
At least Intergang had attacked the ship before the passengers had boarded. Apparently the gang was willing to seriously damage or destroy a multi-million-dollar cruise ship, but weren’t willing to risk hundreds of passengers’ lives. Of course, the implicit threat to life and limb was right there in the bay for anyone to see, with the ship wallowing aimlessly in the water.
“I can see fireboats already moving toward the liner – their response time is outstanding – and there are people running toward the lifeboat davits on the side of the ship that I can see. They’re moving quickly but without panic to evacuate the ship. Two boats are full now and they’re lowering—”
Suddenly the big ship shuddered and seemed to shake her shoulders. Nearly all the people on board stumbled and fell to whatever deck they occupied. Lois saw two who tumbled over the side rail toward the water. Then the dock vibrated beneath her feet once again.
It had to be a second explosion, smaller than the first but deeper in the ship.
She didn’t have time to record her thought before a red-and-blue smear of color streaked down from the sky and caught the two people who’d fallen overboard just before they could hit the surface. Superman quickly deposited them on shore, perhaps a hundred yards behind the media contingent, then streaked back toward the ship. Many of the media people turned and sprinted to the new arrivals in hopes of getting information from them.
Lois hesitated, then kept watching the ship and recording. “There’s been a second explosion, also in the stern. Superman is on the scene and has already rescued two people who fell from the ship. He’s moved them to the parking lot, which doesn’t have many cars in it, and I assume he wants them to be where first responders can get to them quickly. Yes, that’s it, I hear sirens now.”
One TV camera crew had run to the back with the balance of the reporters. The other had stayed in place and was still filming. She heard a cameraman shout, “Wow! This is like shooting the Hindenburg crash! And we have better cameras!”
She made a note of the station logo on the camera and decided she’d chew out the camera crew later. She turned back to the ship and fixed her attention on Superman’s rescue of the rest of the crew.
“Police cars and ambulances are arriving in the parking lot now. Very quick response times. There are four – no, five lifeboats being lowered on the starboard side of the ship. I can’t see the port side from here. Superman seems to be focused on taking people who either can’t get to the lifeboats or appear to be injured. Oh, look! Some of the crewmembers are signaling Superman. It looks like they’re calling for his help for injured people. Here he comes – yes, he’s taking the man he’s carrying directly to an ambulance. They have him now, he’s being treated, and Superman is already back at the ship. I’ve heard no sonic booms from him. I guess the ship is too close for him to move that fast. Or maybe it’s not safe for the passengers. He has another person – not bringing this one to shore, he just put whoever that was in one of the lifeboats. Now he’s back on the ship – I can’t see him, I think he went below deck – wow! He just flew out of the hole in the stern deck, I assume where both explosions happened. He’s got two people and he just landed with them beside the ambulances behind me and he’s gone again.”
She trotted to the end of the pier. “He’s at the stern, just hanging in the air – now he’s diving in through the hole in the deck. I can’t tell what he’s doing. Two men on this side of the ship are guiding the remaining crew into the lifeboats. It’s hard to be sure from this distance, but I still don’t see any panic among them. No one seems to be pushing or shoving others to get off. They all appear to be disciplined enough to do their jobs and evacuate calmly.”
She turned to see the TV camera pointed in her general direction. She felt like making a gesture they’d have to censor, but knew that Perry would be mad if she did, so she refrained. Instead, she waved and mouthed slowly and clearly, “Hello, Daily Planet!”
That’ll show the TV people who was Number One in the Metropolis news game.
She turned back to the stricken ship. “The ship has settled at the stern and it appears to be listing to port. There’s a definite angle on the deck, but I don’t see any panic yet. I see two – no, three – no, I make it four lifeboats coming around the bow of the ship from the far side and heading in our direction. As far as I can tell, all of them are full or nearly so. It looks as if everyone will get off safely.
“Superman hasn’t reappeared yet. The ship seems to have stopped moving completely. Wait, it seems to be coming back to vertical. Hard to tell from here, but I think the list is correcting. I don’t know why at this point, although I believe Superman is at least partly responsible.
“I don’t see anyone on the ship – wait, I see three – no, four people on the lifeboat deck. I think at least one of them is an officer. That man is waving and pointing and the other three are paying attention to him. The officer just handed something to one of the men. The three are now running to the bow and the officer is climbing a ladder. I think he’s headed for the bridge.
“The fireboats slowed down for the lifeboats and then steered around them, but both of them are at the liner’s stern now. They look like they’re about – they just started spraying water on the liner! Superman just came out of the hole in the stern deck and zipped down to one of the boats. Now he’s back on the liner and that fireboat has changed the angle of the water it’s spraying. My guess is that he’s directing the water spray onto a hot spot of some kind.”
She took a moment to make sure her recorder was working, then continued. “I see two tugboats headed out to the liner now. They’re moving slowly around the lifeboats, I assume to keep from swamping them with the tugs’ wakes. At that rate, they won’t be near enough to the ship to move it for – maybe half an hour.
“Whoa! Superman just dove to the near tug and now he’s talking to someone I assume is the captain. Now he’s on the other tug. I can’t tell – yes, he has some of those huge ropes tugboats use to tow ships. Superman looks like he’s looping the ropes onto those massive round things on the bow of the liner where they tie up to the dock – capstans? Yes, that’s it! Oh! The tugs are turning to bring the ship to the dock. The fireboats are still spraying the liner’s stern – wow! Now Superman is deflecting the water flow from above the deck to the hole in the stern. That’s a lot of pressure, too! The smoke seems to be lessening, and he – now he’s below the stern deck again.
“The tugs are getting closer to the dock now. Let me look at the ambulance area – yes, it appears that all of the injured are being treated or have already been transported. Once again, Superman has saved a number of lives here in Metropolis.”
The irony of her last sentence startled her for a moment. He almost hadn’t made it. He’d almost been too late.
And if people had died because he’d been too late it would have been her fault.
No! she insisted to herself. None of this is my fault! If he hadn’t betrayed me he’d still be her in Metropolis when we need him!
She had to make herself remember that.
She turned off the recorder in her hand and watched the progress of the lifeboats. They seemed to aim for one of the other small boats in the harbor, support vessels or even pleasure craft. It looked like none of the occupants were injured.
She relaxed a little.
The hero flew over her head with one more passenger and landed near the ambulance area, so she started running toward him. As she got closer, she turned the recorder back on and held it high. “Superman!” she shouted. “Superman! Lois Lane of the Daily Planet! Can you give me a statement?”
His eyes met hers for a moment, then his gaze swung away. His face didn’t change when he saw her. He had to have heard her. She knew he’d recognized her.
He’d simply ignored her.
The other reporters were shouting questions and pointing microphones at him in a clashing cacophony of query. “Superman!” yelled one of the TV talking heads, one Lois didn’t recognize. “What caused the explosion? Was it a flaw in the design of the ship?”
She frowned. Someone had the cart before the horse. Reporters should never – not ever – assume a conclusion before gathering the evidence. And she knew more than that guy did, thanks to Bobby Bigmouth. But she needed confirmation from Superman for her story.
Superman glared at the TV guy and spoke sternly. “I advise you to do what the police, maritime authorities, and the National Transportation and Safety Board will do. They will investigate the cause of this incident and take the necessary steps. At this point in time, there is no reason to assume that either the design or the workmanship in the liner is at fault.”
The TV guy snapped, “So was it sabotage?”
Superman took a firm step toward the man and said, “I already told you that you’ll have to talk to the responsible authorities. I can’t tell you why this happened because I don’t know. I advise you to publish only that which you can confirm, sir, else you might find yourself facing legal action.”
Lois tried again. “Superman! Can you tell us about any injuries among—”
“You’ll have to talk to the police and city medical authorities about that.”
“But don’t you—”
Superman lifted up a few feet and called out, “I’m sorry, I have to go.”
Then he vanished into the sky.
Well. Clark seemed to be holding a grudge against Lois. She really couldn’t blame him. She’d threatened his privacy, his personal life, his family, and his friends. Exposing Clark as Superman would destroy him on a personal level, and she hadn’t taken back her threat to do so. No wonder he wouldn’t talk to her.
No matter. She had a story to write up. The rift in her heart wouldn’t keep her from doing her job.
*****
Lois was almost to her desk when Jimmy stopped her and handed her a note. “What’s this?”
“What does it look like? Read it yourself.” He stalked away without looking back.
She unfolded the note and took another step, then stopped. Superman had sent her a message.
He wanted to meet her on the roof.
She dropped her purse and recorder in her desk drawer, grabbed a notebook and pencil, then headed to the stairs. She’d be a bit out of breath when she got there, but it was faster than the elevator. And she’d have to take the stairs from the top floor to the roof anyway.
She finally opened the door and looked around. Superman was sitting in the middle of the roof with his arms around his knees and his head held high, facing away from her toward the front of the building. She couldn’t see his face.
Maybe he was here to give her the statement he’d denied her at the dock.
Lois walked slowly toward him to give herself time to get her breathing under control. When she was within arm’s reach, she stopped and said, “I’m here.”
“I want to talk to you.”
“Okay. Can you tell me if the cruise liner you helped to save today was sabotaged?”
His head turned and he glared at her. “That’s not what I want to talk about.”
She told herself to stay calm and matter-of-fact with him. “What do you want to talk about?”
He rocked forward, rose to his feet, and stood facing away from her. “I want you to stop writing about me.”
“Wh-what? Do what?”
“Stop writing about me. No rescues, no disasters, no treaties, no kittens, no nothing. Don’t write about me at all. Don’t even mention me in a story.”
Stop writing – she
never thought he’d require that of her. Just who did he think he was, anyway?
His unreasonable demand angered her. “I can’t stop writing stories about Superman! The things you do are legitimate news! You know that as well as I do!”
He turned toward her and narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps I should make myself completely clear. I don’t want to appear in any story you write. I don’t want to be a part of your byline. I absolutely do not want you to ask me questions at a Superman incident.”
She backed up a step to escape his intensity. “You – you can’t put a restriction like that on me! You’re a public figure! You’re fair game for any news organization! You – this is not reasonable! It’s not right!”
“And you’re such an expert on right and wrong.”
“That was different and you know it!”
He lifted his hands to either side and blew out a breath through clenched front teeth. “I told you my secret because I wanted to share it with you.”
She pressed her lips together and didn’t respond.
He took a step closer and lowered his hands. “It was a terrible call. Worst call of my life. You decided – without any real evidence, without stopping to think about it – that I was a bad person and you didn’t want me in your city or in your life or at your job or anywhere near you.”
He leaned forward and flexed his fingers as if they were trying to close on their own. “You rejected reality and substituted your own, one without me in it. I have news for you, Lois. If you don’t want Clark in your life, you don’t get Superman either. We’re kind of a package deal.”
She was stunned by his anger. She’d seen Superman – Clark – angry before, but it was always at injustice or criminal activity or the general unfairness of life. She’d never experienced the brunt of his fury, never had it directed at her and her alone for something she’d done.
She didn’t like it.
She didn’t speak for a few seconds. Clark – because he was Clark at the moment, irrespective of his clothing – seemed to regain control of his temper and stood straight with his arms crossed over his chest. “I thought my letter to you was clear enough. I guess it wasn’t. I hope you understand now that I don’t want you in my life any more than you want me in yours.”
He was in control, yes, but he was still angry. She had to placate him somehow. She lowered her voice and said, “Clark, please listen for a minute. I can’t stop writing about you. Perry’s expecting my story on your ship rescue. It’s going to be a positive story, too. You did a great job and saved a lot of lives.”
He took a breath and let it out, then shook his head. “You have your conditions, I have mine. No more Superman stories.”
“But you can’t—”
“I’ll let you have this one today because it already happened. But no more. Nothing after today’s event. Understand me?”
She felt her own anger rising. “You don’t have any leverage on me. You can’t make me stop writing about Superman.”
“Oh, I think I can.”
“Oh, really? Just how do you plan to do that?”
His arms tightened and bulged as he leaned closer. “I will visit every one of your snitches – as Superman – and tell them how you ran Clark Kent out of the city. I’ll give interviews to every competing media outlet about your lack of trust in Clark and your unreasoning anger at him. I’ll tell every reporter about the way you insulted and angered Superman. And if you decide to publish my secret after all that, it’s quite possible that no one will believe you.”
She stared, uncomprehending. Superman was threatening her! No – Clark Kent was threatening her! Mild-mannered, diffident, compliant, patient, loving Clark Kent was threatening to blackball her in the news business!
If Superman were to accuse her of being a total and complete jerk about Clark, it would seriously damage her reputation. Maybe to the point that she’d become ineffective as an investigative reporter. He was threatening to take her livelihood, her career, away from her.
Just as she’d taken his from him.
She bit the inside of her lip and tried to think of something to say, anything, some response that would soften his anger. But nothing came to her.
He apparently took her silence for acquiescence. He turned, took a step away from her, launched himself into the air, and flew west over the city.
He didn’t look back.
*****
Lois was re-reading her first draft of her story when Perry sauntered over. “How’s it going? You got all the info you need?”
Without looking at him, she replied, “Everything but a quote from Superman.”
“Didn’t he say something about waiting for the official investigation to wrap up before deciding who did what to whom?”
“He said it to all the reporters at the incident. He wouldn’t give me an exclusive quote.”
Perry sat on the edge of her desk and leaned closer. “I just got a call from a certain party in Kansas,” he said quietly. “The caller filled me in on the limitations you just heard about.”
Lois stopped typing and sat very still. “Oh.” She paused, then asked, “What did he – the party tell you?”
“That this is your last Superman story. Period. End of sentence. Or, as our friends across the Atlantic say, ‘full stop.’ I was told that you’ll have to write about something else – the caller said ‘anything else’ – in the future, as long as you’re in the news business.”
She sat back and pressed her lips together, then softly said, “Don’t you think that’s a bit excessive? I don’t know if I can write the news without including that particular subject.”
“I thought the conditions you set out two months ago were a bit excessive, remember? Now the two of you are on a level playing field.”
She closed her eyes and leaned forward. “I never thought Clark would stoop to threats, especially threats against me.”
“And he never thought you’d extort him to shove him out of your life, either. Honestly, I’m a little surprised it’s taken him this long to lay the law down to you.”
Her eyes opened wide and her face turned to stare at her boss. “You think I went too far but he didn’t?”
Perry stood. “Doesn’t matter what I think, honey. You proved that. But I can’t have a reporter on staff who can’t write about one of the most important newsmakers in the world. You have to—”
“No!” she blurted. Then, more quietly, she said, “I don’t want to leave! Please! And he didn’t tell me not to write about him for the Planet! He said not at all! He doesn’t want me to write about him for anyone!”
He lifted his hand. “Easy, Lois. What I was going to say was that you need to fix your relationship with Clark. If you don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with him for any reason, or even be friends with him, fine, that’s entirely your choice, but you’ve got to end this war. And it needs to happen soon. Call him, write to him, wire a singing telegram, send him a dove with a message on its leg, I don’t care. You have to fix this and make peace with him, for your own sake as well as for his. And for the Planet’s sake, if nothing else.”
She sighed and turned to face her computer again. “I know. You’re right. About all of it. I was an idiot. Lucy’s right, I overreacted in my overreaction, which was way out of proportion to begin with. I’ll fix it.”
Perry smiled. “Did Lucy actually say you overreacted in your overreaction?”
“Yes. She’s been listening to a lot of lawyers lately.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “Let me think about the best way to do this, Perry. I’ll try to get it done before the end of the month.”
“Good. This is way overdue, Lois. Like I said, how you move forward with Clark on a personal basis is your choice, but you have to move forward. This is intruding into my newsroom even more than before and it has to stop.”
“I know. I’ll do my best.”
He straightened and patted her shoulder. “That’s all I can ask. Let me know what you plan to do and when you plan to do it. If you need some time off, I’ll arrange it.”
“Thanks, Perry. And – I’m sorry.”
He gave her a slightly stern look. “Don’t tell me. Give that apology to the person who really deserves it.”
*****
“Martha?” called Jonathan. “When’s Clark due home?”
She walked out of the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of spaghetti. “Any minute now. He said he had to go to his office for a little while.”
Jonathan shook his head. “His office.” He snorted a small laugh. “I never could stand the thought of working inside all day.”
“He doesn’t work inside all day and you know it. He gets outdoors as often as you do.”
“That’s true. Hey, did I just hear him pull up?”
She put the bowl on the kitchen table. “Ooh, maybe he brought Rachel with him again. She’s such a nice young woman.”
“Martha, remember, no matchmaking! We didn’t do so well with Lois.”
“Not our fault. And no, I’m not making suggestions.”
Clark chose that moment to push through the back door. “Hi. Dinner smells good.”
Martha smiled and touched his arm. “Are you alone?”
He blinked and said, “Yes. Why, was I supposed to bring someone?”
Jonathan frowned and leaned against the doorframe. “Your mother thinks you and Rachel make a cute couple.”
Clark frowned. “Can we just have dinner and not discuss my disastrous love life?”
“Oh, honey,” Martha crooned, “are you and Rachel on the outs?”
Clark sighed. “No, Mom. No fight, no relationship, nothing to get out of synch. I’m nowhere near ready for – for whatever collar you’re fitting me for.”
“Clark’s right, Martha. The time has come for us to sit and eat and talk of many things.”
“Of shoes and ships and sealing wax,” Clark answered.
“Of cabbages and kings,” Martha echoed.
Clark smiled a little. “I’m just glad the seas aren’t boiling hot.”
Jonathan smiled back. “Maybe when pigs have wings.”
Clark’s eyebrows lifted. “We’re not having oysters, are we?”
Martha gave them a fake frown. “If you boys don’t sit down to eat the spaghetti I slaved over is going to get cold! Take your places and fill your faces!”
Jonathan chuckled. “I suggest we listen to your mother, son. Her cooking is to live for.”
Martha frowned at her husband. “You’ll live longer if you cut down on your portions! Now dish up my diet spaghetti and get to chewing!”
*****
Clark cleaned the table at normal speed and rinsed the dishes. “I’m a little tired tonight. Y’all mind if I go up to bed now?”
Martha stood and patted his chair. “Just as soon as you sit down here and tell us what’s bothering you the most.”
“What makes you think anything is bothering me?”
Martha tilted her head and spoke gently. “You barely spoke during dinner. Your ‘flyover state’ columns are getting printed in eight papers besides the Smallville Post that I know about, and Mr. White may have more lined up, but even though you’re getting paid pretty well for it you don’t seem all that happy about it. You’re making progress on that novel we’re not supposed to know anything about. You’ve spent a lot of time with Rachel Harris lately. And you just said ‘y’all’ to us, a word that hasn’t come out of your mouth in years.” She stepped around the chair and touched his hand. “Please, Clark. Let us in. Tell us about it. Maybe we can help you.”
He opened his mouth to tell her no, he was fine, when he realized this was something he needed. His parents were a resource he shouldn’t ignore. And his life was in a bit of a mess at the moment.
He decided at that moment to tell them about Lois but not about Rachel and what she knew. Or what she’d flat-out told him about her feelings toward him.
He slumped down in his chair and put his elbows on the table. “Okay. I was patrolling in Metropolis and I responded to a cruise liner emergency in the harbor today. I think it was a bomb set to disable the ship, maybe sink it, but without hurting too many people. I got the injured off and helped the fireboats control the fire in the engine room. And I got the ship hooked up to a pair of tugs that brought it to the dock. I don’t think the damage will wreck the ship. But the best part was that nobody died.”
Jonathan nodded. “So far it sounds like a good day.”
“And you’ve been back to Metropolis to help before,” Martha added.
“True. That part was pretty good.”
Martha’s ears rotated forward like a cat’s. “Ah. What part wasn’t so good?”
Clark dropped his face into his hands and moaned. “Lois was there. I think she got a tip that something was going down, because she was in full reporter mode from the moment I noticed her.”
“Did you talk to her, honey?”
“No, Mom. Not at the scene, anyway. She’s still mad at me, remember? I sent a message for her to find me on the roof of the Planet when she got back to work. She came up and I told her that if she didn’t want Clark in her life, she couldn’t have Superman either, and after today she couldn’t publish anything about me.”
Martha’s mouth fell open but no sound issued forth. Jonathan recovered enough to ask, “Did you – how do you plan to enforce that?”
Clark leaned back and closed his eyes. “I told her I’d let it be known – as Superman – how badly she’d treated Clark Kent and ran him out of town, that I’d ruin her reputation and her effectiveness as a reporter.”
Martha shook her head and managed, “Why?”
“I saw Metropolis.” No one spoke for a long moment, then Clark added, “I saw the city I thought would be my home for years. I thought I’d have a place of my own there and friends and maybe a family and it would’ve been a place to put down roots and belong and I just kept thinking that Lois had ripped that life and all that future happiness away from me and I got really mad at her so I decided to take something back from her.” He drew in a deep breath, then sighed, long and tired. “I even called Perry and told him what I told Lois.”
“Oh.” Jonathan frowned in apparent thought for a moment, then said, “That – that sounds like you were exacting some revenge.”
Clark crossed his arms. “I was. It was petty and childish and I feel like a complete heel and I’ll never do what I threatened.”
“Even if she tells your secret?” asked his mother.
“No. Not even then. I was angry and hurt and I felt this – this hole in me where I used to think my life would be like and I just wanted to get back at her for being so – so infuriating and exasperating!”
He stood and walked to the sink, then pivoted on one foot and leaned his back against the cabinet. “I’m really tired of trying to deal with the ghost of Lois Lane in my life. I don’t see any way for us to reconcile. Even today, after two months with no direct contact between us, there was no gentleness in her voice or in her manner. She treated Superman like a quote dispenser.” He crossed his arms and looked at the floor. “Whatever relationship was there before, I’m pretty sure it’s gone now.”
“Sweetie?” his mother asked. “How do you feel about Lois? Right now, I mean.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. There are moments when I remember how much I loved her, but they don’t last long because I also remember how much she seems to hate me now and what she threatened to do to me. I don’t know – isn’t it kind of pathetic to love a woman who has rejected who you are and what you stand for? If Superman had a girlfriend who got unreasonably furious and ended the relationship because she found out he was a reporter on the side, wouldn’t he be justified if he put her in his rear-view mirror?”
Jonathan nodded. “I see what you mean. For what it’s worth, son, you have my permission to let Lois go. Assuming that’s what you want, or at least what you think is best. I wouldn’t want you to hate her or do anything to harm her, but I don’t think you have any obligations toward her now. She’s the one who ended things, and she’s the one who won’t take steps to repair the relationship.” He stood and walked to his son, then put one hand on Clark’s shoulder. “It’s your life. You need to live it as you see fit. I only hope you don’t end up hating her because that’d hurt you more than it would Lois.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Clark smiled at his father. “I think it’s time for me to hit the hay. And I’ll remember to be thankful for my wonderful parents.”
Martha stood and hugged him. “And we’ll be thankful for our wonderful son. We love you.”
“I love you guys too. Goodnight.”
Clark slowly climbed the stairs and tried not to listen to his parents analyze his situation, but he couldn’t help it. His mom wasn’t whispering and his dad didn’t caution her to quiet down.
“Jonathan, we’ve got to do something! It hurts me to see him hurting so much.”
“I know. I feel the same way. But I don’t see any options for us. This is something he has to work through on his own.”
“Can’t we talk to Lois and try to get her to see reason? Or do you think she’s managed to completely alienate Clark?”
“I don’t know if their relationship can be fixed, but we can’t interfere. Clark’s a grown man and he has to make his own choices. If he and Lois are going to be a couple, or even friends, we can’t be the reason they’re together. And if they’re not going to be a couple, we sure can’t force them together. If we interfere for any reason, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Clark heard his mother sigh. “You’re right. I wish you weren’t, but you are.”
He turned the doorknob to his room as his mom added, “What do you think of Rachel?”
“You mean as in Clark and Rachel being a couple? You really think that’s a good idea?”
His mom made a “tsk” noise with her mouth. “Like you say, that’s up to them. I think Rachel is sweet on Clark and has been for a long time.”
His father paused, then said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to get together right now. Clark’s heart is still wound up around and about Lois. He’s not ready for another long-term romance, not yet. I’m pretty sure Rachel wouldn’t go for any short-term love affair, but I know Clark wouldn’t. I’d hope they’d let some time pass first.”
She sighed. “You’re right again. Okay, I won’t drop any hints. But I also won’t throw up any roadblocks. I think being around Rachel might be good for Clark.”
His dad tapped the table several times, maybe with his finger or the end of a butter knife, then said, “Rachel is a very nice young woman and if she fell in love with a man she’d treat him right and do him a world of good. I just don’t know if she and Clark are right for one another.” Jonathan sighed deeply. “I also don’t know that they
aren’t right for each other.”
“Like you said, it’s their decision, not ours. You about ready for bed? I’ve got chores to do tomorrow.”
He heard his father heave himself to his feet. “Clark and I need to go over the tractor and the combine tomorrow and make sure they’re in good working order. Fall harvest isn’t that far off.”
Clark shook his head and entered his bedroom. He had work to do the next day, both on the farm and at his office. And he had to decide what to do about Lois.
Did he want an “unrequited love” kind of relationship with Lois Lane? Did he want to love her from afar? Did he want to break from her completely? Did he want to let things ride in an armed truce? Did he want to try just once more to reconcile? Had she left him that choice?
What about Rachel? She’d told him that she loved him and wanted to be with him. She wasn’t putting pressure on him, but she’d made it plain that she was open to expanding their relationship from friends to something more. Could he build a life with her, a life that would be centered around a rural area and not the big city? Could she handle being Superman’s significant other? Could he live that life with her?
He didn’t know the answers to any of those questions. And he wasn’t going to get any answers tonight. He needed sleep.
Perchance he would dream a solution to the conundrum that was his life.
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