Okay, here's my third attempt at fanfic. This one is going to be a long one. So expect it to go a little slow at first, I've gotta set some stuff up. Hope you like it!
I plan to post eight to ten pages each time (I hope that's not too much at a time), but I don't know how many posts there will be total, hence the question mark above.
*edit* - Note: You don't need to have read Season's 5 & 6 to read this fanfic, but it will probably help if you have.
Table of Contents So without further adieu -
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Description: The SHARP organization's leader is up for early parole. Superman is making bizarre rescues. The police are baffled by a series of strange kidnappings. It makes for a busy newsroom at the Planet. Will Lois and Clark find time to plan another baby? And the bigger question, will they be able to have one? A story set shortly after the events in the acclaimed "Season 6" aka "S6".
Title: Help Not Wanted
By: DJ Rhodes <deejrhodes@sbcglobal.net>
Rated: PG?
Submitted: May 2006
All familiar characters and settings are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros. and whoever else can legally lay claim to them. No copyright infringement is intended. This story was written purely for fun, not for profit.
I want to say a big thank you to Nancy Lemieux, Adrienne Vukovic, and the rest of the season’s 5 & 6 writing team for allowing me to borrow some of their characters and ideas.
Also, a huge thank you to my beta readers: Suz and Diane. What would I have done without you guys?
**********
Aaron Henderson was not a leader. Nor did he want to be one. He supposed if he really had to do it he could, but he would rather not be in the spotlight. He preferred to work behind the scenes and let someone else be the motivator and leader.
As he walked towards the glass door in front of him, he glanced at his boyish reflection. He didn't *look* the part of a leader either. He would be thirty soon but appeared barely old enough to legally drink.
He slid the gloves off his long, bony fingers and shoved them in the pockets of his black leather jacket. After unbuttoning the bulky jacket, he took it off also. It dwarfed the lean arm he hung it across.
Aaron pushed the glass door open and was greeted by the smell of food. One of the other visitors had brought food with them to share. Inmates didn't get a chance to eat food from the outside much. His stomach growled impatiently at him. He had eaten a large breakfast just before he came, but he was already hungry again. How could he eat like he did and not gain weight? It worked to his advantage, though. He was stronger than he looked, and people usually misjudged him.
He took off his dark sunglasses squinting his brown eyes against the harsh florescent lighting. He set the glasses on top of his head and ran his fingers though his dark, curly hair, smoothing it and pulling the tips out from behind his collar. He didn't really care what the guards thought of him, but there was no sense looking like a slob. He liked to look a little unkempt; like he had stayed up working too late the night before, which he usually had. It helped him to blend in, disappear in a crowd.
No, he was definitely not a leader. He was a man of action. But the man he was on his way to see, he was a leader. In fact, that was the actual name Aaron knew him by, Great Leader. Aaron had been one of his followers since the beginning. He had sat by on the sidelines, helplessly, while the Leader had been incarcerated like a common criminal, and for what? For his thankless efforts to rid the world of an alien threat. A being that the rightful inhabitants of this world knew very little about, who hid behind a guise of supposed good and helpful intentions. Aaron sneered. A man who was about to get a rude awakening...Superman.
Aaron refused to make eye contact with the guard as the man opened the door for him to enter the visiting room at the prison. It had been over a year ago that their Leader had been imprisoned. It had been a tough time, but the members of SHARP – the Society for the Hindrance of Aliens Residing on the Planet – had pressed forward, finding a new place to meet and continuing the work that the Great Leader had started. Yes, they had kept up the Leader's work, in secret, just as he had instructed. Aaron was the contact man between the Leader and the rest of their group.
After the arrest, their Leader’s name had been splashed across newspapers all across the city. Especially thanks to that nosy reporting team, Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Stupid alien lovers. However, Aaron had disregarded the newspapers, choosing, instead, to continue referring to him as their Leader. It was a title of honor, one well deserved by the man he had come to visit.
His thoughts again drifted to Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Oh, they would pay for what they had done to the Leader. And they would pay for being friends of Superman. Of that fact he had no doubt.
He brought his mind back in focus when the Great Leader walked into the room and approached the table. The man walking towards him looked wise beyond his years. Aaron wasn't really sure how old he was; maybe he wasn't even that much older than Aaron. Though the gray in his hair and the knowledge in his eyes said otherwise.
"Aaron, my friend, so good to see you again," the Great Leader said, giving him a warm handshake. What anyone looking on would fail to see was that, in that handshake, he had slipped Aaron a few small folded up pieces of paper. They couldn't communicate openly at these meetings for fear of someone overhearing their conversations. So, the Great Leader would write down all the instructions he had for Aaron and slip them to him at their visits. Aaron discreetly slid the papers into his jacket pocket.
"And you, sir." Aaron hated having to address him in that manner, but, in case anyone was listening in, he couldn't risk calling him Great Leader. "I came as quickly as I could after hearing the news of your parole hearing set for tomorrow," Aaron said, acting out his role in this little play. Of course, Aaron already knew about the parole hearing. He had been the one to help orchestrate it. No one but he and the Great Leader knew how many people had been bribed and coerced to bring about this early parole. Of course, the parole was pretty much cinched up and guaranteed to happen tomorrow, but few others knew that.
"Yes, I have great hopes that they will see the changes that have come over me and my repentance for what I have done. We shall see, won't we?" the Leader said, risking a sly smile.
"I'll be waiting in anticipation of the news tomorrow regarding the hearing. I just wanted to come by and let you know that you have my support and the support of many others. Thank you for seeing me, and I hope we'll see each other under better circumstances tomorrow."
"Thank you, my friend. Tomorrow then." The Great Leader smiled and walked back to the door where he was escorted back to his cell.
Aaron slid his hand into his pocket feeling for the papers that had been given to him. The information they contained was priceless. In his hands he held the final information needed to initiate the fall of Superman.
**********
Clark flew in the open bedroom window of their brownstone. He was immediately a little concerned when he didn't see Lois in bed. He hadn't even been able to finish dinner with his family before Superman had been called off to help with a break-in at the laboratory of the Fort Truman military base. Someone had broken in and stolen some top-secret equipment from the base. That same culprit, or perhaps an accomplice, had also tapped into the computer banks and downloaded some highly classified files. The commanding officer had been reluctant to divulge just exactly what items and or information had been stolen, stating firmly, but simply, that the information was classified.
The thieves were good. They hadn't left any clues or evidence that would help either Superman or the authorities, and they were long gone by the time he had arrived on the scene. It had been a long night. He had spent hours searching the area for the thieves, and trying to extract information from anyone he could at the base.
He glanced over at the alarm clock. It was after midnight. As he started to head off in search of Lois, his super hearing picked up her soft voice humming a lullaby from Laura's room. He quickly spun out of his suit and into his black silk pajama pants and headed off to check on his two beautiful girls. He floated up to the doorway so as not to make a sound. He loved looking in on Lois when she sang Laura to sleep. Peeking just slightly into the room, he watched his wife softly rocking an agitated Laura. Lois looked exhausted.
"Hi, honey. I'm back. Sorry it's so late," he whispered as he walked into the room towards her. "Why don't you let me take her for a while?"
Lois looked up at him, yawning; dark circles under her eyes, and smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks, honey," she said. "But I don't think it will do any good. She's just mad at me, that's all. Did everything go okay at Fort Truman?"
"Yeah, long story, too long for tonight. I'll fill you in on the details in the morning. I'm going to talk to Perry about it tomorrow too, see if he can put us in touch with that retired Admiral friend of his. Now, what was that about Laura being mad at you? Why would she be mad at you?" Clark said, picking the fussy baby up, kissing her tear-stained cheek.
"Because I wouldn't let her have her nightcap," Lois said, looking at him like she was trying to gauge his reaction to what she had said. He was sure she could see the look of surprise on his face, even in the dark.
This was new...? "Are you trying to wean her?" Clark asked as he stood there, swaying back and forth gently rocking Laura. He glanced down at her. She yawned sleepily.
"Well, yes actually, I am. It's been an ongoing project for the past week now. I've gotten her weaned off of some of her daytime nursing and decided I would try her nighttime nursing tonight. I kept trying to find time to talk to you about it, but Superman’s been a very busy boy this week."
Clark grimaced. Yes, he had been. He hated it when his *other* job took him away from his family so much. "Are you sure she's ready for this? I mean, do you think it's time?"
Lois nodded her head at him. "Yeah, I've talked with your mom and my mom and read a few things that say you can begin weaning them as early as nine months and get them on solid food. Laura's almost fifteen months, and she's been eating some solid food for a while now. I hadn't wanted to start sooner because I really enjoy the time we spend together when she's nursing. I wasn't ready to give that up just yet. But, at the same time, her nursing has continued to become tougher physically. Those little teeth of hers are really sharp. She seems to want to sink them into something a little more substantial," Lois said, grinning at him. "And, initially, there were some other reasons why I thought about trying to wean her."
"Like what?"
"Well, Superdad," Lois said, pointing at a sleeping Laura, "why don't you put your little angel in bed and we can go to *our* bed and talk about it some more."
Clark liked the sound of that. After laying Laura in her crib and kissing her forehead lightly, he turned and scooped his wife up into his arms. He flew them both at super speed down the hallway into their bedroom. Laying her gently on the bed, he began to apply soft kisses up and down her neck.
"So, what other reasons were there?"
"Hmm, this was one of them," she murmured as she relaxed into his arms. "As much as I enjoy the time with Laura when she's nursing, it does take a while to complete the process and get her to bed. Sometimes, it takes so much time that I don't have the time I want with you.
"Oh, I think we can always make time for this," he said, unbuttoning her nightshirt and continuing his light kisses down her abdomen to her navel.
"Ooooh, that feels so good," she whispered and then continued hesitantly, "but I actually do have something I want to talk to you about."
Clark reluctantly stopped searching for new places to kiss and looked into her concerned brown eyes. "What is it, honey?"
"Well, it all began with a conversation I had with Alice a couple of weeks ago at lunch. She asked me if we had given any thought to having more kids. It kind of caught me off guard because Laura had just turned one, and I hadn't really given any thought to when I wanted to have another baby. But Alice brought up some interesting points. She asked me how many years we would want between children. You know, it’s nice for siblings to be close in age. I’ve always wished that Lucy and I had been closer in age. If we'd only been a year or two apart instead of five, it would have made a difference, I think. If you let too many years pass between having kids, sometimes they don’t get close until they are older, and by then it can feel like you’ve lost years..."
Clark stroked her cheek before reaching up to give her a light kiss on the lips. "Honey, you're babbling."
"I know. It's just that I want Laura to have the childhood I never did. And I don't want her to feel lonely either. You and I do our best to spend as much time with her as we can, but we are both so busy sometimes. It might be nice for her to have a little sister or a little brother." That thought brought a smile to Lois' face. "To share things with as she grows up."
"You've been thinking a lot about this, haven't you?"
"Yes, ever since that talk with Alice. See, she also reminded me that, while Laura may only be one now, she'd already be two by the time we had another baby, if we did decide to try again right away." She smiled provocatively at him.
"I'm always ready for the *trying* part," he teased her. She giggled softly.
"But, getting back to the weaning issue. At first, the reason I started trying to wean Laura was because Alice told me that nursing can make it difficult for you to get pregnant."
"Really? I hadn't heard that before."
"I hadn't either, but she said there are a lot of hormones involved when you're nursing, and it can make it more difficult. I thought that, since we have our own little unique challenge in that department, better not to add another problem into the mix. So, that's initially why I started weaning Laura. But, after talking with my mom on the phone yesterday, I found out that what Alice said was just an old wives' tale. Mom said you wouldn't believe some of the stories and 'tried and true' methods she would hear from people when she worked as a nurse. She said there've been plenty of women who have gotten pregnant again before they meant to because they thought they were safe while breastfeeding. Since I had already started to wean Laura, and since she seemed to be taking to solid food so well, I figured I might as well just continue."
"Tonight was the first *nightly* feeding that I had tried to replace with some juice and a lullaby, though," she said, continuing. "She was really fussy before you came back just now. I actually caved in and started to let her nurse, but then she bit me, hard," Lois said, grimacing as she rubbed her left breast. "Let me tell you, it didn't feel good. It's still sore. I decided then that it was definitely time."
Clark leaned down and started kissing the *affected* area gently. "Well, I think you know how I feel about having more babies, hon. I haven't said much about it because I didn't want to push you. I wanted you to feel comfortable about being a mom and come to that decision when you were ready." He paused in his thoughts to begin moving his kisses back up her body to the region of her neck. "I've enjoyed Laura so much that I can't think of anything I'd want more than to make another baby with you." He began applying kisses more urgently to her mouth and neck.
Lois groaned and began kissing him back. "I think it's time to try one of those unprotected practice sessions now," she whispered as things began to heat up.
**********
"Ol' Sailin' Whalen?" Perry started riffling though the items on his desk. "Well, yeah, last I heard he bought himself a little retirement cabin out on the lake that he stays in a few months out of the year. I'll give him a call and see if he's there, Clark," he said, uncovering his Rolodex from a pile of items. "In the meantime, though, I need you and Lois to cover the possible early parole of the nutcake who headed up that anti-Superman movement," Perry told them as he thumbed through the Rolodex looking for Whalen's number.
"What?" Lois and Clark exclaimed at the same time.
"Chief, are you talking about the Leader of SHARP?" Lois asked, concerned. The thought of him being paroled made Lois' blood pressure rise. When Clark had been having tests run at the fertility clinic, the leader of SHARP had been tampering with the results. Imagine, trying to make Clark think he couldn't have children, the gall of that man. He could stay locked up forever as far as she was concerned.
"Yeah," Perry said with a nod. "He's been bumped up on the list and is up for early parole."
"When?" Clark asked.
"Well, today, as a matter of fact," Perry exclaimed, grumpily. "I tell you, I don't see how someone as demented as this guy is came up for parole so soon."
"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Lois asked, feeling angry at being out of the loop. Yesterday had been her day off to stay home with Laura. She and Clark worked a split week in order to spend as much time with her as possible. At times like these, though, it irked Lois to feel like she was behind on things. But Clark didn't seem to know any more about it than she did.
"Because I didn't find out until just this morning. It seems it all happened pretty fast. I smell a rat. See what information you can dig up on his early parole hearing, and, if he does get paroled, I want you all over this like stink on a June bug."
"You got it, Chief," Clark responded as Lois nodded her head.
"I'll let you know when I get a hold of Whalen," Perry assured them, holding up the card he had pulled from his rolodex. Lois and Clark turned to leave Perry's office, but ran into Jimmy as he came through the door. He looked anxious.
"You gotta see this, guys. Chief, turn on the TV to Lextel News."
Perry obliged, and a young, obviously distraught woman appeared on the screen being interviewed by an anchorwoman.
"And you say this note is the only thing the kidnapper left behind?" the anchorwoman asked her, stepping out of the way of several police officers who were walking around.
"Yes, he hasn't contacted us or made any demands. All we have is this note that he left in her bed," the crying mother managed between sobs. The reporter moved on to ask the father some questions.
"I recognize that couple," Clark whispered to Lois. "They're the ones that Superman saved from that burning apartment building earlier this week."
"Really? Talk about your run of bad luck. Those poor people. I can't even imagine if someone took Laura like that, right out of her bed."
"Well, I don't think that could happen," he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "I'd *hear* them," he continued, pointing to his ear.
Lois smiled. Yes, she guessed he'd probably hear them coming a mile away, as long as he was actually *there*. That thought sent a chill up her spine. Clark was frequently gone for parts of the night. What if someone like this came calling when he wasn't around? She didn't even want to think about it.
The mother on TV had produced the note and was reading from it. Lois directed her attention back to the screen.
"And it goes on to say, Superman may have saved your lives, but it will be your daughter who pays," she concluded, another wave of tears hitting her.
Lois looked at Clark in shock. He was looking back at her, equally shocked. What was that supposed to mean? Was someone going to make these people pay for accepting help from Superman?
"Judas Priest!" Perry exclaimed. "What kind of a person would do something like this? Lois, Clark, see if you can get an interview with these parents before you head off to cover that parole hearing later today."
"We're on it, Chief," Clark said, catching Lois' eye. He made a motion for his tie. "Lois, why don't you make a call to Inspector Henderson and see what he makes of this. I'll head on out to talk with these parents. You can meet me there when you're done."
"I'm already ahead of you," Lois said as she raced back to her desk. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Clark disappeared into the storage closet, tugging on his tie as he went.
**********
Clark arrived on the scene, still dressed as Superman, just as the last of the news vans were leaving. He waited out of sight until the last one was gone. He didn't really feel like having to be interviewed by the media right now. He walked up to the front door, passing several police cars, and knocked. He glanced around, but didn't see any officers. They were probably inside dusting for prints. The door opened, revealing a teary-eyed face of the woman he had saved just a few days ago.
"Superman?! Oh, I'm so glad you're here. I take it you heard about the kidnapping?" she asked him, running her hands through her tousled brown hair and massaging her neck and shoulders.
"Yes, I did, Mrs....?"
"Harrell. Stephanie Harrell."
"Mrs. Harrell, I only caught part of what the note said in your interview on TV. Mind if I read the whole thing?"
She shook her head, looking around. "I gave it to the Inspector. Let me see if I can find him," she said, walking off. Clark wasn't surprised to see Inspector Henderson come walking back to the door with her. He handed the note to Clark.
"None of this makes any sense, Superman. This was the only note left. No ransom demanded, and no instructions on what needs to be done except for refusing further help from you. We're dusting for prints, but I'm not hopeful. Nothing seems to have been disturbed in the child's room. Clark nodded his head, looking down at the note. He began reading from it out loud.
"Mr. and Mrs. Harrell, you have not been careful enough with your daughter. She was almost killed in a fire, and now, it seems you've allowed her to be kidnapped right under your noses. I'm sure you'd like some insight right about now, so I'll give you some. Do not rely on Superman. Accept no further help from him. He is a threat to this country and this planet, and he is going to be dealt with. Soon, everyone will see him for what he truly is and rightfully despise him and the *so-called* help he offers. Anyone attempting to help him or to be helped by him will be considered an accomplice and will have to pay the consequences as well. You may consider yourselves to be friends of Superman, but this is no guarantee of your daughter's safety. It is unacceptable for the next generation to grow up with the image of Superman the "savior" and "hero" against the stark reality of his yet unknown, real intentions. Superman may have saved your lives previously, but it will be your daughter who pays."
Clark felt his heart sink. The note sounded grim, indeed. He quickly scanned the note for fingerprints. They were hard to make out, but there appeared to be several sets of fingerprints. He assumed that some of them belonged to Mr. & Mrs. Harrell, but what about the others? He handed the note back to Henderson.
"Have that note dusted for prints. I x-rayed it and there are several different sets of prints. Maybe one of them belongs to the kidnapper." Henderson took the note and walked out of the room, passing a man who was walking in. Clark recognized him; it was Mr. Harrell. The man pulled his robe tighter and strode purposefully towards Clark.
"What's he doing here?" he asked his wife, his voice laced with bitterness.
"I only came to see what I could do to help," Clark explained.
"Haven't you done enough?" the man replied, sounding heartbroken.
"Steven, it wasn't his fault. He saved us. He's only trying to help." Steven's only response was to lower his head and walk back the way he had come.
"Superman, I know this isn't your fault. We're just having a hard time dealing with this. Not knowing or understanding what is really meant by that note. Are they going to kill our little girl?"
"Not if I can help it. I promise you I will do whatever I can to track these people down and find your daughter. Do you have a recent picture of her?"
"Her name is Lydia. Yes, I made copies so I could post some pictures around town. I gave copies to the media also. The police said by contacting the media there would be a chance that someone might see her and report the sighting. Here, let me get you one."
She ran into the next room and came back carrying a picture of a smiling brown-haired, brown-eyed little girl. She looked about four or five years old. The picture tugged at Clark's heart.
"Thank you. I'll do whatever I can to help." Clark didn't know what else he could say. He reached out and took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Then he turned and left, taking to the air to locate Lois.
It didn't take long. She had been on her way to the Harrell's house and was almost there. He flew down along side her Jeep, and she pulled over. He motioned over to a side alleyway and took off towards it to make his quick change. After checking to make sure no one was watching, he spun out of his suit and came walking back out of the alley. Lois was waiting in the Jeep for him, so he joined her.
"So, what did you find out?" she asked him as he pulled himself inside the Jeep.
Clark looked behind him at his beautiful daughter who was sleeping peacefully in her car seat. If she hadn't been asleep, he would have picked her up and held her. He wanted to hold her so badly. He pulled his gaze away from her and looked back at Lois. The concern was evident on her face.
"Clark, what's wrong?"
"I'm okay. I just...you should have seen the looks on their faces. They're heartbroken. And I'm partially to blame."
"No, you're not. It's not your fault. You saved their lives and you can't be blamed for the actions of this, this, maniac."
"Yes, but he *is* blaming me. You should have seen the note he left them. He didn't come right out and say it, but he implied that something was going to happen to this little girl," Clark said, pulling the picture out to show it to Lois.
Lois took the picture and looked at it sadly. "What did the note say?"
"Oh, your basic stuff," Clark started bitterly. "Superman is evil. He's a threat to this country and doesn't belong here. Then, it pretty much stated that anyone connected with Superman, practically anyone who interacted with Superman, would also be considered a threat and would have to be dealt with."
Clark pulled his glasses down a little bit, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Lois reached out and caressed his hair, moving her hand down to his cheek. He tried to feign a smile for her.
"We will get through this, you know," she said encouragingly.
"Yeah, I know. We'll find a way. I just feel frustrated when people use me as an excuse to hurt others."
Clark wanted to say more. He wanted to tell Lois how worried he was for Laura. If this person decided everyone who was close to Superman had to suffer, would he include Clark Kent and Lois Lane in that? And Laura along with them? But he kept silent. He didn't want to worry Lois about it just yet. So far, this was an isolated event. Clark put his seatbelt on as Lois put the Jeep in drive and pulled back out onto the main road.
"I wasn't able to get a hold of Inspector Henderson when I called," she told him.
"Yeah, that's because he was at their house. I talked to him while I was there, and he let me examine the kidnappers note. I x-rayed it, and there were several sets of prints on it, so he's going to have it examined. Some of them are going to belong to the parents, of course, but maybe we'll get lucky."
"Well, I talked to one of the officer's assigned to the case. Apparently, the girl's father went in to check on her this morning when he got up and discovered that she was gone. There was no sign of a struggle, and all that was left was the note. Since it was dark out, none of the neighbors saw anything. While I was on the phone with the police, I did manage to get some useful information about the other story we're working on, the parole hearing. According to the officer I spoke to, the leader of SHARP wasn't due up for parole for at least another eight months and that was only with good behavior. He's going to look into who might have been involved in the request for early parole. I left Jimmy's number with him, so if he finds anything out, he'll pass the information on to Jimmy for us."
"Okay. Let's get back to the Planet, then, and see if Jimmy's heard anything," Clark instructed her. "We can put him to work gathering up the articles we wrote on the SHARP group. It would probably be good to review them and also our old notes."
**********
Aaron approached the playground carefully. Kids of various ages and sizes were playing on jungle gyms, swinging in swings, spinning on the merry-go-round, and climbing in and out of the wooden forts that had been constructed for the older kids. He had been watching and listening to the children and their parents closely, researching them to see who would be a good test subject. The test with the Harrell's daughter had gone completely as planned. But now it was time to see if he could stage an accident worthy of Superman's attention.
He had chosen his next subject. A little boy, probably no older than five, named Matthew Scott. For the procedure to work, he had to have the child's name, and he couldn't really choose anyone over the age of five. It just didn't seem to be as effective with older children. They were less susceptible.
He positioned himself out of sight behind a building and pulled a small device out from his coat. The device looked sort of like a satellite dish mounted to a small box. He held it in his hand, turning various knobs on it and pressing buttons. It was no bigger than the palm of his hand. There was a small microphone attached to the side it. Aaron lifted the mike to his lips.
"Matthew Scott, can you hear me?" Aaron was rewarded with a disinterested nod from the boy.
"Good. Matthew, you are a very special boy, you know that? You can fly, Matthew, just like Superman. Do you see the tall wooden fort across from you? I want you to climb all the way to the top of the fort, okay?"
Matthew did just as he was instructed. He walked over to the fort, climbed up the rope ladder, and crawled inside the fort.
"Very good, Matthew. I want you to grab the ladder and pull it up inside the fort with you." He watched as Matthew obeyed.
"Now, I want you to very carefully climb out the window of the fort and climb up on top. You have to be high up at the very top in order to be able to fly." He watched, his palms a little sweaty, as the boy made his way to the top of the fort. His intentions were not, of course, to hurt the boy, but merely to use him as a tool to get Superman to come. The boy was young, and he hoped that he wouldn't have any trouble getting up on top of the fort. Aaron glanced over at the boy’s parents. They were still busily engaged in a conversation with another set of parents. Oblivious to what their child was up to. He looked back and was relieved to see Matthew perched on top of the fort awaiting further instructions.
"Okay, now, Matthew, we want your parents to see you fly, so stay right where you are for now. I want you to yell as loud as you can at them. Tell them that you are going to fly like Superman."
Matthew nodded his head, opening his mouth, "Mommy! Daddy! Watch me, watch me!"
"We're watching you, honey," his mother replied absent-mindedly.
"No, look! Over here! Watch me! I can fly like Superman!"
His mother finally looked up towards the sound of his voice and promptly screamed. "Matthew! What are you doing? Don't move, honey, we'll get you down from there." Matthew's parents ran over to the base of the fort, trying to figure out a way up.
"How did he get up there?" his mother asked his father. "Where is the ladder?"
Aaron again raised the mike to his lips. "Okay, Matthew, I want you to walk to the edge of the fort and stop. Don't do anything. Just repeat that you are going to fly like Superman." Matthew complied with the command.
"Watch me, watch me! I'm going to fly like Superman!"
"No! No, honey, don't move. Help! Someone help us!" Matthew's mother screamed.
*********
To be continued...
