PLEASE READ! DISCLOSURE: This wonderful little ficlet was written by my daughter, who is ten! She is VERY excited to share this with everyone for the first anniversary of Ficlet Friday! She started writing this after she finished watching the final episode of the show, and she just HAD to write SOMETHING to show what happened to the baby Lois and Clark found. She really hopes you enjoy it and leave her lots of amazing feedback and comments!
Summary: Eight years after Lois and Clark find a baby in a bassinet, they raise a growing child who is—unsurprisingly—a lot like her mom. What will happen when she discovers something “super” about her dad?
Sarah’s Discovery
By Val-El“Isn’t he so cool?” 8-year-old Sarah Kent said, shoving a Superman comic into her father’s face.
“You know what would be extra cool?” Sarah asked.
“Yes! If you stopped playing around and did your math,” Lois said, pulling out a chair near the math book, “you haven’t written even a dot in it. It looks brand new!”
“No! If one of us had powers like Superman!” Sarah said, causing her parents awkward expressions.
“And who says we don’t?” Clark asked, kneeling down to Sarah’s height.
“You guys are busy doing work all the time. And Daddy, you’re always running off unexpectedly. There’s no way you’d have time to be Superman!”
“How do you know that?” Clark said. Clark scooped her up onto his back and started to imitate flying.
“Woosh!”
“Clark. She needs to finish her homework.”
Clark pretend-flew her over to the chair, and sat her in it.
“Now do your math, sweetie.”
Sarah gave them a grumpy expression.
“Do what your father says, Sarah. And besides, you have a test next week,” Lois told Sarah, placing a plate of eggs and bacon on the table. She sighed and started writing out equations for basic adding. Each page only had a few questions, though she only had time for one page before she had to go to school.
The only reason she liked going to school is because the classroom was warm, though her luck ran out when they decided to take class outside. While everyone else was paying attention closely, Sarah was reading a Superman comic as usual. Though she got interested when the teacher mentioned newspapers.
“The school will be making a newspaper this week. To help us with this, the school has brought in two well known reporters. Lois Lane and Clark Kent!”
They stepped out into the open, along with the principal.
“Mom and Dad?” Sarah silently exclaimed. Clark waved to her.
“Oh, no,” Sarah mouthed to herself. She immediately shut the comic and stuffed it in her backpack.
Suddenly, Clark’s face became filled with a distant expression. Lois whispered something to him.
“I-I-um, I have to go. I’m sorry.” He told the class. He raced off to the side, pulling down his shirt.
“Anyway, it is time to assign everyone to their news jobs,” the teacher said.
“Jacob, crossword duty. June, cartoonist. Kira, sports reporter. Lily, editor. Angela, weather reporter. Jewelen, photographer. And finally, Sarah, you will be our journalist.”
“What?!”
Sarah didn’t talk much on the drive home.
“Don’t you like that we signed you up for journalism? It’s fun, that is, if you’re not brushing death constantly,” Lois said, realizing she just made it worse.
“It’ll be fun. I promise. We’ll be partners!”
Lois gave up trying to get her daughter to talk. The rest of the drive home was silent. Before they knew it, they were pulling up into the driveway of their house. Sarah silently continued her math. Clark walked into the house, tightening his bowtie.
“What’d I miss?” he said, straightening his glasses.
“Sarah’s mad at me cause I signed her up for journalism,” Lois answered from inside the kitchen.
“Ohhhh.”
“Sweetie, journalism is fun. As long as you're not close to dying, you’ll never want to stop. And, me and your mom don’t want to stop, though we almost die every day!” Clark exclaimed.
“I told her the same thing. Trust me, there’s no cheering her up,” Lois said, washing dishes in the kitchen. Clark grumbled.
“I’m tired,” Sarah told them, “I think I’m gonna go to bed early.”
Lois checked a clock on the wall.
“Oh, well, it’s about bedtime anyway,” Lois said. Sarah trotted upstairs to her room.
Lois yawned.
“I guess I’m tired, too,” Lois stated.
“How about we call it a day?” Clark asked. Lois yawned again.
“Sounds good to me.”
Clark scooped her up and floated up the stairs.
Sarah couldn’t sleep that night. Once the clock passed twelve without her falling asleep, she decided to give up. She had to face it, there was gonna be no shut-eye for her. She tip-toed down the stairs slowly. She imagined that she was Superman, and pretended that she was flying around the room. Suddenly, she tripped on a carpet and fell onto the wall. She heard a click, and the large living-room-bookcase twisted into the wall.
Behind the bookcase were a series of Superman suits. Before she processed what they were for, her parents came rushing down the stairs.
“Sarah? What are you doing down here?”
***
“Why did you keep it a secret?” Sarah complained, sitting on the couch later in the morning. She crossed her arms and stared at her parents, who stood in front of her, trying to explain.
“How could I be so easily fooled by
glasses?” Sarah huffed.
“Welcome to my world. We were partners for
TWO YEARS before he told me- well actually, I figured it out myself,” Lois said, giving Clark a death stare. Clark laughed.
Sarah wasn’t amused. She sat there with a grumpy look and her arms crossed, and she was ready to sit there all day until she got an explanation. Suddenly, Sarah smiled.
“This will make a good front page.”
“No, Sarah, don’t!”
Sarah grabbed her notebook and pencil, then started sprinting outside. Clark spun into his Superman outfit and flew over to Sarah, who for some reason thought she could out-race him.
“Sarah, don’t do this,” Superman told her.
“Too late!” Sarah tried dodging to the side of Superman, though he caught her arm before she could escape. Sarah gazed up at him and his stern expression.
“No.”
Sarah frowned, trying to find a different strategy.
“How could you lie to everyone?” Sarah said, attempting to make him feel guilty.
Superman tried to deflect her persuasive words, though he knew he couldn’t hide his secret forever. As soon as he was off guard, Sarah slipped under his arm and ran. Her father didn’t bother chasing her; he knew he couldn’t stop her from telling everyone.
She raced toward the direction of the school. It was a long way, though she figured it would be worth it. She was confident about this story. Yes, she should thank her mom for giving her the journalist position. Sarah could even win a prize for announcing this information! In fact—ow! Her legs were hurting by now, even with the school in sight. She would have to just push through. Almost there—the school was only a few hundred meters away. As she ran, she devised what she would do. First, get to school. Then, find her teacher. Finally, tell her Superman’s secrets!
She could just picture herself saying it—“Superman is Clark Kent! The great Superman forgets to pick up the dry cleaning!” It was true. He had done that more than once.
And, he snores. Very loudly, Sarah recalled.
Sarah dashed through the entrance to the school. Fortunately, since class was about to start in a few minutes, her teacher was in her usual spot: their classroom.
“Mrs. McCillbery! Mrs. McCillbery!” Sarah called.
Mrs. McCillbery groaned. “Yes?”
“I have my story! And a big announcement—about Superman!” Sarah exclaimed.
“Superman?” Mrs. McCillbery’s interest was now piqued.
“Yes! An announcement!” Sarah repeated. “Superman is C—”
She stopped abruptly, her words caught in her throat. She finally realized WHY her father kept the secret.
“Superman is…?” her teacher started.
Sarah realized that the reason he kept the secret—to protect her and her mother.
Super villains could hold me hostage to persuade Daddy to do something bad! Sarah thought.
“Um—Superman is—cool! Superman is awesome, and he helps save the city!” Sarah said as a cover.
“Oh. I was expecting something much more…exciting,” Mrs. McCillbery said. “Well then, if that’s your story, get writing.”
Sarah started walking in the direction of her desk when her teacher’s voice stopped her.
“Oh, and one more thing. Sarah Kent, I know you’ve been reading comics in class. I’ll have to inform your parents about your dawdling.” Mrs. McCillbery said.
“Aw, man!”
The End.
