[Chapter 14: Play]Clark woke up to the sun. He had run for over an hour the night before until he had come to a little playground and had to stop. He had been so tired that he crawled under the playset and had fallen asleep on the cold sand.
He opened his eyes and could hear people talking and –
“Hi! What are you doing under here?” a voice asked.
He turned and found a little girl with stripes of perfectly braided hair staring at him curiously less than a foot away from him. She was wearing a yellow dress and her dark brown skin glistened in the morning sun.
“Uh, I was sleeping,” he said honestly.
“Sleeping? It’s not nap time,” she pointed out.
Kal rubbed his eyes. "I know, it's morning."
"Hey, do you want to play with us?" another child asked.
Kal smiled, finding that the girl was accompanied by two boys of roughly the same age. "Yeah!"
"Let's go to the slide!" the girl said.
Kal got up and looked around, finding himself in a pretty large playground within a massive park. It hadn't looked so nice in the dark, but then he had been more focused on finding a secluded place that felt safe enough to sleep than anything else.
"Come on! What are you doing?" one of the boys complained.
Kal hurried to catch up, and soon he was happily playing with the three siblings.
O o O
Hannah watched her children play. They were at the park and it was a nice place for her to take them to run out some energy before they started their homeschooling.
Jack, her oldest, led the way to the slide, turning back to make sure his siblings were following.
"Come on! What are you doing?" he bellowed.
Hannah's eyes followed her son’s line of sight, finding a somewhat dirty white boy looking around in a slight daze before shaking himself and joining her kids by the slide.
Hannah blinked.
The black haired boy was in pajamas and he had no shoes or socks.
Just like the Foundation had described when they gave the alarming statement that Superman, still in the form of a child, had run away late the night before.
Her eyes widened and she fumbled with her purse to get her flip phone out. She dialed 911 and did her best to keep her voice down.
'911, what is your emergency?'
"Um, I know this is going to sound crazy, but Superman, little-Superman, is at Clifton Park. On the playground. Could you notify the Foundation?" she asked quietly, watching her children play with little-Superman by running around and going down the slide again and again before changing the unspoken game into a race to the monkey bars.
'Yes. Description, please?' the 911 operator asked.
"Uh, exactly how he looked on television, and wearing what the Foundation had said. Bare feet and in red and blue Superman pajamas. It's him," she said confidently. "He's playing with my kids."
'We have an officer enroute. What is his condition?'
"Uh, he seems fine. He's a little dirty, but he's happily playing. He– Jack, be careful now!" she suddenly called as her son accidently bumped into little-Superman in his hurry for the monkey bars.
Most kids would have fallen to the ground, but little-Superman didn't; however, he did stagger. But it was the most awkward and unnatural looking stagger she had ever seen. Like he was pretending to be bumped into but didn't know how to make it look correct. It was like watching a horribly choreographed scene from a movie.
"Oh, sorry!" Jack shouted, suddenly realizing what he had done.
“I’m okay!” little-Superman quickly reassured.
And just like that, they returned to playing.
Hannah sighed in relief.
'Ma'am?' the operator asked.
"Sorry, my son bumped into him, I wasn't sure what– nevermind, they're okay," she said.
'The officers are almost there,' the operator informed her as the kids began a race on the monkey bars.
Hannah glanced at the parking lot as two more families arrived to enjoy the morning. She watched five kids dash onto the playground.
She made a beeline to the parents.
"Uh, hey. I need to talk to you," she said, getting the attention of the three parents.
Confused but not too concerned, the couple and mom looked at her.
"Now, I don't want to get his attention, but—"
"Mom, mom! That boy doesn't have any shoes! He needs shoes!" a little girl shouted, running back up to the mom and dad.
The mentioned boy suddenly stopped and looked down at his bare feet, embarrassed, before looking up at the gathered adults.
There were several gasps as they realized who he was, but then little-Superman's eyes focused on another vehicle that had just pulled up in the parking lot behind them.
His eyes widened in fear before he turned in a blur and promptly disappeared as the officer barely began to step out. The gravel beneath his tread flared out and a line of disruption revealed his path, but if not for that, his presence had simply vanished.
"Whoa!!" the children shouted.
"That was Superman?!" a parent exclaimed.
"No way!!"
O o O o O
Jaden sighed as he turned his semi truck onto the on-ramp, flipping to a music station on his radio.
He couldn’t believe what he had heard from the little diner at the gas station he had just left.
Superman, who the world was currently calling ‘little-Kal’ and 'little-Superman', was missing, having apparently run away thanks to that being who had turned him into a child. And he had last been seen in Georgia at a public playground of all places.
Jaden hadn't remained to hear more since he needed to get back on the road, and, while he supposed he could probably learn more from the radio, it sounded like there were still a lot of things just not known. He'd rather avoid hearsay and just wait for the truth.
He traveled down the quiet highway. It was 7 a.m. and the air was dry and cool. Jaden enjoyed this stretch of road. The route was pleasant, even though it was still pretty dark. His eyes scanned the area, keeping a look out for deer when he did a double take.
There was a child up ahead! It was as if he had just appeared out of nowhere!
Jaden slowed down, trying to determine whether or not he was seeing things.
He wasn't.
He pulled over and slowed to a stop over a hundred yards behind the short form who had stopped walking. He turned off the headlights but put his hazards on before grabbing his flashlight and climbing out.
The form remained frozen, but from what Jaden could see it looked like they were set to bolt.
"Hello?" he called gently. "Are you okay?"
The child didn't answer, but he didn't run either.
"Do you need help?" he asked, casting the flashlight off to the side so he wasn't blinding the poor kid.
He continued forward, but slowly and as non-threateningly as possible. He stopped a few yards away, and stared.
The boy's hair was adorably unkempt, and he was wearing Superman pajamas; however, what struck Jaden the most was his bare feet. How did he get here, in the middle of nowhere?
Surely this boy
couldn't be. . . .
But he was.
This was Superman.
Well, kiddified, but still.
Like most every other person on the planet, Jaden had seen the news clip showing the Foundation announcement and subsequent incident with the being everyone now called 'Myxy', pronounced 'mixy'.
This kid was Superman.
But like any lost kid, he needed help.
"You okay?" Jaden asked, hoping his gruff look wasn't as intimidating as he normally hoped it to be.
"I'm tired," Little-Kal finally said, still not fully relaxing but he didn't look like he was about to bolt anymore.
"Well, you can ride in my truck if you'd like. It'll give your feet a break," he said, aiming his flashlight to the boy's toes.
"I'm . . . I'm not supposed to go with strangers," he said.
"Oh. Well, my name is Jaden, Jaden Peterson. I work for a trucking company. I help deliver food to grocery stores," he answered, hoping that might help make him no longer a stranger to Kal.
Standing in the cold morning air, Jaden felt an odd wisp of something brush against him. It felt uncertain and nervous, but also searching, as if seeking verification, truth. Jaden instantly knew what he was feeling and any previous disbelief as to who was before him completely evaporated. He also tried to remain as calm and exude as much reassurance as he could, even though he really had no idea what he was doing.
"Hi, Mr. Jaden, I'm, uh, C-Kal," Kal said after a bit of hesitation, apparently having found what he needed with his extra sense. His aura pulled back.
"Hi, Mr. Kal," Jaden said, which quickly earned him a giggle. "So, would you like to ride in my truck?"
Kal glanced at the truck and then at the deserted road and spooky looking land beyond. His previous hesitation disappeared. "Okay."
Jaden led him to the passenger side and opened the door for him. Kal climbed up without much issue, which surprised Jaden before he remembered this was Superman. Pulling himself up into something wouldn't be hard for him, child or not.
Jaden then blinked as Kal got situated in the seat and dutifully buckled his seatbelt before curiously looking around the interior of the truck. Seeing he was set, Jaden hurried around and got into the driver's seat.
"You hungry or thirsty, Kal?" he asked, opening a side panel where he stashed his snacks. He pulled out a bag of BBQ potato chips and a bottle of water.
"Chips?! Yes, thank you, sir," Kal said, eagerly accepting the bag and water.
Jaden chuckled, amused by his joy and impressed by his politeness.
He got the truck back on the road. "Do you need me to call anyone?" Jaden asked after a moment.
"I . . . don't know," Kal said.
"I can make a call on the radio. I can even ask a message to be sent out for you," he proposed, suddenly realizing the Foundation would want to know what he knew immediately. “I’m sure someone is worried about you. Do you want to let them know you’re okay?”
Kal looked down guiltily and fearfully. He shook his head no and Jaden could feel an emotional flutter in the air.
“Why not?” Jaden asked, not sure what he had been expecting and having no clue how else to respond but with a question.
“They’re mad,” Kal whispered.
“Who?”
Kal brought the chip bag close to himself. “Everyone.”
“Everyone is a lot of people. How do you know they’re mad?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the road and trying to maintain an easygoing tone despite the ebb of fear he could feel from Kal.
Little-Kal sniffled as he munched on a chip.
“Well, can you tell me what you did? I promise I won’t be mad,” he said, glancing over at him.
Kal peeked up at him through his messy hair.
“Even if you did something very bad,” he added, eyes back on the road. “Sometimes people do things they don’t mean when they’re scared or angry. Sure, it’s not always right, but it’s forgivable.”
Jaden was fishing pretty hard, but he felt he had to try.
“But I meant it,” Kal whispered. Jaden barely heard it over the hum of the engine and the truck’s tires on the highway.
“Well, you must have had a really good reason then, and the reason why for any action is just as important as the action itself,” he said.
Kal nodded, straightening up. “Uh-huh, I did,” he said earnestly. “He was hurting her!”
“You were protecting someone?” Jaden asked.
Kal nodded again.
"And the person you protected hadn't been doing anything wrong?" he asked, already confident of the answer.
"No, nothing!"
“Well then, you have nothing to worry about. You were protecting an innocent person against a bad person. If the bad person ended up getting hurt, that's on them, not you," he said firmly, feeling quite strongly about that.
"Really?" Kal asked, afraid to hope.
“Really. I promise you, you’re not in trouble and no one is upset with you,” he said. “And actually, people will probably want to thank you, especially the person you saved.”
“Oh.”
“So, would you like me to call someone? Try to get ahold of the Foundation, perhaps?” Jaden asked hopefully.
Slowly, Kal nodded.
“Alright,” he said, changing the channel on the CB radio before picking up the receiver. “10-17, please respond.”
‘Highway Patrol responding, 10-65,' a female voice answered.
“10-25 Superman Foundation? I have their, uh, mascot," Jaden said, not sure how best to disclose the rather valuable information.
'. . . . You have 5-5?'
Kal perked up. "Hey, I heard 5-5 before!"
Jaden wracked his brain, before recalling the new code that stood for K-L, short for Kal-El and, thus, Superman.
"Yes!" Jaden said quickly.
‘What’s your 20?'
“We just passed mile 33 on I-10, westbound."
'Troopers enroute. They will escort you as we contact leadership.'
"10-4. Request approach be silent," Jaden said, suspecting sirens might unnerve Kal.
'Acknowledged. Condition of 5-5?' the responder asked.
"You want to say hi, buddy?" Jaden asked, holding out the receiver for Kal.
Jaden keyed the mic.
"Uh, hi, Ms. Radio Lady," Kal said shyly.
'Hello, Mr. Trucker Kid. Are you okay?'
"Yeah. Mr. Peterson gave me chips!" Kal said happily.
'That was nice of him,' she said, clearly amused as well as endeared.
Jaden looked in the side view mirror and spoke into the radio. "I see our escort. They're a few miles behind."
'10-4. Please stay on channel and follow cruiser once they pass you.'
"10-4."
"Why do you keep saying numbers?" Kal asked.
"Oh, they stand for things or phrases. Like '10-4' means, 'understood', or 'I heard you.'"
"Oh, okay," Kal said. "Does '5-5' mean me?"
"Uh, yeah, it does," Jaden said, a little surprised.
"Because I'm five?" he asked.
Jaden smiled. "No, in this case '5' stands for certain letters." He picked up his satellite phone and showed him the number pad and pointed at the letters beneath each number while keeping a careful eye on the road.
"Oh. So 5 means J, K, L?" Kal asked.
"In this instance, the first 5 is 'K' and the second is 'L'. Together, they mean Kal-El," Jaden explained.
"Oh, my special name!" Kal said.
'Escort sees a gray semi. Is that you?' Ms. Radio Lady asked.
"Yes," Jaden said.
A minute later, a highway patrol cruiser pulled in front of them with their lights on but with no sirens.
Kal jumped and looked at Jaden worriedly, his aura humming dense fear.
O o O o O
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