Hi Corrina!
It was just after 7:30 when Lois awoke the next morning.
Didn’t she get up at four a.m. last night?
“Good morning,” he said, shooting her a full-throttle smile that lit up the room.
Floodlights to wake her up?
“I slept in,” Lois said. “I’m sorry.
/points at earlier remark/
LOIS: That’s the last alarm clock I buy that goes bust after just one smash against the opposite wall….
“My neighbour, Wayne Irig, called. One of our steers in the far field has an injured leg.”
“Are you calling a vet?”
“Not yet. I’m going to take a look. And while I’m there, I’ll check the cattle and the fences.”
“Is it OK if I come with you?”
Lois in the same field as some cows and bulls. Will they chase her? Will Clark have to save her?
“Is it OK if I come with you?”
“I’m counting on it.”
His quiet words and accompanying smile sent her spirits soaring. “What do you need me to do?”
They’re adorable!
CLARK: Please hold that red towel up while I check the bull’s leg.
“It’s going to be a quick breakfast,” Lois told him, “Because I want to go and check on Bess before we leave.”
Clark pointed a knife at her, grinning widely. “Better watch out, Lois. You’re turning into a farmer.”
and also I did notice he didn’t say “farmer’s wife”.
LOIS: I noticed too…
“I figure you’ve already checked Bess this morning?” she said.
“Uh huh.”
Spock: Fascinating.
“What did Martha mean when she asked if we would go in the truck?” Lois asked. “What is the other option?”
“There isn’t one really,” Clark said.
Airborne. But the helicopter always causes the milk to sour before cows are milked.
“Then why ask?”
Clark turned to her. “You’re good, Lane,” he said.
She grinned. “Meaning?”
“Meaning Mom was making sure I didn’t intend taking the ATV.”
“Then why didn’t Martha want us to take it?”
“The truck will be more comfortable for you.”
“Would you take the ATV if I wasn’t going?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s quicker.”
Oh boy. Lois Lane in a four-wheel-drive vehicle on uneven ground and without traffic rules.
CLARK: I never thought I could die before…
“You’ll have to hang on to me. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
So, hanging on to Clark whole he’s going faaaaast?
LOIS:
Lois smiled at him. “Remind me one day to tell you about some of the ‘uncomfortable’ situations I’ve gotten into chasing stories.”
Dangling over vat of boiling cooking oil?
But that might reveal enough to start a domino effect that would, eventually, lead to Martha losing her son.
Poor dear. I’m sure Clark would visit often even if Lois would marry him.
Martha wasn’t smiling, and there was a clear message in her eyes: Be careful!
He should check the small baggie underneath the blanket. It contains the stuff you need when you are being careful.
Because her son was in love with Lois.
Awww… also, /points at paper baggie Martha had stashed underneath the blanket/
He turned to watch her shut the gate. “Are you sure the ATV’s OK?” he asked as she walked towards him. “Not too uncomfortable?”
“How could I know with you going so slowly?” she asked.
Lois really should get one of those driving instructions videos they did in Metropolis.
“You’d like me to go a little faster?” he asked, trying to curb his grin.
She nodded, slipped in behind him, and her arms circled his waist again.
Wrooom. Wrooom!
“We’ll have to go slow, Miss Speed Queen.
A couple of the more intelligent ones had already started making for the yards.
STEER 1: snacks!
took down a bale of alfalfa hay,
Nice touch, with the specific type noted by Clark’s POV.
“OK. You need syringe, needle, thread, sewing needle, lignocaine, scissors, and antiseptic spray?” she said, counting them off on her fingers.
“I told you you’d make a great farmer,” he said.
No, okay yes, but this time she just has that stuff in her carry-on bag whenever she’s out investigating.
and was constantly surprised by her reaction to new and unfamiliar things.
Not going there…
It was easy to understand how she had become such a successful reporter. She probably went places, did things, followed people where her safely wasn’t assured.
LOIS: I always survive, still got all my fingers and toes, both eyes, teeth, and such. Oh, look, a frog!
He watched, glasses lowered, ready to shoot heat at any steer that threatened Lois’s safety.
He’s better than any electric wire fence.
“Cows are female. Bulls are male. Steers are castrated males.”
Oh that’s interesting. German, Stier (pronounced essentially the same way) is bull in English. We also got Bulle which is bull, too.
“Because it makes them calmer, less likely to fight and damage each other, less likely to go through fences, and safer for humans to work with them. And they can be in the same field with young cows – females – who are not ready to be bred.”
And now I’m wondering if Lois might suggest using steer reporters instead of bulls.
LOIS: Why? They’re already oxen, anyway.
Did the vet do it?”
“No.”
“Eww,” she said, puckering up her nose.
Clark laughed. “Nothing like that today. Just a few stitches.”
Clark just has to look at them.
Another installment. Another day on the farm
Michael
I love how well you're able to maintain her character in this totally different setting. It's really one of the best fish out of water stories I've read, and it really feels like she's going to stay. (Or at least has even capacity for growth that she COULD stay.)