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Joined: Jul 2006
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,883 |
A new Caroline fic! You have no idea how happy this makes me, embarassingly so. I realize for the first time that I want her to be happy far more than I want her to be extraordinary.
With Clark, I believe she can be both. So I will save him if I can, and it will be my one quiet act of greatness - my gift to my beautiful daughter. For once, I will meet her expectations.
For once, I will be extraordinary. WOW. I... just... WOW. That is all.
lisa in the sky with diamonds
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Sep 2006
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So no, she didn’t live up to my expectations. I expected her to be something more than just a journalist, and she knows that, however much I try to hide it. I expected her to marry someone more interesting, more important, than a mere farmer’s son from Kansas, yet Clark Kent’s diamond sparkles on her finger. But I’ve finally realized, maybe too late, what the weight of all those expectations has cost us. I can see that Clark thinks she’s extraordinary just as she is, and he’s right. I wish I had been able to see that all along.
But I see things more clearly now.
He is dying. He is dying, and my little girl is looking at me with those huge eyes that still have the power to pierce my heart, and she is counting on me to make him better. She is trusting me to do something truly great, for once in my life, and to save the life of a dying Kryptonian. A brilliant insight into the mind of Dr. Sam. There was no way he couldn't have figured it out.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 4,058 |
Clark: “If we can be born in an instant, and die in an instant, why can’t we fall in love in an instant?”
Caroline's "Stardust"
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,166 |
This strange visitor from Krypton is also, somehow, the farmer’s son from Kansas, the one I thought too inconsequential for my daughter, and he is dying and she is counting on me to save him. I always wondered about that. I agree with Dandello. There's no way he couldn't have figured it out. Loved it!
~~Even heroes have the right to dream.~~
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,662
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,662 |
Prose at its finest. And great topic too. Awesome story.
I think, therefore, I get bananas.
When in doubt, think about time travel conundrums. You'll confuse yourself so you can forget what you were in doubt about.
What's the difference between ignorance, apathy, and ambivalence?
I don't know and I don't care one way or the other.
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Kerth
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Kerth
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Framework4
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
I have no time to quote, Caroline, and I'm sorry about it, because your lovely vignette is the most beautiful poetry humbly disguised as prose.
Ann
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Joined: Sep 2004
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Sep 2004
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Beautifully written, Caroline. I'm not a "first person as narrator" fan but it works really well here. (Perhaps because Sam was a minor character?) There are things a doctor sees, and there are things a father sees, You've rehabilitated Sam Lane.  Not to mention filled in that B plot hole in the episode - Sam had to have figured it out by the end: Lois's behaviour made it so obvious. Why I wonder was she so careless - maybe a sequel to explain that?? c.
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Joined: Mar 2006
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,367 |
I'm sitting here getting all teary eyed at my desk.  I've told you before in private email and on the boards how much I envy your way with words. This fic only deepened my admiration. I love how you manage to convey in just a few images how Lois was always driven and determined. Her four steps for every one of Sam's is a great example of that. I also loved how he never saw the same qualities in Lucy, no matter how much he looked for them. You're absolutely right - I can understand his disappointment when this gloriously gifted child chooses to use her talents as a journalist. It would seem like such a waste if you didn't believe in the power of words to make a difference. His dismissal of Clark as a farmer's son was very poignant. Especially when he realizes who that "farmer's son" is. That's where I started getting weepy. And this... ah, this was amazing: With Clark, I believe she can be both. So I will save him if I can, and it will be my one quiet act of greatness - my gift to my beautiful daughter. For once, I will meet her expectations. "...quiet act of greatness..." Wow. This was achingly lovely, Caroline. Like Lois, you're gifted in being able to use the power of your words to full effect. 
Lois: You know, I have a funny feeling that you didn't tell me your biggest secret.
Clark: Well, just to put your little mind at ease, Lois, you're right.
Ides of Metropolis
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Feb 2006
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"You take turns, advise and protect one another, even heal or be healed when the going gets too tough. I know! That's not a game--that's friendship!" ~Shelly Mezzanoble, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game Darcy\'s Place
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Posts: 3,147 Likes: 3
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,147 Likes: 3 |
I almost didn't post anything, because I couldn't come up with anything original, but I also believe that this is a beautiful, tender, heart-rending piece. I couldn't not respond.
I, too, know the pain that comes when an adult child makes choices which aren't those which the parent wish had been made. But Sam has, in this painful, eye-opening moment, finally realized that greatness isn't found in the path of life chosen, but in the striving. He sees that Lois will do something so much greater than he has done, simply because she took the risk and reached for something without rigging up a safety net first. That moment of prescience, along with his willingness to do whatever she asks of him, bridges the gap betweeen himself and his little girl more completely than any number of family celebrations could ever do.
This is such a wonderful glimpse into a man driven to accomplish something beyond himself, something he couldn't quite do, yet who is given the chance to do that incredible, wonderful thing without anyone else ever knowing he'd done it, and he embraces it willingly. Good for him.
And good for you, Caroline. Your beautiful words have touched me once again. Thank you.
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,636 Likes: 44
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,636 Likes: 44 |
I soo much liked your fic. It was most definitely awsome. I, too, have always wondered why Sam didn't already guess the secret in HIWTHI.
And I agree with Ann that it's pure poetry.
It's never too dark to be cool. 
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Yeah, what they said. This was... well... extraordinary PJ
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Posts: 2,380 Likes: 1
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,380 Likes: 1 |
Wow, Caroline. This is wonderful.
Nan
Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Jul 2003
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I have to add another WOW! 
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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Wow! I'm overwhelmed by the response to this  . Thank you all so much for your kind comments! Best, Caroline
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Columnist
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Columnist
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Posts: 552 |
 Rach
Me: what are you looking at *Snatches pic* OMFG! Dean smeared in peanut butter?! WTF?!
Sara: LMAO it was chocolate!! smeared in chocolate!
Me: LMFAO chocolate smeared in chocolate!
Sara: LMAO the *chocolate* isn't smeared in chocolate!
Me: that's the way i read it. was trying to picture chocolate smeared in chocolate
Sara: ROTFLMAO
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Apr 2003
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Wow Caroline! That was simply beautiful. It takes me 20 minutes to write a short feedback note. I can't imagine writing as much as you did plus make it sound so coherent! Write on!  Anne
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Blogger
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Blogger
Joined: Jan 2007
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So amazing, the whole fic left me speechless! I really adore your poetic style! 
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,764 |
I have to agree with others - gave me chills. Sam and my dad are much alike in the expectation area [I can never live up to them - and so I can relate to her and how much it would mean to know that her dad finally understood.
Carol
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