The Ring
Part One
The nervous young man walked up and down the street past Lazar’s Jewelry store a number of times, unaware that keen blue eyes observed his pacing.
The jeweler, Nicholas Lazer, a tall, dignified gray-haired man in his mid-sixties, chuckled to himself at the performance. He knew the behavior all too well. The young man’s features announced; is this the store where I buy the ring that transforms my life forever?
He waited. Knowledgeable. Patient. He was content that if the young man did not purchase the ring here he would find the ring somewhere else. Nevertheless, this was the actions and look of a man deeply in love… searching for the perfect ring for the woman of his dreams.
Outside a nervous Clark Kent passed the store again. In his wallet, resided a sizeable chunk of his life’s savings. The ring did not have to be large and gaudy. However, he wanted to get her *the* ring with a perfect stone. It had to be representative of his feelings for her.
So here, he was on a bright autumn mid-morning. He continued walking back and forth back and forth.
Finally, his nerves got the better of him and he walked or rather ran as fast as he could without resorting to super speed, back to the Daily Planet.
He went through a whole day at work watching the woman he loved either babbling about something, fighting with Jimmy or cajoling Perry into giving her a particular assignment.
He looked over at an empty desk. Cat was gone. She and her new husband George had flown to Seattle yesterday to begin a new phase of their lives. Their wedding and reception had been the smashing success she had painstakingly planned it to be, marking an end to this part of her life.
Two days previously, the former gossip columnist had floated into the Daily Planet one last time to say farewell to the bullpen, especially to cousin Jimmy. And surprisingly to Lois. She had given a special good-bye hug to Perry. After all, the man had walked her down the aisle. She seemed at ease, not at all the crazy vamp he had meet four years before.
She looked and acted like Catherine Grant-Amundsen, wife of Prof. George Amundsen, part-time art student at Oregon State University and the newest staff writer for the Seattle Sentinel. Clark could not help but think the bullpen might be a slightly quieter place without her piercing wolf whistles and garish outfits.
Lois’ voice broke his train of thought.
“Hey Clark, wanna get together at my apartment for pizza and a movie later? I rented Lethal Weapon One.”
“Uh, No Lois, I have something to do tonight.” He answered, hoping she did not pick-up on the trace of nervousness in his voice.
Her exotic brown eyes gave him an appraising look. “Oh, ‘something’ to do?” She mimed a swooping motion with her arm.
He meekly nodded his head. “Yeah, something like that. I promise we can watch that movie tomorrow night.”
“OK fly… farmboy.”
“Great. Thanks Lois.”
She picked up her briefcase and purse, saucily pecked him on the cheek, and walked up the ramp.
Clark looked after her. He wanted so much to be with her. The last six months had been fantastic, wonderful and all because of that crazy assignment: Egg Salad Sandwich. <All this happiness when we got a tip from Bobby Big Mouth because Ralph stiffed him with a rotten egg salad sandwich.> He thought, a smile on his lips. Someday he would have to tell the snitch about his role as ‘matchmaker’.
He was ready to make the next step. Yes, they had only been dating a scant six months. But walking her home, watching movies and talking until dawn was no longer enough. Life had so much more to offer and he desperately wanted to share it with her.
There were other things: no matter how much Clark tried, he always felt he did not quite fit in on planet Earth. Most of the pieces were there of course; loving parents, a dream job, great friends, but now came the truly thorny part. Find the woman on the planet to hold and to trust, someone who could share his life and his dreams utterly. Lois was the one for him.
[Just inserting paragraphs for ease of reading. LabRat
]
