Grrrr! I spent quite a while yesterday writing a nice long response to all these delightful comments, and then, when I tried to post, I was told that I'd used too many graemlins and the mbs couldn't process the message... and then, to add insult to injury, the wretched mbs thing ate the entire thing! So, don't expect smilies etc this time round. Suffice to say, I'm delighted with the response this section got, and I'd grin at all you wonderful people if I could. As it is, my smiles, grins, frowns etc are being carefully rationed.
Vicki: you said:
Chris!!! How could you end it there??? Geeeeeez!!!!
The answer is, quite easily! (I would wink, but as I said, rationing is in force.)
Kathy:
Actually, I figure that Lois has taken everything else so well in stride that this won't make her falter either. No, I expect that it will be some other wham entirely to cause any possible rifts in their relationship. Of course, I'm often wrong in my expectations...
You'll find out at least half of the answer to your speculations tomorrow. At the moment, I'd say you're about half right.
Several people seem to be fretting now about the lack of progress CJ and Lois are making in the investigation. I do have reasons for making life hard for them. One is to add depth to the A-plot. The other is because the differences between the worlds are actually of relevance to the story, too. You'll see what I mean later on.
Oh, and they are about to find a useful lead.
Kathy, you confess to being a B-plot junkie. This got me wondering: are there any A-plot junkies out there?
Maria: some of your guesses are right. I'm not telling you which ones, though.
Bethy: glad you approved of my stopping place! Both you and Hazel raise the issue of CJ being an alien. You seem to be wondering why this should be such a big deal. I quite agree; there don't appear to be any other realistic alternatives.
Nonetheless, I think CJ would be worried about this. After all, until he visited the other world, he had no reason to believe that he wasn't human. Remember, CJ hadn't developed any unusual powers, and I'm assuming he's never seen the space ship, either.
By contrast, our Clark knew that being an alien was a possibility much earlier on in his life, because he developed the powers during his teenage years.
So, CJ has only had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea that he might be an extraterrestrial, and I'm betting he hasn't really managed to get used to it yet.
It bothers me that I'm explaining CJ's thinking here in the comments folder, not because you've raised this, but because I'd like to think that it was clear in the story. If it's not, maybe I need to go and add in some CJ introspection. What do people think?
Like Kathy, Bethy, you seem to think that Lois won't freak. You'll find out in the next part.
LabRat: yes, CJ's slowly being corrupted, but he's not quite there yet...
Irene, you were the first person to mention the peanuts! Glad you guys liked that! It's fun to see which bits people pick up on, and which seem to work.
RetroRose: Yay! I got someone hooked! Delighted to hear it!
Paul: I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I like the way you think. All I'll say about Monique is that the thought of her being born out of wedlock had not occurred to me.
Hazel: yes, there should be a question mark there. I've corrected it in my 'master' copy. Thank you for pointing that out.
You raise a valid point: why wouldn't CJ think Luthor had murdered Johnson? All I can suggest is that maybe he is being the voice of reason, that he is playing Devil's Advocate here.
Uh, meta gene? I obviously don't read
those comics. (I only read Daredevil these days. It's been a loooonnnnnggggg time since I read anything else, and even then it wouldn't have been anything with X in the title.)
Thanks also to Liz, Artemis, Merry, Tricia and Nan for comments. I'm so glad that I've got readers!
And now, because I have my wonderful quota of graemlins to use up...
Chris (who is clearly emoticon-ly illiterate)
