You've been holding back on us, cuidadora, if THIS is your first story!
(Be sure to submit it to LabRat at the
Archives to automatically qualify for Best New Author at next year's Kerth Awards.)
This story is excellent on many levels. First off, I love the parallels between Mother Mary Frances and Superman.
They expected her to live above other people, always be Mother Superior and have no sense of humor. Enduring their expectations was exhausting.
Mary Frances loved working with people, especially the orphans. So she bore being placed on that pedestal, but sometimes the mantle of being Mother Mary Frances was too heavy and on that pedestal she felt too exposed.
Then she would throw off her mantle and step down off her pedestal to be just Sister Mary Frances for a while. Sister Mary Frances could be anonymous in a crowd, well as anonymous as a nun could be. She could laugh and cry, make mistakes and be more normal. Like today, when she acted ditzy. Seeing Superman smile and relax his stance for a moment after her performance was her reward.
How, although she loves being Mother Superior, how exhausting other people's expectations were. How she likes to step off the high pedestal of being a Mother Superior just to be a regular Sister. How she likes to unwind with a cup of tea. How she likes to blend into the crowd, just like another person we know. What a wonderful analogy.
I also like that she knew Lois from before and saw the connection between her and Superman.
Lois Lane.
Sister Mary Frances was her teacher. The first time she heard it, Lois had just gotten a 98 on her paper, and demanded she deserved a 100.
Sadly, here, she saw Lois as continuing to be stubborn and wrong, instead of Superman having been in the wrong. Then again, as Lois says in that scene, nobody ever sees him in that light. He's a "National Treasure". How could Lois compete with that?
I just feel for Lois. Knowing that she was begging for the 100, only so she could please her father, not herself, and Mary Frances never saw that. It shows us another light on that horrible day in Lois's past and also, how she's once more suffering now due to another man's pig-headness. She thought that Clark wouldn't hurt her as all the other men in her life had, and at the first opportunity he breaks up with her due to due to no fault of her own (except going where she shouldn't and getting hurt). Thankfully, Lois doesn't recognize Sister Mary or the pain Clark's inflicted upon her might double.
And that’s when she promised herself two things: she’d never tell anyone what she saw, and if the opportunity arose she’d find a way to make his day brighter.
Well, I'm glad she's willing to help Clark. And she does make his life feel more special by calling him a "National Treasure" even if Lois isn't feeling that way about him at the moment.
She wanted to show Lois that being imperfect is part of life and doesn’t mean failure. Whether you’re from Earth or Krypton mistakes are part of life. And that’s how she kept her three promises today.
Sadly, I believe Lois missed that message.
Perhaps her words started Lois on the path that finally leads her to forgiving Clark.
And she hoped and prayed that whenever he needed a break Superman would be able to step down off his pedestal, leave his mantle…err cape… safely behind, melt into the crowd and be a regular guy.
Again, you end with the parallels to Clark's life. Love it!
I, too, had forgotten which episode featured the nun. I could recall the scene and the accident, but not what the nun said. I had to go back to the JSN script and double check.
It definitely was silly.
Fun story, cuidadora. I hope you'll share more with us.
