I loved the opening of this chapter.
Darkness. A freezing void. Lois wanted to breathe but the air wouldn’t find her lungs. She tried to scream but no sound came to her lips.
She was going to die. Or she already had.
But then...
Heat. An indescribable feeling of warmth. And a voice...
Love the juxtaposition of cold and heat, or better yet, cold and warmth.
“Live,” it commanded her. She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn’t. She felt the warm touch of someone’s hand on her own, and then the soft caress of lips brush against hers as air was forced into her lungs. They protested the invasion, wanting to accept the life-giving air, but were not yet ready to do so.
I love this even better. Note the contrast between the gentleness and the tenderness of the warm touch of Clark's hand on Lois's, and the soft caress of his lips on hers, and the frightening intrusion, borderline violation, of the air that was forced into her lungs. And yet, that "violation" is the only thing that can save her, and she wants to be saved.
“Come on, Lois. Come back to me.” The voice begged her. “Fight, Lois, come on, fight.” It was like she was trapped in a thick fog, but even through her blindness, she recognized the voice... Clark. He sounded so frightened.
‘I’m trying, Clark!’ her mind screamed at him as she began to fear that this would be the last time she ever heard his voice. She clawed her way further through the fog.
"She clawed her way further through the fog" - have you ever been out in really foggy weather and tried to clear away the fog by
clawing your way through it? The idea of being trapped in fog, of being absolutely forced to try to escape it, but having no other weapon against it than you nails - that is just so horrible. And at the same time, it's so uplifting somehow that Lois would be determined to fight the fog with any means at her disposal - even if it's just her nails.
“Don’t you die on me, Lois. Now come on, don’t give up.” His voice seemed to quiver.
‘I’m not! Clark, I’m trying!’ It seemed as if she could see a bit of light through the fog. Was that good or bad? She had heard about people ‘moving towards the light’...
Good (and scary) question, Lois.
“Come on, breathe, Lois. Breathe!” Clark commanded her, his tone thick with desperation.
What perfect choice of words - "his tone thick with desperation".
She tried to will herself to open her eyes. Breathe! Move! Cough! Something...
She felt the weight of his head against her chest. “No...” His voice was barely even a breath and yet it was so full of pain.
He thought she was dead.
She exerted every ounce of strength and spirit that she could find inside her... and then her panic increased. The breath he had pushed into her lungs was escaping – she wasn’t able to hold onto it.
She coughed.
The life-affirming glory of a cough, a wonderful tribute to Lois's spirit and Clark's love, urging her on!
This entire part was harrowing and so moving. I loved it. And I'm so glad that Lois remembered something new, too. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but to me this looks like this could be the first tiny baby step towards recovery for Lois.
Like everyone else, I loved the list, and like almost everybody else, I thought the checking of the expiration date of the milk was the funniest item of them all.
Throughout much of the rest of the chapter, Clark was such a lunkhead. Unfortunately, for non-LNC reasons, I'm so willing to believe that he really
is a lunkhead. (Oh, I'm so willing to believe that he can be the hands-down most wonderful guy ever, too, but I'm always willing to believe he is prepared to be a lunkhead.)
I got particularly furious at him when he didn't want her to have dinner with Scardino, even though he himself had decided that he couldn't be together with her any more. Actually I think I got almost even angrier when he kept himself rather aloof from her, and yet wouldn't tell her what the problem was! The idiot!
Okay, ladies, keep dishing it out! I wonder, will Lois learn anything important from Scardino? Or will her dinner date with him be most useful in that it's going to force Clark to confront his own jealousy and realize that he absolutely doesn't
want to break up with Lois? Maybe, just maybe, he could even change his mind about it?
Hmmm! I hope the big lunkhead will get
slightly punished for his stupidity. And I hope Lois will get better, and better, and better, and then I hope she will figure out things and bring this story to a satisfying conclusion!
Ann
