Oh, my! You know, when I started reading this story, I figured it would be a fun little romp where Clark would just pop in along various points along Lois's timeline, help her out, earn her trust, all with the end result of her listening to him when it came time to go off to the Congo. She'd come back to Metropolis, they'd live happily ever after, end of story.
Instead, I'm reading a tale with twists and turns galore, and a heck of a lot more complexity! I love it.
It's both really cool and disconcerting that "Charlie" has given Lois all this information about GHB. It's fascinating watching Lois's investigation unfold -- especially when you add in Serena Judd and the possible connection with the dead co-ed. (A possible future foot in the door to the DP, if the investigations end up overlapping?) Yet clearly Clark is doing a lot more to change the timeline than he'd ever expected or intended ... with what seems to be very painful consequences for himself. As much as I like the changes he's making, I'm worried about what it will all mean for him.
The Molly/Ryan story is unfolding nicely, too. Wow, Molly is not only brave to keep seeing him, but extremely clever and loyal. Anyone else would either confront Ryan about what he said to Lois, or just break up with him altogether. But the fact that Molly is willing to keep associating with him, simply to make sure he doesn't suspect what Lois is looking into, shows she has an investigator's soul herself. Definitely someone worthy of a life-long friendship with Lois.
As for Linda, though ... would you believe I actually gasped out loud when Linda gave her speech about how she "had" to do it and how Lois was the one who was being a bad friend by not brushing it off? I never expected her to admit it, let alone be so clueless about the repercussions. I'm glad that Lois seems to have let go of most of her anger at Linda, though -- abandoning Linda to her fate could truly be the best revenge. Not only is she in trouble with her parents, but she's admitted to stealing the story and has lost the one person who apparently was willing to help her. (I mean, she has a house full of sorority sisters and *Lois* is her best bet for getting bailed out of jail? I can only imagine what she's done to everyone else in the house to piss them off!) Being in jail overnight may have saved her from Lois's fate at the party, but I'm not convinced her part of the story is over just yet ...
And finally, I had to grin when Lois broke into Charlie's room ... then snickered when she found the time machine. Yeah, that's exactly what anyone would have assumed -- the guy is a major wacko, LOL. But I definitely didn't expect her to figure out he was her "guardian angel" while he was still around! I figured it would all come to her afterwards. Yet another twist I didn't see coming. (Though I was glad to see my earlier question about whether he was wearing his glasses was answered -- at least I got a few things right.
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So ... when is Canadian Thanksgiving again? I'm both eager to read this story as quickly as possible and hoping it will keep going for a long time.
Kathy
