“I’m Denny.”
Denny ate with gusto as if he didn’t know when or where he would eat again.
*musing* Denny... Now where have I heard that name before?
His brow furrowed in thought. “About a month. My brother, Jack and I came here after the weather turned cold.”
So I guess Clark set them up with a good place to go if they didn't go here. It was pretty obvious that Clark had helped them get a leg up but I wonder how that happened. I know the Superman Foundation was in it's infancy at that point so I'm not even sure they would have had the connections to get him into a half-way house (which is what I would expect for a brother pairing, one of which is old enough to work in some jobs.)
She turned in time to see the last chocolate covered strawberry disappear. Her stomach growled with approval.
Wouldn't that have been disapproval? It's not happy she didn't grab a chocolate strawberry.
Denny replied, reaching across the table and grabbing a chocolate covered strawberry off the plate of a pre-teen girl, who had taken five, and handed it to Lois.
That's nice Denny, but it's still kinda mean. I know it was with good intent but still.
“Where’s Jack?” Lois asked.
“In solitary,” Denny mumbled. “He gets in trouble a lot because he expects more from this place.”
Solitary confinement for kids? What kind of place was this?
A penitentiary for unwanted kids. Or at least I'm sure that's part of Luthor's mindset. It will make them stronger for it.
Lois noticed that the other food he had placed there had disappeared. What happened to the apple and roll she had seen him put there a few minutes earlier?
Hiding away the long-term storage foods to fill in the gaps that come from very little unfulfilling food.
“There was a pretty blonde lady from the Metropolis Star here for Thanksgiving,” Britney said, grabbing a couple of tartlets and putting them on her plate. The chocolate covered strawberries had already disappeared. It would explain the brown streaks on her cheeks. “I got my picture taken.”
Lois pressed her lips together in annoyance. Apparently, this wasn’t as exclusive an honor as Lex had led her to believe. She’d have Jimmy check through archives on whom Luthor deemed her equivalent over at the Met. Star.
Methinks that Linda King's in town. That's not going to be fun for Lois.
“Thank you for talking with me,” Lois said loudly enough for Britney to hear and held out her hand to Denny. Pressed against her palm was her business card.
Denny once again thought her odd for this behavior.
One of those things he's never had to deal with. Most of the people Jack had to talk to probably never did have a business card.
There was something strange going on in this place. She knew of no charity who would throw out perfectly good food, when there were hungry mouths to feed.
I agree and impact statements are a major part of charity life these days. You can't get away with throwing away food like that without rebounding on the charity itself. Then again we're talking about a Luthor charity. I am guessing that he could probably prop it up on his own with no support for others with no great difficulty.
“I have brought each of you a gift,” Lex told them, turning to his assistant. “Final tally, Mrs. Cox?”
“Thirty-six children,” she told him.
“Only thirty-six made it to Santa’s good list?” Lex said with a click of his tongue. “Oh, dear. Well, the others will have to try harder next year.”
Lois’s jaw fell open in shock. How many children, like Jack, had been excluded from the celebrations, due to “bad” behavior, such as speaking up?
She may have just found her angle. It's still a fluff piece, but the kind of fluff piece she'd do well on.
“Now, remember if you don’t like the gift you receive, you may trade it with another child to get what you want,” Mrs. Cox said.
In other words, Barter.
“Isn’t that what the Santa Claus myth is all about?”
How could he talk about Santa Claus being a myth with young children not twenty feet away?
“No, Lex,” Lois corrected him, lowering her voice. “It’s about believing in magic, and about someone knowing that you’re good inside, even when no one else believes it. It’s about hope.
I love that this was part of Lois to begin with, even when she didn't show it off in "Season's Greedings" much.
“All these children have a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in, clothing to wear, and an education that was denied them this time last year, Lois,” Lex defended himself.
Christina, who has taken WAY too many courses in business management lately: Um, that only covers PART of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I'm sure you know that Luthor.
Luthor: Ah, but no one actually GIVES you the rest. You have to work for the rest yourself.
I know my voice for him isn't quite right but I still wanted to write him for a sec.
Lex shrugged. “These children are used to trading to get what they want. They enjoy that part of the holiday tradition,” he said, once more dismissing her ideas.
That's a HALLOWEEN tradition in our household, not a Christmas one. Halloween you bartered for your favorite pieces after going over your haul.
Thank you, Lex, but I cannot accept such a lavish gift,” Lois said, trying to hand back the watch, and then added in a teasing tone, “Perry might accuse me of bias.”
She took another look at the chunky green and red crystals, which adorned the watch. They seemed to catch the light and appeared almost to glow from within
A chill's running down my spine. Methinks this is going to be problematic. I know the red K wasn't found until the next season but the green could be what is contained in that watch.
Lois ran down the damp sidewalk, through the crisp night’s air, hoping that she wasn’t crazy, that this vision she had seen wasn’t insanity.
and
A huge tree teetered off in the corner, so tall it almost bent at the top where it scraped the ceiling. Other than that one comparison, it did not match the one at the Luthor House in the slightest. Handmade and bought ornaments covered from lowest boughs to tallest point; she could hardly see the pine needles. This was indeed the tree she had pictured earlier, the one, which had made the Luthor House children’s Christmas trees seem more sad, more fake, and less perfect.
and
Lois sighed into a smile. This was what her Christmas had been missing.
A vision from Season's Greedings I'm guessing. Going to see Clark's pet project I assume?
How could Clark not fear commitment when the dearest people in the world to him were torn from him so suddenly as a child? How could he not feel afraid to reveal the truth of his past to her, after bouncing around from home to home, being rejected time and time again? And what had she done? She had pushed him away. She had rejected him and told him he wasn’t worthy of her love.
I'm guessing she's accepted the "orphaned as a child" story fully. I know she overhead the Kents suggester cover story but it didn't seem like she had fully
believed (as in faith believe not logically believe) the story until this moment.
How had she known Superman was going to be at the Metropolis City Orphanage? He shook his head. Had that been another one of those psychic visions, or had she followed Clark there from his apartment? Had she thought Santa was Clark not Superman?
I'm not sure on that one. I do know that in one of the previous cycles she had figured out Clark=Superman but this time she hadn't yet figured that out. Unless this is one story that we never heard. I don't remember him dressing up as Santa in the canon universe.
For now, you aren’t allowed to kiss me without my say so.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, bowing his head to hide his grin.
For now.
His smile faded.
Forever.
So sweet until that end part. At least the rest of it helped mitigate this little bit of sad.
