Here's the next poll. Works pretty much the same way the last one did. There are three questions. In the first question, there are eleven possibilities. Since many of them contradict each other, you will only be allowed to choose six. For the other two questions, you may choose as many answers as you wish.

There was a suggestion that Lois should reply to her admirer's email. I wasn't sure how that was meant, so I turned it into two possibilities.

There was another suggestion that was too vague for me to include. That one was to have Lois try to check the whereabouts of everyone who might know Clark is Superman. I'm not sure how to incorperate that one into the story without a more specific list of people. I'm also reluctant to try to make my own list, since my own knowledge of who is and is not involved would probably create problems.

One other suggestion that was left out was to go see Mindy Church. As I recall, Lois does not know Mindy took over Intergang. The last she heard, Bill Church and his son had been arrested, leaving poor Mindy confused, hurt, and alone. Going by the original airdates, that was four and a half months ago. Lois hasn't heard anything from intergang in the time since. (Clark did come down with that virus, but she doesn't know he'd been infected deliberately.)

One last thing: I'm going to set the poll to close earlier this time. It should work out to midnight US Eastern Time.

Paul

Paul,

Just a clarification. I'm the one who suggested calling Dan. I did that because, the way I remember the show was that Dan originally told Lois that he was DEA, but eventually we found out that he was really FDA.

Anyway, since FDA is the agency that regulates prescription drugs, (and investigates stolen and counterfeit prescription drugs) I suggested calling Dan. The poll option says to call Dan at the DEA. If my memory is wrong, and Dan really works with the DEA, then I wouldn't bother calling him.

- Vicki

Paul,

That was my suggestion. I thought she should try to get some further information from this person, get him to open up. Maybe she could write him, what she found on the ship, ask for more specifical details, ask what his interests are and so on. And since it is an admirer of hers, it can't hurt to be polite and encouraging. The worst that could happen is, that she gets no answer, so I guess it is worth a try.

Ines

Ines

I thought he did turn out to be DEA. In any case, the DEA is the Drug Enforcement Administration. I'm not sure exactly how things work (do correct me if I'm wrong), but I think the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) regulates what is and is not safe/legal whereas the DEA investigates illegal traffic. So, Dan should be DEA, and DEA is the agency you'd want to contact (if you wanted to contact an agency in the first place).

Paul

Hi Paul,

Unless the drugs were narcotics, the agency to investigate would, in fact, be the FDA. But I'm probably nitpicking here (the only reason I know this is because my husband works for the FDA).

It's almost certainly a moot point, in that, as I've already indicated, I doubt people will want to bring Scardino :rolleyes: into the story. The suggestion was based more on what I think Lois would (or certainly should) do in real life, than on what would make a good story. (Guess that's why I'm a reader on these boards, not a writer! )

- Vicki

Thanks, Vicki. Good to know. I'm not too familiar with how exactly these things work. I guess we'll see how the votes go. If you're sure about which Administration would be involved, then let's just say I got my alphabet soup stirred up a bit. Dan is someone Lois knows who would be inclined to treat her nicely and who works for the government, investigating drug traffic. If she wants to ask a question or pass on some information, she'd probably start with him.

As for a good story, that's more my problem. If it's something the readers think she should and would do, then I'll work it in as best I can. Her actions should be based on what makes the most sense. Reality can be annoying at times for writers, but it's best to try to deal with it rather than putting it off as inconvenient.

Fortunately, even if you guys control Lois and Clark, I have control of... the whole rest of the universe!! MWA-HA-HA-HA!!

Er...

What I mean is that, as a writer, I have the ability to make things happen (or not happen), thus allowing things to proceed in a fitting way. For example, if people vote to have Lois call Dan and if I don't want Dan actually in the story, then I can simply make him too busy to be able to show up, thus restricting his interaction to a simple phone call. We'll see how the votes go and how I feel about things. In any case, my point is that you should vote based on what you think Lois should do and try not to worry about it making a bad story.

I do hope that makes some sense.

Paul

Vicki, just to clarify what happened in the episode, Dan really was DEA. His cover story was that he was a corrupt FDA agent, willing to accept a bribe to grant approval for a dangerous drug. When Bobby told Lois that he was FDA, not DEA, he was reporting the cover story that had been "leaked" to the streets. In other words, Bobby got it wrong.

Kathy

Thanks, Kathy!

To be honest, I didn't really like this particular episode. I remember my ears pricked up when I heard Bobby mention "FDA", since, as I said, my husband works for FDA, but, frankly, I wasn't really paying much attention to the rest of the show.

- Vicki