Chapter 13: What Did You Do in School Today?

“I can’t believe we couldn’t go out trick-or-treating!” fumed Bailey.

“They said it was too dark with the power out everywhere,” replied Kevin. “They canceled school yesterday, too. I guess that’s a fair trade.”

Bailey wasn’t placated. “Halloween is my favorite holiday!”

Kara tried to make peace. “We can go tonight now that the power is mostly back.”

Kevin grinned. “I still think you should go as Supergirl.”

“Uh, I thought about it, but… umm… I’d rather not.”

“But really… a pirate?” he teased.

Kara shrugged. “It was the best we could do on short notice.”

“That’s OK. I’m sure you’ll look great that way too. I mean—” Kevin stammered, “um, I’m sure it’ll be a great costume.”

Bailey and Megan exchanged quick glances out of the corners of their eyes.

Kara blushed slightly. “Uh, thanks.”

As she wondered what exactly Kevin was trying to say, she heard, “What the… I’m taking on water?!” followed by a stream of words she wasn’t supposed to know, even though she did. Her blush deepened.

“Where’s that life jacket?”

Kara frowned slightly. As a Girl Scout, she knew never to get into a boat unless you were already wearing your life jacket. This man wasn’t being very careful, but it sounded like he wasn’t in danger.

She looked around at her friends; by unspoken mutual agreement the conversation had moved from Halloween costumes back to the recent snowstorm. Suddenly she heard, “What the… Oh my God! Help!” followed by frantic splashing noises. “Help! Help!”

Kara felt a tendril of anxiety creep up her spine. It sounded like he wasn’t very good at treading water either. And he was by himself. Was he close to shore?

Suddenly the sounds of struggle ceased, only to resume a second later with a splash, coughing, and spluttering. “Oh God! First day out in a boat and—” There was more spluttering.

Kara hesitated only a moment. Emily was worried she’d get into trouble if she helped people, but she knew if she did nothing and let this man drown, she would never forgive herself. “Excuse me guys… my stomach is a little… uh…”

“T.M.I.” said Megan.

“Right. Sorry,” said Kara. She looked at the clock; she had fifteen minutes left until lunch period was over. “I’ll be right back.”

She walked quickly out of the cafeteria and down the hall. Unbidden, the music from Kevin’s movie came to mind and she winced nervously. Her stomach felt fluttery.

The moment she was out of sight of anyone she blurred into action. A second later she was letting herself into the cottage; two seconds after that the door closed behind her, and Supergirl was rocketing towards Delaware Bay.

A faint sonic boom echoed in Milford. People looked up briefly, then went about their business, figuring it must have something to do with Dover Air Force Base.

Kara heard another splash and pinpointed the location; the man had just gone under again. With her vision she could see him sinking, and below him a one-man fishing boat settling on the bottom.

She dove into the water, sending up a small plume, and came up next to the man. He looked to be in his sixties and was unconscious.

The Girl Scouts had taught Kara how to do a fireman’s carry, so she put herself underneath him and pulled him across her back and shoulders. She was much smaller than the man but was able to lift him easily, and they rose out of the water.

The man coughed up some water but remained unconscious. Kara could hear his breathing and heartbeat; they sounded steady. He was going to live. Kara suddenly had tears in her eyes.

I saved his life! Oh. my. God, Emily is going to kill me…

She noticed they were a couple of miles from shore. She recalled the marinas they’d visited on their road trip, and thought one of them must have been the man’s point of departure. Her vision found them.

Skimming just over the surface of the water, she followed a zigzag course to shore, avoiding a couple of boats. She hovered, hidden behind the breakwater, and waited for a few seconds, looking for a place she could leave the man without being seen, but where he’d be found quickly.

She zipped over behind an office and gently laid the man down. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly, then took off. Below her she heard, “What in the world was that?”

She waited long enough to see a couple of men come out of the office and find the man she’d saved; then she darted back to the cottage.

One of the men saw a flash of blue and red out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked up there was nothing there.

Three seconds later she was back home. The rapid flight had dried her suit and hair, but she was still covered in dried Delaware Bay water. For the first time she noticed the smell, which to her enhanced senses was acute. “Ewwww…”

It took her an extra seventeen seconds to shower with her uniform on, then dry off and put it away. Less than a minute after leaving the marina she was in school, walking back towards the cafeteria. Elapsed time: six minutes, twenty-four seconds.

A goofy grin crept onto her face. It wasn’t lifting a space shuttle into orbit, but Supergirl had just made her first rescue.

She slid back into her seat; she just had time to finish her lunch.

“You look like you’re feeling better,” observed Kevin.

“Much better,” said Kara. “Thanks.”

• • •


“Are you mad?” asked Kara, worried. Caitlin held her breath too.

Kara had told Emily and Caitlin what had happened the moment Emily had gotten home from work. Emily had already been suspicious, since the man had been brought to her E.R. and no one knew how he’d gotten from where his boat sank to the marina.

Emily had her hand over her eyes. She’d told Kara not to leave school during the day. She’d told her to act only when many lives were at stake. She’d especially told her it was important to avoid doing things around Milford.

It hadn’t occurred to her that Milford was precisely the area where Kara’s hearing was effective, where she was going to notice people in trouble. And she tried to imagine listening to a man drown, knowing you could save him, and doing nothing. It was unthinkable.

Emily let out a long sigh. “No. No, I’m not. You did the right thing. You saved his life.” She looked up. “You’re sure no one saw you?”

“I’m pretty sure. I watched carefully the whole time to make sure no one was watching before I did anything. And the man was unconscious the whole time.”

“Oh Kara,” sighed Emily. Her carefully considered plan to keep her young charge safe and hidden was already coming unraveled, and for the very noblest of reasons. “What are we going to do? I hope your parents find us soon, because one of these days you’re going to be seen and all… heck is going to break loose.”

• • •


“Well, I’ll be damned. Play it again,” said Charlie Yates.

Rick Osterlund rewound the tape from the black and white security camera that covered the rear of the marina office. The frame was empty at first. Then suddenly there was a blur, and a young girl with her back to the camera was carefully laying a man on the ground. A large man whom no child that age could possibly lift.

The girl had light-colored hair held back by a dark headband. She was dressed in a costume somewhat like Superman’s, except with short sleeves and a skirt. The famous S shield was clearly visible on the back of her cape.

She put a hand to her mouth, then vanished between one frame and the next. The unconscious man remained. Seconds later they saw themselves enter the scene.

Rick hit pause again, and the two men stared at the screen. Rick looked up at Charlie. “What should we do, boss? Show it to the police?”

Charlie thought for a minute; then his eyes narrowed. “What do you think anyone who sees this tape’ll say? They’ll say we faked it! No one’ll ever believe it could be real. We’ll just get in trouble, and maybe Scott Reid will too. They’ll say he faked his boat sinking so we could all pull a prank, get on TV.” He sighed. “No, we’ll stick that tape in a drawer and forget it, that’s what we’ll do. If the police ask for footage, we’ll say we forgot to change tapes. It’ll just have to stay a mystery how Scott got back to shore.”

“Who do you think she was?”

“I dunno, Rick, but I bet this ain’t the last time she’ll show up.” He shook his head. “I’ll be damned. Play it one more time.”

• • •


“Oh Emily…”

Emily froze, then turned around. “Oh… Hi, Penny.”

Penny hurried over, avoiding an orderly pushing a gurney. “Did you get my voicemail?”

“Um, yes, I just haven’t had time to call you back…”

“I need to catch up with what’s going on with Kara, see if she’s said anything different.”

“I don’t think she’s saying anything different.”

“That’s too bad. Detective Spalding wanted to know if there’d been any developments. I really ought to have some time with her soon; I need to keep seeing her to help her. She should be seeing me every week, and we missed last week.”

“Well, she’s been kind of busy. You know… settling in at school… making friends…” Leaping tall buildings with a single bound…

Penny frowned. “Emily, you know this is important.” She pulled out her smartphone and fiddled with it. “I have an hour Friday afternoon, at four; she should be out of school by then. Please call Lisa so she knows to block the time out, then bring Kara by.” It wasn’t a request.

Emily sighed. “Of course.”

• • •


Clark had his arm around his wife as they sat in the living room of their townhouse. Lois stared wordlessly at the clock on the mantel. The ticking seemed to echo throughout the room.

They’d had a long wait since their return from 1902 England. They’d taken a couple of hours to visit their other children, who seemed to be getting on OK with Lois’s parents, though as always Lois’s parents weren’t fully getting on with each other. Clark had run out to be Superman a couple of times, but otherwise time had seemed to crawl while they waited for eight o’clock to arrive.

The clock struck and there was a knock at the front door. “Finally!” exclaimed Lois as she raced to open it.

The older H. G. Wells was waiting on the other side. “Mr. Wells! Please come in,” said Lois.

Wells entered, smiling sadly. “Lois, Clark; how very good to see you again. I came as soon as I could without causing a paradox. I only took a short time in my own era to recuperate from our recent adventure, when Tempus staged a coup against your government.”

“That was around fifteen years ago for us…” observed Clark.

“Quite,” agreed Wells. “As always, time travel is confusing.” He looked over at the sofa.

“I’m sorry, won’t you please sit down?” offered Clark.

“Thank you, I am still somewhat tired.” Wells sat carefully on the sofa, removing his hat.

Lois didn’t waste time on niceties. “Have you made any progress with the clue we left you?”

Wells looked thoughtful. “Yes and no. While I haven’t deciphered it completely, my recent experiences with and study of travel between realities leaves me convinced that these coordinates do indeed designate another reality.” He sagged slightly. “Unfortunately, my understanding of such travel is still limited. I had thought that there was only a very limited number of different realities, but these coordinates tend to speak of a vastly larger number, with the travel between them rather more involved. My own machine can visit only a handful of them.

“My best guess is that Tempus has visited the far future and procured technology I am not yet familiar with. Consequently, I shall have to go seek the same knowledge.”

Lois looked between Clark and Wells. “Does that mean more waiting?”

“Not for long, my dear. It may take me some time to discover the answer, but I shall return tomorrow morning at ten o’clock no matter how long it takes me. You will have an opportunity to rest and prepare for the adventures ahead.”

Lois nodded slowly. “I keep forgetting how handy it is to have a time machine.”

Wells smiled. “Indeed.”

• • •


“Kara, sweetie?” called Emily.

Kara was sitting on her air mattress doing some reading for school. “Yes?”

“Can you come out here in the living room for a second?”

She got up and walked out; Caitlin followed, curious.

Emily was sitting on the sofa, and patted the cushion next to her. “I want to talk to you about Supergirl.”

“OK,” said Kara and sat down, tucking her hair behind her ear. Caitlin sat on Emily’s other side.

“I’ve thought about it some more and I have some ideas. But first, I sewed a waterproof pouch into your cape, for your phone. Don’t let people see you using it as Supergirl or they might try to trace it back to us. Find a private place to call. Do you understand?”

Kara nodded. “Yes, Emily.”

“Now this next part is really important, OK? Try your best not to get your picture taken. Especially by a reporter or news photographer or TV camera, but really by anyone, even people who you’ve saved.” Emily smiled. “If someone wants to take your picture tell them your mother said it’s not allowed.”

Kara giggled, and Caitlin grinned.

Emily sighed and shook her head. “I know it’s impossible and there’ll be pictures of you, but the longer we can go before someone gets a really good image of your face, the longer we can keep Supergirl and Kara Kent separate.

“Given that you’re only going to be helping out when it’s a matter of life or death, I’m hoping we can keep this from blowing up for a few weeks, maybe even a couple of months. I sure hope that’s enough time for your parents to get here.” She put an arm around Kara. “If it’s not, we’ll deal with it… somehow. I know you can’t sit idle while people die.

“If something happens while you’re at school I don’t want you leaving on your own. You wait till you can call me, and I’ll decide whether it’s important enough. If it is I’ll come check you out myself and say you’re sick, or you have a doctor’s appointment, or something. Obviously we can’t use that excuse too often.

“If it’s something quick you can take care of during a fake trip to the girls’ room then that’s OK. But I don’t want anyone noticing you absent from school without my permission. Is that clear, young lady?”

“Yes, Emily,” said Kara.

“Now, about tomorrow with Dr. Penny. You can answer any questions about your family, or Metropolis, or Superman. You can even say you think your dad might be Superman. Whatever you do, though, don’t breathe a word about your powers. To her you’re just an ordinary kid with a vivid imagination, and that’s the way we want to keep it. OK?” Kara nodded.

“Once people start to believe that Supergirl is real she’s going to figure it out, and so is Detective Spalding. They’re going to know it’s you. I only hope they come talk to us before they do anything about it.”

• • •