Chapter Seven

"Superman's *not* our daddy! *Daddy's* our daddy," Gracie was maintaining loudly.

"Sure, Daddy's our daddy. But he's Superman too, when he wants to be!" Emma maintained just as stoutly.

Karen was afraid that that a minor Donnybrook was brewing, so she interjected, "Gracie, it works like this: when your daddy hears that someone's in trouble, he puts on this costume -- like at Halloween -- and he goes and saves them."

"Yeah," Emma threw in. "You know when Daddy gets up in the middle of dinner and says he forgot to buy ice cream, or when he has to go back to work to get some files? He's really going out to be Superman, and help somebody who's in trouble!"

"But how does he *know*?" Gracie asked reasonably.

"He's got really good hearing. He can hear people yell for help clear on the other side of Metropolis."

Gracie seemed to consider this. "Could he hear *us*? If we yelled real loud?"

It was quiet for a few moments, as both Emma and Karen considered this stunning suggestion.

Karen said, "I don't think he could hear us under these tons and tons of rock and dirt; not unless he was somewhere close by. We're more than twenty miles away from where Walter and your daddy think we are; there are a couple of mountains between us and them."

Nevertheless, it was Bedlam within the Jeep for the next few minutes as both children and Karen shouted themselves hoarse. Emma even tried yelling up through the hole in the roof, to no avail. Karen had them change their yells to 'Help, Superman!' but with no results.

"If he could hear us," said Karen, "he would have been here by now. We're just in the wrong place, a place where he isn't looking."

Emma said quietly, "Maybe he's not even looking for us yet. Have we been here a long time?"

Karen held her watch up to the map light. "We're about two hours overdue. They'll be worried about us by now. He and Walter will start looking for us soon, if they haven't already." She didn't add that she saw no reason why they would be searched for in this direction. She went on, "Emma, would you be able to see your daddy if he flew over us? How well can you see?"

"Yeah. I can see an awful long way away, if I want to. But I've been watching the sky a lot, and I haven't seen him. I'll keep watching," she added after a moment.

"So how come *you* can fly?" persisted Gracie, returning to their earlier subject.

"'Cause I'm Superman's daughter. And so are you."

"Yeah, so?"

Karen decided that a quick genetics lesson was in order. "Gracie, have you started school yet?"

"Um, I'm in preschool. But in the fall I'll go to kindergarten," she added with a hint of pride.

"Well, you know how your friends in preschool look a little like their parents? Like if a little boy or girl has blond hair, his parents sometimes do too?"

"Elwood has red hair, and lots of freckles. He looks just like his mommy."

"That's because of something called genetics. Children are born with many of the same traits as their parents."

"Yeah, like *superpowers*!" Emma added triumphantly.

"What's superpowers?" asked Gracie, spoiling the effect.

"That's like me being able to fly, because Daddy can fly."

"Um -- how long ago?"

"How long ago what?"

"How long ago did you find out you could fly?"

"Nearly two years ago."

"*Two years*?! And you never *told* me?!" Gracie was livid.

"I never told anybody, not even Mama and Daddy. Not until I saved Walter." Karen saw Emma lower her eyes uncomfortably.

"But *why*?" exclaimed Gracie, unable to understand why anyone would keep such a wondrous ability a secret.

"Um, when I found out I could fly, I was scared. I thought if I told them, I would have to go right out and be Superman, just like Daddy. But after I saved Walter, Daddy and Mama said I was too young. They said I should wait 'til I grew up first."

Gracie was quiet for a while. Then she said, a little wistfully, "Will *I* ever learn to fly?"

Emma started to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden growl from her stomach -- which, in the confined space of the car, all could hear. Gracie giggled. Emma looked at Karen. "I guess I'm hungry," she said apologetically.

Karen immediately realized that she was being remiss. They needed to keep up their strength, if only to help keep up their spirits. She started to turn further toward Emma, but found that the strain on her knees, back and neck while her feet were held in place made the process too painful. Then she glanced up, and mentally chastised herself as she spotted the rearview mirror.

She reached over and adjusted the mirror, and shuddered a little as she caught the view to the rear of the vehicle. The rear window was a mass of small pebbles of glass, held together only by the thick adhesive membrane between the two layers of safety glass. Large chunks of sharp rock were poking through in two or three places where the window had taken the pressure of the slide. The rear passenger windows on both sides were similarly pebbled. It was a wonder that the interior of the car had not been inundated by the slide. Then she glanced sideways at Lois's unconscious form and realized that, to some extent, it had been. She quietly reached for Lois's wrist, and checked her pulse again. It was growing still weaker.

"Emma," she said, "why don't you look back there and see if you can spot where the treats are? I know that the main boxes of food went up in the other car with Walter and your dad; but I brought a bag of candy bars and other treats; let's see what you can find."

Emma quickly located the sack of treats, and -- with care -- lifted it out and handed it forward to Karen. Karen passed out a candy bar to each child, and took one herself.

"I'm thirsty," said Gracie.

Karen reached into the bag and produced a container of bottled water, which she opened. She passed it back. "Only *one* mouthful apiece," she said. "We need that water; it's all we have. Wait until you finish your candy bar before you take it." She didn't add that if they drank more, they would have the added complication of needing to go to the bathroom.

Once the water was drunk, Karen began to re-cap the bottle. Emma said, "How about Mama? Shouldn't we give her some?"

"Honey, I wish we could; I know she needs it. But when a person's unconscious, they can't swallow, and the water would just make her choke. That's why we can't give her anything to eat, either." She tightened the cap and dropped the bottle into the paper bag of snacks, and placed the bag at her feet. She heard Gracie begin to fret for her mommy. Time for more diversion. "Now then," she commenced, "Emma, what's it like outside? What can you tell us?"

"Um -- it's bright, 'cause the moon just came up. It's a full moon." She looked around, through different areas of the Jeep's roof. "But I don't think it'll be bright very long; there's lots of clouds over that way." She pointed vaguely to the right. Karen mentally oriented them; the moon had to be rising in the east. That would mean that the clouds were coming from the north. It could mean a storm. In any case, an overcast sky would make it difficult for anyone to spot them -- even if there were anything to see from the air. They needed to turn their attention back to getting out of here.

"What's the area like around us? Are we in the middle of a lot of woods?"

"There's woods all around us; but they're a long way off; almost as far as the end of my street." She continued her panoramic survey. "We're almost down at the bottom of the hill. The rockslide is mostly behind us, up the hill. Except for the two big rocks on both sides of the car, there's nothing, just a big field. And a really tall tree right in front of us. I think it's dead," she added.

Karen considered this. They were incredibly lucky to have been stopped by being wedged between the two rocks. If they had rammed head-on into the tree, one or more of them could have been instantly killed.

So they were out in the open. If they could somehow arrange a signal, maybe they could be spotted. "Did we bring any Glow Sticks?"

"What's a glow stick?"

"It's about this long, and when you bend it, something inside breaks, and it starts to glow." At Emma's confused look, she added, "Kids sometimes carry them with them when they go out on Halloween Night, so cars can see them."

"I know what they are!" said Gracie. "Daddy bought a whole box of 'em, so we could play with them at the cabin!"

Karen wanted to yell, 'Yes!'. "Emma, see if you can spot them in the gear behind the seat."

After only a moment, Emma reported back. "They're not here. They must be in the other car."

Karen's spirits plunged as quickly as they had risen. "Oh. I had hoped that we could light a few of them and push them up through the hole in the roof, if Superman flew over, to attract his attention."

"We wouldn't have to do that," said Emma. "If he was in the sky above us, we could just shout up through the hole, and he'd hear us."

Karen realized that she was right. The problem, now that the hole was opened, was not to signal Superman once he was here, but to get him here in the first place. They would have to come up with something else.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Walter shoved his plate back. "Man, Clark, that was fantastic, especially for cabin-style cooking. Is there anything you *can't* do?"

Clark shrugged apologetically. "You can't blame that on superpowers. I just happened to have the best cook in Smallville for a mom. She let me help her in the kitchen a lot, and I got to enjoy it. So I stuck with it; I guess some of her skill rubbed off. Now I really *like* to cook."

Walter grinned. "I can still remember Karen at the picnic last month, raving over your bacon-and-cornbread salad -- and thinking it was Lois's -- and telling her how *wonderful* she must be in the kitchen!" He chuckled again.

"Yeah; I guess Emma and I could have been a little more tactful; I still cringe when I think how much we teased her about it later." He sighed.

Walter gave him a sidelong glance. "You're still worried about them, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. After the phone couldn't get through from here, I tried to tell myself I was just being over-protective; that's what Lois would tell me, anyway." Clark sighed again. "But, Walter, that's what I do! I protect them -- Lois and the kids. If I let anything happen to them..."

Walter glanced at his watch. "Yeah, they *are* a little bit overdue..."

"More than a little; they should have been here more than an hour ago, even if Lois had had to do a complete re-write on Perry's sidebar. And, there was that wobble in the steering on the Jeep. What if something's come loose, and they're stranded somewhere? They couldn't reach us up here." He stood up, looking apologetically at Walter. "I think I'm going to go look around for them." He started for the door.

"Clark..." He turned to see Walter getting to his feet. "My wife's there too. How about taking me with?"

Clark realized he was being remiss; Walter was probably a lot more worried than he had let on. "Sure; pardon me for being insensitive. Come on." He spun into the Suit, and beckoned to Walter.

"Um...how do I do this?"

Clark motioned Walter to follow him out onto the porch. "The easiest way is probably side-by-side." He stepped over to Walter and put an arm around his waist. Walter wrapped an arm across Clark's shoulders, and they lifted off.

* * *