Both kids finished their sandwiches and fries, chattering cheerfully with Perry and Mike. “What’s for dessert, Uncle Mike,” Lois demanded.
“Double chocolate cake with raspberry sauce,” Mike told them. “How about you kids split a piece?”
Both kids nodded. “And after dessert, can we go to the park?” CJ asked.
“Sure,” Perry agreed. “There’s a new playground in Centennial Park, near the Superman Memorial.”
“Superman Memorial?” CJ repeated. There was an odd look on his face, not worry, but maybe embarrassment? “When did they put up a memorial for Superman?”
“Not long after he died,” Perry told him. “But you’ve always visited Metropolis in the middle of winter, so you’ve never had a chance to see it.”
“But he’s not buried there,” CJ pointed out.
“No, he’s not,” Perry agreed. “All they found was his cape and a bloody boot and those are in the crypt beneath the memorial. You want to visit it?”
“Not until we finish our cake,” Lois declared. “Besides, who wants to visit a stupid ol’ statue anyway?”
“Lois, hon’, you know CJ hasn’t seen it,” Perry reminded her.
“Okay,” Lois conceded. “But then we’re going to the playground.”
0 0 0
CJ looked up at the bronze on its marble pedestal. The nine-feet tall figure was looking up into the sky, one arm outstretched pointing to the sky. “It’s awfully big,” he commented. “And it doesn’t look like… It doesn’t look much like him, does it?”
“All the sculptor had to work from was photographs,” Perry told him. “It’s not really that bad, is it?”
“CJ’s right,” Lois announced. “It doesn’t look like his pictures.”
“Do you think Superman would have wanted a statue like this?” CJ asked.
“No, I don’t think he would have,” Perry told him. “But this was put up so we would remember him, the good he did, the hope he brought to those who had no hope.”
“But he was in Metropolis for only three years,” CJ reminded him.
Perry crouched down beside the boy. “I know that, Clark. I wrote his obituary. But what he, what Superman, showed us while he was here, that’s what’s important for us to remember. But enough of this,” Perry announced. “Let’s spend some time at the play ground, then we’ll get back to the Planet. I still have a paper to get out.”
The play structure was not too far from the memorial and was powder-coated in blue, red, and yellow. Superman’s family crest was prominently displayed in the design and on the rules placard. Despite the years since Superman’s death, his symbol was still well regarded and the playground was popular.
Perry took a seat on the blue steel bench and watched as the two children scrambled over the structure. They seemed surprisingly evenly matched as they ran and climbed. There were several other children on the structure as well, but it seemed to Perry that CJ and Lois were just a little faster, a little better coordinated than the other kids.
“Be careful,” he yelled at them. They both stopped momentarily and waved at him, but he noticed they slowed down to closer to normal. Are their powers coming in already? Do they know their legacy?
0 0 0
“I was getting tuckered out just watching you two,” Perry complained mildly as he paid the man at the little hot dog and drink stand just outside the park. He handed the kids their sodas and they guzzled them down.
“But we’re not tired,” Lois told him, skipping along beside him as he started walking toward the Daily Planet building. CJ was on his other side, walking backwards half the time. It was about a mile away from the park, but Perry’s doctor had told him to walk that much everyday. Having the kids around gave him an excuse to get out and do it.
Lois and CJ kept up a running commentary on what they saw as they walked – at least until CJ spotted the quaint old shop with books in the window. The name on the sign read: Dark Moon Rising, Metaphysical Books, Herbs, and Charms.
“Grandpa Perry, can we go in?” CJ asked. His eyes were bright with excitement.
Perry gave him a dubious look. “I’m not sure your Grandma Martha would approve,” he pointed out.
“But Grandma reads Starhawk and Ravenswolf,” CJ told him. “She has all of Starhawk’s books.”
“And who is Starhawk?” Lois asked.
CJ rolled his eyes. “She’s a writer. She writes about philosophical sorts of things, like magic and souls and stuff. Grandma’s been studying reincarnation, too.”
“Okay,” Perry conceded. “But if I get into trouble with your Grandma, you’re getting a swat, understood?”
CJ giggled. Lois rolled her eyes.
The shop was as quaint on the inside as it had looked through the window. Bookshelves lined both side walls to the high ceiling and had rolling shelf ladders to aid in getting to the higher shelves with their old, dusty volumes. Old wood and glass display cases held boxes of polished stones and crystals, all neatly labeled in fancy script. Other shelves held large amber jars of herbs and amber, red, and cobalt blue bottles of potions. There was a large rack of candles in a myriad of colors, shapes and sizes.
Two men came out of the back room at the sound of the chimes on the door. The first one was tall man with swarthy skin. He was wearing the Hollywood idea of traditional Indian dress – an off-white sherwani suit and a white turban with some sort of red faux gem clipped to the front. The second man was shorter and older, wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows. He was bald, with cold eyes, with a neatly trimmed brown goatee threaded with gray.
“I am Asabi, and this is my associate, Mister Alexander,” the first man said, addressing Perry. “How may we assist you?” He smiled toothily at them.
Perry frowned. Both men seemed oddly familiar. “My grandkids wanted to look around,” he explained.
“I was just curious,” CJ said, suddenly shy. He went over and looked at the display of crystals. A locked glass case held a large green crystal than seemed to glow from an inner light. “Isn’t this kryptonite?”
“Yes, it is,” Asabi told him. “One of the last pieces known to exist outside the Museum of Natural History, and STAR Labs, of course.”
“Aren’t you worried about the radioactivity?” Perry asked.
Mister Alexander shrugged. “The case is made of leaded glass. And there aren’t any Kryptonians on Earth to be effected by it, are there?” If he noticed that both children were looking ill, he didn’t show it. “Feel free to look around. Asabi and I will be glad to answer any questions you have.”
CJ and Lois started moving around the room, peering into the other cases. CJ pulled down a few old books and peered at the titles. Perry noticed that not all the books he was looking at were written in English.
“Do you read Hindi?” Asabi asked him, sounding amused. CJ shook his head and put back the book.
“I think it’s time we got back to the office,” Perry said, beckoning the two children to come with him.
“Just a moment,” Alexander said. He went to one of the jars and pulled out two dark crystals and handed them to the children. “A gift.”
“We’re not supposed to take presents from strangers,” Lois told him firmly, backing away from him.
“Smart child. But you already know my name,” Alexander told her with a smile. “So, how about yours?”
“I’m Lois and that’s CJ,” Lois said.
“You’re twins?”
“Cousins,” Perry told him. “Now, CJ, which book did you want?”
CJ went to the shelf and pulled out one of the old volumes he had put back, one of the ones not in English.
“Are you sure?” Perry asked. CJ nodded.
“Well, I suppose you can find someone in Metropolis to translate it for him,” Alexander said, ringing up the book.
0 0 0
“Asabi,” Alexander said as soon as Perry White and the two children were gone. “Did you see anything familiar about those two?”
“Familiar, sir? How?” Asabi asked.
“The boy,” Alexander said. “I know him, or possibly his father. The girl too.”
“Who do you think they are, sir?”
“Doesn’t the boy resemble our old adversary, Clark J. Kent?” Alexander asked. “He has the same features, down to the little birthmark above his lip.”
“And the girl?”
“Her name is Lois,” Alexander pointed out. “I’m wondering if it’s more than a coincidence. See what you can find out about Mister White’s grandchildren. Especially in the ‘other’ records.”
Asabi frowned. “I’m not sure that will be possible, sir. But I will try.”
0 0 0
“Mister ‘Alexander’ recognized us,” CJ told Lois and Perry as they headed down the street.
“How do you know that, son?” Perry asked.
CJ just shook his head. “He suspects I’m Clark Kent’s son and he’s going to have Asabi find out what he can about us.”
“Are you sure you’re only ten years old?” Perry asked, only half joking.
“Grandpa Jonathan says I’m ten going on thirty,” CJ said by way of explanation.
“But why would that creepy old man want to know about us?” Lois asked. “And how did you know what was going on in there?”
“Didn’t you recognize them?” CJ asked. “That was Alexander ‘Lex’ Luthor and his old valet, Asabi Washa.”
“Lex Luthor?” Perry asked. “I thought he went into hiding after he got out of prison. That was, what, a couple years ago?”
“Okay, so that was Lex Luthor,” Lois said with a shrug. “What does he want with us and how do you know?”
“Luthor claimed he was in love with Lois Lane, nearly married her but she said no at the last minute,” Perry explained. “He took it hard when she died. Swore she’d eventually come back to be reunited with him. Told everybody that they were soul mates, destined to be together for all time. ”
“Isn’t that just a little sick?” Lois asked. “I mean, he’s an old man and I’m ten years old.”
