Got it!! Carol Malo's
The Red Skirt The next one should guess mine and Kathy's
She backed out of the closet and was still holding onto the suit when she
tripped over a fold in the carpet and found herself sitting on the floor.
It was a testament to how shocked Lois was that the fall didn't even rate a
response from her. She just stared at the super suit which she held in her
hands.
It took a few moments for her brain to engage and finally try to piece
together the momentous piece of information she had just uncovered. As she
saw it there were only two options, the first being that Clark was holding
Superman's suits for him. Maybe he laundered them or something. That was
the most logical answer and if Clark were standing here next to her to tell
her that, she'd most likely believe it. But Clark wasn't here, he was
missing, and Lois had heard a strange message from his mother on the
answering machine about helping out during disasters. Could it be true?
Could her farm boy partner really be Superman?
All the lame excuses Clark would use to leave at the most inopportune times
came flooding back to Lois. Very often after Clark left, Superman would
show up somewhere to stop a robber, or put out a big fire. Then Clark
would come back saying he ran into Superman and he'd have the story just
as nice as you please. Lois' anger flared forth. That rat, she thought.
No wonder he always seemed to get so many inside scoops on Superman's
activities. It's easy to get a Superman story if you are Superman. If,
you, are, Superman?
"Oh god, no," Lois whispered into the S shield of the suit. If Clark
*were* Superman, that meant that he wasn't actually missing. Instead, he
was lying on a padded table at Star Labs, hooked up to several machines
whose only purpose was to find out if he were still alive! Tears began to
flood down Lois' cheeks once again as she clutched the super suit to her
chest like it was some sort of life line.
So wrapped up in her latest bout of grief and fear for the man she thought
she loved, she almost didn't hear the activity outside the apartment's
front door. Still holding the suit tight to her, she turned her gaze
toward the door.
Martha and Jonathan had approached the front door of Clark's apartment and
upon seeing the lights on both gave a huge sigh of relief. It appeared
that their concern that they hadn't heard from their boy was going to be
groundless, but once they got close to the door they could hear someone
inside. Someone who seemed to be throwing things around. Then they heard
a loud thump, like something falling to the floor. This was followed soon
after by the sounds of weeping. Martha gave Jonathan a look and a shrug as
she reached for the door handle.
Neither Jonathan nor Martha were sure what to expect when they opened the
door, but they did know that the sight that greeted them would not have
been it.
Sitting on the floor in front of Clark's closet was Lois. Tears were
streaming down her face and she was holding tightly to one of Clark's super
suits. Lois looked up at them and in a voice on the edge of hysteria asked.
"Is it true?" She held the suit out toward them so they could be sure to
see what it was. "Is it *true*?"
Jose
