Can I horn in? That's Carbon Copy by Wendy Richards.
Nan
PS: I'll be back later with a quote.
Okay, it's Later. Here goes:
"Lois, let me get this straight, you're suggesting I should give up being Superman?"
Not trusting herself to speak, Lois nodded -- her face white.
"Lois, I'm not sure if I can do that... or even if I have the right to do that!"
She stared in vexation round the room once more before returning her accusing gaze to her husband. "So you're not prepared to give up your alter-ego, but you are prepared to abandon your home! Superman can't be sacrificed but your wife and children can!"
Clark felt pole-axed. "You don't pull your punches, Lois!"
"I never developed the habit," she threw at him.
"Especially when I'm fighting for the most important thing in my life -- my family! The trouble is, I was sure you felt the same way."
"I do, Lois! But you were the one who implied that
associating with me was putting the children at risk," he reminded with a touch of desperation.
"Superman! Not Clark Kent!" That was almost shouted, and Lois took a few seconds to calm herself. "And how do you explain this, Clark?" She waved her hand at the assembled pile of luggage. "What reason are you going to give for
your leaving? You can't tell the truth because that would mean giving away your precious secret. Oh, I know! You're going to suggest that we're incompatible.... How do they put it? The couple had irrevocable differences? Well, newsflash, Clark -- no one is going to believe that." Lois
watched Clark squirm uncomfortably and a sneaking suspicion overtook her. "Or are you going to suggest that I found someone else...?"
Clark shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe...."
"A certain Doctor Campbell, perhaps? You were right about him, by the way, but be serious here, Clark. Everyone knows we're perfect for each other, and I'm not about to help you carry out your misguided plan by playing the part of the adulterous wife."
"Glad to know I got something right!" Clark muttered. "But you're perfectly aware, Lois, that I would never suggest you did anything like that."
"I guess not," Lois conceded grudgingly. "Oh, but there's another scenario I haven't mentioned yet -- Clark Kent meets with a tragic accident where, unfortunately, his body is never recovered." Lois had only been tossing ideas around, hoping to prove to Clark just how idiotic his thinking was, yet, at the painful start from the figure on the bed, she realised she'd hit on the truth. "That's it, isn't it?! Clark, how could you? That is so final --
there's no way back from there. The kids and I would never see you again."
"Superman could drop by every now and then to check on how you were doing." Clark sounded so forlorn and Lois' heart went out to him but she wasn't about to give up the attack.
"But doesn't that defeat the object of the whole proposal? Wasn't the idea to distance the Man of Steel from the Kent family so that villains would stop attacking them?"
Another huge sigh broke from Clark. "I suppose," he said wretchedly. "I just hoped that I could visit in secret a few times...."
"I don't see why Superman should be granted privileges which would be denied to Clark."
A stare of total perplexity was turned on Lois. "But, Lois, I am Clark!"
"No! Clark Kent will be dead; lost at sea, perhaps, or, I know, eaten by a bear on some mountain track," Lois babbled distraughtly, "Though why you would be on a mountain track at this moment beats me! Of course, you might have another death scene in mind...."
"I hadn't quite thought that out yet," he mumbled
miserably.
"What does it matter, you'll be gone -- killed off by Superman, and I'm sorry but I don't believe I'd like to associate with someone who murdered my husband."
Okay, there it is. Have fun.
Nan
