Thank you Irene and Mere for your suggestions. I actually thought of the injuring Martha or Jonathan one, but was trying to avoid it because there was quite a bit of angst in there already. I was actually considering giving Jonathan a heart attack at one point, but I figured that in that case, CK, no matter how much he was wallowing, would
stop wallowing and go to Kansas!
Maybe the Europe trip would be a good idea. Some delay in them getting the news, and then some more delay in them trying to get back... Perhaps they're deliberately uncontactable... How feasible is that, really?
Jeff and Kathy, thanks for the feedback about the farming. That's what I thought, too -- that the harvest wouldn't delay them for that long, and that they could hire people or get friends to help out if they really needed to leave. So that idea's out, then.
And Jeff, Kathy and Wendy, thanks for the note of warning about artificially boosting the angst. I absolutely completely agree with what you are saying, and believe me, I am the first person who would cut out and throw away pages of my story if anything was "over-contrived" and didn't work. That's why I'm looking for a really good reason for them to be away.
If I can't find one, I may just have to make Clark extra grouchy and refusing to talk to them and/or insisting that they don't come to Metropolis, although I'm not sure they'd listen to him if he told them not to come. Plus, even if Clark wouldn't speak to them, Lois would, and that would again defeat the purpose.
I just really need to bring out some of his demons so that some problems can be resolved. If Martha and Jonathan were around, they just would knock sense into his thick (dense molecular structure?) skull before he even got that far into his wallowing. He has to get past that particular hurdle with just himself and Lois. Wendy's quite close to the mark:
If the reason you don't want them there isn't just so that Clark can writhe in even further agony but that, perhaps, he might be forced closer to Lois. Now, that sounds like something I'd enjoy!
WAFFy making-up is all the more fun after the WHAMmy fighting, isn't it? Still, I agree that if the WHAM is too contrived, it has to go. Sigh.
Thanks again, guys.
JM
