Didn't I reply to this? Oh damn, I'm so sorry, but his week is beyond awful.... Lara, I love your story. Can't say I love Lex in it, though. What a creep!!!! (Insert "puke" icon here, please.)
She sighed as she sat down at a quiet little table. "Finally," she whispered, smiling at the prospect of losing herself in Clark Kent's novel once more. She smiled as she realized that in a weird way - and with just a simple book - he now held the key that brought happiness back into her life.
Amazing - Lois finds happiness in the company of Clark Kent's
novel!!! Had they not been there for me and I not been there for them, who knows if any of us would have made it all the way here?
"Had I not been there for them...." Hmmm. Yes, he
is telling us, in a roundabout way, that he used his superpowers to save people.
I thank him for all the times he sat with me around the campfire and told me stories about life in the desert. I can't help but wonder why - with all the hardships this man has faced, living in the dunes, under the scorching sun - he insists on staying in the desert. He's tried to explain it to me with those stories, I know, but I fear I cannot fully comprehend his desire to remain there. The bond between man and sand, I guess you could call it. Perhaps if I were from around here, I'd know what this means.
The bond between man and sand... how poetic.
I wave and stand there looking at them for some time before I mount by motorbike once more and start heading north again. I'm still over a thousand kilometers away from Cairo. This time, since I'm completely on my own, I should be able to travel a lot faster. I expect to reach the capital in a couple days. Unless something happens, of course.
Hmmmm... since you are on your own, you should be able to travel a lot faster and reach Cairo, a thousand miles away,
within a few days??? Clark, you are slouching.
I'm really tired of being in the desert! Every gust of wind covers you with sand from head to toe. Not that I mind the sting of it on my skin or the fact that there's enough in my hair to build a sandcastle, complete with a drawbridge...
What a lovely image of all the sand in Clark's hair... there is so much of it that you could by a sandcastle, complete with a drawbridge. LOL!! Wouldn't that look cute in Clark's hair?
I don't think I'll be able to find another means of transportation that I'll enjoy just as much... If I didn't have such a hard time with flying, that could have been nice. But flying is one way of getting there that I would much rather avoid.
Wonder why he didn't want to fly?
The noises stopped as Lois got closer to their source. She stuck both hands through the fence and pushed aside the cedar hedge so she could peer into the property. She sucked in a sharp breath as she found herself face to face with a man. He was holding a pair of secateurs in his hands and looked just about as startled as she did.
"You're not supposed to be here, Miss," he told her nicely, "This is a private property."
It seemed that the postman had been right, Lois thought. Clark Kent's groundskeeper definitely fit the tall, dark and handsome category well. Very, very well, as a matter of fact. For a second, all she could do was stare into the man's eyes.
He, on the other hand, had been surprised both by the fact that he had found himself face to face with a woman and the fact that she was really very pretty. He stared right back at her, unable to look away for some reason.
Ahhh, Lois met the groundskeeper... (and he met her....) <sigh>
As she stood there, in front of this man whom she had never met before, Lois felt some odd sort of connection to him that she couldn't explain.... It was just the weirdest thing, like somehow she knew him, which of course she didn't. It took some effort, but she eventually managed to look away and speak.
She recognizes her soulmate, the groundskeeper.
"I'm sorry. My... uh... my cat ran away," she lied. "I thought I saw him headed over this way. I heard some noise and I figured it had to be him. I guess I was wrong. I'm really sorry to have startled you."
"Your cat? I haven't seen one around, but if I do... is there somewhere we can reach you? If we find it, I mean... What does he look like?"
"Oh, he's your typical tabby cat. You know? Rusty fur and big yellowish eyes. Cute little bugger, but he's so curious and adventurous, he keeps running away. Maybe he'll find his way home on his own, this time? I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
You know, I was a little disappointed that Lois apparently didn't have a cat in this story. Can't you, well, get her one? Sort of right away? (And wouldn't it be funny if she really
was chasing this new cat of hers through Clark Kent's property, except she would have to confess that the cat had changed color and was now grey, or perhaps black and white....
)
She pulled her hands out from the hedge and left, leaving the man to continue his work. So much for trying to flirt with him, she thought. She hadn't been quite prepared enough for this encounter. There was something about this man that had sent all sorts of strange feelings fluttering through her body. She hadn't expected that to happen. She'd do better next time. Next time, she'd be ready for it.
Love those flutterings.... Mmmmmm....
For several long minutes, the man stood literally frozen to the ground. This was the strangest encounter he'd ever had. The fact that this woman was looking for her cat was really nothing out of the ordinary, but... she herself definitely did not fit the "ordinary" category. Not at all. He kicked himself for not trying to find out who she was. He couldn't explain was it was about her, but there was something that drew him to her in a way. Something he'd never felt before. Something that frightened him very much.
Yes, yes, yes... but no, no,
no, Clark! Lois doesn't frighten you, remember? You just fall for her like a ton of help-I'm-falling Superman bricks.
"Right. Well anyway, I was trimming away and suddenly this woman appeared from out of nowhere."
"Out of nowhere?" Lana asked, puzzled. He wasn't imagining people again, was he?
"No, not like that," he said, fully aware of what she was thinking right then. "I didn't imagine that man, by the way. It's not about him, anyhow.
Oh? Clark didn't imagine that man? What man? You've sure piqued my curiosity, Lara!
This woman... she was on the other side of the fence and she just poked her hands through to push the hedge aside and look in. She said she'd lost her cat."
"Seems to me she wanted to take a peek inside the property, more likely. Cats are just as frightened as everyone else of this place, they don't come wandering in."
"Well, I don't know... it doesn't matter if the cat was real or not anyway," Clark said, shrugging.
Adore it! It doesn't matter to Clark if the cat was real or not!
"Oh, no. No, that's not it. It was just... the strangest thing, really. That woman. It was like I've known her all my life. I've never seen her before, I don't even know who she is. I would have remembered her, believe me. But, I just can't explain, it's the oddest thing, really. She left as fast a she'd come and for some reason it's like she ran off with a part of me. And now... I'm having trouble adjusting to life without that piece of... I don't know... soul? that she took from me somehow."
Oh, wow, Lara.
This was the first time in years that Lana had heard Clark talking about having contact with another human being. Whatever effect that woman had had on him was probably just a result of him not meeting anybody else and not speaking to another soul outside of herself for such a long time. Perhaps, she thought, this might encourage him and make him want to seek other human contact. Maybe even slowly reintegrate society? Of course, it would take a lot more than just that little encounter. It would take a really big push, she was sure of it. But this might be a beginning. She hoped it would be. She hated seeing this man so miserable. He needed companionship, something she could not offer him. At least not in a way that would have made a difference.
Lana is so clueless.... But, you know, this thing about Clark needing to reintegrate society? What has happened to him to make him turn himself into a recluse? It can't just be the emergence of his powers, surely?
Lana wondered what it was that he wished, exactly. She wasn't going to ask if he didn't feel like sharing, though. However, a plan started forming in her head. Perhaps if she could force him into seeing people, without it looking like she had had anything to do with it; perhaps it would help get him back on the way to being his old pleasant self again. Suddenly, Lana found herself hoping that nosy reporter, Lois Lane, was going to continue to try and get that interview. Maybe she'd just have to give in and make Clark go through with it....
Love it!!!! Lana is going to make Clark meet "that nosy reporter" to distract him from his thoughts of the strange woman he met, and to help him become his old pleasant self again!!!!
Great chapter and great story, Lara!!!
Ann
