Here's Part 5 -- only 1 more repost and then on to new postings. So hang in there.
Reminder ##### signal radio broadcasts.
Keep your eye on dates and places.
Thanks again to those who have written comments.
From Part 4
The four students from Miss Lane’s American Literature Class had been in the computer lab for several hours after school researching their assignment. Jimmy Olsen, who taught computers at Smallville High School and was at his desk at the back of the lab, heard their exclamations and joined them as they clustered around a computer.
“Sounds like you’re on to something,” Jimmy remarked.
“Yeah,” Tom told him. “Look at this, guys.”
The screen displayed the entire family history of Laslo and Lillian Barton.
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Now for Part 5
Smallville, Kansas
Thursday,
January 13, 1994
6:00 p.m. CST
Lois heard the whoosh as Superman returned and landed on her back porch; and, as Clark, dressed back in jeans and a flannel shirt, entered her kitchen and walked over to sit beside her on the couch.
“Vivian Cox almost went off the Maple Street Bridge.”
“Is she all right?” Lois asked.
“Yes, she’s fine.”
“Something else happened. Didn’t it?” Lois asked, looking at Clark’s faraway expression.
“No, nothing, not really. Just sort of a flashback to a past memory that I can’t put my hands on,” he replied in a somewhat disconnected voice.
“You know, we’ve never really shared some memories,” Lois said slowly. “I mean I know all about you. But there’s one or two things we haven’t talked about.”
“One or two things?”
“Well one thing,” Lois said hesitantly.
“What thing.”
“*The* thing.”
“Oh,” Clark said squirming a little. “That thing.”
“Before you left, we almost. I mean we.... We haven’t had much experience togeth...I mean we...Oh God, I’m sucking the romance out of this just like a vacuum.”
“No Lois, I know.”
“I mean,” she went on. “We’ve waited. And I’m glad.”
“I’m glad too.”
“But this is what’s been bothering me. The other night I was thinking about my past relationships and I made a list. And they all wound up in the negative column.”
“But now you have me,” Clark said reaching his hand out to her.
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Smallville, Kansas
Thursday,
January 13, 1994
6:10 p.m. CST
Jaxon Luthor slammed down the receiver and turned to his computer. He typed in ‘Resurrection’, and a list appeared. The list held twelve names--a hit list. Jaxon calmly crossed off two names: Bill Saxon and Antoinette Baines. He angrily looked at the third name, Vivian Cox, and made a note to....
The door of the study opened and a man entered. He slammed the door shut and turned to his son. “I’ve been waiting at that damned deserted farmhouse for almost a week.”
“Bender’s got the paperwork just about completed. You’re going to be Richard Thurston. You know Dad--Richard the Third?”
Lex chuckled. “I see you’ve inherited my sense of the absurd.”
“Well,” Jaxon said, now less fearful of his father’s reaction. “If you’re going to infiltrate the Smallville Players, why not a theatrical name. And, if memory serves, that’s your favorite play.”
***********
“The point is,” Lois said, rising to pace the floor of her living room. “I’ve worked through a lot of my fears. A...a lot,” she explained as she walked back and forth. “Except one. And.... And, it’s not a fear really, it’s more of a concern,” she explained and stopped pacing to look right at him. “About *that* thing.”
“Well actually you’ve brought up a good point. Because we haven’t really talked about,” he paused. “Our pasts.”
“Right...right, exactly,” Lois said a little relieved, and sat down next to him on the couch. “And.... Well...I just wanted you to know...uh...why I’ve been a little skittish about crossing the intimacy threshold. And.... And you’ve been so understanding that I thought maybe you were a little skittish too?” she asked hoping that she hadn’t sounded ridiculous.
“Well, uh...my experiences have been...,” Clark started, his face showing a sense of apprehension so unlike him.
Lois stared at him. He seemed so unsure, so nervous. Was there something in his past that he couldn’t share? He had told her about being Superman, what other big secret had he failed to tell her?
“...uh...different.”
“Mm hmm,” Lois said, picking up a sofa cushion that was between them and putting it on her lap and scootching closer to him.
Clark looked at her. He took a deep breath. How was he going to tell her? His life had been so strange. He was not of this world, yet he had been part of this world for twenty-seven years. He wanted so much to feel like he belonged. His parents had given him much of that, but it has been Lois who has really moved him toward feeling ready to give of himself totally to someone. He had waited until there was a someone who knew everything and he guessed that knowing this was part of knowing everything.
“*I’m* a little different.”
“Sure,” Lois said, looking up at him and encouraging him to go on.
He took another deep breath and began. “I mean. I’ve had girlfriends. I’ve dated.”
She nodded, her full attention on him.
“But *that* thing...” Clark said apprehensively. “...The intimacy threshold...the *big* threshold...” he said with a nervous chuckle. He sighed, looked down and then looked back at Lois. “I’ve never really...crossed it.”
Lois’ eyes went wide and the cushion she had in her lap, dropped to the floor.
“I...I’ve stepped right up,” Clark said “--taken a good look but...”
“Oh my God!” Lois exclaimed and began taking deep breaths.
“Lois, I’m not from here. So I’m always asking myself ‘Do I belong?’ Am I really supposed to have a life here?”
“Oh my God!” Lois repeated.
“Lois. Are you listening? ‘Cause I’m kind of pouring my heart out here,” Clark said looking at her intently.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just a little.... C...could we get some fresh air?
“Sure.”
Lois walked out onto the front porch with Clark following her.
“So what you’re saying is...you’re a v...vir...very patient man.”
Clark turned her to look at him. “Lois I needed to be sure. I needed to meet the one person that I could share everything with.”
“No, I admire the way you’ve dealt with this,” Lois said stepping back and fidgeting. “I...I also feel a little....”
“Yeah?” Clark urged.
“I just wish you’d told me about this before. I mean this is big,” Lois said pointedly.
“I didn’t know exactly how to bring it up,”
“It just adds pressure to a situation that has plenty of pressure,” Lois said, turning away again.
“Lois, there is no pressure,” Clark told her emphatically, reaching out and turning her back again. “Because...I’m sure I made the right choice. You’re the person I waited for.”
Lois’ faced softened as the tension drained and was replaced with warmth. She looked at Clark with understanding. Every day she learned more about this wonderful man--the man who loved her unconditionally, who supported her totally and who was her best friend--the man who she was going to marry.
She glanced over Clark’s shoulder through the living room window and saw the precious piece of quartz enclosed in its glass case. “Friends...they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to each other’s dreams.”
He had waited for her. His whole life, he had waited for the one person he could share things with. There had been friends, there had been his parents. But he needed that one deep relationship--the one who would provide that special support and love--the person to share his hopes and dreams.
“Oh, Clark,” she said softly with a touch of anguish. “I just wish I had waited, too.”
“No, no, no, n...,” Clark insisted, shaking his head and beginning to understand her concern.
“Well, I do,” Lois interrupted, shivering. “Especially since they were all practically federal disasters.”
“Well then think of it that way,” Clark said taking her hands and leading her out of the cold and back into the living room. “I’ll be your first non-federal disaster,” he continued, smiling that incredible smile of his. “And you’ll be my first...
Clark turned his head sharply.
“What do you hear?”
“Ah...bank alarm.”
“Go, Clark!”
“I’m sure the sheriff has it under control. I don’t want to leave while we’re...”
“I’m fine...Go!” she exclaimed.
Clark spun back into the suit for the second time that evening and flew off. Lois sighed and shut the front door.
***********
Superman landed at the bank building to find Rachel Harris just arriving. “I’ll check it out, he told her.”
Superman entered the bank and scanned everything. Nothing, no one there. His eyes lit on some exposed wires inside the time lock. He pulled open the box and using his heat vision, fused the wires.
“A wiring problem,” Superman told Rachel and the bank manager who had just appeared on the scene. “Bank alarm went off accidentally. I took care of it.”
“Thanks, Superman,” they both said together.
***********
Lois turned on the radio. KSML was playing some oldies music. Lois sank onto her couch. Her head was throbbing. This had, indeed, been a long day. She put her hand to her neck and rotated her head. Maybe she was coming down with the flu as her muscles were starting to ache. Lois began coughing. She couldn’t get sick, not just at the start of a new semester. Lois tried to get up to get some juice and maybe an aspirin. She felt strange, she had no strength and she wasn’t able to catch her breath. She collapsed back on the couch.
***********
Clark flew up into the sky. As he returned toward Lois’ he sensed something wrong. Using his x-ray vision, he saw Lois fall back on the couch and quickly flew through the window, shattering the glass and landing at her side.
“Lois!” he yelled.
She was unconscious. He leaned down and placing his mouth over hers, gave her mouth to mouth resuscitation. “Come on, Lois,” he demanded.
Lois started to cough. Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly came around.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m flying you to the hospital, right now.”
As the radio continued playing in the background, Clark gathered her into his arms and nudging open the door with his shoulder, he flew off with his precious cargo.
##### KSML ANNOUNCER: This is KSML, radio. Shots were fired at the Topeka Courthouse tonight during the arraignment of a suspected rapist. Father of the fifteen-year old victim opened fire wounding the suspect, a guard and killing Judge Deborah Joy LeVine. #####
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“Well, Dad.” Jaxon said, turning off the radio. That’s number four on the list.”
“What about Vivian Cox?” his father said looking at him sharply.
“We’ll try again, and just like I kept Superman busy with the bank alarm and with saving Lois Lane, I’ll make sure there’s no interference this time.”
“You’d better!” Lex hissed. “Your ineptitude is beginning to show.”
“I’ll show you ineptitude!” he yelled. “They’ll all get theirs!”
“I want Lois Lane saved for last,” Lex dictated.
“So do I,” Jaxon said. “’He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.’”
“Ah,” Lex said smiling. “Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’. I’m impressed! Maybe I miscalculated calling you inept.”
“I’ll make you proud of me. We’ll get them all for what they did.” Jaxon said fervently.
“There’s another quotation from Sun Tsu where he miscalculated,” Lex informed his son. “’Anger can revert to joy, but a nation destroyed cannot be restored to existence, and the dead cannot be restored to life.’ We proved him erroneous, you and I.”
“Right!” Jaxon echoed.
“So we’re together. Lois Lane will be last, but I agree it would be fun to toy with her for awhile. Meanwhile Vivian Cox is next,” he ordered.
***********
Superman landed Lois at the hospital and then left to reenter quickly as Clark.
“She has the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning,” the doctor told them both. “You should check her house quickly, these accidents have happened in many old homes around here. She shouldn’t return to her home tonight,” he suggested. “Superman gave her the best treatment for that poisoning, flying her through clean air. She should be okay now, as it was caught in time. But keep her up, breathing deeply and walking around or exercising. Don’t let her go to bed for another five to six hours.”
“You’re coming with me,” Clark told her, and was surprised that she did not protest at all.
Once outside, Clark spun into his suit and picked her up in his arms. “Let’s go on a little trip,” he told her, as he flew her up into the sky. “Since the doctor said that plenty of fresh air is the best thing for you, I have an idea.”
Lois smiled at him but shivered slightly. Using his heat vision, Clark warmed her up and headed south. They reached a secluded beach south of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, and he spun back into Clark’s clothing.
“Let’s just walk,” he told her, taking her hand.
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Kansas City, Kansas
Thursday,
January 13, 1994
11:50 p.m.
Vivian Cox boarded the red eye flight from Kansas City to Los Angeles. She looked at her watch as she sat down and buckled herself in. The flight should get her into LAX at about 1:15 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. That would allow her to arrive at the hotel and get maybe six hours sleep before the 9:00 a.m. opening session at the Conference Center.
Vivian was pleased that she could be of help to her husband and represent Smallville at the small town mayor’s conference. She had hopes of trying to convince the planners that such a conference should be held in rotating small towns around the country in lieu of major cities. She understood that hosting such a convention would be difficult due to its size, but what a boon it would be.
She settled back into the seat and closed her eyes.
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Playa Olas Altas, Mexico
Friday,
January 14, 1994
4:30 a.m. CST
Lois leaned back into Clark’s arms as they lay against a small boulder on the beach. It felt so good to be there with the warm breeze, the sound of the surf, Clark’s scent and his gentle strength enveloping her.
Clark pulled Lois even closer to him and kissed the top of her head.
Lois turned her face up to him, and kissed him. She sighed into the kiss as she opened her mouth and let his tongue explore. They pulled apart reluctantly and Lois
reached up and removed his glasses and put them in his pocket. She softly caressed his face as she memorized each and ever facet of it--his eyes so gentle and full of desire, his chin so strong and sure and his lips, so soft and inviting. She kissed him again.
Lois held her hand up and looked at her ring yet another time. She would never get tired of doing that. Then she looked up at her future husband. “I never thought I could be so happy,” she said. “You make me feel so complete.”
“Lois, you make me feel so many things and all at once,” Clark told her as he gently stroked her shoulder. “Happy. But kinda scared, too. Excited...calm...lost... found.” He paused and looked deeply into her eyes as Lois reached up and ran her hand through his hair.
“I feel safe in a way that I’ve never known,” Clark continued. But in danger, too. This thing between us, whatever it is....it’s stronger than me. Being with you is stronger than me alone. That’s new to me,” he finished, and pulled her into his arms and kissed her, deeply, passionately.
Once again, they unwillingly pulled apart. “Uh...we...have to...,” Clark began.
“Hmmmm...yes...I know...” Lois finished dejectedly. “School in...” she said looking at her watch, “...three hours.”
Clark spun back into Superman and lifting her in his arms, he sped them back to Smallville.
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Smallville, Kansas
Friday,
January 14, 1994
3:30 p.m. CST
Keith, Emily, Cindy and Tom were congregated around a large table at the Smallville High School Library.
“Hey, Emily. I heard about your Aunt,” Tom said. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, Tom. She’s fine. It was really funny, though.”
“Why?” Keith asked.
“Well, Aunt Vivian just had her car checked by my brother over at the garage where he works,” Emily explained. “Ben said it was in top notch condition--nothing wrong with the brakes.”
“That is strange,” Cindy agreed. “But not as strange as the stuff I found on the Bartas.”
“Yeah,” Keith replied. “We should get to work. I gotta go cover a basketball game for the paper tonight, and we gotta lot to do.”
“You start, Emily,” Tom suggested. “You researched Laslo and Lillian.”
“Well,” Emily began. “Laslo Barta came to the United States in 1871, when he was nine years old. He and his family made their money peddling snake oil remedies. They went from town to town mostly around Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas selling stuff that grew hair, or stopped rheumatism or kept you young.”
“Yuck,” Cindy said. “I remember some TV shows showing those traveling peddlers, they were sleezes.”
“Go on,” Keith encouraged Emily.
“Well in 1880 when Laslo was eighteen, the family arrived in Smallville and were promptly escorted out of town by Sheriff Kent.”
“Sheriff Kent?” Cindy asked.
“Uh huh,” Emily replied. “Mr. Kent’s great-great grandfather. There was a whole line of Kent marshals and sheriffs. Mr. Kent’s father was the first one who didn’t go into the family business.”
“So how did Laslo wind up staying here?” Tom asked.
“Lillian Langworthy,” she said smiling. “They saw each other and fell in love instantly. She hid him in her father’s barn. He never left.”
“Wow!” Cindy said. “He was only eighteen. Right?”
“And she was seventeen. They got married really young back then,” Emily explained. “Well Laslo and Lillian were married. Laslo worked on her father’s farm, but he kept on experimenting on oils and remedies and other brews.”
“Lavinia was born in 1881 and Leticia was born in 1882,” Cindy, who had the assignment of the aunts,” interjected.
“Right,” Emily agreed. “They continued to live with Lillian’s father until 1885 when Mr. Langworthy died. Laslo took over the running of the farm, but was never very good at it. They had to sell the farm, and they moved into a small house in town. Lillian worked at the feed store, and Laslo got a job at the pharmacy. He wasn’t a trained pharmacist, but he helped out around the store; and in his spare time, kept on experimenting in the back room of the pharmacy.”
“So what happened?” Keith asked. “How did they get to the big house on Maple street?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Emily told them. “But Laslo Barton was the one who really invented Coca Cola.”
“Huh, no way!” Tom exclaimed. “They’d be billionaires. And look how Miss Libby lives."
“Well, that’s the story, and it’s probably only a story,” Emily admitted. “I did go on line and I found this.” Emily opened a folded sheet of paper and read: “Coca-Cola was invented in May, 1886, by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. The name ‘Coca-Cola’ was suggested by Dr. Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. He penned the name Coca-Cola in the flowing script that is famous today. Coca-Cola was first sold at a soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta by Willis Venable.”
“So Laslo didn’t invent it.” Tom said.
“The story goes that Dr. John S. Pemberton a pharmacist, stopped in at the pharmacy that Laslo worked at and...”
“And what?” Cindy asked.
“No one knows for sure,” Emily explained. “But Laslo started getting some money from a strange source and neither he nor Lillian had to work again. Laslo designed the Maple Street House and they moved into it in 1887.”
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Smallville, Kansas
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
7:23 CST
Libby Barton ran back into the living room at 417 Maple Street and then yelled out for those in the kitchen to hear.
“Aunt Letty! They’re saying that Martians have landed in New Jersey!”
“They’ve got nothing on what’s landed here,” Letty snorted, looking at her brother, Lloyd.
“Now Letty,” Lloyd insisted. “You know that I’m not the only strange one in this family,” he said as they trooped out into the living room and gathered around the radio.
“Listen!” Libby implored.
##### PHILLIPS: . . .I wish I could convey the atmosphere . . . the background of this . . . fantastic scene. Hundreds of cars are parked in a field in back of us. Police are trying to rope off the roadway leading to the farm. But it's no use. They're breaking right through. Cars' headlights throw an enormous spot on the pit where the object's half buried. Some of the more daring souls are now venturing near the edge. Their silhouettes stand out against the metal sheen. #####
A faint humming sound came from the radio once again.
##### PHILLIPS: One man wants to touch the thing . . . he's having an argument with a policeman. The policeman wins. . . . Now, ladies and gentlemen, there's something I haven't mentioned in all this excitement, but now it's becoming more distinct. Perhaps you've caught it already on your radio. Listen: #####
There was a long pause before Phillips continued.
##### PHILLIPS: Do you hear it? It's a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I'll move the microphone nearer. (Another pause) Now we're not more then twenty-five feet away. Can you hear it now? Oh, Professor Pierson!
PIERSON: Yes, Mr. Phillips?
PHILLIPS: Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing?
PIERSON: Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface.
PHILLIPS: I see, do you still think it's a meteor, Professor?
PIERSON: I don't know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial . . . not found on this earth. Friction with the earth's atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and, as you can see, of cylindrical shape.
PHILLIPS: Just a minute! Something's happening! Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific! This end...the end of the thing is beginning to flake off! The top is beginning to rotate like a screw! The thing must be hollow!
VOICES: She's movin'! Look, the darn thing's unscrewing! Keep back, there! Keep back, I tell you! Maybe there's men in it trying to escape! It's red hot, they'll burn to a cinder! Keep back there. Keep those idiots back!
Suddenly there was a clanking sound of a huge piece of falling metal.
VOICES: She's off! The top's loose! Look out there! Stand back!
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed . . . Wait a minute! Someone's crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . . #####
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Smallville, Kansas
Sunday,
January 16, 1994
3:15 p.m. CST
The door at the back of the auditorium slammed as a man entered and began walking down the aisle to the stage. The eleven people sitting on chairs at the Smallville Players audition couldn’t make out the person that was entering out of the darkness, due to the fact that the stage lights blinded the group.
As the man mounted the stairs and strode up onto the stage, he glanced at everyone sharply, instantaneously taking in all that surrounded him. He was obviously a man who was well versed in commanding attention; and he paused, dramatically, while a dozen pair of eyes stared at him.
The man knew that given the simpletons in front of him, he had to appear gregarious and become “one of them”. He flashed a smile.
“I hope this is the audition for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’,” he asked them, using as kind and open a tone of voice as his genus could resonate. “I’m sorry to be late, but as I’m new to your community, I sort of got lost. I hope I’m not intruding?” the man inquired graciously.
“No, you’re not intruding,” Martha said quickly, sensing fresh meat--a new man who was interested in theatre. She rose and walked toward him extending her hand in welcome. “And, yes these are the auditions. I’m Martha Kent and I’ll be directing this piece. You’ll meet the others as we go along. And you’re...?
“Thurston. Richard Thurston.” And noticing an empty seat, he looked back at Martha. “Is it all right if I sit down next to that lovely young lady,” he asked indicating Lois Lane.
tbc
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