Hi Barbara!
Charly felt the tremors even before an earthquake rocked the village. Grout and dust fell from the ceiling of the old hardware store in the middle of nowhere, Oregon.
Was wondering at first if this is a prequel to FDK: What's Love Gotta Do With It? Then, I saw Oregon. And while writing the FDK, that’s Charly up there, not Clark. So, Charles King with an alternative spelling? Or is this a gender bender? Also, title lines up wonderfully with fault lines.
Despite the late hour the place was unusually crowded with four customers.
That’s a fun juxtaposition, crowded and four.
“Everyone out of here,” he shouted.
He caught the first beam that gave way,
Not a gender bender, but also not Vanilla Clark.
“An Gleis 10 erhält Einfahrt die S19 nach Au an der Sieg über Köln/ Bonn Flughafen,” a metallic voice declared.
Did he hear a train announcement from Germany in Oregon? Is this because Lois is there? Also, is this word order normal for announcements with DB? Not sure if this is a clue, a typo, or a way DB constructs automated messages to make them easier to splice the variable information.
The screeching died down and Charly blinked his eyes open. A giant double deck train passed him by.
Oh dear. He did not fall through a fault line in space and time, did he?
The shoulder he sat on, shrugged. “They say that the train to Hamburg arrives on another platform. Happens every day.”
He shrunk. I dismissed the ear, but no, he shrunk. Or arrived in a blown up universe.
Shoulder and voice belonged to a woman, dark brown hair, chocolate eyes and ivory skin. Charly fought to keep his balance.
LOIS:
“Oh right!” the woman said, not seeming the least bit surprised about having a man stand on her shoulder who was just the size of an action figure, apparently.
“Clark Kent!” she beamed at him. “So nice to meet you.”
You really are giving Mary a run for her money on the challenge of novell Setups
“Ja, auch Deutsch. Wie bin ich überhaupt hierher gekommen?”
“Mir war langweilig,” the woman said.
Given how most of the time, we don’t get native speakers for this sort of thing, it’s so disconcerting to read normal German dialogue
also, what’s happening?
As if boredom was a perfectly reasonable explanation for his waking up on a train station in Germany, small enough to fit on a shoulder.
Is it wrong when you don’t see something strange in this?
“Mist,” she muttered. “I don’t think the cape is quite right.”
Clark stared back at her. Either this was the weirdest dream ever or some of the debris must have hit him hard. What cape?
Did you ever read the nfic for It’s a Small World After All? /Wonders how strange things are going to get/
Luise’s smile faltered. “I guess that’s my cue. Gotta catch that train.”
Hey! You can’t leave your action Clark alone!
For some reason he couldn’t fathom, he had to follow her. As if she had a gravitational field of her own which he couldn’t escape.
Of course! She’s about the size of the yellow sun.
He tapped her ear. “Much as I appreciate you showing me around, Luise. How did I get here?”
She ignored him. “It’s even more impressive inside.”
/Taps foot/
Now aware of his open display of powers, he fidgeted. But nobody seemed to notice him.
He really is quite the Tinker Bell.
She studied him curiously. “You’re not like the others, are you?”
“You’re just a figment of my imagination,” she said, loud enough that passers-by turned their heads.
“Usually my imaginary friends vanish as soon as I say that.”
I quite appreciate the bits of gestation history about story I got earlier. Gives some extra smiles.
Of course you are. You’re a comic book character and I drew a picture of you. Sometimes they come to life.” She pulled out her sketchbook and opened the dog-eared page. “See?”
Clark stared at the picture of himself holding a ceiling, to keep it from crashing down. People were running past him.
I did not see that one coming
“I guess, I could try and tear the picture to shreds. That would probably make you vanish. But I’d appreciate it if you’d stay a while longer.”
Her face clouded over. “I don’t want to go home just yet.”
Okay, just how do you expect to get away without turning this into a series?
Also, lovely description of Köln and the Don
The title makes even more sense now that I read to the end of this. And the little hint earlier with the little Clark in the comic book he noticed in a throw-away line. Masterfully done
Michael
Looking forward to the next part.
