So now we have come to Act III, About a Boy. It's going to focus on Jory, then? I'm not complaining.
It's so funny to see Lois and Clark "trade places" again and again in this story. Now it is Lois who wants to take Luthor down, because she knows that he is dirty, but she hasn't got any proof. At least I don't foresee her having to persuade Clark not to marry Lex Luthor!
And this Lois is careful:
The fact that Perry was getting some feedback from her case was enough to scare her into hiding. Normally, she wouldn't back down from a mild threat like this, but in this situation, the stakes were too high. Her profile needed to be lower than low. It needed to be nonexistent.
Now this is a different Lois!
It had been almost two months since she and Clark had made their escape from the sinister talons of Lana Lang. Lois had flown them to Vegas in Lex's chopper where they had landed just outside the city and had abandoned the craft after giving it a thorough wipedown. The last thing they wanted to do was give Lex any indication that they were the ones who had stolen his helicopter.
And Lois had singlehandedly taken down Lex's guard, stolen the billionaire's helicopter and flown it to the outskirts of Las Vegas. She and Clark were careful about not leaving any traces of themselves in their ride, too.
After that, they had walked the rest of the way to the city and Lois had used a pay phone to call for help. A former boyfriend with whom she had retained a friendship with had provided them a ride back to Metropolis on his private plane. Lois had wanted to be certain that they left no traces of having ever been in Nevada that weekend.
I'm a little surprised that Clark could walk, given that he was in pretty bad shape, but once again, Lois got them out of their difficult situation by calling in reinforcements (her former boyfriend).
He felt a tugging on his pant leg and looked down. “Jory says hello.”
Lois laughed. “Tell him I said hi. So how was the appointment?“
“It was…”
Jory pulled on his leg again, holding his arm up. <Tell mommy pain my arm> he signed.
Clark rolled his eyes. The little boy had to be the most stubborn child in the world. The more he had tried to get him to understand that Lois was not his mother, the more the child was convinced otherwise. Apparently, Jory was under the impression that children were given parents… not the other way around.
<Not pretty.> Jory gave him an impatient look. <Tell!>
His silence prompted Lois to call out. “Clark?”
“Sorry, Jory has more to tell you. Dr. Klein took more blood today and didn't have any more of the fun band-aids on hand.”
Everything you write about Jory is lovely.
And it's great that Dr. Klein is really getting involved in Jory's case!
The good news is that Doctor Klein didn't see any evidence of additional cell degeneration in the last two tests. It seems that he's stabilizing for the most part.”
Jory is stabilizing! That's great!
The line went quiet for a moment. The cochlear implant discussion had come up before, and there had never been a true consensus on the issue. Dr. Klein's working theory was that whatever biological function that made Clark's body heal itself was what was causing Jory's problems with his ears. Dr. Klein compared the process to the hypothetical advancement of nanocites – the futuristic biological machines that would allow surgeons to perform corrections at the cellular level.
It turned out that there was a deformation in the child's inner ear canal that had become the focus of attention for the regenerative organisms and these were the actions that caused Jory's seizures. The nanocites couldn't permanently fix his ears for some reason, but the occasions when they made headway brought an onslaught of unfamiliar sounds that Jory's brain didn't know how to process… But every time the sounds broke through, the deformation reverted itself, and the process would begin all over again.
Let me see if I got this correctly. Clark has some sort of "super" gene, for lack of a better word, that makes his body repair itself. Jory has this gene too, and this gene is trying to repair his ears, but it is unable to permanently fix them. But sometimes the "restorative gene" manages to temporarily "fix" Jory's ears, so that he can suddenly perceive an onslaught of sound. But when that happens, Jory reacts with shock and pain, and he goes deaf again.
Now Dr. Klein and Clark want to deal with the problem by giving Jory an implant that will restore Jory's hearing? Is that right?
He heard Lois sigh. “Well, I've got news too,” she said, finally breaking the stalemate. Apparently, she didn't want to bring up old arguments. “We got the Pulitzer. Perry told me today.”
Wow!!!! This is wonderful!!! Lois and Clark won a Pulitzer, and Lois is this indifferent about it!
“I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget about the barbeque tomorrow.”
Clark smiled in amusement. “You've been reminding every day for the past week.”
“Hey, don't shoot the middle man,” she returned lightly. “If you didn't dodge every invite my mother sent your way, I wouldn't have to play bounty hunter… So, I'll come by tomorrow around one, okay?”
“We'll be ready.”
And Clark and Jory are invited to a barbecue with the Lanes tomorrow, and there is every chance of this event being a success!
This was another great chapter, Sonia!
Ann
