Chapter Two – I Watched the Earth Float to the Dark Side of the Moon
Lois slid from her sofa onto the floor and curled her knees up to her chest. She wondered if Jimmy had made it safely to his first destination. He was supposed to be landing in Cape Town and meeting up with other journalist who he’d met online. From there, the group of five would take a charter flight to the very edge of Malawi and then drive into The Democratic Republic of Congo with an escort who runs a mission in the area.
…
Clark flicked off his TV when he heard his phone ring. It’d been a long week and he really didn’t feel like talking to anyone, but he answered anyways.
“Hello?” He answered, trying not to sound so uninterested.
“Clark?” The voice on the other end spoke softly and Clark was sure he heard a faint sob.
“Lois, are you okay?” Clark asked.
“Are you busy?” She asked, her voice cracking slightly.
“No, what’s up?” Clark replied, knowing how hard Jimmy’s trip was on Lois.
“Do you wanna go grab something to eat?” Lois asked.
“Sure. The Mexican place on third?”
Lois agreed before hanging up her phone and tossing it on the table.
…
Clark was seated at a small table on the front patio of the restaurant when he saw Lois pull her jeep up to the curb.
“Sorry I took so long.” Lois said as she walked around the wrought iron fence to where Clark was sitting.
“It’s fine. I just got here.” He replied, standing up to greet her. What he didn’t expect was for Lois to throw herself into his arms. He returned her hug, squeezing her tightly in his arms.
“Hey, he’s gonna be fine.” Clark said, looking down at his best friend’s face.
“Is he? Does he know what it’s like out there, Clark? You’ve been to some of the places he’s going to! I almost *died* in the Congo!”
Clark nodded as he pulled out Lois’ chair out for her to sit.
“Lois, the same things that compelled us to see the world are compelling him. We should be proud of him.” Clark said reassuringly.
“I will be proud of him once I’m done being mad at him, which won’t be until he gets home.”
Clark laughed.
“You’re going to be mad at him for eighteen months?”
Lois nodded assuredly.
“I can hold a grudge, Clark. You of all people should know that.”
Clark rolled his eyes in mock dramatics.
…
It had been three weeks since Jimmy left and the moods had improved somewhat, but things just weren’t the same without him. Lois wasn’t quite the mess she’d been at first and Perry wasn’t quite the bully he’d been toward the interns and other reporters.
Clark, strong, dependable Clark, was the rock throughout it all. He filtered Perry’s demands and kept tissues in his desk for Lois’ sudden breakdowns, but he wasn’t without his own pain. His faith in Jimmy’s abilities kept him strong. He’d been there. He’d been the young man wanting to see the world for himself before. He understood.
…
It was a Friday afternoon when Lois entered the newsroom with Clark. They had been out meeting a source that never showed, and they were snapping at each other for the tiniest of things.
“Clark, I can hear you chewing you gum.” Lois sniped as she pushed past him on the ramp.
“I didn’t think you could hear anything outside of your own opinion, Lois.” Clark retorted, implying that Lois should have listened to him in the first place when he told her this source wasn’t going to show after the first two hours of waiting around.
“I *am* the senior reporter, Clark.” Lois pointed out acidly.
“You know—“
Lois cut Clark off with a flick of her wrist.
“Shut up.” She said as she picked a semi-crushed envelope up off her desk.
It looked like it’d been through hell and back just to get to her desk and Lois quickly noted that it was from the stationary set that she’d given Jimmy. It was pale blue with a faded scene of Metropolis printed on it.
Clark was taken aback by Lois’ words as he stepped closer to her. He saw her ripping open the enveloped and tossing the familiar looking scrap onto her desk after pulling out the letter contained inside.
“Is that from Jimmy?” Clark asked, looking over her shoulder. He answered his own question and called to Perry as he walked by.
“We got a letter from Jimmy!” Clark shouted.
The three of them stood as Lois read the letter loud enough for them to hear.
Dear Lois, Clark & Chief,
Look Lois, I’m using your stationary set!
The three of them laughed at that comment briefly as Lois continued reading.
I have no idea how long it’ll take to for this letter to get to you, but I hope it’ll reach you eventually. I landed safely, and the flight from California was pretty uneventful. The movie was ‘What Women Want’, so I got to catch up on my sleep!
“Chick flicks.” Perry mumbled as Lois continued.
Cape Town was pretty amazing and I met up with my friends from that photo-journalism forum. They’re all great! Jennifer is a total Betty, but she’s like you Lois: all business and no time for fun. We’ve really gotta work on that when I get back! I guess I’m able to say that because by the time I do get back, you’ll have forgotten and won’t feel inclined to smack me in the back of the head.
“Soooo true.” Clark said.
“Hey!” Lois shot back. “I have tons of time for fun!” She defended.
“Lois, work doesn’t count as fun.” Clark retorted.
“Knock it off. Lois, keep reading!” Perry grumbled, interrupting their micro-squabble.
If you thought it was hot during that heat wave last year when Metropolis tried to run Superman out of town, you remember what I’m talking about, anyways, if you thought THAT was hot, you wouldn’t believe how hot it is here. We drove in a minibus from Malawi into the Congo with a man who runs the mission. It was just like the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine except the air conditioning didn’t work, and it took hours because the stupid thing can’t go any faster than 35 miles an hour! By the time we got to the mission, we were all sweaty and gross. It didn’t actually matter though, because everyone else was as well. So much for social etiquette of deodorant, right?
We’ll be sticking around the mission for a while to help give vaccinations to a group of people who are supposed to arrive later today. Our guide showed us where we’ll be sleeping tonight. The cots are covered with netting. Apparently the insects out here are pretty vicious.
I guess that’s all I have to say right now. I miss you guys something fierce and hope you’re all well.
Love,
Jimmy.
….
Over the course of the next four months, things around the Planet went back to normal, or as normal as they could be without Jimmy around. A new researcher was hired, but his work was nowhere near as thorough as Jimmy’s.
Lois was sitting at her desk, trying to decipher something that a source told her when she saw Clark coming down the ramp. She got up, carrying her empty coffee cup and met him at the coffee station.
…
“Morning. Where have you been?” Lois asked as he filled both of their cups.
“I overslept.” Clark said, lying to cover the fact that Superman had to rescue an old lady from a burglar that ended up just being her cat trapped in the linen closet.
“Lois, I was wondering if I could ask you something…” Clark started slowly.
“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Lois asked as she added the milk to her coffee.
“It’s not a bad thing…” Clark started.
“Uh oh. How much do you need?” Lois asked.
“What?” Clark asked, confused by her question.
“You’ve got that tone, like you wanna borrow money or clothes…” Lois said, trailing off as they walked down the steps into the bullpen.
“That’s it, Lois. I wanna borrow your clothes.” Clark said, laughing slightly.
“You know, I think you’d look real cute in black chiffon.” Lois retorted cheekily.
“So how much do you need?” She asked, heading toward her desk.
“It’s not money, Lois”
Lois smiled and turned to face him briefly.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Clark. I’m happy to lend it to you.” She said before turning back and continuing on her path to her desk.
“I wanna ask you out, Lois.” Clark said boldly.
Lois froze at his words.
“What?” She finally said, turning around as Clark took several steps toward her.
“I want to ask you out.” He repeated more softly.
“Like… on a date?” Lois asked slowly.
Clark nodded softly.
“Like on a date.” He said, repeating her words.
Lois stammered over several lengths of nervous babbling before finally agreeing to go out with him on the terms that if things became too awkward they’d pretend it never happened and go back to where they were in their relationship before the date.
Things weren’t awkward on their first date.
They weren’t awkward on the second, third, fourth or fifth date either.
…
“Morning Beautiful.” Clark said as he walked up beside Lois’ desk.
“Morning.” She said glancing up briefly at him with a smile.
“What are you working on?” Clark asked, leaning over her shoulder.
“I’m just making a list of the things I’ll need to spend the weekend with your family in Smallville. I’m kind of excited to get out of the city for a couple of days.” Lois said as she jotted down a reminder to pack rain boots.
“Yea, you definitely need those if we’re going to the apple orchard. It gets pretty muddy.” Clark said, reading her list.
Lois smiled and dramatically drew a big star next to the item, so she knew it was important.
“Ms. Lane?”
Lois and Clark both turned to see the face of the young man pushing the mail cart.
“I’ve got a couple of things for you.” He said as he reached on his cart and handed her a small stack of envelopes.
“Thanks.” Lois said, waving politely as he strolled away to deliver the rest of his cargo.
“Junk, more junk, fancy…” Lois said as she dropped all her stuff on her desk and opened the embossed envelope.
“You’re invited!” She read out loud with a flare. “Ugh… JUNK!” She said as she dropped the invitation into her trash bin.
“What is it?” Clark asked, picking it up out of the basket and looking at it.
“Clark, you know you’re supposed to take *out* the trash, not dig through it.” Lois said sarcastically as he read the invitation silently.
“It’s for your cousin’s wedding, Lois! You have to go!” Clark said placing the invitation on her desk firmly.
“Clark, it’s for her *fifth* wedding! I went to the first four. She’s going to stand before her family and friends, and tell this man how he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her and vow to love him forever. Then she’s going to open the expensive gifts we all got her because in the Lane family, you’re only as good as the amount of money you spend on someone’s gift. Then six months later she’s going to file for divorce, take him for half of what he owns and run off to a remote island with her next future husband.”
Clark chuckled and sighed.
“I see.” He said, sweeping the invitation off the edge of Lois’ desk and back into the waste basket.
“My thoughts exactly.” Lois said picking the rest of her mail up.
“Hmm, chocolate of the month club. Do I *want* to renew?” Lois questioned sarcastically and pretended to think.
“Is that even a question?” Clark asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“You know me so well! Here, fill this out for me?” She asked as she handed him her wallet from inside her desk drawer.
“Use the Visa.” She said as she flipped through the rest of her mail.
“Oh!! A letter from Jimmy!” She shouted, jumping up and running toward Perry’s office.
Clark replaced her card and wallet to her desk drawer quickly and followed her path.
“Chief!” Lois said excitedly, interrupting Perry’s phone call.
“Lois, can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” Perry grumbled at her.
“Letter from Jimmy!” She said, her excitement not faltering.
“Oh, hey dumplin’ I’m gonna put you on speaker phone, so you can hear the letter from Jimmy.” Perry said, revealing that he was speaking to his wife.
“Go on, read it.” Perry instructed after setting up the phone.
Me Again!
I hope you got my first letter. If not, I swear I sent one before now! I have no idea how long it takes to get there, but I swear I’ve written! Sorry if it isn’t as often as you’d like, Lois, but it really is hectic trying to get a letter out. I enclosed a memory card with some photos on it for you guys. I’ve got enough spares to last me a while and I know you’re just gonna love what you see!
I’ve fallen head over heels in love!
“Oh brother!” Lois mumbled before continuing.
Her name is Sigele and I met her at the mission while I was staying there. She’s the most brilliant four year-old I’ve ever met.
“Oh, Jimmy!” Alice said through the phone.
There are a bunch of photos of her and I on that card. You’ll know exactly who she is as soon as you see her. She’s got the most adorable smile. She looks like a cabbage patch doll! She was orphaned last year when her entire village was burned down. She doesn’t speak much, but she’s got the most intense sense of things. She’s fascinated by everything about me… especially my camera, which is why there are so many photos of her!
I really don’t know what to say other than that I’m safe and really enjoying myself. If you did get my last letter, I told you about the bugs apparently being vicious. Not only are they most definitely vicious, but they’re the size of Dobermans! I encountered a spider with a body the size of my fist! I kid you not!
I guess that’s all for now! I just made it to Rwanda and we’ve got a full day’s walk to get to the make-shift hospital we’ll be staying at tonight.
All my love,
Jimmy
…
Lois smiled as she folded the letter back up and took the small camera memory card out of the envelope.
“Let’s check out these pictures.” She said as she handed it to Perry to insert into his computer.
