Oh, Nancy, be sure, I can pronounce supercalifragilisticexpialadocious. But you could try "Streichholzschächtelchen" instead that's tough ( and I've heard even impossible) if you're first language is English.
No, thanks. It was just a joke anyway. Let’s just stick to serendipity. Or how about esophagogastroduodenscopy <g>. Nah... You probably have that one down, too. <more giggles> Or maybe after what Mellie said, Tether, Feather, or Thing might be more appropriate. <g> Or how about Thalasic.
If anything, this isn't an East Coast, but a Central European thing.
Are they really that hard on folks in Germany? Wow?
But then Mellie said:
I just the real CSD in Germany was half as diligent as the one you pictured in your story. Might have saved a few young lives
Ah-ha, so they aren’t that hard on folks in Germany either.
It seems you also mentioned something like this to me in an email.
What I can tell for sure is that the government in my country is stronger than in the USA, and I'm surely influenced by that fact.
You mean in the aspect of having more control over the citizens?
However, Clark's problems are established now, and I'm not going to correct previously posted sections for the sake of getting this out of my plot.
No, I wouldn’t expect you to. I just thought it was strange that they showed up in Metropolis. The Smallville aspect I could understand more. But even if the folks in Smallville had called the folks in Metropolis, it would have been unusual for anything to happen that fast. They probably wouldn’t have done anything more than maybe make a phone call as to Becca’s welfare. Or they might have asked to school to watch for bruises, etc, which the school would do anyway. Of course, maybe one of the ‘nasty’ folks could have worked in Smallville previously and now they work in Metropolis and maybe that person has a vendetta against Clark. Maybe it’s a relative of the ‘other’ grandparents. Or even the real father. Of course, if that were the case and the real father was making a claim, they would probably have already done paternity testing. Those might be ways that would make it more believable to me. But even if the real father made a claim, it would still carry a *lot* of weight that Clark’s name is on the birth certificate. And it would have been pretty easy to prove that the real father had run out on her. And I’m just not buying it that social services would be this darn mean. I just absolutely hate it that they showed up in Metropolis.
I think Tank put it brilliantly in his TOGOM story.
What story is that?
Ohh, and I know Nancy, you're still not convinced, I guess...
We’ll see.
Ah, poor Clark - mean bullies anyway.
When Lily had gotten tired of discussing this with him, she had just kissed him and Clark had been too startled to pull back. He hadn’t been prepared for the following attacks, either. Lily had just amazing skills in preparing a surprise attack.
Lost in thought as he was, Clark didn’t see the fist that met his jaw a split second later. He hadn’t been fast enough to duck away. Clark was taken by surprise and he staggered back. He heard laughter and a whimper from the guy who had punched him. Clark wasn’t hurt, he had felt the contact, but that was pretty much all.
“Hey, geek!” one of the guys that had approached him shouted. They hardly even noticed that their friend was hurt; they were too busy with mocking Clark. He watched the guys in front of him closely. They were already drunk; wasted, really.
“Would you just leave me alone, please?” Clark pleaded, touching his jaw as if the punch had caused him pain as well. He had a look at Lana and to his relief she seemed okay.
Wait, who is Clark kissing here? First he seems to be kissing Lily. Then he’s kissing Lana. So who was he kissing when he got hit?
I love that Lois is jumping in to defend Clark.
Clark looked at her and smiled sadly. “Various reasons. Let’s just say I had some problems in my youth. I was out with a girl and a few guys attacked us. I tried to defend the girl. I never intended to hurt anyone but it happened. That wasn’t the only incident. I can’t really explain that to you, now. When Lily died, Child Services ran a check on me and unfortunately they discovered something they called violent tendencies.”
Okay, I guess this happened when he was already 18 (or else he got charged with something as an adult). Otherwise those records would be sealed up tight (and I mean very tight). Tell me what he did. Did somebody die? Did he actually get charged with something? Did he break arms? Did he cause concussions or brain injuries? Did he serve jail time? Elaborate please!! If he’d been charged with murder or even manslaughter he’d most likely still be in jail. And he wouldn’t be the first teenager that got in a fight that resulted in folks being hurt. That doesn’t mean child services would follow that person around when they became older and more responsible.
“They decided to have a closer look at us. But things got really bad when Becca was about five years old. She didn’t sleep well at night because she was afraid of the dark. She often woke up screaming in the middle of the night. A curious neighbor didn’t believe that they were just nightmares. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen. He called Child Services and informed them. Last but not least, Becca’s maternal grandparents never believed that I was her real father. I guess they couldn’t live with the fact that Lily and I were cousins.” Clark made a brief pause and looked at Lois. “I was adopted,” he added, to dismiss the idea of inbreeding.
Awww... Poor Becca! Oh, I can certainly understand the call over the screams. But I’d think Child Services would have found that she was having nightmares and that she wasn’t being abused. They most certainly would have taken her to the hospital to be examined for bruises. And they would have done xrays to see if there had been any broken bones. But I can see that they would certainly have given him a very hard time!
Clark had to tell Lois the truth! I like that. She will be his greatest defender (more than me).
“It can’t tell you, Lois. This test doesn’t say who changed the diapers or who got up late at night to soothe a crying baby. I saw Becca’s first steps, I listened to her mom as she sang her to sleep and I almost worked 24 hours a day to earn money and go to college. This test just tells you about the conception, but nothing about what happened afterwards. I’m the person she calls ‘Daddy’, but I’m not the one who got her mom pregnant.”
Yes, that’s what makes a daddy, Clark - not the conception.
Suddenly Lois could imagine why Child Services assumed that Clark Kent could be violent. He seemed threatening and Lois felt that he would be able to do a lot of things when it came to defending his daughter.
Wait, wait. What did he do that seemed threatening to Lois?
But surely you see now that a paternity test would only make things worse.”
“Yeah, I see that now.” Lois replied softly.
I hope Lois can help him.
I eagerly await more.
Yeah, Lara... Und ich habe grosse Arme, auch. And I know you really like those arms.
you are getting *so* good at writing in English, now.
Yes, you are! Remember all that confusion we had ‘communicating’ when I beta read Seven Seconds? I didn’t see that at all when I beta read Lara’s birthday present.