From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0107C" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 08:02:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Evening editions On Fri, 13 Jul 2001 20:25:29 -0700, Diane Trim wrote: >This is the first time I've posted to the list, though >I've read just about every fic in the archive. I just >couldn't hold back on this request! And we're so glad you came out of lurkdom! Welcome to the addicting world of posting. Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 08:13:05 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Pablum? Friday morning, TNT ran "Faster Than A Speeding Vixen", which had Lois's always funny daydream about what it would be like if she and Clark had kids. ("How ya doin' in there, Your Holiness?!") At one point, Clark says, "Oh, look, honey, Jimmy spit up his pablum." Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "pablum" an old-fashioned term for "formula"? I've been doin' the 'mom thing' for 6 years now and I have never heard anyone my age (which is basically L&C's age) use the term "pablum". Did this writer pull that out of his past, or is this a regional difference? Kathy (who actually is starting to look forward to those 7 am feedings after remembering that L&C is on every morning. It's been so long since I've watched actual episodes! :)) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:03:14 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "MoesyL47 L." Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Kathy, My mother has mentioned feeding me pablum during my babyhood, and that it was some sort of baby food cereal that came in a jar. At any rate, as I'm probably in the neighborhood of being close to 20 years your senior, it's most likely something that passed out of existence before your time. ;-) Maureen In a message dated 7/15/01 9:13:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kathybrown91@HOME.COM writes: > At one point, Clark says, "Oh, look, honey, Jimmy spit up his pabulum." > > Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "pablum" an old-fashioned term for > "formula"? I've been doin' the 'mom thing' for 6 years now and I have never > heard anyone my age (which is basically L&C's age) use the term "pablum". > Did this writer pull that out of his past, or is this a regional difference? > > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:04:48 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/15/01 9:13:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kathybrown91@HOME.COM writes: > Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "pablum" an old-fashioned term for > "formula"? I've been doin' the 'mom thing' for 6 years now and I have never > heard anyone my age (which is basically L&C's age) use the term "pablum". > Did this writer pull that out of his past, or is this a regional difference Pablum is an old-fashioned term for that nasty runny cereal you feed babies -- like rice cereal or oatmeal. I'm not sure that it wasn't a brand name at one point. There is a word "pabulum" which is sort of a generic term for food; but I've never seen it used in any context other than baby cereal. Hope this helps. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 10:31:55 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 This one=92s for Hazel, since it was inspired by her TOGOM review and a comment on Ambition on the message boards. ~ My Friend ~ Nobody notices me. In the midst of a newsroom grieving, nobody notices me; and yet they all see me. Perry asks me to find a photo he could use, in the same breath as telling me what happened. My friend is dead; before I can grieve for him, I must find a picture for his obituary. Lois sits at his desk, crying; I have never seen her so devastated. She wears an oversized sweater - his, I think - and her eyes are red and blotchy. Yet she is still beautiful. I know he would think so. But then, he always did. She was the most beautiful thing in the world, for him. My friend is dead. I want to cry too, but I have to find a photograph. Eyes blurred by tears can=92t see well, and I must do this properly for him. Finding the right photo is important... I find one. In it, he smiles, kind of wistfully, as if he=92s gazing at something - or someone - beyond the camera. Lois, of course; Clark only ever looked that way when it was at her. And she never saw it... I wondered, sometimes, how she could be so dense, so unaware of his feelings for her. And sometimes I wondered if she knew and was deliberately holding him at a distance. Because she didn=92t love him, and wanted to keep him as a friend. Perhaps she thought that if she told him she didn=92t love him, he'd walk away and find someone else to care about. Perhaps he would have... but I don=92t thin= k so. Clark loved her, and his love was constant. I force my attention back to the photo. It=92s a good resolution, will enlarge well and will look good next to his obituary. His suit is dark with only fine pin-stripes, which won=92t detract from his face. His glasses, too= , aren=92t reflecting against the camera-lens, and I can see his eyes; dark, friendly, smiling. It=92s a good photo of Clark, and it=92s how I will remem= ber him. I think his parents will like it, too. Back in the newsroom, Lois is still crying. I prepare the paste-board without being asked; someone has to do it, and I need to see that it=92s done right. Perry said the story will go on the fron= t page, so I put it all under the masthead, with Clark=92s picture underneath.= It=92s a good layout, even if I wish the story was anything but this. I swallow, choking back tears again. =93You don=92t check out in your twenties...=94 That=92s what I told Perry when he told me the news; he looked away and didn=92t answer me. Instead, he sent me to get that picture. I bring the pasteboard to him in his office. He barely looks at it at first, then beckons me closer to look at it again. He nods, as if it=92s not= of any particular importance. Someone comes in; the caterers want to know what=92s happening about the party tomorrow night. I can=92t believe it when= Perry says it=92s still on. I protest, but he disagrees. He tells me that the Planet is more than just paper and ink; it=92s all the reporters who work for the paper, doing what=92s right for the city. And tha= t by having the party we=92ll honour Clark and all he stood for. I guess he=92s right, but I sure won=92t be in the party mood. He waves me away, telling me to take the mock-up down to the press room. The paper must go on, I know that; but I want time to grieve... On the other hand, maybe it=92s best to keep working. I glance at Lois; I suspect she=92d be happier if she had something to do. Instead, she=92s sitt= ing there, probably reliving every minute of what happened over and over. I=92ve= done that too, only, unlike me, Lois has the pictures to go with the mental images. I can only visualise what must have happened: Clark stepping in front of Lois - to protect her, just like he always did - that sick gangster pulling his gun, then firing. Clark staggering backwards, clutching his chest. Then falling to the ground, his life snuffed out in that instant. In my mind, I see the look of surprise on his face. Killed. In just one second. Because he was protecting the woman he loved. I push from my mind the harsh thought that if Lois had not insisted on them going to that club, or if she hadn=92t got herself into danger, then Clark=92= s sacrifice wouldn=92t have been necessary. I have no doubt that she=92s think= ing exactly that right now. And it doesn=92t help... No, it doesn=92t help. If wishing could make Clark walk through those doors once more, alive and well, I have no doubt that he=92d have been here half an hour ago. But one thing I do know: if I ever encounter that *animal* Clyde Barrow, I will tear him limb from limb. I blink away renewed tears and apply myself to my job. Then, a first-run copy in my hand, I return to the newsroom. Lois is at her own desk now, her eyes red but no longer crying. And Perry sits beside her, on the edge of her desk, with his hand on her shoulder. They don=92t see me. Perry is suffering, too; he seems to have aged ten years in the space of one night. I know he loved Clark too, in his way. Clark and Lois were like family to Perry, the way I sometimes imagine he thinks of me. I hesitate to approach, but the Chief needs to have this copy. I catch his eye. He gives me an impatient look, as if to say =91go away=92. Instead, I h= old up the copy. He flinches, and waves me away again. I suppose he=92s right; h= e doesn=92t want Lois to see it. Although she=92s going to see it some time...= I leave the newspaper on the Chief=92s desk. It=92s almost three am, and the= first edition, with Clark=92s photo on the front page, above the fold, will be hitting the streets in about an hour. Somehow, that makes his death all the more real. I shiver. I want to go home, but I can=92t yet. It seems to me that I just can=92t lea= ve yet. There has to be something else I can do for my friend first. I could watch over Lois for him, but the Chief=92s doing that, and I think he=92s go= ing to put her in a cab or something soon, or take her home with him. She won=92= t be alone, for her first night without Clark watching over her as he always did. She=92ll have people around to comfort her in her loss. Does she know just what she=92s lost? I wonder, a lump in my throat as I watch her surreptitiously. Does she know that Clark would have walked through a raging fire for her, that he would willingly have died for her? That, even if he=92d known that he was inviting his own death by what he did= for her tonight, he=92d still have done it and been glad that she was safe? I close my eyes and look away. How must it feel to be loved like that? I am jealous of Lois, because she just doesn=92t know what she had. Oh, I didn=92t want Clark that way! Never! But he was my friend. He was the first person in this darned newsroom to take me seriously, to treat me as more than just a gopher. And he was never slighting or unkind in his behaviour towards me. He was my role-model. And he is dead. My gaze falls on his desk, just as it always is with a few of his personal belongings on the surface. The framed photo of his parents. The silly mug someone gave him as a present. His pencils; the tools of his trade. And his name-plate. Clark Kent - Daily Planet. I wipe my eyes on my sleeve and walk over to that desk. It has to be cleared; the longer it=92s left, the more it stands as a reminder that we=92= ve lost one of our own in the most horrible way. I get a box and, slowly, start to empty out the personal items from the desk drawers. There are story files and notes there, but Lois will have to look at those when she=92= s ready. I know I should also check out his computer, that he will have had personal directories there he won=92t - *wouldn=92t* - want anyone else to see. But t= hat can wait; no-one will be using this computer tonight. And I=92ll make sure that I do it before anyone else can. Clark was a guy like anyone else; who knows what he=92d have had stored here? It=92s just one more thing I can do = for him. Lois sees me packing up Clark=92s things and looks angry. She=92s about to stand, but then she subsides and looks away again. I can imagine her thoughts - =91he=92s not even buried yet and they=92re clearing him away as = if he never even existed!=92 - but she knows, as well as I do, that we can=92t mak= e his desk a shrine in his memory. Some time soon - maybe tomorrow, maybe next week - this desk will be assigned to someone else. In the bottom drawer, I find another photograph, a small one, in a clip- frame. I recognise when it was taken - the night Clark won his Kerth award. He=92s holding the award in one hand, while Lois hangs on his other arm and laughs up at him. And he... he is looking down at her, love blazing from his expression. No wonder he keeps - kept - this hidden. I debate with myself about whether I should give it to Lois. After all, she=92s in it too, and she was his partner. But then I decide that this is too private, and I think his parents deserve to have it. They probably know how he felt about Lois. And I... In my pocket, I have a copy of that photograph I picked for the front page, a precious memory of my friend. I take the box into Perry=92s office. He looks up, distracted, then nods. =93Thanks, son,=94 he says wearily. =93Put it over there.=94 I put it down and turn to leave, but Perry speaks again. =93Nights like this= , I wonder why I ever got into the newspaper business,=94 he says bleakly. I know how he feels, and want to tell him so, but he waves me away again. Lois is gone when I come out. I don=92t know where, and right at this moment= I=92m not sure I care. I know Lois will be okay. She=92s hurting inside, I know, but she=92s got friends who care about her and who want to comfort her= . I grab my coat and walk slowly, listlessly, down to the parking garage to get my bike. It=92s time to go home; once I get to my place I can finally give in to the grief I couldn=92t let show in the newsroom. Someone had to keep going, and anyway, nobody noticed me. And yet I have as much right to grieve as anyone else there. Clark is dead. And he was my friend too. ~ The End ~ ---------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:38:07 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gerry Anklewicz Subject: Re: Pablum? In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit "Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I think it was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was a food supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of cereal, such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. Babies, from the age of three months up, would start with the rice cereal and then work their way through more exotic flavours. It was as thick or as runny as you wanted to make it. You either added formula or regular milk to it. It is made by Heinz here and it is called Pablum. I fed my children Pablum (they're in their early twenties now) and I'm sure that supermarket shelves still stock the "yummy" cereal. I can picture it on the shelves, but I haven't looked closely at the baby food shelves in many years. Hope this helps. Gerry ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 16:39:29 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy, this is breathtakingly haunting and beautiful. Thank you for sharing. :) LabRat :) (snuffling into her kleenex...) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:56:49 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gerry Anklewicz Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit That was beautifully written, Wendy. Thanks. Gerry ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 17:57:49 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit S p o i l e r S p a c e Wow! Wendy, this is heartwrenching, beautifully written, and really wonderful. Yet another take on TOGOM, but this one is very different, and it was a great idea to take the premise from Jimmy's POV and see Lois's and Perry's reactions through his own grieving mind. Beautiful! Helene :) (who thinks this should have a kleenex warning) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 12:23:12 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Wendy, This is simply beautiful. I am crying. I really like how this short story (! Did you really write a short story?? ;)) concentrates on everyone's pain, not just Lois. The introspection is absolutely fantastic, so real. Jimmy, Perry, Lois... you were able to capture everyone's emotions so well and with such great attention to detail too. The pictures for example. But what really had me in awe was Jimmy's insights on Clark's feelings for Lois and how she was never (?) aware of them. That makes it all the more devastating. Natascha (off to look for tissues before her mother comes home) PS. Could you maybe write a short piece about Clark's return? Not just concentrating on Lois' feelings but on Perry and Jimmy's as well? ;) Kind of like Part 2? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 19:31:00 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed At 10:31 AM 15/07/01 -0500, you wrote: >This one's for Hazel, since it was inspired by her TOGOM review and a >comment on Ambition on the message boards. Ah, Wendy! I commented on the boards, but I have to say something here too: this was just lovely. You do a marvelous job of showing Jimmy going through the motions and recognizing everyone's grief. BTW, Natascha wrote: PS. Could you maybe write a short piece about Clark's return? Not just concentrating on Lois' feelings but on Perry and Jimmy's as well? ;) Kind of like Part 2? If Wendy doesn't mind, perhaps I could take a shot at that? :) Hazel, who is astonished that people actually remember her reviews ;) _______ "Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 09:33:53 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Jury Subject: Re: New story: Valley of the Shadow, 1/? In-Reply-To: <20010712.143532.-181871.6.cmoncado@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii [It is time for yet another to come out of lurkdom to post--me. This is my first post in a while and my first from my new edress. I'm still faithfully reading all my mail and enjoying this list immensely. Thanks to all of you who keep it going with your (almost) daily posts.] Carol, thank you so much for posting this! I loved First Night and was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get more from this storyline. You have a way of keeping me on the edge of my seat with each post. I now have yet another story to look forward to in my mailbox. Keep up the good work! Karen __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:46:13 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 Ummm... I'm stunned! But thank you, LabRat, Helene, Gerry, Tasha and Hazel. I'm really pleased that this had the effect I was hoping for. Hazel, your reviews are unforgettable! But as well as your TOGOM review, your brief reference on the first part of Ambition to Jimmy being the only Planet staffer to hug Clark on his return from 'death' (other than Lois, of course) made me think, for some reason, and when I was driving to the supermarket earlier today the idea for this story simply popped into my head and refused to go away. I'd be delighted if you wanted to write a sequel to this, Hazel! And I'll look very much forward to seeing the result. Wendy ------------ Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 10:56:55 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Melisma Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:31 AM 15/07/2001 -0500, you wrote: >This one’s for Hazel, since it was inspired by her TOGOM review and a >comment on Ambition on the message boards. > > >~ My Friend ~ Wendy... wow! Just... Wow... Melisma (under her Rock, speechless) Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 13:31:59 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Very compelling Wendy, almost had me crying there, maybe I would have if = it had been a touch longer. It was good to see Jimmy's feelings on = this, I don't think anyone else has bothered trying to show them ;). ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:48:05 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The things I learn on this list! Fascinating info, Gerry. This whole thread reminds me that, at last, I am to become a grandmother not once but twice. October and December are the target months, and I now realize that I need to do some reading on what's happening in the baby world these days. It's been so long since I was involved that I find that, these days, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.' Help me out here FOLCs. Can you suggest some reading to get me up to speed? Would really appreciate it. :) Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerry Anklewicz" To: Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 8:38 AM Subject: Re: Pablum? > "Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I think it > was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was a food > supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of cereal, > such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. Babies, from the age of three months up, > would start with the rice cereal and then work their way through more > exotic flavours. It was as thick or as runny as you wanted to make it. > You either added formula or regular milk to it. It is made by Heinz here > and it is called Pablum. I fed my children Pablum (they're in their early > twenties now) and I'm sure that supermarket shelves still stock the > "yummy" cereal. I can picture it on the shelves, but I haven't looked > closely at the baby food shelves in many years. > > Hope this helps. > > Gerry ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 15:04:46 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit (Wow, Wendy can write 'short' ... who'da thunk it? :p ) Beautifully done, Wendy. Thanks for sharing it. Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 15:24:53 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Annette Ciotola Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit spoiler space I don't think I can say it any better than the other ... simply heartwrenching and beautiful, Wendy! In a message dated 7/15/01 3:06:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jernigan@BELLSOUTH.NET writes: > > (Wow, Wendy can write 'short' ... who'da thunk it? :p ) > > LOL!! Anne ;) Visit the Lois & Clark Nfic Archive www.annesplace.net "If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck ... chances are pretty good it is a duck." - Lois Lane; Strange Visitor From Another Planet "...Grab a bottle, hunker down and pray for daylight!" - Karen Walker; Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 21:17:30 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy - very moving. S P O I L E R S P A C E Especially those last lines - ***Someone had to keep going, and anyway, nobody noticed me. And yet I have as much right to grieve as anyone else there. Clark is dead. And he was my friend too.*** So very, very sad - 'nobody noticed me'. He's the most lonely of all of them, isn't he? And the sad thing is, he's probably right; we don't notice him. Yvonne (having to remind herself that these people are fictional) (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 22:25:07 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicola Baker Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh! Wendy! That was beautiful! The last line was so moving. Have to agree with whoever it was said they were having to remind themselves that this was *fiction*. Nic ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 23:43:32 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: ChiaraP Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh dear WENDY Sigh !!! It's so sweet so sad!!!!!! You are always so GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! /me is soglad she gave a glance before to go to sleep!!!! Ahhhh Wendy.. I LOVE YOU ^_____________^ Chiara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Richards" To: Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 5:31 PM Subject: New story: My Friend 1/1 This one's for Hazel, since it was inspired by her TOGOM review and a comment on Ambition on the message boards. ~ My Friend ~ Nobody notices me. In the midst of a newsroom grieving, nobody notices me; and yet they all see me. Perry asks me to find a photo he could use, in the same breath as telling me what happened. My friend is dead; before I can grieve for him, I must find a picture for his obituary. Lois sits at his desk, crying; I have never seen her so devastated. She wears an oversized sweater - his, I think - and her eyes are red and blotchy. Yet she is still beautiful. I know he would think so. But then, he always did. She was the most beautiful thing in the world, for him. My friend is dead. I want to cry too, but I have to find a photograph. Eyes blurred by tears can't see well, and I must do this properly for him. Finding the right photo is important... I find one. In it, he smiles, kind of wistfully, as if he's gazing at something - or someone - beyond the camera. Lois, of course; Clark only ever looked that way when it was at her. And she never saw it... I wondered, sometimes, how she could be so dense, so unaware of his feelings for her. And sometimes I wondered if she knew and was deliberately holding him at a distance. Because she didn't love him, and wanted to keep him as a friend. Perhaps she thought that if she told him she didn't love him, he'd walk away and find someone else to care about. Perhaps he would have... but I don't think so. Clark loved her, and his love was constant. I force my attention back to the photo. It's a good resolution, will enlarge well and will look good next to his obituary. His suit is dark with only fine pin-stripes, which won't detract from his face. His glasses, too, aren't reflecting against the camera-lens, and I can see his eyes; dark, friendly, smiling. It's a good photo of Clark, and it's how I will remember him. I think his parents will like it, too. Back in the newsroom, Lois is still crying. I prepare the paste-board without being asked; someone has to do it, and I need to see that it's done right. Perry said the story will go on the front page, so I put it all under the masthead, with Clark's picture underneath. It's a good layout, even if I wish the story was anything but this. I swallow, choking back tears again. "You don't check out in your twenties..." That's what I told Perry when he told me the news; he looked away and didn't answer me. Instead, he sent me to get that picture. I bring the pasteboard to him in his office. He barely looks at it at first, then beckons me closer to look at it again. He nods, as if it's not of any particular importance. Someone comes in; the caterers want to know what's happening about the party tomorrow night. I can't believe it when Perry says it's still on. I protest, but he disagrees. He tells me that the Planet is more than just paper and ink; it's all the reporters who work for the paper, doing what's right for the city. And that by having the party we'll honour Clark and all he stood for. I guess he's right, but I sure won't be in the party mood. He waves me away, telling me to take the mock-up down to the press room. The paper must go on, I know that; but I want time to grieve... On the other hand, maybe it's best to keep working. I glance at Lois; I suspect she'd be happier if she had something to do. Instead, she's sitting there, probably reliving every minute of what happened over and over. I've done that too, only, unlike me, Lois has the pictures to go with the mental images. I can only visualise what must have happened: Clark stepping in front of Lois - to protect her, just like he always did - that sick gangster pulling his gun, then firing. Clark staggering backwards, clutching his chest. Then falling to the ground, his life snuffed out in that instant. In my mind, I see the look of surprise on his face. Killed. In just one second. Because he was protecting the woman he loved. I push from my mind the harsh thought that if Lois had not insisted on them going to that club, or if she hadn't got herself into danger, then Clark's sacrifice wouldn't have been necessary. I have no doubt that she's thinking exactly that right now. And it doesn't help... No, it doesn't help. If wishing could make Clark walk through those doors once more, alive and well, I have no doubt that he'd have been here half an hour ago. But one thing I do know: if I ever encounter that *animal* Clyde Barrow, I will tear him limb from limb. I blink away renewed tears and apply myself to my job. Then, a first-run copy in my hand, I return to the newsroom. Lois is at her own desk now, her eyes red but no longer crying. And Perry sits beside her, on the edge of her desk, with his hand on her shoulder. They don't see me. Perry is suffering, too; he seems to have aged ten years in the space of one night. I know he loved Clark too, in his way. Clark and Lois were like family to Perry, the way I sometimes imagine he thinks of me. I hesitate to approach, but the Chief needs to have this copy. I catch his eye. He gives me an impatient look, as if to say 'go away'. Instead, I hold up the copy. He flinches, and waves me away again. I suppose he's right; he doesn't want Lois to see it. Although she's going to see it some time... I leave the newspaper on the Chief's desk. It's almost three am, and the first edition, with Clark's photo on the front page, above the fold, will be hitting the streets in about an hour. Somehow, that makes his death all the more real. I shiver. I want to go home, but I can't yet. It seems to me that I just can't leave yet. There has to be something else I can do for my friend first. I could watch over Lois for him, but the Chief's doing that, and I think he's going to put her in a cab or something soon, or take her home with him. She won't be alone, for her first night without Clark watching over her as he always did. She'll have people around to comfort her in her loss. Does she know just what she's lost? I wonder, a lump in my throat as I watch her surreptitiously. Does she know that Clark would have walked through a raging fire for her, that he would willingly have died for her? That, even if he'd known that he was inviting his own death by what he did for her tonight, he'd still have done it and been glad that she was safe? I close my eyes and look away. How must it feel to be loved like that? I am jealous of Lois, because she just doesn't know what she had. Oh, I didn't want Clark that way! Never! But he was my friend. He was the first person in this darned newsroom to take me seriously, to treat me as more than just a gopher. And he was never slighting or unkind in his behaviour towards me. He was my role-model. And he is dead. My gaze falls on his desk, just as it always is with a few of his personal belongings on the surface. The framed photo of his parents. The silly mug someone gave him as a present. His pencils; the tools of his trade. And his name-plate. Clark Kent - Daily Planet. I wipe my eyes on my sleeve and walk over to that desk. It has to be cleared; the longer it's left, the more it stands as a reminder that we've lost one of our own in the most horrible way. I get a box and, slowly, start to empty out the personal items from the desk drawers. There are story files and notes there, but Lois will have to look at those when she's ready. I know I should also check out his computer, that he will have had personal directories there he won't - *wouldn't* - want anyone else to see. But that can wait; no-one will be using this computer tonight. And I'll make sure that I do it before anyone else can. Clark was a guy like anyone else; who knows what he'd have had stored here? It's just one more thing I can do for him. Lois sees me packing up Clark's things and looks angry. She's about to stand, but then she subsides and looks away again. I can imagine her thoughts - 'he's not even buried yet and they're clearing him away as if he never even existed!' - but she knows, as well as I do, that we can't make his desk a shrine in his memory. Some time soon - maybe tomorrow, maybe next week - this desk will be assigned to someone else. In the bottom drawer, I find another photograph, a small one, in a clip- frame. I recognise when it was taken - the night Clark won his Kerth award. He's holding the award in one hand, while Lois hangs on his other arm and laughs up at him. And he... he is looking down at her, love blazing from his expression. No wonder he keeps - kept - this hidden. I debate with myself about whether I should give it to Lois. After all, she's in it too, and she was his partner. But then I decide that this is too private, and I think his parents deserve to have it. They probably know how he felt about Lois. And I... In my pocket, I have a copy of that photograph I picked for the front page, a precious memory of my friend. I take the box into Perry's office. He looks up, distracted, then nods. "Thanks, son," he says wearily. "Put it over there." I put it down and turn to leave, but Perry speaks again. "Nights like this, I wonder why I ever got into the newspaper business," he says bleakly. I know how he feels, and want to tell him so, but he waves me away again. Lois is gone when I come out. I don't know where, and right at this moment I'm not sure I care. I know Lois will be okay. She's hurting inside, I know, but she's got friends who care about her and who want to comfort her. I grab my coat and walk slowly, listlessly, down to the parking garage to get my bike. It's time to go home; once I get to my place I can finally give in to the grief I couldn't let show in the newsroom. Someone had to keep going, and anyway, nobody noticed me. And yet I have as much right to grieve as anyone else there. Clark is dead. And he was my friend too. ~ The End ~ ---------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 16:58:48 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey Jude. You mightcheck with the new moms to be. I know at our hospital they offer a grandparents class for parents of the moms who are a member of the Teddy Bear Club. (which is basically anyone who is having their baby at that hospital). Anyway, they go over all the new and latest stuff that has changed in the last 20 years (such as putting babies to sleep on their sides or backs instead of stomach to help prevent SIDS). They also talk about fears/concerns/excitements etc. of becoming grandparents. Even if you aren't near your future grandchildren, a local hospital might have a program of the type. CM On Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:48:05 -0700 Judith Williams writes: > The things I learn on this list! Fascinating info, Gerry. > > This whole thread reminds me that, at last, I am to become a > grandmother not > once but twice. October and December are the target months, and I > now > realize that I need to do some reading on what's happening in the > baby > world these days. It's been so long since I was involved that I > find that, > these days, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.' Help > me out > here FOLCs. Can you suggest some reading to get me up to speed? > Would > really appreciate it. :) Jude > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gerry Anklewicz" > To: > Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 8:38 AM > Subject: Re: Pablum? > > > > "Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I > think it > > was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was > a food > > supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of > cereal, > > such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. Babies, from the age of three > months up, > > would start with the rice cereal and then work their way through > more > > exotic flavours. It was as thick or as runny as you wanted to > make it. > > You either added formula or regular milk to it. It is made by > Heinz here > > and it is called Pablum. I fed my children Pablum (they're in > their early > > twenties now) and I'm sure that supermarket shelves still stock > the > > "yummy" cereal. I can picture it on the shelves, but I haven't > looked > > closely at the baby food shelves in many years. > > > > Hope this helps. > > > > Gerry ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 18:06:12 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit hey there - wanted to let you know that I enjoyed this. it was a take on the ep that probably should have been written a long time ago. Thanks. Also finished TOOOM on the boards and loved it.too. INteresting take on - though I have often wondered why Clark didn't... no, maybe I'll save that one to write for myself someday! CM ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 22:49:06 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Marilyn Puett Subject: Re: Pablum? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hey Jude (sorry, I couldn't resist ), I have no clue where to send you for baby info, but I do know that they have an awful lot of new-fangled baby stuff out there these days. Some of it looks pretty helpful while a lot of it just looks like something to separate spendthrift Yuppie parents from their money. One thing I know for sure that I'd buy if I was having babies these days is one of those thermometers that you stick in the baby's ear rather than up it's rectum. A sick baby feels bad enough without you sticking a thermometer up his backside! Mostly, babies just need love -- same as through all the ages. And I have an idea that grandma will provide plenty of that! Marilyn AKA Supermom >From: Judith Williams >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Re: Pablum? >Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:48:05 -0700 > >The things I learn on this list! Fascinating info, Gerry. > >This whole thread reminds me that, at last, I am to become a grandmother >not >once but twice. October and December are the target months, and I now >realize that I need to do some reading on what's happening in the baby >world these days. It's been so long since I was involved that I find that, >these days, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.' Help me out >here FOLCs. Can you suggest some reading to get me up to speed? Would >really appreciate it. :) Jude >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Gerry Anklewicz" >To: >Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 8:38 AM >Subject: Re: Pablum? > > > > "Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I think it > > was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was a food > > supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of >cereal, > > such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. Babies, from the age of three months up, > > would start with the rice cereal and then work their way through more > > exotic flavours. It was as thick or as runny as you wanted to make it. > > You either added formula or regular milk to it. It is made by Heinz >here > > and it is called Pablum. I fed my children Pablum (they're in their >early > > twenties now) and I'm sure that supermarket shelves still stock the > > "yummy" cereal. I can picture it on the shelves, but I haven't looked > > closely at the baby food shelves in many years. > > > > Hope this helps. > > > > Gerry _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 21:13:19 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey Marilyn: I grew up in the south and we often said 'hey' instead of 'hi', so I was used to it before the Beatles made it famous. As usual you've given some great advice that's practical and full of humor. Also gives a whole new slant to 'stick it in your ear'. Love I can produce in copious quantities. It's answering all those questions from Moms-to-be in an attempt to maintain my facade as all-seeing, all-knowing matriarch that's the problem. Take care. :) Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marilyn Puett" To: Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Pablum? > Hey Jude (sorry, I couldn't resist ), > > I have no clue where to send you for baby info, but I do know that they have > an awful lot of new-fangled baby stuff out there these days. Some of it > looks pretty helpful while a lot of it just looks like something to separate > spendthrift Yuppie parents from their money. One thing I know for sure that > I'd buy if I was having babies these days is one of those thermometers that > you stick in the baby's ear rather than up it's rectum. A sick baby feels > bad enough without you sticking a thermometer up his backside! > > Mostly, babies just need love -- same as through all the ages. And I have > an idea that grandma will provide plenty of that! > > Marilyn > AKA Supermom > > > >From: Judith Williams > >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > > > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > >Subject: Re: Pablum? > >Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:48:05 -0700 > > > >The things I learn on this list! Fascinating info, Gerry. > > > >This whole thread reminds me that, at last, I am to become a grandmother > >not > >once but twice. October and December are the target months, and I now > >realize that I need to do some reading on what's happening in the baby > >world these days. It's been so long since I was involved that I find that, > >these days, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.' Help me out > >here FOLCs. Can you suggest some reading to get me up to speed? Would > >really appreciate it. :) Jude > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Gerry Anklewicz" > >To: > >Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 8:38 AM > >Subject: Re: Pablum? > > > > > > > "Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I think it > > > was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was a food > > > supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of > >cereal, > > > such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. Babies, from the age of three months up, > > > would start with the rice cereal and then work their way through more > > > exotic flavours. It was as thick or as runny as you wanted to make it. > > > You either added formula or regular milk to it. It is made by Heinz > >here > > > and it is called Pablum. I fed my children Pablum (they're in their > >early > > > twenties now) and I'm sure that supermarket shelves still stock the > > > "yummy" cereal. I can picture it on the shelves, but I haven't looked > > > closely at the baby food shelves in many years. > > > > > > Hope this helps. > > > > > > Gerry > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 07:03:33 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There's not a lot to say about this story that hasn't already been said . Hazards of being offline for a day. Still, I needed to let you know that I really loved this story... it was absolutely beautiful. Poor Jimmy... and not just in losing Clark, either. How must it feel to be hurting and yet invisible? Everyone comforted Lois... he did have other friends. Even Perry was hurting enough that he didn't have room to see Jimmy's need. Thanks for making us think :) -Crys- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:54:57 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wow! I'm stunned! Who says we don't get feedback on this list? Thank you all, very much. I really am delighted that you liked this little vignette; I've been blushing ever since the replies started to appear! Pam: yes, I *can* write short, contrary to recent evidence! But don't worry; my next story will probably revert to type. ;) Yvonne, I have trouble remembering that they're fictional too. And you've said exactly what I was hoping to show with this vignette. Hazel commented in her review of TOGOM that Jimmy's pain seemed to go unnoticed, and that's exactly the mood I wanted to convey. Nic and Yvonne, that last line (He was my friend too) is the one which kept coming into my head as I was in the car and walking around Sainsbury's. It just seemed to fit, and I knew even before I started writing that it would have to be the final line of the vignette. Carol, thank you! :) Also for your compliment about TOOOM - hey, does this mean that we might get yet another new TOGOM rewrite? Go for it! Thanks also to Chiara, Adam, Mel, Anne, and again to Rat, Helene, Gerry, Tasha and Hazel. Hazel, I am really looking forward to your sequel! Oh, in case anyone wonders what our biggest Jimmy-hater thought, Tank said over on the boards: "AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Who cares about Jimmy anyway?!" Wendy :) -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 14:48:10 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Missy Gallant Subject: Re: Evening editions Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Amy, Diane, Carol, Wendy and Ann!! Thank you all so much for your information about the evening edition dealines. It was all very useful and although I will have to make some changes in what's been written, it shouldn't be too difficult! Diane: Thanks for coming out of lurkdom to answer my questions!! I hope we hear fom you again real soon!! :) Missy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 10:41:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Carol, thank you! :) Also for your compliment about TOOOM - hey, > does this > mean that we might get yet another new TOGOM rewrite? Go for it! It's possible. Kicking an idea around. Know of at least one other rewrite that's in the works by someone else - should be more interesting than my little idea - it really isn't all that exciting! Probably won't be anytime soon for mine anyway. I have too much work sitll to do on Valley of the Shadow. CM (who's off to post part 2!) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 10:52:09 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Valley of the Shadow, 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay here's part two! I am still willing to send anyone who wants it First Night - it really does make things easier to understand. There is also a TOC for it on the boards now (so proud of myself for figuring that out - thanks to Wendy's instructions on the Techie part of the boards!) Anyway - I know this is still short, but again there will be longer ones later. Comments appreciated! CM ***** "Clark," Lois whined. "Please. Just a little investigating?" Clark shook his head. "You know what the doctor said. After the scare we had at Antonio's, and all the tights spots you've put yourself in since, no stress, including 'little investigations'. They always turn into something more." Lois slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Fine. No investigations. Can I at least cover something a little more exciting than a dog show? Writing obits is getting old." Clark rubbed her shoulders gently and chuckled. "You haven't written an obit in your life. Assistant Editor isn't all that bad and you know it. I know you'd rather hit the streets, sweetheart, but you just have to take it easy. I'm sorry. I wish things were easier, but they're not." Lois sighed deeply. "I know, Clark. I just don't want to sit around and do nothing. I hate this." Clark cocked his head to one side. "I'm sorry, honey. I gotta go. Burning building." "Go." Clark placed a quick kiss on the top of her head. "I love you. Both of you." "We know. And we love you too. Go to your fire and on your way back, pick up some Italian for me; we'll be hungry and I know what pasta does to you," she said, lightly tickling the hard abs that were eye level as she sat at her desk and then grabbed his tie. She tugged until the handsome face of her husband appeared. "Besides, it's Saturday and I want some quality time with my husband." She kissed him soundly. No matter what problems they had, she loved his kisses and the way that he... "I love you, but I have to go." Clark kissed her again, quickly this time and then turned to go. "I'm going to stop and check out some things on the way back, okay?" Lois stared at her desk and nodded as her husband rushed out of the room. Several minutes later, she did look up a to see the latest Superman rescue on the television monitors. Lois sighed, knowing that she was the one the superhero turned to. It was a special place to be. And a very difficult one. One she didn't really know how to deal with. ***** Several hours later, Clark still hadn't returned. Lois hadn't heard from him. Usually he tried to call on the cell phone he kept in the pockets his mom had sown into his suit if he was going to be longer than was reasonably expected. Finally, she stood and walked to Perry's office. She closed the door behind her and sat on the couch. Perry finally looked up to see a mildly distraught Lois sitting there. "What is it, darlin'?" "Clark. There's something wrong." "What are you talking about?" "I can't explain it. He had to run an errand and check out some stuff, but that's been over three hours ago. Something just tells me that something's wrong." "Woman's intuition?" Perry's raised eyebrow indicated his disbelief. "No, nothing like that. Clark and I have this... connection." Lois stood and started pacing around the office. "I can't explain it. Neither can Clark, but how do you think Superman always knows when to come if I'm in trouble? Clark can sense it and gets a hold of Superman to come rescue me. By the time Superman gets me out of danger, Clark gets there and everything's okay again. Don't you and Alice have that kind of connection? Or are we just weird?" "Well, Alice and I don't have a connection quite like that, but I know what you mean. And, no, honey, you're not weird. Just in love." "I know that. I love Clark, and I know him. Perry, something's wrong. He's not answering his cell phone. I want to go look for him." "No, Lois. I'll send Jimmy, but you are staying here." "Perry, please." "No." Perry shook his head. "The doctor said no stress and no investigating. Clark would kill me if I let anything happen to you. Now, you get back to work and I'll send Jimmy out to find Clark, okay?" "Fine." Lois left the office and went to her desk, appearing to settle in to work. Perry eyed her suspiciously. Something wasn't right. Lois Lane would never give in without a fight. She was up to something. He gave a mental shrug. He didn't have time to deal with it right now. He had to get Jimmy out looking for Clark and then get upstairs to a meeting with the suits. ***** Lois knew Perry had a meeting to go to. She waited until Jimmy had gone to start looking for Clark and Perry had taken the elevator upstairs before making her move. She quickly went to Clark's desk, searching through the file folders he had left lying haphazardly on top. California Breezes Imports Limited. It was apparently the shadow company that owned one of the smaller ones they had been investigating. Well, Clark had been investigating. All she'd been allowed to do was sit at the computer and search the Internet. Finally, she came up with an address. Clark had circled it and put an exclamation mark next to it. It had to have been where he was going after he put out the fire. Telling anyone who would listen that she was going on a donut run, she grabbed her purse and left. ***** Lois carefully tiptoed into the seemingly abandoned warehouse and looked cautiously around. The last thing she wanted to do was give away her presence. "Lois." The voice caused her to jump. "Jimmy," she hissed. "What are you doing here?" "The same thing you are. Looking for Clark. Only you shouldn't be here," Jimmy replied in a whisper. "I couldn't just sit around and do nothing, Jimmy. You have to know that." "Well, he's not here." "How do you know?" "I just looked everywhere. No hidden doors or anything with a room they could be hiding him in. I did find some stuff in one of the offices, but let's get out of here before someone finds us." Lois nodded and led the way out of the dilapidated building. Soon the two friends were sitting in a sidewalk café looking over the information Jimmy had pilfered from the office. ***** It was hours later when Perry and Jimmy finally were able to take her home and post Lucy as sentry. There was still no sign of Clark and the leads were become more and more slim by the moment. The only reason Lois allowed herself to go home to sleep was because of her baby. If there was one thing she couldn't do, it was jeopardize the health of their child. She didn't understand why Clark didn't just get himself out of whatever situation he was in. He was Superman, for crying out loud. The only thing she could come up with was that there was someone watching him at all times and he couldn't use his powers without giving away who he was. Surely, he would get out of whatever dire situation he was in as soon as he could. Lois opened the closet and took out her favorite shirt of Clark's - a large plaid button-up that absolutely engulfed her. She pulled it on and laid down on the bed she was now used to sharing with someone else. She curled up into a little ball - well, not quite as little as it used to be. She was already starting to show for anyone who looked closely enough. She thought she looked fat, but Clark thought she looked cute. She pushed the irrelevant thoughts out of her mind and pulled the little teddy bear he had won for her at the Smallville Corn Festival close. She let the tears begin to fall as she drifted off to sleep. ***** Lois wasn't able to sleep for long. The sun was just starting to creep over the horizon as she pulled on her favorite pair of jeans, thankful that they fit. It seemed that some days they did and some days they didn't. She'd have to remember to eat several small meals while she was out and about or she'd pop the button. She left Clark's shirt hanging out - there was no way it would fit inside - and snuck quietly into the living room. Lucy's even breathing told her that she could get by, if she was quiet. Long minutes later, Lois climbed into her jeep and headed for the Planet. She didn't think Perry and Jimmy would be there yet, but she would be able to snoop around their desks and see what she could find. It wasn't difficult to figure out where Perry and Jimmy were headed next. Apparently, they had both gone back to the office after they dropped Lois off and continued to search for leads. They were just climbing into a cab, wearing the same clothes they had the day before, as Lois began to turn into the Daily Planet's parking structure. She quickly changed direction and followed from a safe distance. She wasn't surprised when the trip took them to the seedier part of town. The cab let them out at a warehouse that looked like it could fall over at anytime. She parked the jeep and followed them. It was obvious they were tired, because they never once "checked six" to see if anyone was following them. They also weren't doing a very good job of covering their tracks. Lois made sure the gate they had entered through looked like it was still locked. She was as surprised as they were when she turned the corner of the building and almost ran right into Jimmy. "Lois," Perry whispered in his best editor whisper. "What in tarnation are you doing here?" Jimmy looked mildly concerned. "You didn't beat up Lucy did you?" Lois rolled her eyes. "No, your girlfriend's safe. I snuck out while she was sleeping. And I'm not leaving, so what's the plan?" Perry and Jimmy exchanged a look. There was no messing with her when she had that look on her face. They had both learned that the hard way. Finally, Perry gave in. "There's no door around here. We can't get in." "Nonsense." The indomitable Lois Lane took charge. "There's a window right there." She pointed to an impossibly small opening covered by glass that had been spray painted black. Perry raised one eyebrow. "I don't think any of us are fitting through there." "I can." "Lois, honey, you know I love you and I don't want to hurt your feelings, but we've all noticed that your clothes don't fit quite the same these days. That's understandable, with the baby coming and all, but I don't think you could have fit through there before you got pregnant." Lois rolled her eyes at Perry again. "Well, I'm going to try anyway. Clark's nearby. I can feel it." Perry and Jimmy exchanged another look. "And stop doing that! Now, here's what we're going to do. We're going to look around and see if we can find another way in - a fire escape or something and if not then I'm going through the window. With your help or without it." They searched around the entire building and finally decided that the only door was the one being guarded by a large man who was probably carrying a projectile weapon of some sort. There was a fire escape and it was decided that Jimmy and Lois would climb it while Perry stood look out behind some trash cans. Before they started up, Jimmy handed Lois a small, hearing aid type device. "What's this?" "Somehow, I knew you were going to be here, so I brought you one too. They're transmitters. Kind of like the Secret Service use only you don't have a separate microphone. If you even whisper, we'll hear you. And we can talk to you as well." He showed Lois the inside of his own ear. Sure enough, there was a similar piece of plastic. "I almost only got two, but I knew you'd show up sooner or later." She fitted the piece in her ear and emptied her pockets to Perry. She didn't want her car keys jangling and giving her away. Besides, they were starting to dig into her leg. She almost wished she'd worn a pair of sweats instead. "Okay, let's go." Jimmy and Lois slowly and carefully worked their way towards the top of the warehouse. When they reached the top landing, they realized that the only way in was through an opening in the boards that covered the doorway and the only one who would fit was Lois. They informed Perry and Lois snaked her way inside. It took several minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but once they did the ambient light was just enough to help her as she moved cautiously forward, keeping Perry and Jimmy apprised of everything she saw. She was on some kind of loft above the main floor of the warehouse itself. The boards were old and she had to watch where she put her feet or she might have fallen through old holes or created new ones. She stopped when she reached a hole that had considerable light showing through it. She found a safe place to kneel down and peered into the room below. There, on the floor, bound and gagged, was her husband. Superman. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:09:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Pablum? On Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:38:07 -0400, Gerry Anklewicz < Gerry.Anklewicz@NTEL.TDSB.ON.CA> wrote: >"Pablum" was "invented" at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. I think it >was during the 1930s, but it could be as late as the 40s. It was a food >supplement for breast milk or formula. And it came in the form of cereal, >such as rice, oatmeal, wheat. It is made by Heinz here >and it is called Pablum. Ah, I get it, thanks to all who answered! Yes, they still sell it, and it's usually a baby's first "solid food". They don't call it pablum in the US, though -- it's just called "baby cereal". Gerber, Heinz and Beech Nut all have versions commonly found in the supermarket "Rice Cereal for Baby", "Oatmeal Cereal for Baby", etc. (Yes, I have a box in my pantry -- my 6 year old still loves the oatmeal, and I don't mind buying it because it's fortified with iron and calcium, which regular oatmeal isn't. I tell her that she and Donny will have to compete for it in a few months. ) In the 50's and 60's, I know doctors in the US would recommend mothers start their babies on cereal very early -- 3-4 weeks or even earlier. Now that's considered unsound advice, and the standard recommendation is 4-6 months. With Amy, we were excited to start solids and started propping her up in the high chair at 4 1/2 months. (It would take a few rolled up bath towels to get her anywhere close to upright; LOL.) Now I just laugh at myself for rushing things and probably won't even consider it for Donny until 6 months. Jude, since you asked for reading ideas, I would definitely suggest getting "What To Expect In The First Year" by Eisenbery, Murkoff and Hathaway. They also have a book on pregnancy called "What To Expect When You're Expecting" and one for toddlers, "What To Expect in the Toddler Years." Along with Dr Spock (updated and still popular) and Dr Brazelton, the "What To Expect" series has become pretty much a must-have with young moms these days. When I was pregnant with Amy, my mom picked up copies in used book stores for next to nothing. She also still had her copies of Spock from the 60's and it was fun to compare what advice had changed and what hadn't. :) Incidentally, a friend of mine found another use for her "What To Expect" books -- research for fanfic. She was writing a story concerning L&C having kids and pulled her old copy of the book out to refresh her memory. Of course, her husband didn't know that and came close to having a heart attack when he saw the book on her nightstand that night ... "Honey? Is there something I should know???" Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:20:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Lanita Cornwall Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" A book I wish I'd had for my first one, but didn't come out until just before I got pregnant with my second daughter is Babysense. Can't remember who wrote it, but the author went through the same thing I did with my first (no friends with kids, no family anywhere close, and dumb pediatricians) and decided to poll parents for their parenting tips for infants. Great, simple, commonsense advice. I really liked the one about going outside and swinging in the hammock. We did that a lot. No PhD's, just the real experts - parents. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:39:24 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/16/2001 12:18:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, kathybrown91@HOME.COM writes: << Jude, since you asked for reading ideas, I would definitely suggest getting "What To Expect In The First Year" by Eisenbery, Murkoff and Hathaway. They also have a book on pregnancy called "What To Expect When You're Expecting" and one for toddlers, "What To Expect in the Toddler Years." Along with Dr Spock (updated and still popular) and Dr Brazelton, the "What To Expect" series has become pretty much a must-have with young moms these days. When I was pregnant with Amy, my mom picked up copies in used book stores for next to nothing. She also still had her copies of Spock from the 60's and it was fun to compare what advice had changed and what hadn't. :) >> I have to second Kathy's recommendation of the "What to Expect When..." series... I still have it as reference for my friends, and it's one of the best written books available. It's practical, common-sense, and very readable. It's written by moms, so it just makes good sense. An excellent series that is both medically accurate and user-friendly. I've never been a Spock fan... he's before my time, and makes me think of pointy ears . I used to love T. Barry. Brazelton's television series, but he made an unforgivable mistake to me... he refers to disabled children (specifically spina bifita, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome) as "defective". It's a personal pet-peeve of mine, but any pediatrician who can't show compassion for ALL his patients doesn't deserve any of them. Just my thoughts... J CrysJ Come visit my site at: www.geocities.com/cryswimmer/CrysMain.html ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:51:12 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: James Tull Subject: Re: Pablum? Congrates Jude!! Another good book is A Good Birth, A Safe Birth : Choosing and Having the Childbirth Experience You Want, Third Revised Edition by Diana Korte, Roberta Scaer My wife highly recommends it! She also has an opinion on the What to Expect series, especially the What to Expect when your Expecting. She didn't like it very well. Even though it is not written by "doctors," it often treated pregnancy like a medical condition instead of the natural event that it is. James, who is emailing for Lisa because our IE Browser is broke at home. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:45:10 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > In the 50's and 60's, I know doctors in the US would recommend > mothers start > their babies on cereal very early -- 3-4 weeks or even earlier. My BF still started her kids (youngest turns 3 next week) on cereal before bed as soon as they'd take it so that they would sleep through the night (or longer anyway). The docs didn't recommend it, but she didn't care. She did it anyway. CM ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 13:48:34 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/16/2001 1:17:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cmoncado@JUNO.COM writes: << My BF still started her kids (youngest turns 3 next week) on cereal before bed as soon as they'd take it so that they would sleep through the night (or longer anyway). The docs didn't recommend it, but she didn't care. She did it anyway. >> According to the most current research, cereal doesn't do any real damage. There was some concern about allergies earlier, but it seems to be unfounded. Anyway, what cereal does is fill the baby with a food they can't process... It sits there for awhile, then moves through the system. The baby can't absorb any nutrients from it, or at least very few. Hense, they aren't hungry, but they aren't getting nutrition either. If this was all the child was fed, eventually malnutrition would occur. Still, I remember slipping rice cereal into my son's bottles at bedtime to get him through the night, and he's none the worse for wear. As long as it's not their exclusive diet, it really doesn't hurt anything. As with most things, it has a different opinion from every parent and physician, and there isn't any true concensus. I think the determination should be made by the child... if they seem to like it on occassion, and they don't choke on it, then there's no real harm. If the baby doesn't like it... skip it, because it's not doing much anyway. On the other hand, in a week or two they'll change the "official" stance I"m sure, and what I've just said will be dead wrong. Gotta love medical progress . J CrysJ Come visit my site at: www.geocities.com/cryswimmer/CrysMain.html ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 13:51:48 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/16/01 7:57:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time, w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK writes: > Pam: yes, I *can* write short, contrary to recent evidence! But don't worry; > my next story will probably revert to type. ;) > A short wendy story is nice, but a longer one is even nicer. ;) --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 14:49:04 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Pablum? On Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:45:10 -0500, Carol L Moncado wrote: >My BF still started her kids (youngest turns 3 next week) on cereal >before bed as soon as they'd take it so that they would sleep through the >night (or longer anyway). That has been the conventional wisdom, and a lot of moms try it and say they have success (including a number of my friends). But when researchers studied it, they found that statistically, it isn't true. It doesn't work any better than doing nothing. Ancedotally, people swear by it, but it isn't supported by the research. Another reason moms start cereal early these days is for reflux -- it thickens the milk a bit so theoretically, it's harder for it to come up. Again, it's ancedotal evidence, but many doctors suggest it for babies with reflux as worth a shot. I don't treat Donny's reflux with it, but a good friend of mine did it with her daughter and swears by it. Back to the books -- James, it's interesting to hear Elizabeth's opinion of What To Expect When You're Expecting. There are things in there that I don't agree with either, but some of them are from almost the opposite angle -- I think the authors can be a bit too "granola" for real life. My favorite line goes something like "every once in awhile, splurge on some cake or white rice." Yes, brown rice is better for you, but lumping cake and rice into the same category?? LOL! I can so totally see Lois reading that paragraph during her pregnancy, throwing the book in the trash can and grabbing herself another Double Fudge Crunch Bar. Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 16:01:42 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laura Moore Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit huh ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 17:58:15 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Clemens Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Crystal Wimmer wrote: > > In a message dated 7/16/2001 12:18:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > kathybrown91@HOME.COM writes: > > << Jude, since you asked for reading ideas, I would definitely suggest getting > "What To Expect In The First Year" by Eisenbery, Murkoff and Hathaway. They > also have a book on pregnancy called "What To Expect When You're Expecting" > and one for toddlers, "What To Expect in the Toddler Years." > > I have to second Kathy's recommendation of the "What to Expect When..." > series... The books I used as my "Bible" were The Birth Book, by Dr. William Sears, and The Baby Book, also by Sears. I really disliked the "What to expect" books, feeling that a lot of what they recommended went against common sense and common kindness. I undertand they've "recanted" on their recommended diet. Of course, this is coming from a Mom who used midwives instead of doctors, bore three children *without* resorting to drugs (thanks to the midwives, IMO, who knew Other Ways to manage the pain), and wouldn't dream of feeding a child Pablum, or *anything* besides breastmilk, for at least the first six months, if not longer. Fanatical natural-childbirth/breastfeeding mother here. So you might want to take my advice with a grain of salt. But do look at the Sears books. And the Bradley method of natural childbirth is good too. Lois referred to both of them in the final TUFS story (Full Circle : a new day) when she has her baby. (Hey, they asked me to write the childbirth parts. And I wrote what I knew. ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve Never cared much for Brazleton, either. "Attachment parenting" with Sears, and "Positive discipline" with Jane Duncan. And I've just started reading the How-to-parent-your-teenager type books; Grace just turned thirteen. Now *that's* really scary. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:01:41 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Re: New story: My Friend 1/1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi Wendy, I'm late with this again, so I'll echo all the other comments -- a sad ye= t beautiful reflection on a POV that is often forgotten. You have a wonderful touch for poignant stories. Thank you for this one. Yours Jenni ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 08:49:11 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: NEW: Imbalance Part 11 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE [Okay, okay... I can take a hint... eventually. This time, at=20 popular request/command (put the cattle prods *down!*), Lois and Clark=20 finally get to the newsroom... Now read on:] ***** For the second time in his life, Clark Kent walked into the Daily=20 Planet anticipating an interview with Perry White which, he earnestly=20 hoped, would land him a job as a reporter. He felt even less confident=20 on this occasion; for his previous interview, in the other universe, he=20 had been younger, far more na=EFve, and barely able to contemplate the=20 possibility that he might not land the coveted position. This time,=20 he'd been more careful in his preparation: no articles about=20 knob-tailed geckos, for a start, and he also hoped that Lois Lane's=20 support would gain him some extra brownie-points with this version of=20 Perry White. The Perry of his own world had seen Lois as a surrogate=20 daughter, and had been devastated at her loss. This Lois, from what he=20 could tell, was very different in many ways -- far harder as a person,=20 and less inclined to trust anyone -- but he hoped, all the same, that=20 her relationship with the Editor-in-Chief was similar. The previous day, he had only passed through the newsroom, not quite=20 daring to leave the walkway and venture into the bullpen proper; it=20 felt very strange being led through the familiar, yet strange,=20 surroundings by Lois. There was Eduardo... and Ralph was holding court=20 over by the coffee machine, which was pretty much par for the course.=20 And there was the young researcher who had only just started at *his*=20 Planet as he'd left. He'd already seen this world's James-- no, *Jimmy*=20 -- Olsen, so he figured he should be able to get used to the idea of=20 the younger man being a junior photographer and erstwhile gofer instead=20 of a multi-millionaire and business magnate. Standing next to Eduardo was a man Clark didn't recognise. Under her=20 breath, Lois identified him as Tom Everett, a new-ish appointment to=20 the Planet and, until two days ago, her most recent partner. "*Not* one=20 of Perry's more inspired decisions," Lois muttered acidly. Clark was in the act of silently resolving to make up his own mind,=20 when his super-hearing picked up a conversation between the two men. "Who's the guy with Lane?" Eduardo was asking. "Dunno... hey, could be that Kent person who shared her by-line this=20 morning. Poor sucker!" Tom Everett replied, a cruel note in his voice.=20 "Wonder if we should take him aside and warn him what a ball-breaker=20 she is?" Clark's lips tightened and he shut off his super-hearing; somehow, he=20 didn't think he and Tom Everett would end up being friends -- not in=20 *this* universe, he considered sardonically. He was tempted to send a=20 dart of heat vision in the other man's direction, but restrained=20 himself with difficulty. He couldn't afford to risk calling attention=20 to any strange goings-on while he was around. Actually, it was a very strange experience for him to be in=20 surroundings where he was simply accepted as an ordinary human male. In=20 the couple of years since he had been exposed as the alien from Krypton=20 in his own world, he'd had to become accustomed to people -- friends,=20 colleagues, acquaintances, complete strangers -- watching him as if he=20 was going to do something super at any moment. Some had even behaved,=20 occasionally, as if they expected him to smite them with one of his=20 extraordinary powers. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to be=20 treated as if he was normal; it made a refreshing change. Lois realised that Clark's attention had become distracted, and she=20 glanced at him: he looked preoccupied, and she saw his lips tighten.=20 Something hadn't pleased him, and she wondered what it could have been.=20 Something she'd said...? But no... no, he was looking across the=20 newsroom, his gaze on Friaz and Everett. Why would they have annoyed=20 him? Of course -- those amazing powers of his! He had to have overheard=20 something. Something about himself? But, as quickly as the thought came=20 to her, she dismissed it. This wasn't a man who would be overly=20 concerned at comments directed at himself. He'd had these powers for...=20 how long? A long time, it seemed. He had to have overheard far too many=20 remarks about himself for them to hurt him, and anyway, why would the=20 idle speculation of two people he didn't even know bother him? Then it came to her. They'd been talking about *her*, and he'd=20 overheard it. He'd been annoyed, because of something they'd said about=20 *her*. 'It doesn't matter; I'm used to it,' she wanted to say to him, when the=20 significance of her discovery struck her. Clark Kent really was her friend. For the first time, a man had heard=20 what other men thought of her and had reacted with anger on her behalf,=20 instead of joining in the usual male amusement at her expense. Surreptitiously, almost as if by doing it so covertly, she could=20 pretend to herself that it wasn't happening, she touched his arm=20 lightly with her fingertips. "Ignore them," she whispered. "I do." He glanced down at her, his expression softening; to his credit, he=20 didn't pretend not to understand. "You shouldn't *have* to." Lois wasn't used to sympathy, and barely knew how to deal with it.=20 Moving away from him, she said brusquely, "The Chief's office is over=20 there. I'll see if he has time to talk to you now." She felt his gaze on her as she strode smartly towards the editor's=20 office, but she ignored him. She still hadn't quite decided what to do=20 about this strange-- this downright intriguing -- alien from another=20 planet. Even if his intentions did prove to be as good as he claimed --=20 and, so far, the evidence was leaning in that direction -- there was=20 something about him which was just too threatening to the barriers=20 she'd carefully constructed around herself. The deliberate decision=20 she'd made years before -- that men had no place in her life, that she=20 simply couldn't afford to open herself to emotional pain... in all the=20 years since, no man had ever caused her to question that resolve. Until Clark Kent had appeared -- quite literally -- out of the blue. "Lois!" Perry White's voice cut through her thoughts; she looked up to=20 see her editor standing at the entrance to his office. "It's about time=20 you got here. In here, now -- and if that's Kent behind you, he can get=20 in here, too!" Without waiting to see whether Kent was following, she took the few=20 steps which brought her to Perry's office and followed the editor=20 inside. The sound of the door closing behind her told her that Clark=20 had indeed joined them; a moment later, he came to stand behind Lois. "Mr White? I'm Clark Kent." "Hmmm," Perry grunted. "Normally, I'd expect to meet reporters *before*=20 their by-line appears in my newspaper." But he extended his hand all=20 the same, and Lois watched Clark accept it in a strong grip. "My apologies for that, Mr White. I think both Ms Lane and I would have=20 preferred to go about this in a more... traditional manner, but we were=20 both after the same story last night, and the way things worked out, we=20 each ended up with part of the puzzle. It seemed to make sense to=20 combine our efforts." "I see," Perry drawled, then switched his attention to Lois. "What have=20 you got to say for yourself? And just who is this Clark Kent, anyway?" But Lois hadn't worked at the Planet for more than six years for=20 nothing. She knew the way Perry worked and, as such, she gave him a=20 challenging grin. "Come on, Chief, don't try to tell me you don't=20 already know. I'd lay odds you knew just about everything there is to=20 know about Kent inside of twenty minutes of reading our story." 'Well,=20 not *quite* everything,' she reflected with an inward smile. 'Certainly=20 not the fact that he can fly...' Perry gave her one of his trademark knowing looks. "Well, the one thing=20 I don't know is why you decided to work with him, after a certain=20 conversation we had only a couple of days ago. But that can wait.=20 Kent," he added, returning his attention to Clark, "I see you used to=20 work for the Gotham Recorder. Good paper; shame it went under -- it=20 didn't deserve to. What have you been up to since?" Suppressing a smile of enjoyment, Lois watched Kent carefully. He'd=20 claimed last night that he used to work for the Daily Planet, and she'd=20 told him that wasn't possible: she worked at the Planet and had never=20 seen him before. He'd countered by telling her that it wasn't her Daily=20 Planet, but he'd refused to explain further. And he'd also told her=20 that he had a respectable, and perfectly credible, r=E9sum=E9. Perry's=20 comment seemed to bear that out, she reflected thoughtfully, wondering=20 just how this very strange visitor had managed to wangle that. Was it=20 some sort of departing present from his home planet -- a passport to a=20 normal life on Earth? Were there more like him here, all with perfect=20 credentials and pretending to be ordinary people? She was being paranoid; this wasn't "The X-Files", and Clark Kent,=20 whatever he was, was not an invading extra-terrestrial. Somehow, she=20 believed him when he said he wanted to use his incredible powers to=20 help. And if it meant that she-- well, okay, she and Kent -- got the=20 exclusives, all the better. Listening with half her attention to Clark's explanation that he'd been=20 freelancing since the demise of his old paper, working on a book and=20 doing a little teaching on the side, Lois wondered again about his=20 claim to have worked for the *Daily Planet*. It seemed a very strange=20 thing to say, if it wasn't true. Perhaps she should question him about=20 the newspaper he had worked for: who else had worked there with him?=20 Who was the editor? Who was the star reporter? Later, she decided; that=20 could be an interesting conversation. Perry was now interrogating Clark on some of his past stories, and=20 again Lois wondered just how the mysterious stranger had managed to set=20 all this up. She *knew* he'd never worked for the Gotham Recorder, and=20 yet apparently Perry had managed to find a number of stories in the=20 Recorder's archive that carried Kent's by-line. This was definitely=20 weird. "Okay, Kent, I'll need to talk to Lois for a moment, so if you'd wait=20 outside..." Perry drew the conversation to a close and gestured towards=20 the door of his office. Clark got up and, with a polite farewell,=20 exited the room. "So, Lois, just how did you and this Kent end up co-writing a story?"=20 the editor asked incredulously. "I know you, and there's something just=20 not right about what you've told me so far." Lois studied her boss thoughtfully. She wasn't surprised that Perry was=20 suspicious: he'd been in the newspaper business for over thirty years,=20 and, as he'd said often enough himself, he hadn't managed to become=20 editor of the Daily Planet because he could yodel. He had a shrewd,=20 analytical brain and an instinct for when someone was holding out on=20 him. She decided to tell as much of the truth as possible, without=20 revealing Kent's unusual abilities. "Okay, Perry, I'll be straight with you," she answered, giving him a=20 direct look. "I went to the park last night after getting an anonymous=20 tip-off. It turned out to be a set-up. If it wasn't for Kent, I'd be=20 dead right now, and you'd be writing my obituary." Perry's eyes narrowed. "What happened?" Lois shrugged. "Just one of those things. There was a booby-trap, I=20 fell into it, and Kent just happened to be there, checking out a lead=20 of his own. He heard me calling for help, and rescued me. After that...=20 well, it would have been kind of mean-minded not to share what I had=20 with him, and he had a couple of things I didn't have. I persuaded him=20 that a guaranteed joint by-line at the Planet would be better for him=20 than trying to convince another Metropolis paper to take his story.=20 This way, we both gained: he got a by-line -- and I assume the Planet=20 will give him the usual stringer's payment? -- and the Planet got the=20 exclusive." The editor's expression was pensive. "A small story about possible=20 vandalism at the Fantasy World Theme Park, Lois? It's hardly an=20 award-winning scoop." "If that's all it was, I'd agree with you," she countered, a confident=20 smile now spreading over her features. "My information is that this has=20 something to do with Intergang. I was lured there by a message which=20 implied that the Churches were involved." He tried to hide it, but Lois could see Perry stiffen at the name of=20 Church. He didn't say anything, though -- which was interesting, she=20 thought. Instead, there was a pause, and then the editor nodded. "I=20 see. And by getting Kent on board, you stopped him giving another paper=20 a possible lead on Intergang?" "Got it in one, Perry," Lois answered with a triumphant grin. "And our=20 freelance contracts *do* include a clause about not taking a variant of=20 the same story anywhere else, don't they?" "Yeah." But this time, the editor's concentration was clearly not on=20 the topic of discussion. He tapped his pencil on the surface of his=20 desk a couple of times before looking thoughtfully across at Lois.=20 "What's your impression of Kent?" he asked abruptly. She shrugged. "Hard to say. He seems pretty okay -- he's a good=20 journalist, and you know I don't say that about many people. If you=20 asked me whether I trust him... I don't know, but he seems straight=20 enough. Intelligent, too. But I only met him last night." "Yes, and you co-wrote an article with him," Perry countered. "Lois,=20 I've seen you eat up other reporters and spit 'em out -- if you'd=20 wanted, you could've neutralised Kent in some other way. No, I'm=20 thinking... this is the first reporter you've actually managed to work=20 with since your intern days without coming to blows with him." "Yet," Lois murmured sotto voce, while thinking simultaneously that, in=20 terms of Clark Kent's desired outcome, this was going extremely well.=20 Any minute now, Perry would be convinced that hiring Clark Kent to work=20 with Lois Lane was his own idea. "What would you say if I offered Kent a job on staff, to work with=20 you?" Perry threw at her abruptly. "Month's trial, of course." Lois grimaced, knowing that Perry would expect her to react negatively=20 at the thought of a partner. Then she let her face get thoughtful as=20 she worked out exactly how to say next; she'd already worked out an=20 angle to put to him, and the thoughtful look was half window-dressing=20 intended to look like she was reacting to an unexpected idea -- or,=20 possibly, *opportunity*... "Okay..." she murmured in supposed begrudging approval. Perry raised an=20 eyebrow in surprise, and she went on, "That's not a bad idea, Chief.=20 He's in on this anyway, so it makes sense for the Planet to keep him,=20 rather than turn him loose and let the Star or some other paper get a=20 jump on us for free. And if he is involved in this, somehow -- I still=20 think there's more than he's said to him turning up like that last=20 night -- then a month or so ought to be long enough to work out whether=20 or not he's a plant. I'll just have to keep an eye on him." 'And maybe he can keep an eye on *you* as well,' Perry thought as she=20 left the office to get Clark and tell him the news. He rather liked=20 what he'd seen of this young man, not to mention his firm handshake,=20 even though he knew that meant nothing and Lois could be right about=20 him. On the other hand, if Kent was on the level and could keep Lois in=20 one piece, the way that he apparently had last night, then he'd be=20 worth every penny of his salary. ***** [Meanwhile, outside in the newsroom, *other* people are watching events=20 like... like reporters! And one in particular is watching *Clark*...=20 Find out who, next time.] Phil ---- "I think... I think I am! Therefore I am... I think?" -- The Moody Blues I think _I_ am Phil Atcliffe (Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 08:22:41 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 11 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yay, more Imbalance! :) Thanks, Phil... s p o i l e r s p a c e I loved this moment: >>Surreptitiously, almost as if by doing it so covertly, she could pretend to herself that it wasn't happening, she touched his arm lightly with her fingertips. "Ignore them," she whispered. "I do." He glanced down at her, his expression softening; to his credit, he didn't pretend not to understand. "You shouldn't *have* to." << and her realization that he really does want to be her friend, that was very well done... and especially meaningful to a Lois who's not at all used to having friends. >>"What would you say if I offered Kent a job on staff, to work with you?" Perry threw at her abruptly. "Month's trial, of course." Lois grimaced, knowing that Perry would expect her to react negatively at the thought of a partner. Then she let her face get thoughtful as she worked out exactly how to say next; she'd already worked out an angle to put to him, and the thoughtful look was half window-dressing intended to look like she was reacting to an unexpected idea -- or, possibly, *opportunity*... << This was brilliant Yep, I bet Perry thinks he's really smart... Now all we need to know is how the rest of the staff reacts, and how the story develops, and what the Churches do, and how Lois and Clark get ever closer to one another... basically, I want the rest of the story right now but if I have to wait for it, I suppose I'll manage... Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ "They thought that what they were seeing on the screen, the plot and effects and dialog, was all there was. They had no conception of how much work our willing brains were doing on the initial stimulus after our senses took it all in. We took the show in and fixed it, and it was to this fixed-up version that we gave our passionate response." --Lois McMaster Bujold, from an essay ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 09:19:37 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laura Moore Subject: where can i MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit where can i read the stories i dont like to read part 11 when i haven't even read parts 1-10 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 14:25:58 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: where can i MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Laura wrote: > where can i read the stories i dont like to read part 11 when i haven't even > read parts 1-10 Laura, all posts to the list, including story segments, are archived here: http://listserv.indiana.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=loiscla-general-l&O=D LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:58:44 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 11 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Tue, 17 Jul 2001 08:49:11 +0100 Phillip Atcliffe writes: > [Okay, okay... I can take a hint... eventually. This time, at > popular request/command (put the cattle prods *down!*), Lois and > Clark > finally get to the newsroom... Cattle prod? I thought it was a bull whip! *insert whip snapping noise here* hehehe Thanks for the Tues installment, always appreciated! Loved it and can't wait for more! Wonder if this Planet has a Cat! CM ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:50:54 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Pablum? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Many thanks to Carol M., Marilyn, Kathy B., LaNita, Crys, James and Genevieve. I now have direction as well as purpose. FOLCs are the greatest. >But do look at the Sears books. And the Bradley method of natural childbirth is good too. Lois referred to both of them in the final TUFS story (Full Circle : a new day) when she has her baby. (Hey, they asked me to write the childbirth parts. And I wrote what I knew. ) -----Genevieve, the part where Lois gives birth while Clark is involved with earthquake rescues is one my favorite and most vivid memories from TUFS. Very moving and very real. Thanks again everybody! :) Jude judithwilliams@prodigy.net "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine De Saint Exupery. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 12:57:27 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kylie L Sizer Subject: Looking for a beta reader :))) My apologies if you get this twice, I posted to the boards and to here, so sorry! >>Hey guys If you don't know me, I'm Kylie :) Hi! The subject line says it all really. I'm writing a fic at the moment, which will be my first proper one. I've written a few nfic vignettes before, so this is going to be my first PG fic, and my first longer fic. Not that it will be very long, it is my first attempt! Anyway, on with the point :D I would like a person, or even more than one to bounce ideas off, read through it and do all the stuff that a BR generally does. I already have one person who would like to BR for me, but another one or two would be really great. Not that I'm greedy. ;) So... if you think you would like to do this (and I know it is a lot to ask of someone to give up their time to help me) please could you post a reply here, or send an e-mail to katie_sizer@hotmail.com. :) I would be really, really grateful. And I'm a slow writer, so there'd be no pressure. Thanks, Kylie :) (who knows she is pleasing a certain little rat by posting this ad) << Kylie :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 13:09:49 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: The Exodus II: Earthbound - Part (4/4) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sorry this took so long everyone. You can find the rest of this story = here = http://www.lastson.com/boards/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=3Dget_topic&f=3D5&t=3D00= 0357 Hope whoever reads this enjoys it. public or private feedback = weclome at alabot1@hotmail.com ****** from part 3 Jor-El paused to gauge his wife's reaction. She was listening = thoughtfully, an unreadable expression on her face. He continued after = a moments pause, "That wasn't all he had to say either. He offered us = passage on the ship so that we all could survive. I turned him down. = I'm getting on in life, I told him to send someone younger than me = instead, there will be limited space and I'm beyond my prime. I won't = be much help in building a new world, but you should have a say in this = as well. It was callous of me to try and make this decision alone. Sar = reminded me of this. So do you want to take up his offer?" Jor-El watched with baited breath as he waited for her answer. Lara = turned to face Kal-El, and looked down at him tenderly stroking his = cheek. After a few moments she said, continuing to lovingly stroke her = son's cheek, "I couldn't ask you to go if you felt it wasn't the right = thing to do. And as much as I want to see little Kal-El grow up, I = don't think I could survive without you. You're a part of me." When she looked back at Jor-El, he saw tears in her eyes. Feeling as = if his heart was being torn out, he quickly crossed to her and put his = arms around her, holding her tight. "I'm sorry. If it hurts that much = we'll go. I can't stand to see you in pain." Shaking her head softly against his chest, Lara said, "No, you were = right in the first place. It's better to let some of the younger = generation take our place." They stood there holding each other in silence for a very long time, as = if they never wanted to let go. ****** And now part 4 The next day, Jor-El went to tell Sar-El about his and Lara's decision. = He was somewhat nervous about his brother's reaction to his news, = especially after how Sar-El broke down yesterday. He had a feeling this = wouldn't go over well, but he felt obligated to tell him. Jor-El stood anxiously in front of his brother's room, having been told = he could find him there. Pausing a moment to collect himself, Jor-El = cautiously knocked on the door. After a few moments, he thought he = heard from inside, a quiet, "Come in." Slowly, Jor-El opened the door and entered the room. Inside, it was = nearly pitch black, only a tiny bit of red light leaking in through the = curtains. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, as he scanned the room = for his brother. A figure stirred at the far side of the room and said, = "Who's there?" "It's me," Jor-El said quietly, as if fearing to break the silence of = the room. "Oh, Jor-El," Sar-El said tonelessly. "I guess you've come to tell me = about your final decision." His voice remained flat and dejected, never = wavering. Turning on a light, Jor-El looked at his brother, huddled in a chair. = If he had appeared like a shell of his former proud self yesterday, = today he was barely a shadow. Sar-El was crumbling quickly under his = guilt. Jor-El almost decided not to tell him about Lara's and his = decision, but he knew it was necessary. "Sar, Lara and I have decided not to take your offer for a space on the = ship under construction. We feel that younger people should take our = space, I'm getting on in years and don't have much time left to begin = with," Jor-El said quickly, before he lost his nerve. Sar-El nodded sadly, accepting Jor-El's words. Then, quietly he asked, = "What about my nephew, Kal-El. Will he be staying too?" "I've been working on a space ship of my own for Kal-El for the past = month. I feel we have a better chance, seeing as we aren't rushing a = project that was meant to be finished years from now. We plan to = continue as before, sending Kal-El in this ship. Maybe some day, if = both ships make it, they'll meet up someday," Jor-El explained. With that, he turned to leave but was stopped when Sar-El said, = "Farewell Jor, good luck." Leaving the room, Jor-El said, "Farewell Sar, good luck to you as = well." ****** Three weeks later, Jor-El had completed the craft. Everything was = ready, except they still hadn't found a suitable planet to send Kal-El = to. Jor-El was beginning to worry, they had barely a week left before = the planet exploded, by his calculations, and not one planet had been = found that a lone child might have a chance to survive on. Jor-El looked sadly at Kal-El as Lara carried him around the lab. All = this work, and he felt he had failed his son. Soon the computer would = complete the exhaustive search started almost two months ago, but Jor-El = held little hope that a planet would be found that fit the restrictive = criteria. Jor-El hung his head dejectedly, about ready to just give it up. It = was too late to try to get Kal-El a place on the colony ship Sar-El had = order built. It had launched a few days ago, the gamble had apparently = paid off, though it remained to be seen if they would find a place to = colonize. The ship might not even survive the journey. Just as he was about to cancel the search, fruitless in his opinion, = the computer beeped at him. Jor-El looked at the screen and finally, a = planet fitting the criteria had been found. Hardly daring to breathe = for fear the discovery wouldn't hold up to further examination, he began = to check out the data on the planet. It was the third planet from its sun. One large moon orbited the = planet. There were seven other planets in the system of varying size = and shape. One of the most interesting features of the solar system was = that the sixth planet had large prominent rings surrounding it. Jor-El = was briefly reminded of a legend of such a planet seen in ancient times, = as well as a large moon in his ancestor's night sky, though no moon = orbited Krypton and there was no evidence of debris that might have = indicated one had existed in the past. He quickly dismissed the old = legends and began examining the third planet, as it was the most = important. The atmosphere was a nitrogen/oxygen mix with some other trace gasses, = much like Krypton's own. The world was much wetter then Krypton was, = with nearly three-fourths of the planet's surface. The landmasses = contained sentient civilizations, nowhere near as advanced as Krypton, = but in the beginnings of an industrial age, barely a century old. A far = cry from Krypton, but it would suffice. Jor-El was mostly interested in the sentient race that dominated the = planet. Their physical characteristics mirrored those of Kryptonians, = so much so that he exclaimed in surprise. Lara looked at him curiously and asked, "What happened?" Not wanting to get Lara's hopes up, until he was sure this planet was = suitable, he said cautiously, "I'm examining a possible destination for = Kal-El, and I was just surprised by something I saw, that's all." When she turned back her attention to Kal-El, he turned back to the = computer. So far the results were better then he could have hoped for. = Kal-El would blend in perfectly with the inhabitants of this planet. = Next, he had to check biological compatibility. Their diets seemed to = be roughly the same as Kryptonians, using similar plants and animals as = food. According to comparisons between the compositions of the = sustenance, they should be interchangeable and therefore, Kal-El should = have no problem surviving on the food available. He still had a few reservations about sending Kal-El to this planet, = though. For one thing, the planet orbited a yellow sun, which would = radiate different energy then Krypton's own red sun. There was no = telling how it might affect the little Kal-El; he might not even be able = to survive under its influence. Also, while the physical = characteristics of the inhabitants were identical, there was no = guarantee that they were compatible in other ways. Jor-El decided he was willing to take the risk of possible disastrous = effects from the sun, seeing as there was no other choice. On the other = hand, he could explore the compatibility by checking out DNA samples the = probe collected. And societal beliefs of the different areas, finding = one that hopefully went along the lines of Krypton's and hopefully an = area where people would be likely to take in a baby and raise it. From the data compiled, the most likely place was one of the larger = countries, in the northwestern part of the planet, based on the planet's = magnetic poles. The people called it the United States of America, and = it purported to support similar ideals to those on Krypton. Though = other places too shared the same ideals, they tended to be much more = densely populated; finding a place to land the ship would be more = difficult. Jor-El began to scan the geography for a suitable place to = land a ship. Since space travel was a new field for the planet, it = seemed unlikely that a space ship falling from the sky would be well = accepted. He felt that it should be a remote location, but still one = where it was likely to be discovered by someone not too long after = landing, since there was no guarantee the support systems would last = much longer then the time it took to make the journey. The country was divided up into what they called states. In the = central region there were several sparsely populated states, that might = be sufficient. Jor-El picked the outskirts of a small, mostly farming, = community in a state called Kansas. Finally, he did a DNA comparison, running a test for biologic = compatibility between Kryptonians and these Earthlings. The computer = compared the DNA strands of the two species, looking for similarities = and differences. Jor-El almost couldn't believe the readout. The DNA = strands were less then one-tenth of a percent different, nearly = identical. Save for two minor differences on chromosome pairs = twenty-one and twenty-two, they were identical, sharing the same DNA = coding, as well as the same number of chromosomes. It was hard to = believe that two races evolving under different circumstances and = millions of light years apart could be so similar. But there the = evidence was right in front of him. According to this data, there was a = very good chance that Kal-El would be compatible with an earth woman. = It was more than he could have ever hoped for, but it seemed that it was = the case. Barely able to contain his excitement, he decided to tell Lara the = wonderful news. Calling her over, his voice full of exuberance, he = began to tell Lara of his findings, "Lara, it's unbelievable. I've = found a planet that Kal-El should easily survive on. I can't believe = how similar the inhabitants of this planet are to us. It's hard to = believe they evolved millions of light years away from us. Kal-El could = easily have a full, wonderful life there." Looking over at Lara, he saw she had a big smile on her face. "Oh, = it's wonderful," she said. "I can't believe it either." Smiling as well, Jor-El said, "All that's left is to plot a course for = the ship and program it into the globe. Then we can send Kal-El on his = way." Genuinely happy for the first time in weeks, they set to work on the = finishing touches needed to send Kal-El to this planet called Earth. ****** A few days later, everything was set to launch the ship. Jor-El had = checked and double checked, and in some cases even triple checked, the = various systems. As far as he could discern, everything was in perfect = working condition. Today would be the day they sent Kal-El on his way. They were running out of time, but Jor-El had wanted to make sure = things would go smoothly. Around them the planet was literally shaking = itself apart. Buildings were crumbling, crushing those who still = remained. Their screams echoed in the city, barely discernable above = the sounds of destruction. Roads were splitting open, swallowing others = as they raced about, trying to flee the carnage somehow. Lava was = erupting from newly formed volcanoes all around the city, making it = impossible to enter or leave. The end could come at any time now. Jor-El and Lara rushed to get Kal-El ready for his long journey. = Kal-El was obviously distressed by the chaos all around, and Lara tried = vainly to comfort him. Jor-El was busy placing everything in the ship, = getting it ready for the launch. Just then, an exceptionally strong = earthquake ripped through the area, shaking the lab and causing some of = the ceiling to cave in. Kal-El began wailing even louder as he was = shaken around. "We're running out of time," Jor-El said. "It's time we set Kal-El on = his way, otherwise, we might not be able to." Lara nodded sadly, reluctant to let her child go, but knowing it was = for the best. She carefully placed him in the craft, cooing and trying = to keep him calm, tucking the blanket around him carefully. Jor-El = began closing the lid of the craft, which obviously distressed the baby, = who had no idea what was going on, even more. It took all of their = discipline not to stop and comfort their scared child. Once the ship was sealed, Jor-El began the launch sequence, sending it = out into space. Lara and Jor-El clung to each other, watching the tiny = ship as it raced away from their dying world. As the vibrations of the = planet increased, they continued to hold each other as their last = moments passed their prayers with the tiny ship and its precious cargo. Krypton gave its last gasp and the planet exploded, sending chunks into = the vast depths of space, some chasing the craft. The tiny ship raced = away from the fireball that had once been Krypton. Kal-El, last son of = Krypton, was headed home. ****** The end ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 18:47:33 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Episode Question Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Here's another question to test your knowledge of series canon. ;-) I was wondering: in which episode does Clark dump Lois 'for her own good'? And what was the event that spurred that action? Thanks!!! Bethy PS I'm back from my vaction, in case you couldn't tell by my wonderful, funky tan lines. I will be posting the next section of Alien Gift shortly. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 14:49:40 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Elizabeth Rowe(Juliet)" Subject: Re: Episode Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/17/01 2:47:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jextra42@HOTMAIL.COM writes: << Here's another question to test your knowledge of series canon. ;-) I was wondering: in which episode does Clark dump Lois 'for her own good'? And what was the event that spurred that action? Thanks!!! Bethy >> Can't remember the title for the life of me, but the catalyst was somebody brainwashing Lois to believe she was abducted by UFO's and turn on Superman, leading Clark to believe he was a danger to Lois. Juliet ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 14:14:22 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: Episode Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable It was Contact and Lois got hurt because she was being used to keep = Superman out of the way so Bob Fences could pull of robberies and she = got hurt when he stopped Fences and it scared him. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 14:27:36 -0500 Reply-To: truitt22@flash.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: timothy truitt Organization: tnt technical services Subject: Re: Looking for a beta reader :))) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Kylie, I'll help. merry Kylie L Sizer wrote: > My apologies if you get this twice, I posted to the boards and to here, so > sorry! > > >>Hey guys > If you don't know me, I'm Kylie :) Hi! The subject line says it all really. > I'm writing a fic at the moment, which will be my first proper one. I've > written a few nfic vignettes before, so this is going to be my first PG > fic, and my first longer fic. Not that it will be very long, it is my first > attempt! Anyway, on with the point :D > > I would like a person, or even more than one to bounce ideas off, read > through it and do all the stuff that a BR generally does. I already have > one person who would like to BR for me, but another one or two would be > really great. Not that I'm greedy. ;) > > So... if you think you would like to do this (and I know it is a lot to ask > of someone to give up their time to help me) please could you post a reply > here, or send an e-mail to katie_sizer@hotmail.com. :) I would be really, > really grateful. And I'm a slow writer, so there'd be no pressure. > > Thanks, > > Kylie :) (who knows she is pleasing a certain little rat by posting this ad) > << > > Kylie :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 15:31:20 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laura Moore Subject: Re: Episode Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit i dont know the epp... but i think she keeps on getting into trouble,, and "superman" has to keep on saving her i forgot the epp.. innkow what ure talking about ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 21:08:25 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicola Baker Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 11 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Wonder if this Planet has a Cat! Hmmm, funny you should mention her, Carol... she was the first person to spring to mind when I read this: [Meanwhile, outside in the newsroom, *other* people are watching events like... like reporters! And one in particular is watching *Clark*... Find out who, next time.] Roll on Friday! Nic ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 17:00:58 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: Episode Question Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The episode was Contact. Lois ends up with a concussion... reason enough for Clark to separate so she would be out of danger. Tsk tsk They get over the differences in Just Say Noah (one of my favorite eps). Gotta love that kiss in the secret study. :))))) Natascha ><< Here's another question to test your knowledge of series canon. ;-) I >was > wondering: in which episode does Clark dump Lois 'for her own good'? >And > what was the event that spurred that action? > > Thanks!!! > > Bethy >> > > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 16:55:00 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Jury Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! In-Reply-To: <00e801c10dee$22f8e900$916105a0@hrm.keele.ac.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Wendy, I looked and looked for a story of yours with the title TOOOM, but I couldn't fine it! What is the full title, and where is it? I love TOGOM rewrites and want to read this one. Karen J. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 19:10:56 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit It's That Old Obsession of Mine that she posted on the boards in the last week or so. So I'm not Wendy - ah well - I know the answer!*BG* And it's worth the read! CM On Tue, 17 Jul 2001 16:55:00 -0700 Karen Jury writes: > Wendy, I looked and looked for a story of yours with > the title TOOOM, but I couldn't fine it! What is the > full title, and where is it? I love TOGOM rewrites > and want to read this one. > > Karen J. > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail > http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 00:56:19 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Alien Gift (4/?) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Well, I'm back, and in need of a vacation to make up for the sleep lost on my vacation! :-P For those of you who remember that whole NASA/Gravity and Vomit Comet discussion -- here's why I asked. Last time, Lois, Clark and Elsha were headed to Smallville for some peace, quiet, and recouperation. Comments welcome here or privately at bethyem@yahoo.com. Bethy Alien Gift Part Four: "She's asleep again." Lois sat down heavily in the kitchen chair opposite Clark. They had been periodically waking Elsha up to make sure the concussion didn’t turn into a coma, but she always managed to go right back to sleep afterwards. "It's been fourteen hours! I didn't know one person *could* sleep that long!" "Well, she's not exactly up to par right now. Cut her some slack." Clark grinned at her as she glowered back. She mentally took stock of the preceding events. Once they had gotten Elsha settled, she having slept through all the action, Lois had gone into town for groceries. It had been a while since they had been to the farmhouse, and as a result, they were fresh out of supplies. Clark had regretfully called The Agston and cancelled their reservations. It looked like it would be a while longer before they got their honeymoon. Then, they had waited. They ate some food, watched some TV, played poker (unfortunately not strip, they couldn't afford to *do* anything because of the chance that Elsha might wake up on her own in the middle of it), and took turns napping. "What are we going to do with her, Clark? I mean, the way those people, whoever they were, dumped her, I don't think they're coming back. And you and Dr. Klein agreed that she's an alien, so the odds of us finding any information on where she came from and how to send her back are virtually nil. Unless somebody comes looking for her, of course." Contemplating these facts, Lois fell silent. She had a hint of an idea, but didn't want to bring it up until she had some indication that Clark was open to the possibility of...No. She wouldn't think about it, much as she wanted it. This was something about which both of them needed to be as one, and she wasn't going to make Clark feel he had to do it to please her. He would, too. If she wanted it, he would do everything in his power to give it to her. And she loved him enough to realize that, this time at least, she wanted *him* to be at peace; she wanted him to have a choice. She wasn't above giving hints, though. "I think we need to look into the procedures for getting Social Services involved. Since we have no idea where she came from, unless she can tell us something more when she wakes up, I think we have to assume she's stuck here. And in that case, she's going to need a home." Hesitantly, she looked up from her cards (all she had was a lousy pair of twos, anyway) to see Clark smiling knowingly at her. "What?" "Oh, nothing," he said, with that annoying little tone that said, very clearly, that *something* was up, but he wasn't about to give it up easily. She huffed. "Clark. I'm going to count to three, and then you are going to spill it, Or Else." "Or Else what?" He mimicked her emphasis. "Or Else," she gazed down at her hand and casually checked her nails, "I may have to resort to..." she grinned up through her lashes, "The Treatment." "Lo-is." "One Mississippi." "Lois, come on." "Two one thousand...Three--" "All right! All right! Just, no Treatment, okay?" His tone changed from begging to suggestive. "Or, at least, not until we're alone and I can do justice to my revenge." "Okay." Cards forgotten, she pounced. "So, what's up?" Outwardly she was playful, enjoying their casual banter, but inside she was worried. She always was when she pried something out of him, which was why she always tried to make it seem like a game. What if this was it? The one time she pushed too far and made him angry? Okay, so she made him angry all the time with her investigative stunts and other crazy ideas, but that was normal. This was...this was privacy. What if she pushed too hard into the realms of his 'personal space'? He always said that they were married, soulmates, and everything about him was hers to share, but she knew better. Every man (well, every person, really, but she was talking about men here) needed that little part of himself that was *his,* all for him. Something he didn't have to share with *any*body...not even his wife. Every man she'd ever known did, why should Clark be any different? Though he showed her every day that he was not your typical man, she had a hard time letting this notion go. But this wasn't going to be an over-pushy time. She remembered that gleam in his eyes. He was egging her on! Inner-conscience conflict shoved aside, she was ready to listen to her beloved. "Okay, this is just an idea. Remember that. If you have any objections, and I mean any, don't feel like you have to agree with me." Now he seemed to be the one with uncertainties. "Clark, when have I ever felt unable to air, though usually at the top of my lungs, my personal opinion?" Visibly reassured (honestly, after a year of marriage she'd think they wouldn't still be tiptoeing around each other, but she had to remember that though she felt like she'd known him forever, *they* had really only been together for that one year), he went on. "Well, and this is assuming we can't find any way to get her to her true home, I think we are both on the same track as to what we want to do with Elsha." "So now you can read my mind, huh?" She rejoiced. If he was right, and he knew what she was thinking, and *agreed* with her...oh, this could be wonderful! "I've always been able to read your mind!" he shot back. "Anyway, rather that put Elsha through the chaos of the foster/adoption system, why don't we..." "See if we can adopt her ourselves? Oh, Clark, yes!" She flew into his arms and kissed him soundly. "I guess you *can* read my mind," she murmured before resuming her ministrations on his mouth. "You do realize we will have to go through a bunch of legal hoops, and of course, make sure Elsha wants to stay with us." "Oh, Clark, you're too practical. We'll deal with that later. Right now I just want to kiss you. So shut up and kiss me back." "Yes ma'am!" * * * Bernard Klein looked at his calculations for the seventeenth time, hoping that maybe, just maybe, some miracle had taken place while he was taking a break for dinner and that they would prove his hypothesis wrong. Unfortunately, his hopes were quickly dashed. Once again, the numbers said the exact same thing. And it wasn’t good news. Sighing, he gathered up the courage to dial the phone. He finally made the move to pick up the receiver when he realized he didn’t have the number. Secretly relieved, he sat back to go over the results of a different project, hoping that the soon-to-be-recipients of this bad news would have the urge to call him in the near future. Or else he might have to resort to more difficult means in order to contact them. Whistling as he began work on the much more entertaining data, his head jerked up at the sound of the ringing phone. * * * Clark looked fearfully through the ceiling, making sure that Lois was still asleep on their bed. She'd finally gone to bed around midnight, after he volunteered to continue the hourly Elsha wake-up calls through the night. He didn’t want to worry her if this was all for naught. "Hello?" "Bernie! It’s Clark. I was, um, just wondering if you’d had a chance to look at those readings on Elsha. She’s still sleeping, but I’d like to know if there’s anything we need to prepare for before she wakes up." Before Superman had left to get Lois, he asked Klein to run some follow-up, non-invasive tests to check Klein’s theory that Elsha was from a low-gravity planet. And if the answer was yes, he needed some suggestions for how to deal with that. "Oh, Clark, I’m so glad you called. I was going to call you earlier, but then realized I didn’t have your phone number in Smallville. Anyway, the readings. Yes. Superman did give you the whole backstory, right? Oh, what am I talking about, of course he did, or else you wouldn’t be calling me." Clark subtly cleared his throat and Klein hurriedly continued. "Okay, I looked them over, and did some calculations, and unfortunately, the news isn’t very good. I want you to know that I checked them multiple times, and always got the same result, but if you want a second opinion I would understand. I know that that’s normal with medical procedures, so don’t feel that you have to spare my feelings, or anyth--" "Dr. Klein!" "Sorry. Anyway, the readings confirmed the low-grav theory. Unfortunately, as that’s not a common problem for humans," he laughed nervously, "there isn’t any precedent for treatment. And the numbers I ran indicate that, if left alone, her heart will fail in approximately three years. Remember, these are non-exact, because I was limited in the tests I could run. But I think that three years is a fairly accurate estimate." Three years. Such a short time. When in school, or at work, or busy with day-to-day life, three years often seemed interminable, but when compared to an entire life, three years just wasn’t enough. No chance to grow up, to go to school, to have a crush, or to have a broken heart. No chance to go to high school football games, the prom or college. No chance to fall in love, to get married, to have children, or to *live.* It wasn’t enough; it wasn’t fair. He may have only known this child for a shade longer than one day, but Clark knew he had to do something to fix this horrible verdict that the jury of life had just delivered to such a small, innocent girl. "Clark?" Klein’s voice broke into his thoughts. "You still there?" "Yeah. Sorry. You said that there is no standard treatment, right? But do you have any ideas?" He desperately hoped for even a smidgen of hope from the scientist. "Well, I need to consult with some of my colleagues, but I do have an idea. I just don’t know yet if it’s feasible." "What kind of idea?" "You know how NASA creates zero-grav areas for training astronauts? If the technology works like I think it does, I might be able to, with some help, modify it for use on a home. My theory is that, once it’s installed, the users could turn it on or off, or change the level of gravity, with a small control panel. Kind of like an air-conditioning system." "I thought they used some sort of airplane for that -- the 'vomit comet'?" Clark questioned. "Oh, yes. That. Well, that's true, they have used that in the past, but recent technological breakthroughs have allowed for equipment that helps to...well, basically 'counteract' the force of gravity. The two forces cancel each other out to an extent that the it feels like gravity has lessened. Even though it can't *really* be lessened, because it is a constant force. The earth and gravity come as a package deal." Clark’s mind raced, trying to assimilate the information he was hearing. "Actually, I think that might work. It would require a large amount of effort and expense on the homeowner’s part, though, wouldn’t it?" He would definitely need to bring this up with Lois before they moved on with their adoption plans. She might not be so willing after she knew all the facts. Suddenly, an idea struck and Clark brought it forth. "Hey, Bernie, the problem here is stress on her heart because of higher gravity, right?" After Klein’s affirmative response, he continued. "So, would taking her up into the higher levels of the atmosphere, to areas where the pull of gravity was less powerful, would that help relieve the stress on her heart? At least until the technology was completed?" "Well, it wouldn’t have a whole lot of impact in the long run unless she could be up there all the time, but yes, small measures would help in the short run. Why? What are you planning?" "I was thinking of asking Superman to take her up for brief periods of time. I’m pretty sure that he won’t mind." "Until we can get the anti-grav mechanism working, yes, I think that would be helpful. Also, get her to spend as much time in water as possible. Pools would be best – water is more dense than air, so there is less pressure on the body. As a matter of fact, NASA used pools to complement the vomit comet before this new technology came along." "Great. I’ll contact Superman and talk to Lois as soon as I can. Thanks, Bernie." He hung up the phone with some modicum of relief, only to be startled by Lois’s voice. * * * "Contact Superman for what? And what are you talking to me about?" Lois had entered the kitchen while Clark was absorbed in his phone conversation, scribbling little notes on a legal pad. She was content to wait for him to finish, until she heard her name mentioned. Fortunately, he hung up immediately afterwards. "Clark?" She tried again when he didn’t answer right away. "Who were you talking to?" "That was Dr. Klein. Bernie. Uh, honey, you might want to sit down." Uh-oh. Sitting was a bad thing. Sitting meant he had something he didn't know how to say. Something he didn't *want* to say. Something he didn't think she'd react well to. Sitting meant that what she really wanted to do was stand, so that she could be in prime postition to rant, rave, scream, yell, and pace. Because usually (and from his tone and expression, she was pretty sure that this fit into 'usually') he'd known about this something before -- and was just trying to protect her, hoping that it would blow over and she'd never have to know. The words were all ready, prepared to come out, when she remembered the sleeping child upstairs. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad, but he just wanted to forestall any disturbance to her sleep. Sighing, she plopped into the hard wooden chair opposite Clark. "There, I'm sitting. What's up?" He fidgeted with his pen, straightened his tablet, then began shuffling the miscellaneous objects on the table. Finally, Lois laid her hand atop his. "Clark?" She made him look her in the eye. "Just spit it out. I promise not to scream. I may give you the silent treatment for a while," she grinned to show she was joking, "but I promise to do my best to stay calm. Okay? Come on, it can't be *that* bad!" "Um...well. Okay, there's some stuff about Elsha that I didn't tell you." She tried to keep her expression composed and encouraging, but felt somewhat left out. After all, they'd been in Smallville for over a full day now, doing little else *but* talk. So why had he waited to tell her? They were planning on *adopting* this girl, for heaven's sake. And he didn't think it important that her part of the decision had been made on incomplete information? Maybe it didn't have anything to do with...no, she didn't think so. Taking a child into their home, and their lives, was a big decision. Probably the biggest that they had made together since they met. And since this child wasn't a normal 'product of the system,' with an easily accessible history on file, every little thing that they knew about her would be important. Obviously something had changed, though, or he wouldn't be volunteering the information even now. So what *had* changed? "I didn't want to tell you before, because Dr. Klein was still running the numbers, and I didn't even know if it was something to be worried about. In fact, I'd almost forgotten about it. Then I found a note with his phone number on it, and remembered I needed to call him. So, I did, and he's finished running the numbers." Yup, he had known about it before. She bit back her anger and tried to be receptive. "And?" "Well, we both came up with the same theory that Elsha could be from a planet with lower gravity than earth, and I was worried about how the higher gravity here would affect her. Of course, if she weren't used to lower gravity, it wouldn't even be a problem. So, before I went to pick you up, I (as Superman, here) asked Dr. Klein to run some tests. Relatively non-intrusive ones, so that he wouldn't disturb her sleep, or interfere with the healing process. He said that the way the numbers run, he's almost sure that she's from a lower-gravity planet, and that the main problem with Earth will be the stress on her heart." "Why? What will it do to her heart?" Lois knew she might be getting into dangerous territory by asking for further clarification -- Clark was always better at understanding scientific issues than she was -- but she needed to know. This point, at least. "Well, your heart pumps blood through your body, right?" She nodded and he went on. "Every time it pumps, it pumps some blood up and some blood down. So, every time it pumps, it is fighting gravity. Now, Elsha's heart is used to fighting less force than what it's fighting now." He must have seen her blank look, because he paused to think, then gave an analogy. "It's kind of like going up to higher altitudes where the air is thinner -- your lungs and heart have to work harder to separate the oxygen from the air. You get out of breath and tired faster." She nodded again, comprehension dawning. "So for Elsha, the amount of oxygen hasn't changed, but the effect is similar, right?" "Exactly. There are some other effects, too, like the fact that she has a taller, thinner and lighter skelestructure, but her heart is the biggest issue. At least, I think it is." Typical Clark, always clarifying to be as honest as possible -- once she got him started, of course. "So what do we do to fix it? And..." A sudden horrible idea dawned. "What happens if we can't fix it?" "Well, that's the worst part. Dr. Klein estimates that, if we do nothing, her heart will give out in three years." "Three years!" Lois exclaimed. "But that's--that's--that's such a short time." "I know." Clark's expression was grim, and Lois knew that he was as appalled by the time-estimate as she was. Then he brightened, and she secretly smiled. She knew Clark would be able to find a bright spot, no matter how bad the news. "But, there's hope." He outlined a plan that he said he'd talked over with Dr. Klein. To Lois's admittedly limited knowledge it seemed feasible. "Dr. Klein said that, for the 'air-conditioning' unit, he'd get started talking to some of his friends as soon as he could. And I said I'd talk to Superman, which I conveniently already did." He flashed her a grin. They sat in silence for a minute, with Lois unconsciously rubbing Clark's hand. Suddenly, she looked up with a question in her eyes. "What?" "Well, I just realized, all this technology stuff raises all sorts of issues we hadn't thought of before. We're going to have to rethink our entire plan." "It's okay, Lois. We can work things out." * * * _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 20:05:50 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Alien Gift (4/?) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Wed, 18 Jul 2001 00:56:19 -0000 Bethy Em writes: > Well, I'm back, and in need of a vacation to make up for the sleep > lost on > my vacation! :-P For those of you who remember that whole > NASA/Gravity and > Vomit Comet discussion -- here's why I asked. > > Last time, Lois, Clark and Elsha were headed to Smallville for some > peace, > quiet, and recouperation. Isn't that the way it always is?! You need a vacation to recupe from your vacation! I was wondering about this when the TOC showed up on the boards today and I have to thank you. I did finish my thesis paper a couple of weeks ago, but I have one more that's due tonight for another class. I truly enjoyed the break - thank you so much! An Alt-universe story is so much more exciting than what George Washington thought about a bunch of different things! Anyway, I must confess that I thought Lois was willing to turn her over to Social Services and that CL was going to have a fight on his hands to keep the girl with them - I am glad I was wrong. More soon please Bethy! CM ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 21:14:04 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: OT: On Vacation Hi everyone, Just a note from your friendly neighborhood list mom letting you know that I'll be off-line for the next week or two while I'm on vacation. If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to contact Farah at . Of course, I know you will all behave yourselves perfectly since I have the best 'children' of any listserv around. Now if I could only be so assured of a smooth 8 hour car ride with a 6 year old and 3 month old ... Talk to you soon! Kathy List Mom ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 21:26:33 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: James Tull Subject: Linguistic question Would a two year old raised in a non-english speaking culture, like say, Russia, still retain some of his mother language after living with an American couple two more years in America? This of course is for a story I am working on. James ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:38:31 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Re: Debby Stark, where are you? In-Reply-To: <200106270008.f5R08f464850@mail2.thuntek.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" You probably already know this, but - YEA! your page is back up! Oh yeah, and the rewrite of Dawning 18 was as enjoyable as I remembered it (with almost no typos). Although, I didn't remember their fight at the end almost being resolved before it started up again with a wham. Did you alter that part or does my memory just stink? So anyway, where's part 19? :) Terry ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:41:54 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Oops! Re: Debby Stark, where are you? In-Reply-To: <200106270008.f5R08f464850@mail2.thuntek.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sorry all - I thought I was just sending that last post to Debby. As I mentioned, I just discovered that her webpage was back. I thought I checked that I was just e-mailing Debby, but obviously I messed up... Terry ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:48:28 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Re: Linguistic question In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Would a two year old raised in a non-english speaking culture, like say, >Russia, still retain some of his mother language after living with an >American couple two more years in America? > >This of course is for a story I am working on. > >James James, some friends of mine adopted a two-year old girl from China. After a couple of years, she seemed to have pretty much replaced her original Chinese with English. My friends actually wanted her to retain her Chinese and have been sending her to "Chinese school" for several years now (she is now going into third grade and is about 9) - her mother has even been learning Chinese herself in order to be able to help with the homework - but just this year, they had to move her from the native speakers class to a class for American speakers because it was just too hard for her. She just hadn't retained enough of her original language to be able to keep up. I would guess that, if her parents hadn't made the effort to help her keep her native language, she would pretty much have completely lost it by now. Terry ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:44:32 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Story - A friendly game of..., 1/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay - you can't get mad at me for working on this and not Valley of the Shadow because I have the next several posts of it done -though there is work to do later. I had this urge to write a fun LC scene and this is what came out. I should have been working on analyzing what George Washington thought about assorted things, but I needed a break and Bethy's "Alien Gift" post just spurred on the urge to write. I think this will be 2 posts, but I can't be sure since I haven't written the rest yet! *BG* It should be done tomorrow. This hasn't been BRd or anything so don't expect perfection. * indicates Lois' thoughs. I'd love to know what people think of them. Thanks! CM ***** "Clark, could things be more perfect than this?" "Mm, I don't know. I doubt it." Lois leaned her head back against Clark's strong chest, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped around her as they stared at the sky and just loved being in the company of her... Well, she wasn't actually sure what Clark was to her. They had gone out on a couple of dates, shared a couple of kisses... *Face it, Lois. Those were more than just kisses. They were absolutely incredible, absolutely...* *How many guys have you kissed that left you standing in the middle of the sidewalk while running off to try to save his ex-girlfriend-wanna-be from an explosion?* *Stop!* she commanded herself. *So Mayson's car exploded. So what? Clark wanted that kiss as badly as I did and you know it.* *But he was drawn away by the explosion much sooner than you were. He couldn't have been THAT into it.* *Stop it!* The command she gave herself was much more stern this time. *You have this INCREDIBLE guy who falls all over himself to bring you coffee, puts up with your wild ideas and crazy schemes, knows all of your little secrets, and is madly in love with you anyway. What more do you want?* *I want to know all of his little secrets. He's keeping something from me and I don't know what it is.* *It's driving you nuts, isn't it?* *What do you think?* "What do I think about what?" "Huh?" Lois turned slightly in Clark's arms. Clark grinned at her. *I wish he wouldn't do that! How can I think when he smiles?* *I've got to agree with you there.* *Shhh - I'm trying to listen to him.* "See you said, 'What do you think?', but I don't have any idea what you're talking about, so I said 'What do I think about what?'" "Oh, right. Um..." Lois thought quickly. "What do you think about a little game of, say, Truth or Dare?" Clark raised one eyebrow. "I thought we just agreed that this is perfect and now you want to go play Truth or Dare?" Lois shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" "Well, I was enjoying this very much as it was, but if you think you can win a game of Truth or Dare with me, then..." "You should know by now that I don't like to lose, Kent." "I know. So do we play here or what?" 'Here' was the steps of his apartment building. "That depends. Got any secrets you don't want anyone else to know?" Clark paused for a moment. "You're the only one I want to know all of my secrets." "Well, then, we better go inside because I am determined to get them all out of you tonight." Clark chuckled. "We'll see about that." And he took her hand and led her inside. ***** Clark settled himself on the couch. "So, how exactly do we play this?" Lois sat beside him, legs barely touching. "I say we play a little different than usual." She picked up the cards they had used the night before to play poker. "One hand. Winner asks a question. Loser either answers or takes the dare." She shrugged. "Course that means you'll be answering most of the questions." Clark laughed, "We'll see about that. Now, deal." "Yes, sir." Within minutes, Clark had lost the first hand. He leaned back on the couch. "So, what burning detail of my life are you the most curious about?" *Good question, Lois. What do you want to know the most about him? You know all about his childhood, don't you?* *I think so.* *So what else do you want to know?* "Lois. Earth to Lois." She finally noticed the hand waving in her face. "I was thinking. We'll start with something easy. Um..." *THINK, LOIS!* *I'm thinking, I'm thinking!* "How about... Softball question. What's your idea of a perfect date?" *Good one. Not, 'So, Clark, what's the big secret you won't tell me?' or 'How can you get a hold of Superman so easily?' but 'What's your idea of a perfect date?' Please!* "Well, let's see. My idea of a perfect date." Clark thought for a moment, as though debating. "My perfect date would be with you." Lois blushed. "If I could, I would take you to dinner in... Milan, at this little Italian restaurant I know. For desert, we'd go to... Belgium, where they have the best chocolate truffles. And after that, we'd go to a little deserted island in the middle of the ocean somewhere and watch the stars without the city lights in the way." Lois rolled her eyes. "And how exactly would we get all those places?" Clark grinned. *Not the grin again!* "I said, 'If I could'. Besides, only one question per hand of poker." "Fine. Your turn to deal." Clark groaned as minutes later, he waited for another question from Lois. *What now, Miss Brilliant?* *I don't know. I'm thinking!* "Um, let's see. That Chinese food you brought me that first night we worked late together. Where'd you get it?" For just a second, she thought she saw fear in his eyes. Then that brilliant smile lit up the room. "Dare." "What?" *What is he talking about? He'd rather take a dare than tell me where he got some Chinese food?* *It was pretty amazing Chinese food.* *Oh. Stop it!* "So, Lois. What's my dare?" "Um, let's see. I dare you to... take your glasses off." *Brilliant, Miss Investigative Reporter.* *What? I've never seen Clark with his glasses off and I'd like to get a better look at his eyes.* She gave an internal shrug. *Deal with it!* Clark looked a bit uncomfortable. "Uh, Lois. How am I supposed to be able to see then?" She grinned an evil little grin. "If you have trouble seeing your cards, I can help you." "Right. Um, okay. Off with the glasses." Lois saw Clark take a deep breath and then reach up and remove his specs. He looked more than a little uncomfortable. *What is his deal? It's just glasses.* *But LOOK at those eyes. I could drown in those pools of chocolate!* "It's your turn to deal." She shook herself out of her internal musings. "Right." *Leave me alone, or I'll never make it through this!* *Whatever! Something about him looks familiar without his glasses.* *You're probably thinking of Superman. Everyone knows they look a lot alike and Superman doesn't wear glasses.* *Whatever happened to that little obsession anyway?* *SHHHH!* She quickly shuffled and dealt the cards. And she quickly lost. Clark laughed. She grimaced. "You're going to enjoy this aren't you?" "You better believe it." He leaned back against the couch, squinting just a bit without his glasses, and propped his feet up on the coffee table. His fingers were laced behind his head. "I may not get this chance very often." "You won't," she assured him. "Now, what's your question?" "What is your idea of the perfect man?" There was a gleam in his dark eyes. *Oh, great. Now what? Do you compare him to your ideal in Superman? They say women want someone like their father...* *Quiet! I don't want anyone like my father. I want someone like... well, Clark.* *Don't tell him that!* *I'm not planning on it!* "So?" "My idea of the perfect man..." There was a faraway look in her eyes. "Let's see. He needs to be strong. Not necessarily physically strong, but have a strong character. I have to be able to trust him." "Do you trust me?" "One question at a time, Clark." *Do you trust him?* *Of course, I do. Now leave me alone.* "He has to be honest. I can't deal with anyone who isn't honest with me. And, of course, good looking is a must. Flying would be a definite plus, but I gave up on the Superman dream a long time ago." "You did?" *You did?* "Yes, I did. Superman isn't the kind to settle down, so what's the point in a pipe dream?" *But you wouldn't mind flying with him.* *Of course not. He can still rescue me, after all.* *Someone has to.* *Stop it.* *Okay, so say you do fall madly in love with Clark - you know it's a real possibility, so don't start - and get married and live happily ever after, are you still going to harbor these little fantasies about good ole Supes?* *Will you leave me alone?* *No.* "Your turn to deal." "Right." *What is it about him without those glasses?* *Oh, for Pete's sake. Leave it alone.* "Ready?" "Are you ready? To lose again?" Clark just grinned again. "We'll see about that." A few minutes later, Clark was sitting back, waiting for the next question from Lois. "Okay. So I gave you a couple of easy ones, now for something a little harder." Clark groaned. "What now?" "How do you get a hold of Superman?" "Excuse me?" There was a stunned look on Clark's face. "You heard me. You know Superman trusts me, too, so why would he care if I know how to get a hold of him on a moment's notice? So, how do you get a hold of him so easily?" "Lois, I can't tell you that." He seemed genuinely apologetic and more than a little uncomfortable. "So if you're going to stick with that question, I'll have to take the dare." *See, you should have known he wouldn't tell you.* *Really? Watch this.* "Okay, your dare. Get a hold of Superman. Right now." "Lois." There was a warning in his tone. She sighed. "Fine." *Smooth one. What were you expecting?* *Oh, leave me alone.* "Okay, since you won't tell me or show me how you get a hold of Superman, you have to... take off your shirt." "Lois, this isn't strip poker." A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Is it?" "No, but that's still your dare." "It's not much of a dare." There was something uncomfortable in his exposed eyes. "So?" *So you want to see that six-pack again, don't you?* *What's so wrong with that? He is my, well, something...* *I think the word you're looking for is 'boyfriend'.* *Stop interrupting. I'm allowed to ogle a little bit.* *So ogle.* *As soon as he takes his shirt off, I will.* "Uh, Lois. I've, uh, got to go to the bathroom. I'll take my shirt off when I get back." "No chance, mister. Off with it. Now. You can go to the bathroom in a minute." "But, Lois." Clark did look a bit ancy. "They say if a guy holds it too long that he can get a bladder infection or it can affect their ability to have kids later. Didn't you see 'Liar, Liar'?" *What a line! What is his issue with taking his shirt off?* "Oh, please, Clark. Just strip. Now." "Lois." He used his best puppy dog eyes. *He's almost begging you to not make him take his shirt off. Wonder why?* *He's modest. He'll get over it.* Another mental shrug. "Those eyes won't work on me, mister. You have to..." She stopped in mid-sentence because her lips were otherwise occupied. *Where did this come from?!* *Shut up and enjoy it!* *What about the shirt?* *It can wait.* Lois gave herself over totally to the kiss. Clark was on one knee next to the big chair, one hand cupping her face, lips covering hers gently. She reached her hands up to hold his face, loving the feel of his lips on hers. *He's trying to sidetrack you!* *Who cares?* The kiss deepened and it was some time before the two finally pulled back. "Uh, Clark. Wow! I don't know what to say. What was that for?" "Because it might be the last kiss I ever give you." "What? Why?" *Uh oh. Here's another guy who's about to leave you.* *Clark won't leave me. I know he won't. Don't I?* *Well, I wouldn't be so sure. He doesn't sound so positive at the moment.* *Let him explain.* *It better be a doozy.* *This is Clark Kent. He can't have too many skeletons in his closet.* *That's what they said about...* *Just stop already. Please.* "Well, Lois there's something I've wanted to tell you for a long time and you've really given me no choice." He hurried on. "Not that I don't want to tell you, really, but since you're making me take my shirt off..." "What? You can't eat like you used to and your six-pack doesn't look quite as nice as it used to?" *You realize you said that out loud, don't you?* *AHHH!* Clark stood and started pacing nervously around the room. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this so..." He pulled his tie off and started to unbutton his dress shirt as he paced. He only unbuttoned the top button and then paused, pulling his shirt out from his suit pants. "Clark, what is the big deal? I've seen without your shirt on before." "I know, Lois, but this is different." "Why? Because we've decided to see if there's something between us?" *Yeah, that's it, Sherlock. He's nervous that you're going to jump him as soon as you see some flesh.* "No, Lois, that's not it. It's just that..." He stopped for a minute, fingering one of the buttons in the middle of the shirt. "Why is this so hard?" he asked the ceiling. *That's what I'd like to know. It's just a shirt for crying out loud.* "I really should have changed earlier, when we got back here, but since you didn't have anything else to change into, I figured I'd keep my suit on." He took a deep breath. "Both of them." *What is he yappin' about?* *I have no idea.* He slowly unbuttoned the shirt, starting at the top. *Uh, Lois, sweetie, what exactly is that under his shirt?* *Um, I'm not sure. It looks like... it can't be... but it looks like something blue. Electric blue. Superman blue.* *Why is Clark wearing Superman blue under his dress shirt?* *I'm not sure.* Clark finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it open. There, on his chest, was the yellow and red Superman symbol. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:46:33 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: My Friend - Thank you! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Carol, thank you! I didn't see Karen's question until this morning, so couldn't answer it myself. Karen, if you don't read Zoom's Message Boards, 'Obsession' should be up on the fanfic archive or Annesplace within a few weeks. Wendy Carol wrote: > It's That Old Obsession of Mine that she posted on the boards in the last > week or so. > > So I'm not Wendy - ah well - I know the answer!*BG* And it's worth the > read! -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 07:07:14 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: Linguistic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/17/2001 10:27:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mr_d8a@YAHOO.COM writes: << Would a two year old raised in a non-english speaking culture, like say, Russia, still retain some of his mother language after living with an American couple two more years in America? >> Not unless they were 1) highly verbal at age two, and 2) exposed at least minimally to the language after adoption. For example, if the child has contact with someone after they're adopted that does speak Russian, they'd retain a few words. My sister's husband is Mexican, and his family is from Mexico. His mother lived with them until the children were at least five years old, and spoke only spanish. While they may remember a few words here and there, none of the children (as adults) can either speak or understand Spanish. Just another example... and this is in CA, where exposure to Spanish is pretty common. Additionally, children who learn sign language almost always lose this skill after they obtain speech, unless their parents or others around them speak it constantly. -Crys- Who deals with ESL on a daily basis at work. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 06:26:27 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Subject: Re: Debby Stark, where are you? In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:38 PM 07/17/2001 -0400, you wrote: >You probably already know this, but - YEA! your page is back up! > >Oh yeah, and the rewrite of Dawning 18 was as enjoyable as I >remembered it (with almost no typos). Although, I didn't remember >their fight at the end almost being resolved before it started up >again with a wham. Did you alter that part or does my memory just >stink? > >So anyway, where's part 19? :) > >Terry Answered privately... :) Debby dls@thuntek.net who's not telling when they make up ftp://ftp.darkmage.net/pub/dstark ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 06:27:25 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Subject: Re: Oops! Re: Debby Stark, where are you? In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:41 PM 07/17/2001 -0400, you wrote: >Sorry all - I thought I was just sending that last post to Debby. As >I mentioned, I just discovered that her webpage was back. I thought >I checked that I was just e-mailing Debby, but obviously I messed >up... >Terry It' really quite flattering to be remembered and in demand :D Gosh, I have to find more time to have fun and write... Debby dls@thuntek.net ftp://ftp.darkmage.net/pub/dstark ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 09:37:42 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: Story - A friendly game of..., 1/? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Carol, That is absolutely hilarious! I can't remember ever laughing so hard. :) Please write and post the next part soon, Natascha _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:43:53 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Story - A friendly game of..., 1/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Delightful, Carol, as per usual I particularly liked the *somebody has to* line Not to mention the *you realize you said that out loud, don't you?* Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ "They thought that what they were seeing on the screen, the plot and effects and dialog, was all there was. They had no conception of how much work our willing brains were doing on the initial stimulus after our senses took it all in. We took the show in and fixed it, and it was to this fixed-up version that we gave our passionate response." --Lois McMaster Bujold, from an essay ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:28:54 -0500 Reply-To: Samantha Kegan Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Samantha Kegan Subject: An Editors Office MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I'm writing a story (not a fanfic, guys, sorry) with one of my friends = and was wondering what you might find in an editor's office (other than = a computer and a dictionary, which is the response that I got from my = mother.) Wendy and Tank and all you other round robin writers, I admire how well = your stories are put together, because writing with another person is no = easy task.=20 Thanks so much, guys. Sami=20 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 09:16:25 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Diane Trim Subject: Re: An Editors Office Comments: To: Samantha Kegan In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Samantha: I hope you're not too disappointed with my response. Our newspapers have a combined circulation of 109,000 and we're doing well money-wise, but we certainly don't sink our profits into the aesthetics of the building and offices. Every time I see the newsroom on L&C I sigh wistfully! After a quick run to our editors' offices, I can tell you that at our conservative morning newspaper, Frank (the editor) has an old coffee table and two well-used couches. He has a computer that is, strangely enough, elevated on the dictionaries that you mention. (Guess he doesn't use them often). He has a bookshelf with some AP style manuals and a desk calendar. No plants. His paintings are browninsh, old, and non-descript (in other words, after my walk over there, I can't remember what they were, so they must have been bland). Our managing editor at the same paper has a beautiful diffenbachia growing in his window as well as a hanging golden pothos. His office is smaller than Frank's and has a picture of the city on one wall. He has two matching ugly orange chairs in front of his desk. Cliff's a great guy--soft-spoken, all-business, and he rarely cracks a smile, but he's so incredibly helpful and he's very concerned about the state of scholastic journalism (near and dear to my heart). The other editors (city desk, regional desk, business, features, photo) are stuck in bluish-gray cubicles like everyone else. The copy editors sit in the middle with big, huge 21" computer screens, but I never see these folks because I work days and they copy edit for the morning editon from 4:00 P.M. - 1:00 A.M. At our other paper, the liberal afternoon one, Dave (our editor) has a glassed-in office. He conducts editorial meetings in his office, so there are about seven chairs in the little thing (the office might be the size of a dorm room--12' x 12') and the postmortem papers are on the wall (A postmortem is when the editors look at the front page sections for the past week and the section fronts for the day and sort of "disect" the "dead" newspaper body. Our morning paper has a separate editorial meeting room.) Dave is a Cubs fan, so he has a bunch of stuff on his walls of the Cubs. Dave also has a nicer desk than Frank does, but it's more cluttered. Dave's computer is in a long set of nice cabinets and bookshelves along the back wall behind his desk--not propped up on dictionaries! Nice furniture, but clutter is the main decorating element here. Oh. Dave also has some signed photos of various political figures and dignataries (Dali Lama, Pres. Clinton, etc.) Phil, the managing editor of our afternoon paper, has a glassed-in office, but a metal desk, one rolling chair, and two plain old orange ones (twins to Cliffs'?). He's a kid at heart, so he has some kid-looking items in his office. Around the top of his office he has this artsy ABC banner that features an art project from around Dane County for each letter. He also has a poster for the Race for the Cure event and a picture of the lakes around Madison (Wisconsin). Phil's computer is on a metal rolling cart. Here, again, the other editors sit among their reporters in blue-gray cubicles. For example, if I didn't know that my friend Mary was the features editor, there'd be no way I'd be able to distinguish her workspace from anyone else's. (Well, she has a slightly larger worktop, but it's cubeville just the same). Now, the publishers have nice offices, but, well, they're publishers! What's fun here is the working relationship between the two papers and the publishing company. Both papers are independently owned and are rivals--they don't cooperate on much, except for the publishing company that they own jointly. The publishing company handles advertising, the presses, finance, human resources, circulation, and customer service. Other than the publishing company (where I work), the two papers feel very free to poke fun at one another and try to scoop one another. It's fun to walk from one newsroom to the other, because editorial editors ask my opinion and point out where the competition is wrong. As far as personalities go, I have tons of respect for both newspapers (I work for both as educational services manager, so I have to be fair), but Dave and Phil are more approachable than Frank and Cliff. However, Frank and Cliff (esp. Cliff) have been more helpful in the long run. I guess it goes like this: I like to hang out at the afternoon paper, but I like to work with the morning one. Once again, this is more information than you wanted, but I'm so thrilled to be able to contribute something worthwhile to the list! (Speaking of contributing, I'll still be a contributing writer for both of our newspapers, but my days here are numbered--I'm going back to teaching this fall!) Diane Trim (no longer a lurker) Samantha Kegan wrote: I'm writing a story (not a fanfic, guys, sorry) with one of my friends and was wondering what you might find in an editor's office (other than a computer and a dictionary, which is the response that I got from my mother.) Wendy and Tank and all you other round robin writers, I admire how well your stories are put together, because writing with another person is no easy task. Thanks so much, guys. Sami --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:39:01 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Fanfic Question: Tea MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey everyone :) A question for all you tea drinkers out there. What's a really great soothing tea for one to drink before bed...you know, relaxing, help you sleep, etc. I remember Clark mentioning 'oolong' tea, but I don't know if that fits the bill. Thanks in advance! Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 09:55:38 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Diane Trim Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Erin: Chamomile tea--caffiene-free and it's what Peter Rabbit's mom gave him when he went to bed. (The imagery is even soothing--chamomile tea is flower heads steeped in hot water.) Diane Trim (again, no longer a lurker) Erin Klingler wrote: Hey everyone :) A question for all you tea drinkers out there. What's a really great soothing tea for one to drink before bed...you know, relaxing, help you sleep, etc. I remember Clark mentioning 'oolong' tea, but I don't know if that fits the bill. Thanks in advance! Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 11:03:33 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea In-Reply-To: <20010718165538.50591.qmail@web13305.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Chamomile tea--caffiene-free and it's what Peter Rabbit's mom gave > him when he went to bed. (The imagery is even soothing--chamomile > tea is flower heads steeped in hot water.) > Diane Trim (again, no longer a lurker) Yay, thanks Diane! So glad to see you're no longer a lurker. :)))) Now I can finish up that next section of my fanfic and get it posted, for all you eager members of the 'bubble bath at Clark's' club. Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 12:19:19 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Clinton St. question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay - in CKs apartment, there is a wrought iron, spiral staircase that is often in the background (I think in the bedroom?). Any clue where it goes? Or what it's for? Or am I the only one who ever noticed it? Or am I just nuts? Thanks so much folcs! You're the best! CM ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:29:11 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Melisma Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:39 AM 18/07/2001 -0600, you wrote: >Hey everyone :) > >A question for all you tea drinkers out there. What's a really great soothing >tea for one to drink before bed...you know, relaxing, help you sleep, etc. I >remember Clark mentioning 'oolong' tea, but I don't know if that fits the >bill. > >Thanks in advance! > >Erin Well, yeah, Oolong would fit the bill, Erin. As would most herbal teas (tisane, for the French - no caffeine, you see)... Personally, I have a whole tea shop in my cupboard, and at bedtime I like things like Raspberry, Apple & Cinnamon, Rosehip, Mint, Chamomile, Sleepytime (a mix of Chamomile and some other stuff, mint etc...) and other fruit-flavored teas. But in the morning or during the day, give me Earl Grey for that caffeine buzz over coffee any time! (I drink coffee, but only with meals cause it gives me acid otherwise...) Melisma (slinking back under her Rock to get ready for a job interview this afternoon) Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 12:50:56 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Amy Lauters Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <> Good luck, Mel! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 18:23:00 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Missy Gallant Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Erin, the 'bubble bath at Clark's' club. > Where can I sign up???!!! Missy (who's packing her bag as she types...) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 12:24:19 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > the 'bubble bath at Clark's' club. > > > Where can I sign up???!!! > > Missy (who's packing her bag as she types...) LOL! You and me, both! I am SO there. :) Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 13:33:19 -0500 Reply-To: Samantha Kegan Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Samantha Kegan Subject: Re: An Editors Office MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Diane: Thanks for the insight. I think I'm going to use a combination of Dave's and Frank's offices for my basis. You rock. Sami (who's toying with the idea of writing some lnc fic, but is not really sure) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 14:51:52 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Linguistic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/17/01 10:27:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mr_d8a@YAHOO.COM writes: > Would a two year old raised in a non-english speaking culture, like say, > Russia, still retain some of his mother language after living with an > American couple two more years in America? > > Only if someone were still speaking his native language to him. There have been studies which show that young children, when completely immersed in another language, will learn the second language and forget the first one within as little as six months. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 12:21:07 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Fanfic Question: Tea MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit for > all you > eager members of the 'bubble bath at Clark's' club. > When do I get my official members card? YEAH! CM ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 22:26:26 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Katherine L. Klesch" Subject: Re: Linguistic question In-Reply-To: <102.5ff1421.288734c8@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Only if someone were still speaking his native language to him. >There have been studies which show that young children, when completely >immersed in another language, will learn the second language and forget the >first one within as little as six months. The child still might not retain too much of his native language, even if someone is willing to speak it with them. Some friends of mine adopted a Spanish-speaking little girl when she was fairly young (two or three). They lived in California at the time, and the father knew a good deal of Spanish from high school/college. He and the girl spoke it pretty regularly, but when they moved to Ohio, she decided she didn't want to speak it anymore. She said "no one around here talks like that," and refused to talk to her father in Spanish anymore. So I guess it depends partly on how prevalent the language is in the community? And the disposition of the child, too. :-) Kaylle * * * * Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic without looking to see if the seeds move. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 20:51:43 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: A friendly little game of..., 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay - so it might be 3 parts! *BG* <> now enclose Lois' thoughts -easier to tell the difference. Thanks for the comments - they are always appreciated! Still didn't finish the paper, but am babysitting a friend's kids, so... Try to finish tomorrow! CM ***** >From part 1: He slowly unbuttoned the shirt, starting at the top. Clark finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it open. There, on his chest, was the yellow and red Superman symbol. Part 2: "You know, Clark, even when I was a card carrying member of the Superman fan club..." "... I didn't wear a Superman T-shirt under my clothes." "It's not a T-shirt, Lois." "You're wearing one of his suits?" "I mean, I know he keeps them here and all, but isn't that a bit presumptuous of you?" Clark ran both of his hands through his hair. "What I'm trying to tell you, Lois..." "Um, Clark." Lois stood and started walking around. "They say the only stupid question is the one you never ask, so I'm going to ask anyway. Um, are you... Oh, I can't believe I'm about to say this. Um, are you..." "Yes, Lois. I am." "You don't even know what I'm about to say." "You were about to ask me if I'm," he paused and took a deep breath. "You want to know if I'm Superman." "Okay, so that is what I was going to ask." "And I answered you." "Forgive me if I have a hard time believing you." "I understand. It's got to be hard for you to accept." "Prove it." "That wasn't the dare, Lois. The dare was to take my shirt off." He quickly pulled the shirt the rest of the way off and she saw the top of his cape attached at the shoulders further solidifying his existence as Superman. "What are you talking about, Clark? Or should I say Superman?" "Clark's fine. And what I mean is, you won a hand of poker. The dare was to take my shirt off. I did. I even answered a question - in fact, I think I answered the original question as well even though I took the dare - so you don't get another one just yet." "Fine, another game of poker. Whose turn is it to deal?" "Uh, mine, I think." "Right." She sat on the couch again, more uncomfortable than ever before. "Uh, Clark." "What?" "Part of the deal was you take your shirt off. And your top half is still clothed." If she thought Superman couldn't blush, she was wrong. "What's wrong with that?" "When I said 'take your shirt off', I expected to see flesh. I want flesh." "Flesh?" One of Clark's eyebrows was raised. "Yes, flesh. And especially now that I get to have my brain muddled with this whole Superman business, I want my pound of flesh." Lois shrugged. "Okay." Clark stood and a sudden grin appeared on his face. Lois sat there and watched as Clark began to spin. She watched as the spin slowed to a stop and there stood Clark, Superman suit hanging limply from one hand, dress pants firmly belted in place, chest fully exposed. "How exactly did you do that?" "Do what?" Clark asked with an innocent grin. "Th... that spin thing." "It's how I change in and out of the suit - and I think I just proved the whole Superman thing." "Well, yeah." "You got a lot more than you deserved out of that one hand." "So I think I should get a freebie." "There's no such think as a freebie, Clark." "Okay, I answered the original question, took the original dare, took the second dare *and* answered another question. I think it's only fair that I get another question." "Fine. Ask a question, but you better make it a good one because it's the last chance you'll have." "Gotcha." Clark just sat there for a minute.