Small Hazzards
Perry White, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, The Daily Planet, sat at his desk in the cluttered, but clean, office that he practically called home, banging away at the keyboard of his computer. He had just finished going over the latest article by his top reporter, Lois Lane, with a fine tooth comb, when the woman herself suddenly walked through the door without knocking.
"Jimmy said you wanted to see me, Chief," said Lois. She was a thin woman in her early thirties with shoulder length dark hair and intense eyes that conveyed the keen mind behind them.
"Yes," said Perry. The fatherly old editor gestured to a chair in front of his desk. "Please, sit down, Lois," he said.
Lois quickly sat in the chair. On the edge, though, since she was clearly in a hurry and ready to get this little meeting over with.
Perry was in no such hurry. In his slow, Southern drawl he said, "I have a new assignment for you." And then paused.
"Swell," said Lois, impatiently. "What is it?"
"You're not gonna like it," said Perry, almost smiling.
Lois gave him a quizzical look.
"I want you to go to Smallville and cover the opening of Lex Luthor's new ethanol plant," said Perry.
"Oh, Chief, you know how I hate those small town fluff pieces," said Lois, annoyed.
"I told you you weren't going to like it, Lois," said Perry.
"Why don't you have Clark cover it, he's from there."
"Don't worry, Kent will be going with you," said Perry. "I want y'all to write the story together. You get the facts, he'll add the flavor."
Lois wanted to protest, but she could tell from the look on her boss's face that it would be pointless to.
Just then, a tall man in an ill-fitting, gray suit and checkered tie walked into the office. He had black, thick, horn-rimmed glasses askew on his plain-looking face and his dark hair was greasy and combed so precisely that it almost looked fake.
"Jimmy said you wanted to see me, Chief," the man said, meekly.
Lois walked over to him and fixed his glasses.
"Come on, Clark, you're going home."
She grabbed him by the tie and began to lead him out of the office. Clark looked to Perry for an explanation, or maybe for help, but his boss just gave him a shrug and went back to working on his computer.