12.22.01

"AAAOOOOHHHHHAAAAAHHHH! ! !" Clark yawned, after a good LONG night's sleep.

"Oh man, I'm really hungry." Clark said, after realizing he never ate the pizza that was supposed to be dinner last night.

He stepped out of bed, put his pants and sweater on, and walked towards the door. He paused momentarily to check his reflection in the mirror, only to find the familiar sight of a jungle slapped on his head. He let out a slight grin and headed out the door.

When Clark reached the bottom of the stairs he plopped down on the coach, grabbed the remote control to his TV, and started to flip through the channels. When he landed on MTV, he felt satisfied and went over to the kitchen to ask his mom to cook him something.

"Mom, can you..." Clark stopped when he had noticed his house being awkwardly quiet and his mom not in the kitchen preparing breakfast. As Clark stood in the middle of the kitchen scratching his head, MTV News popped up on the television...

"...Metropolis has been known as a city that would stop for nothing, until today. A massive snowstorm that hit Middle America has left a trail of snow to mark its territory. A trail of four and a half feet high snow. Residents of Metropolis are urged not to go outside as the Public Works Dept. Of Metropolis are doing all they can to get the city running again. All flights scheduled for the holidays have been grounded until further notice..."

"FOUR AND HALF FEET?! It wasn't snowing that much last night...was it?" Clark thought to himself. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a strange red light rapidly blinking. Clark turned around and saw that it was his answering machine. He walked over the black box and pushed the button, hoping that it was his parents.

-BLEEP-"Clark? Clark wake up...pick up the phone Clark. Martha, I think he is sleeping, he isn't picking up the phone. Clark pick up the phone...Ok Clark, there is a huge blizzard passing by and we needed a place to stay for the night so we are at your Aunt's house so don't worry son. We will be back as soon as possible..." –BLEEP-

"Hmm...did it snow that much?" Clark asked himself as he walked over to the window.

He walked over to the curtains and pushed both sides away, only to be struck by a bright flash of white.

--Metropolis--

Martha Kent stood next to the window in her sister's less then lavish apartment. Her eyes caught the site of small children gliding on the mounds of snow on their sleighs, children catapulting snowballs across the streets, and some children just trying to climb out of small ditches. She shifted her head so her forehead touched the cold glass and sighed. Jonathan walked up to his wife with two cups of hot chocolate handed her the steamy hot cup. He took a look outside and caught a glimpse of the children five stories below. A faint smile came across his face when he saw a fairly young man and a little boy on his shoulders. He rubbed his wife's shoulder and told her:

"Do you remember when Clark was younger we would send him out back to play in the snow, and he would come naked because he slapped on all his clothes on a snowman he built?"

Martha Kent let out a diminutive laugh and replied, "Sure do, I remember when it first happened I got so worried that he was cold. But he was unfazed by the weather...Jonathan, do you think he is alright?"

"He is a young man now, Martha. I think he can manage himself well."

"I guess your right. I wish I could call him, but the phone is dead."

--Kent Farm--

"AHH! It's done."

Clark took a step back and admired his work.

"I like it. Aggressive but subtle, loud yet quiet, complicated but yet so very simple."

Clark whipped around so quickly, when he heard the voice, that he almost slashed his guest in the face with his hands.

"Lex! What are you doing he..."

"I think an even better question would be, what exactly are you standing in awe of Clark?"

Clark couldn't help but laugh, because every year someone would ask what a huge mound of snow would be doing underneath the window in the barn.

"It's something Pete and I did ever since we were kids. You can do lots with it," Clark said as he started walking towards the barn, "Like you can climb to the window and just jump out and roll the rest of the way down or...well I actually can't think of much else, but I give you my word Lex it's fun."

Lex stood in front of Clark with a raised eyebrow, and said "No, that's alright. I actually just came down here to see if you needed your driveway plowed, but I can see you have that covered already with Mt. Everest over there. Hey, Clark! I saw that Lana is out shoveling her driveway by herself. Why don't you head on over there and offer your assistance?"

Clark looked up at the mischievous Lex Luthor and said "O..."

"Alright, get in my car I'll drive you there."

--Lana's Home--

Lana was working hard to clear her driveway of the seemingly endless amounts of white powder that covered the ground. Her concentration was broken when she heard a door slam and snow crunched as the figure walked closer to Lana.

"Lana, would you like some assistance?" Clark asked with a smile that spread ear to ear. He stood at the end of her driveway and had to yell.

"Could you Clark?" Lana responded. She continued when Clark walked over to her, "Nell got sick and she needed the driveway shoveled. I was going to call someone with a truck to plow the driveway but the phones are dead."

Clark walked closer to Lana and saw that she had only finished a small portion of the driveway.

"Clark, how did you know I needed help?"

"Huh? Oh, Lex said he saw you alone and thought I should help."

Clark and Lana kept talking about different things, everything from school to corn. Clark was charming with his own sarcastic jokes and Lana was intellectual with her smart comments. By the time the duo had finished there was awkward silence.

Clark took a quick glance and Lana only to find her looking at the snow.

"Here is my chance..." Clark thought to himself.

He took his shovel and picked up enough snow to cover it and threw it over his shoulders...onto Lana.

"OH MY GOD! THAT'S REALLY COLD!"

And with that Lana took her shovel and threw pounds of snow at Clark and he retaliated with his own avalanche of snow.

When Clark took a short break to get a better grip on the handle, Lana jumped on his back and shoved his face in snow. Clark turned around and buried Lana head in the mound of powder and tried covering her face with as much snow as he could, as fast as he could. While Lana struggled to get her arm free, she knocked Clark's left arm from under him and he collapse to the side of Lana, inched from her lips. They laid deadlocked in a mindless stare until...

"Whitney!" Lana yelled.