Author's note: And now for a really really long one that will later be followed by a really really short one (that's how it works, folks.) And thanks guys for the kind reviews :).
The next day found Jonathan and Clark in the barn again and Jonathan was attempting to show Clark exactly how one uses complicated machinery to milk a cow.
"Now, Clark, you just take this nozzle here and screw it onto the big container over there, then attach the suction cups--" he paused. Clark, who by that time would have been jabbering away about something, was silent and Jonathan looked behind him and learned why: Clark was nowhere to be seen. Jonathan ran out of the barn just in time to catch the sight of a small foot disappering into one of the old tiller that had once belonged to his grandfather. Its wheels had long sunk into the ground and tangled in weeds and the back of it was against the barn, meaning whoever went in one way wasn't coming out the other.
"Oh shit." Jonathan took off running towards it, dove down onto the ground and stuck a hand inside o it, hoping to catch Clark's leg or something but the kid had already moved too far inside to be reached. "Clark!" He peered into the hole and could dimly see Clark huddled in the back of it." Just...just stay there!" Jonathan yelled, getting up onto his feet. He rushed towards the barn as Martha stepped out of the house with a confused look onto her face. "Martha, Clark's crawled underneath the old tiller." She didn't need to hear another word and followed him into the barn. "We'll need some rope, some flashlights," Jonathan said, snatching up the objects.
The two of them arrived at the tiller again and Jonathan shined the flashlight into it, right onto Clark's face. The kind must have realized something was wrong because now he had a scared look on his face. Jonathan threw the rope down the tunnel and called. "Clark! Just grab the rope and I'll pull you out...come on, just grab the rope."
But Clark didn't grab the rope. Nor did he just sit there. Instead, he stood up and, pressing his hands against the ceiling, lifted up the entire tiller. Jonathan who had been bracing himself against the thing while trying to get Clark out of there, fell over in surprise and lay there on the ground in front of Martha looking at the small three-year-old figure holding up a 700 pound tiller as though it was made of paper mache. Martha and Jonathan looked at each other in surprise.
****
"What do you intend to do, Jonathan?" Martha quietly asked him when they were back in the house. They had convinced Clark to lie down for a bit and were in the kitchen discussing what they had just witnessed.
Jonathan hesitated for a moment before answering. "I don't know Martha, having never met a 3 year-old capable of lifting 700 lbs, I'm a little inexperienced in this area. But I do think we need to find someone who is or would at least tell us how to handle it."
"You mean a doctor, don't you?" Jonathan winced at how cold and controlled Martha's voice was as she spoke. Once again, Jonathan found himself not wanting to respond, but he did anyway. "We could take him to Dr. McPherson. He's reliable and has doctored nearly everyone in Smallville at one point or another."
"Great...that means that if we take Clark there, in a couple of weeks everyone would know Clark's 'unusual circumstances'". Martha looked at her husband skeptically.
"Okay, fine. We'll take him to Metropolis. You have to know some good, trustworthy doctors there who can give us some advice."
Martha was silent for a moment, then said. "Okay."
****
The three of them sat in the cab of the truck, Jonathan at the wheel and Martha on the passengers side with Clark on her lap. The two adults were silent but Clark was busy babbling away, proud of his newly aquired speaking skills. "Look, Daddy, a Ford Coup," he would cry out. Then, "look, Mommy, a Honda Accord."
When they reached Metropolis, the poor kid's eyes nearly popped out of his head: never before had he encountered such tall buildings and so many CARS. His mouth fell open in surprise and the questions started pouring out. "Daddy, what's that?" "Look, what's that car?" "Look at that!" Jonathan glanced quickly at Martha out of the corner of his eyes and nted the closed, pained look she had on her face and didn't look back. She was gripping Clark tightly.
As they neared the clinic Martha had recommended Jonathan began to feel a little more squeezed and wished the kid would shut up. His barrage of chatter was making an already difficult task darn near impossible. He moved to turn into the parking lot but Martha suddenly burst out, "Keep driving, Jonathan!" And, instinctively, he kept driving down the street.
On their way home, neither one spoke a word and even Clark shut up; exhausted, he had fallen asleep on Martha's chest. When they arrived back home, Clark was quickly laid down in his bed then Jonathan went into the kitchen where Martha had just put the tea kettle on. He didn't say anything but they both knew what the silence meant: why?
"I couldn't do it, Jonathan," Martha finally said. "I couldn't deliver him to a doctor like some sort of a sacrifice, where they'd poke him and experiment on him. And, yes that is what they'd do!" Martha continued, effectively cutting off anything Jonathan could have squeezed in there. "What doctor or scientist wouldn't? Proof of life on other planets with superhuman strength. They'd be like kids in a candy shop."
"I know, Martha," Jonathan said softly, taking her into her arms as she started to cry."I don't want that happening to him any more than you do, but you have to realize raising Clark isn't going to be easy."
"I know," she said, pulling away from him a bit and wiping the tears away. "I'm not expecting it to be but somebody has to do it and I'd rather it be us than...God knows who!"
"Nice to know you have a lot of faith in our untested parenting skills," Jonathan said smiling at her as she poured herself a cup of tea. This is what Martha had wanted more than anything but "we've drawn the wild card, Martha. Most parents worry if their child is 'normal', just look at the Rosses, but we're going to be wondering if he's properly abnormal enough according to his kind and how we're going to conceal that from our neighbors."
"Well, if farming ever bored you, at least you have a new hobby now: how to raise a normally weird child." She smiled through her tears.
"Ha, ha. I'll just go burn my mother's copies of Dr. Spock right now, okay?"
"Fine with me."
Jonathan started to leave but stopped as something occured to him. "Martha, if we're going to do this, raise Clark like he really is one of us, then we need to set down some rules." He sat down at the table, facing Martha. "First off, we can't let ourselves constantly think about how he isn't human. That's not going to help anything and he may pick up on it."
"Agreed."
"And what do we tell him? How much, I mean. That he's adopted and from another planet?"
Martha was silent for a second. "Let's just tell him he's adopted--everyone in town knows that anyway. But I think the other part can wait til he's older."
"Til he starts to ask questions himself, right?"
"Yeah. Jonathan, if we want to keep him and raise him as normally as possible, we have to keep this a secret as long as possible. From the town, from our friends," she paused. "Even from our families."
Jonathan looked at Martha sharply. "Your father, too?"
She nodded. "He's a lawyer, Jonathan. He knows we couldn't have children. He also knows how long the adoption process takes. If we just parade in with Clark--"
"Who then proceeds to life your father's car over his head--"
"It's not going to be pretty."
"And it wouldn't help if Clark himself ran around telling everyone he as from outer space and his parents found him in a field wearing nothing but his birthday suit."
"No, not at all. I'm not sure how much people would write off to an over active imagination."
"Okay, so secondly: Clark's secret and keeping it that way is our number one priority."
"Even the farm?" Martha asked cautiously.
Jonathan visably hesitated, then finally said, "Yes, even the farm."
Martha nodded and then continued. "And what about school?", reminding him of the conversation they had had not long before.
"Let's wait and see on that one...it's pretty much on the same line as your father: what if he does something he shouldn't?"
Martha nodded. "I mean, I want him to have as normal an upbringing as possilble, but if we kept him home and home-schooled him until we feel he's ready for school, it wouldn't harm much..."
"I think someone's having trouble letting go..." Jonathan teased.
Martha smiled. "I always did with people I loved."
He smiled back at her. "I know and lucky for me that you did, too."
"You know it. So what about his spaceship?"
"Well, I dumped it in the cellar that day, I suppose we could just leave it there, maybe push it a bit further back and cover it or something in case we have to go down there. I've got some work to finish up in the barn right now, anyway, so I'll just take care of that while I'm out there." Martha nodded absently.
After Jonathan left, Martha leaned back in her chair and fiddled with the mug in her hand, turning it around and around. What if it didn't turn out all right? That part of her asked. What if she was wrong? Did the two of them have enough patience to deal with a child who could lift ten times his own weight at least? She shivered and knew it wasn't because of the cool, evening air the autumn had brought.'No,' she thought. 'It doesn't matter where he was born or what is normal for him. I'm not going to treat him like a freak. I've waited or this opportunity ever since I married Jonathan and even though he never made a big deal about it, I know he wanted one, too. I'm not going to let anything change that.'
Getting up, she dumped the rest of the tea, now cold, down the drain and went upstairs to check on Clark.
The next day found Jonathan and Clark in the barn again and Jonathan was attempting to show Clark exactly how one uses complicated machinery to milk a cow.
"Now, Clark, you just take this nozzle here and screw it onto the big container over there, then attach the suction cups--" he paused. Clark, who by that time would have been jabbering away about something, was silent and Jonathan looked behind him and learned why: Clark was nowhere to be seen. Jonathan ran out of the barn just in time to catch the sight of a small foot disappering into one of the old tiller that had once belonged to his grandfather. Its wheels had long sunk into the ground and tangled in weeds and the back of it was against the barn, meaning whoever went in one way wasn't coming out the other.
"Oh shit." Jonathan took off running towards it, dove down onto the ground and stuck a hand inside o it, hoping to catch Clark's leg or something but the kid had already moved too far inside to be reached. "Clark!" He peered into the hole and could dimly see Clark huddled in the back of it." Just...just stay there!" Jonathan yelled, getting up onto his feet. He rushed towards the barn as Martha stepped out of the house with a confused look onto her face. "Martha, Clark's crawled underneath the old tiller." She didn't need to hear another word and followed him into the barn. "We'll need some rope, some flashlights," Jonathan said, snatching up the objects.
The two of them arrived at the tiller again and Jonathan shined the flashlight into it, right onto Clark's face. The kind must have realized something was wrong because now he had a scared look on his face. Jonathan threw the rope down the tunnel and called. "Clark! Just grab the rope and I'll pull you out...come on, just grab the rope."
But Clark didn't grab the rope. Nor did he just sit there. Instead, he stood up and, pressing his hands against the ceiling, lifted up the entire tiller. Jonathan who had been bracing himself against the thing while trying to get Clark out of there, fell over in surprise and lay there on the ground in front of Martha looking at the small three-year-old figure holding up a 700 pound tiller as though it was made of paper mache. Martha and Jonathan looked at each other in surprise.
****
"What do you intend to do, Jonathan?" Martha quietly asked him when they were back in the house. They had convinced Clark to lie down for a bit and were in the kitchen discussing what they had just witnessed.
Jonathan hesitated for a moment before answering. "I don't know Martha, having never met a 3 year-old capable of lifting 700 lbs, I'm a little inexperienced in this area. But I do think we need to find someone who is or would at least tell us how to handle it."
"You mean a doctor, don't you?" Jonathan winced at how cold and controlled Martha's voice was as she spoke. Once again, Jonathan found himself not wanting to respond, but he did anyway. "We could take him to Dr. McPherson. He's reliable and has doctored nearly everyone in Smallville at one point or another."
"Great...that means that if we take Clark there, in a couple of weeks everyone would know Clark's 'unusual circumstances'". Martha looked at her husband skeptically.
"Okay, fine. We'll take him to Metropolis. You have to know some good, trustworthy doctors there who can give us some advice."
Martha was silent for a moment, then said. "Okay."
****
The three of them sat in the cab of the truck, Jonathan at the wheel and Martha on the passengers side with Clark on her lap. The two adults were silent but Clark was busy babbling away, proud of his newly aquired speaking skills. "Look, Daddy, a Ford Coup," he would cry out. Then, "look, Mommy, a Honda Accord."
When they reached Metropolis, the poor kid's eyes nearly popped out of his head: never before had he encountered such tall buildings and so many CARS. His mouth fell open in surprise and the questions started pouring out. "Daddy, what's that?" "Look, what's that car?" "Look at that!" Jonathan glanced quickly at Martha out of the corner of his eyes and nted the closed, pained look she had on her face and didn't look back. She was gripping Clark tightly.
As they neared the clinic Martha had recommended Jonathan began to feel a little more squeezed and wished the kid would shut up. His barrage of chatter was making an already difficult task darn near impossible. He moved to turn into the parking lot but Martha suddenly burst out, "Keep driving, Jonathan!" And, instinctively, he kept driving down the street.
On their way home, neither one spoke a word and even Clark shut up; exhausted, he had fallen asleep on Martha's chest. When they arrived back home, Clark was quickly laid down in his bed then Jonathan went into the kitchen where Martha had just put the tea kettle on. He didn't say anything but they both knew what the silence meant: why?
"I couldn't do it, Jonathan," Martha finally said. "I couldn't deliver him to a doctor like some sort of a sacrifice, where they'd poke him and experiment on him. And, yes that is what they'd do!" Martha continued, effectively cutting off anything Jonathan could have squeezed in there. "What doctor or scientist wouldn't? Proof of life on other planets with superhuman strength. They'd be like kids in a candy shop."
"I know, Martha," Jonathan said softly, taking her into her arms as she started to cry."I don't want that happening to him any more than you do, but you have to realize raising Clark isn't going to be easy."
"I know," she said, pulling away from him a bit and wiping the tears away. "I'm not expecting it to be but somebody has to do it and I'd rather it be us than...God knows who!"
"Nice to know you have a lot of faith in our untested parenting skills," Jonathan said smiling at her as she poured herself a cup of tea. This is what Martha had wanted more than anything but "we've drawn the wild card, Martha. Most parents worry if their child is 'normal', just look at the Rosses, but we're going to be wondering if he's properly abnormal enough according to his kind and how we're going to conceal that from our neighbors."
"Well, if farming ever bored you, at least you have a new hobby now: how to raise a normally weird child." She smiled through her tears.
"Ha, ha. I'll just go burn my mother's copies of Dr. Spock right now, okay?"
"Fine with me."
Jonathan started to leave but stopped as something occured to him. "Martha, if we're going to do this, raise Clark like he really is one of us, then we need to set down some rules." He sat down at the table, facing Martha. "First off, we can't let ourselves constantly think about how he isn't human. That's not going to help anything and he may pick up on it."
"Agreed."
"And what do we tell him? How much, I mean. That he's adopted and from another planet?"
Martha was silent for a second. "Let's just tell him he's adopted--everyone in town knows that anyway. But I think the other part can wait til he's older."
"Til he starts to ask questions himself, right?"
"Yeah. Jonathan, if we want to keep him and raise him as normally as possible, we have to keep this a secret as long as possible. From the town, from our friends," she paused. "Even from our families."
Jonathan looked at Martha sharply. "Your father, too?"
She nodded. "He's a lawyer, Jonathan. He knows we couldn't have children. He also knows how long the adoption process takes. If we just parade in with Clark--"
"Who then proceeds to life your father's car over his head--"
"It's not going to be pretty."
"And it wouldn't help if Clark himself ran around telling everyone he as from outer space and his parents found him in a field wearing nothing but his birthday suit."
"No, not at all. I'm not sure how much people would write off to an over active imagination."
"Okay, so secondly: Clark's secret and keeping it that way is our number one priority."
"Even the farm?" Martha asked cautiously.
Jonathan visably hesitated, then finally said, "Yes, even the farm."
Martha nodded and then continued. "And what about school?", reminding him of the conversation they had had not long before.
"Let's wait and see on that one...it's pretty much on the same line as your father: what if he does something he shouldn't?"
Martha nodded. "I mean, I want him to have as normal an upbringing as possilble, but if we kept him home and home-schooled him until we feel he's ready for school, it wouldn't harm much..."
"I think someone's having trouble letting go..." Jonathan teased.
Martha smiled. "I always did with people I loved."
He smiled back at her. "I know and lucky for me that you did, too."
"You know it. So what about his spaceship?"
"Well, I dumped it in the cellar that day, I suppose we could just leave it there, maybe push it a bit further back and cover it or something in case we have to go down there. I've got some work to finish up in the barn right now, anyway, so I'll just take care of that while I'm out there." Martha nodded absently.
After Jonathan left, Martha leaned back in her chair and fiddled with the mug in her hand, turning it around and around. What if it didn't turn out all right? That part of her asked. What if she was wrong? Did the two of them have enough patience to deal with a child who could lift ten times his own weight at least? She shivered and knew it wasn't because of the cool, evening air the autumn had brought.'No,' she thought. 'It doesn't matter where he was born or what is normal for him. I'm not going to treat him like a freak. I've waited or this opportunity ever since I married Jonathan and even though he never made a big deal about it, I know he wanted one, too. I'm not going to let anything change that.'
Getting up, she dumped the rest of the tea, now cold, down the drain and went upstairs to check on Clark.