"Hey green eyes!" a profoundly round farmer calls out, "You gonna take your top off now, too?"
"I"d pay to see that!" a security officer answers.
"You don't need to pay, blondie's giving it away for free!" the round one offers.
"I'd pay for the tall one to go all the way," the security officer says through a mouth full of donut.
"You wouldn't pay for blondie?" asks round boy.
"I got a quarter in my pocket, I think," the security guard laughs, digging in his pocket for change.
"I got two dollars right here that says blondie's gonna kick the tar our of double-d there," a leathery old man, who should be old enough to know better, waves two bills in the air.
"What is that, your life savings?" the security officer jabs, "But, you're crazy if you think double-d ain't got some piss and vinegar in her swing." He matches the bet with two dollars of his own.
Chloe's heard every word of it, but is far too enraged at her cousin to care. Lois, on the other hand, likes to play to the crowd.
"Make it three and I'll sprawl her out in the mud with one punch," Lois says turning to the
men.
"You're on!" the three exclaim in unison.
Lois turns back around to face her opponent. "Can you believe these guys think you're serious?" But, instead of finding a sympathetic feminist ear, she finds Chloe with a handful of dirt swinging it Lois's way.
The ball of dirt smacks Lois full force in the mouth. She spits instinctively, a little bewildered that Chloe took it that far.
"Chloe-?" Lois begins, but Chloe finishes the thought with a right cross to Lois's face.
Lois spins on her heels, falling back face first into the waiting arms of one Clark Kent. The sight of Lois in the enveloping arms of her one true love does nothing but adds kerosene to Chloe's campfire.
Lois's eyes sparkle, as her lips twist into an evil grin. Peering up at Clark, she asks, "Could you give me a little push?" Clark does, pushing her out. She uses the inertia to spin around and sweep her foot under Chloe's legs. Chloe flips back, landing hard. Lois plants her hand in the dirt, swings her foot around again and pounces on Chloe's fallen form, pinning Chloe's arms with her folded knees and bracing Chloe's face with her thighs.
"Boy howdy," round boy grins, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"
Lois scoops up a fist of dirt and rubs in Chloe's mouth. "I'm a big sister, don't even think about taking me down."
Lois springs to her feet and gleefully snatches the dollar bills from the leering masses hands, tucking them down between her cleavage with a satisfied grin.
"They doing all this over you stretch?" the security officer asks, jabbing Clark in the ribs.
Clark can't do anything but stand with his mouth wide open, far too preoccupied with the show, enjoying the sensations such a site provides him.
"Hey Boy! You catching flies over there?"
"Somebody better get him a bib!" Another hick exclaims, slapping his knee as he lets out a cackle, one that's uncomfortably raspy thanks to too many cigarettes.
Lois prances around doing a victory lap. Chloe picks herself up weakly. The stress of the day catches up with her, and she bursts into tears.
Lois stops her victorious prance at the sound of Chloe's sobs.
"It's not fair," Chloe snorts through open sobbing. "I'm never the winner, I'm always second place."
Lois's heart melts. She didn't know the reason behind Chloe's rant, but so much is revealed to her with that one, teary sentiment.
"Chloe," Lois turns on her best mothering voice. "Sweetie, don't." Lois leans down to comfort her fallen cousin.
Chloe's hand swings around and finds Lois off-balance. Lois falls back, and Chloe springs to life pinning Lois in the same manner she was just pinned herself.
"I never had a sister, but I'm a quick learner," Chloe sneers.
Being the more powerful of the two, Lois launches Chloe off of her and gets a good hold of her hair. The two twist and wrestle in the dirt, reducing their fight to what would be mud wresting if the men were fortunate enough to have it rain.
A powerful hand clamps around Chloe's wrist and pulls her up. A second hand wraps around Lois's wrist and yanks her up as well.
"That's enough of that!" a booming voice calls down on them. The two warring girls look up into the stern face of Jonathan Kent.
The crowd, recognizing a father figure, simmers down to the point where the only sound is a slight "whoosh" from behind them.
"I don't know what started this, but it's finished now!" Jonathan commands. "Is that understood?"
Lois blows her own hair out of her filthy face. "What's up Mr. Kent? You hear there were two girls rolling in the dirt and you come running?"
Jonathan stammers with his answer, "No. Not at all."
Chloe licks the bit of blood from her lip, quickly noticing that Clark is no where to be found.
"Great! Now look what you did!" Chloe jeers at Lois, knowing that Clark had the ability to disappear quicker than anyone else on earth, and with his new found attitude there's no telling what he might do next.
"Oh relax. A little bit of blood isn't going to kill you," Lois says, pulling the elastic off of her ponytail, sliding it onto her wrist.
Their little spat had left both girls looking quite disheveled. Lois, well aware that she's on display quickly tries to take the upper hand of the situation, and straighten up her appearance. She bends her head forward, bouncing her long locks in front of her, combing through them with her fingers. Then, in one quick motion, she flings her head back, allowing her long, full hair to fall along her shoulders and down her back.
The grungy men gasp in unison, feeling as though they just saw a Pantene commercial acted out in front of them.
Lois arches her eyebrow, realizing she's got the entire hillbilly community dangling on a string. She passes Chloe a side glance, hoping her cousin will finally see who is truly the winner of this battle of feminine wiles.
Jonathan Kent is not a fool. When he sees the men devouring Lois with their eyes, he knows he has to put a stop to it before things get truly out of hand. Lois may not be his daughter, but she is a young woman living under his roof, and he would not stand for anyone treating her inappropriately, regardless that it seems she's playing right into it.
"Y'all have 'til I count to ten to get back to your business or I'm going to show y'all what my business is," Jonathan says, staring the crowd down, as he steps between the rowdy bunch of men, and the girl who's turning his hair gray by the moment.
Jonathan may not be the largest man in the crowd, but no one there can question that he's able to see through his threat. His eyes remain fixed as the gangly bunch of men as they turn their backs to him, going back to their booths.
"Thanks Mr. Kent," she says giving him a pat on the back. "But you know, I could've handled them just fine."
"We've got to find Clark!" Chloe yells at far too shrill of a decibel.
"We don't need to do anything," Lois says, a little worried about why Chloe was so interested in locating Clark. After all, it was Lois's present for Chloe that Clark was hiding behind his zippered denim.
"No, there's something-" Chloe doesn't finish too aware of Jonathan's presence.
"There's something-what?" Jonathan asks.
Chloe bites her lip to keep from letting out a nervous smile, but she forgets the cut on it. "Ow! That hurt!" she exclaims in pain as she hops around to shake it off.
Jonathan grabs Chloe's shoulders, curious what it was she was about to say. "What's going on with Clark?"
"Oh, nothing's up with Clark that's not up with every other guy his age," Lois says, hoping to reassure him, not wanting to blow this whole thing out of proportion.
"Relax, I'll go find him."