"It's worse than that, Debra, he looks like some kind of a freak!" Lillian Luthor hadn't realized that Lex was coming into the room as she was talking on the phone. "And the way he stares in the mirror like he thinks that it's all going to grow back that minute, well, it's almost creepy. Lionel thinks that he should stay home for the rest of the term, but he's got to learn how to deal with it. People will be looking at him all his life, Lionel can't shield him from that, though God knows he wants to shield him from everything." She sighed. "Maybe it will be the making of him." Lex retreated as quietly as he had entered.
It looked like math was the same with parents. If you had a father who loved you and a mother who didn't really care about you as a person, it was like adding a positive and a negative number. You were lucky not to have zero--or less--when you finished.
***
"I *know* it's weird that they'd adopt, but it's not suspicious!" Marie Peters, the vice-principal of the elementary school, looked at Tom Benson, the second-grade teacher, in an exasperation that he knew wasn't directed at him. "I even made sure that I was there and got a good look at him when the class went to the pool. There wasn't a single tiny mark anywhere on him, not even the usual scratches and bruises any kid has."
Benson nodded gloomily. The Kent child was clean, fed, didn't show any of the signs of physical or any other kind of abuse, but there was still something wrong about him and he was sure it had something to do with the Kents. He didn't like it, and he liked it even less since hearing that they'd gotten rid of all the farm help since adopting the boy.
***
"I can't see *through* things," Clark whined. "I can't tell if there are any cameras." Jonathan Kent grunted in annoyance and lowered him from his shoulders. At least Clark was getting faster every week, it seemed, probably soon he would be able to blur past cameras without being seen. Then it'd all pay off in serious money. In the meantime, they weren't going to risk anything on the penny stuff. It'd be worth the wait.
***
"The main problem, it looks like, is that the plant's been focused on maximizing its current processes, not looking at other developments." Lex said carefully. "That's why it's been losing ground."
"Such as?" Lionel Luthor steepled his hands and leaned back.
"Well, the high-pressure processing, that looks like it could really give a cleaner burn, using sulfates to bind to the trace metals, not hydrogen, and maybe ozone instead of UV light to kill E. coli."
"Estimated capital outlay?"
"For sulfates, only two hundred thousand, for the ozone, 1.2 million, for the high-pressure, 2.4 plus retraining costs and retro-fitting, so a total of about 3.1."
"You had those numbers right at the tip of your tongue, didn't you?"
"Well, I had been thinking about it since you said the board was listing shutting down as an option."
"I thought so, Lex. You've just been assigned your exec placement." Lionel chuckled at Lex's startled and then gratified expression. "Time to start stepping out of my shadow."
***
"A truck?!?! You saved a billionaire's life, and he just gave you a truck!?" Jonathan kicked one of the tires in frustration, and muttered obscenities.
Clark shrugged. It was a pretty cool truck, even if he thought that somebody driving a Porsche could have done a lot better. He'd go over to say thanks in person. Aside from knowing that good relations with a billionaire would be useful, it was a change to say that he was a Kent and not have the person act like he'd said he had rabies. He'd not admit that, of course, to his parents, or just how welcome a change it was, even to himself.
***
AN: How does this very "snapshot" approach work? I'm going to try it, I think, for as far as this fic wants to go, and since it's new for me, I'd really love to hear if it's workable or not. -- Thanks!
It looked like math was the same with parents. If you had a father who loved you and a mother who didn't really care about you as a person, it was like adding a positive and a negative number. You were lucky not to have zero--or less--when you finished.
***
"I *know* it's weird that they'd adopt, but it's not suspicious!" Marie Peters, the vice-principal of the elementary school, looked at Tom Benson, the second-grade teacher, in an exasperation that he knew wasn't directed at him. "I even made sure that I was there and got a good look at him when the class went to the pool. There wasn't a single tiny mark anywhere on him, not even the usual scratches and bruises any kid has."
Benson nodded gloomily. The Kent child was clean, fed, didn't show any of the signs of physical or any other kind of abuse, but there was still something wrong about him and he was sure it had something to do with the Kents. He didn't like it, and he liked it even less since hearing that they'd gotten rid of all the farm help since adopting the boy.
***
"I can't see *through* things," Clark whined. "I can't tell if there are any cameras." Jonathan Kent grunted in annoyance and lowered him from his shoulders. At least Clark was getting faster every week, it seemed, probably soon he would be able to blur past cameras without being seen. Then it'd all pay off in serious money. In the meantime, they weren't going to risk anything on the penny stuff. It'd be worth the wait.
***
"The main problem, it looks like, is that the plant's been focused on maximizing its current processes, not looking at other developments." Lex said carefully. "That's why it's been losing ground."
"Such as?" Lionel Luthor steepled his hands and leaned back.
"Well, the high-pressure processing, that looks like it could really give a cleaner burn, using sulfates to bind to the trace metals, not hydrogen, and maybe ozone instead of UV light to kill E. coli."
"Estimated capital outlay?"
"For sulfates, only two hundred thousand, for the ozone, 1.2 million, for the high-pressure, 2.4 plus retraining costs and retro-fitting, so a total of about 3.1."
"You had those numbers right at the tip of your tongue, didn't you?"
"Well, I had been thinking about it since you said the board was listing shutting down as an option."
"I thought so, Lex. You've just been assigned your exec placement." Lionel chuckled at Lex's startled and then gratified expression. "Time to start stepping out of my shadow."
***
"A truck?!?! You saved a billionaire's life, and he just gave you a truck!?" Jonathan kicked one of the tires in frustration, and muttered obscenities.
Clark shrugged. It was a pretty cool truck, even if he thought that somebody driving a Porsche could have done a lot better. He'd go over to say thanks in person. Aside from knowing that good relations with a billionaire would be useful, it was a change to say that he was a Kent and not have the person act like he'd said he had rabies. He'd not admit that, of course, to his parents, or just how welcome a change it was, even to himself.
***
AN: How does this very "snapshot" approach work? I'm going to try it, I think, for as far as this fic wants to go, and since it's new for me, I'd really love to hear if it's workable or not. -- Thanks!