Jonathan had told Clark that it would be ten minutes until they finally made it to the church. To Clark, it felt like an hour. Clark wasn't used to this much silence. There was no one talking, not even a word. Martha had been fidgeting the whole way up about the crates in the cabin, but that had stopped. Jonathan had been trying to shush her when she did, but that had stopped. Both Jonathan and Martha had been guilty of humming old songs from the seventies and eighties that Clark couldn't stand, but that stopped, too. Clark was beginning to feel that if he spoke, then his parents would somehow jab him in the face. The intensity of the silence was that bad. What they had seen in that cornfield was obviously overwhelming to them, so much more then simply a bloody blanket.
Clark decided not to push it though. He didn't want to upset his parents right before they met their new clients. But there was still something inside him that said this silence was his problem too.
Right when Clark decided to break the silence, the truck finally stopped. Clark was jolted by the stop enough to see that he had not been paying attention to his surroundings the past several miles. He noticed that the cornfields had finally ended and gave way to expansive wild meadows. They reminded Clark of his many childhood excursions to the outer plains of Smallville that existed before LuthorCorp practically took over his town. Given those memories, Clark felt rather at home in this spot. What could be so bad here that made his parents so nervous? It had to be nothing.
Clark stood up in the truck as he heard his parents click open the doors and finally slip out of the cabin. The boy turned around and finally saw the church that they had been driving so long to get to. The by was not surprised to see that it was really nothing exciting. It was the classic model of an old fashioned chapel with the white painted outside, red tile roof, tall steeple towering from the front, and the large wooden front doors that were adorned with a single cross that they both shared. Stained glass windows dotted the outsides of the church with the climatic one in the center of the front stretching from the middle of the steeple to right above the doors. The church had no real buildings around it except for a small wooden shed that was obscured by the short and wide hill that church sat on top of. It was the hill that really caught Jonathan's attention. He knew that there were no natural hills in this part of Kansas. Especially in land that is surrounded by flat plains.
Clark, on the other hand, was more taken by the fact there were no actual roads leading up to the church on the hill, nor were there parking spaces. The vehicles that Clark saw, mostly old pick-ups, were actually parked halfway on the dirt road and halfway on the land that made the foot of the hill. Clark laughed, thinking that the incline would one day ruin their cars. He laughed even more at the fact that he saw actual people in their Sunday best coming down the road from the opposite direction on foot
"Hey Clark," Jonathan called. "Don't just stand there. Help us out here!"
Clark quickly nodded and grabbed a couple of crates right before kicking open the back flap of the truck and stepping out. He didn't want to carry too many boxes or simply hop out of the truck, because he didn't want to get people wondering about him or his secret. He just tried to copy his father's movements when he carried his crates. Clark felt a little guilty not helping his father more since they were actually carrying these things up an incline, but his father insisted beforehand that Clark not take more than him. The boy reluctantly accepted after a long fight.
When Jonathan, Martha, and Clark plopped the first group of fruit crates on the grassy ground right at the midpoint between the road and the church, several people emerged from the front doors. It appeared to be a rather large family with several children, and even a few young adults among them. As they approached, the Kents realized that they were being greeted and decided to not go back to the truck for more crates. Clark, as always, decided to analyze the folks that were coming to meet them.
The father seemed to be a man in his mid-fifties with salt-and-pepper hair and glasses at the tip of his nose. He also seemed a little stocky in his walk, as if he thought himself as the most important guy in the world. Clark figured that this guy was the minister. His figuring was reinforced with the man's gray sport coat, complete with a dark-red tie. When Clark looked over to his wife, she seemed a little younger than him, but not that much. Even though she looked fifty, she was dressed like she was seventy. She had a short-sleeved flowery dress than went down to the middle of her thighs. On top of that, she had beige high heel shoes. Also, her graying hair was in a bun and her skin was patched with spots. Clark was about to analyze the kids, but he decided to turn his attention to the minister introducing himself.
"Welcome Kent family," the man said with a strong resemblance to a televangelist. Not the Billy Graham kind, but the crazy money hungry kind. From that, all three of the Kents knew that this guy would get annoying fast. "I would like to welcome you all to our humble church. My name is Reverend James Staltzenburger, but you can call me Reverend Jim."
Jonathan silently laughed at that unintentional homage to Taxi as the reverend continued.
"On behalf of the congregation of Plains of God Church, I would like to thank you for coming all this way to deliver us this fine produce of your's. We are very grateful. I'm sure this will mean great reward in heaven for all of you."
"I'm sure it will," Jonathan said softly and sarcastically as his wife lightly shoved him. "Do you want us to take the rest of the fruit out of the truck?"
"Oh no, not yet," Reverend Jim insisted. "First you must meet my family."
Oh joy, Clark thought to himself, even though he was rather looking forward to him introducing the two young ladies in the group that caught his eye.
Rev. Jim introduced his plainly dressed wife as Beatrice. He then moved to the thin young lady that was in the front of the group. She had long and shiny blonde hair as well as flawless skin and a very slim figure. It was only emphasized by her long skirt and white top. She was introduced as Kimberly. There then came the next girl who looked about twelve. She was pretty much and exact copy of Kimberly, only a younger version with different colors to her outfit. She was named Diana. He then moved on to the ten-year-old twins Harold and Billy. They were obviously identical with sandy-blonde hair and pale skin. They were dressed in identical shirts, ties, and pants, which Martha thought was absolutely adorable. They didn't seem to enjoy it very much, though. There was then the youngest one, six-year-old Kelly. She had long brown hair with the classic childlike softness to it, along with fair skin and a frilly red dress. She was bent over and rocking back and forth just like children do when their getting restless and bored. Clark was itching to join her when the reverend finally introduced his last child, Aelora. She didn't look like the other children when it came to family resemblance. She looked like she was in her early-twenties, which would have made her the oldest. She had light brown hair pulled back in a head band that didn't look as kept as Kimberly or Diana's did. She was also not as dressed up, with her light pink flower dress and denim jacket combination. Her skin was very lovely, though, even superior to her sisters'. Clark was not at all surprised when the reverend told them that she was adopted, especially in the theatrical and self-righteous way he did it. It was almost as if he was somehow the second Messiah because he adopted a child. Clark agreed that adoption was important, but not that important.
"That's cool," Clark said, trying to stop his bloated speech. "I'm adopted, too."
"Is that so?" the reverend said as he looked at Clark. He didn't seem all that surprised when he heard that, but he was obviously trying to act like he was. Clark looked back at Aelora to see if she was surprised, but all he could see was the worried look on her face. She was obviously trying to hide it from her father, but it was there nonetheless. When she looked into Clark's eyes, he could see pain, which was not at all uncommon for adopted kids. However, this pain seemed different to Clark. In fact, the look she gave him gave the vibe of her saying "run while you still can!" Clark wanted to hear more about her, but Rev. Jim just told his family to go back into the church. All the way back in, Aelora looked back at Clark with a very worried look on her face. It almost made him shiver. Was this girl trying to tell him something?
"Now that you have met the family," the reverend continued. "Would you like to come inside and join us for worship?"
"You have services on Saturdays?" Martha asked as she finally noticed the people walking up the hill to the church.
"Today is a special occasion," the reverend said happily as he motioned the Kents to come in.
"Are you sure you don't want me to get the rest of the fruit?" Jonathan asked, confused. "They'll rot in this hot weather."
"I'm sure it will be fine," Rev. Jim said.
Before the Kents could object anymore, the reverend had Jonathan and Clark by the arms dragging them in in a subtle, yet forceful way. Martha sighed and decided to follow them and just humor the guy. Jonathan and Clark decided the same thing and told the man that they could go in by themselves. Rev. Jim nodded and smiled as he told the family to follow him inside.
As they got closer to the church though, Clark could feel shivers running up and down his spine, reaching their climax once he was in the doorway. His parents saw how Clark was feeling uncomfortable and right when the reverend left them alone, they asked him what was wrong.
Clark lied and said that he was fine, but in reality the boy really didn't feel right. Jonathan seemed concerned as he saw his son begin to grow pale. Him and Martha quickly rushed Clark into a pew so that he could sit down, but when he did so he began to grab his stomach and moan. Jonathan looked around from his seat at all of the mingling people and tried to find of there was anybody wearing jewelry or anything made with meteor rock. When that came up empty, he then glanced up and down the walls of the church around the small pulpit and the large painted brown cross hung on the back wall with ropes. So far no luck. It was then that he saw something strange about the stained glass windows. He stared at the tall one above the doors they came in. It displayed a picture of Jesus in the middle of the field surrounded by sheep. The green glass that made up the field was giving off more than the sun's light. It was obviously glowing on its own.
"Martha," Jonathan whispered to his wife. "There's kryptonite in the windows."
Martha put her hand over her mouth and rubbed her son's arm. She then suggested that they get him out of there and Jonathan agreed. They didn't want to ask questions about what would possess these people to use the meteor rocks for decoration after all of the heartbreak they brought, even though they were dying to. They just grabbed Clark's arms and helped him get up from his sitting position. They then tried to slip out, not noticing that Rev. Jim was at his pulpit and watching them like a hawk.
"Where are you folks going?" the smirking reverend asked them as the entire congregation in the pews turned their heads toward the doors.
Jonathan sighed an annoyed sigh and said, "Our son isn't feeling well. I'm going to take him outside so that he can get some fresh air."
This statement got the congregation talking. None of the Kents understood why a sick boy would be such a conversation piece, but they didn't really care. They just decided to turn and leave.
"Wait," the reverend called out after a couple seconds.
"What is it?" Jonathan impatiently said
The reverend gave them another smile as he bent down, apparently reaching under his pulpit for something. It was right then that the three members of the Kent family felt the ground underneath them fall in, quickly bringing them with it.