Chapter Three: An Actor's Life for Me
The next day, after breakfast, which Conner found out was a meal people had in the day to keep them going until the afternoon, Conner and his parents stepped outside as Conner starred in awe at the children and ran around as Lois tried to put his jacket on.
"Oh, look at all of them Mom and Dad!" Conner said excitedly.
"Wait a minute, sweetie." Lois said. "I have to get your jacket on, so you won't get cold."
"Who are those little people?" Conner asked.
"They're children off to school." Clark said. "Girls and boys."
"Oh boy!" Conner called out as Lois finally managed to put his jacket on, and he was about to run off.
"Whoa, hold on for a second there, Conner." Clark said with a laugh as he picked Conner up and gave him an apple. "This is for you to give your teacher. You know, start things off on the right foot."
"Why?" Conner asked.
"So that you two can get along right away." Lois explained. "And here are your books."
"Now turn around and let us look at you." Clark said, and Conner turned around from the neck down, and the two smiled at him. "Now run along now."
Krypto then rushed off to follow Conner before Clark and Lois stopped him.
"Hold on boy." Clark said with a chuckle as he held Krypto's collar. "School's not for you."
Krypto whimpered a little before he rushed up stairs to lick Megan, who they let sleep late for a little, awake.
"Bye Mom!" Conner called out as he left. "Bye Dad!"
"Bye son!" Clark said. "See you tonight!"
"Stay safe, Conner!" Lois called out. "Hurry back after school's over."
They then went inside.
()()()()()
Coming down the road was a man with black hair and an eye-patch over his left eye. He was accompanied by a blonde girl with her hair in pig tails and dressed in a red skirt with a black sweater. The man wore an orange top hat with a black cloak over a gray suit. This man's name was Slade Wilson, and his companion was Harley Quinzell.
"Ah, Harley, listen." Slade said. "The laughter of children on their way to school. Thirsty minds on their way to the fountain of knowledge."
"Those poor morons." Harley said with a smile.
"Now, now." Slade said with a smirk as he picked up a stray cigar. "School's a noble institution. After all, what would this stupid country be without-?"
Slade suddenly stopped and looked at a picture that said, "The Great Lex Luthor's Marionette Show"
"Well, well, well." Slade said. "Lex Luthor. So the old rascals back in town." Slade then laughed. "Remember Harley, the time Jack and I dressed you as a harlequin and tied strings on you, and we tried to pass you off as a puppet? We nearly put one over on the old chrome dome that time."
"Yeah." Harley said with a smile. "Poor Jack. We've really gotta visit him in the slammer again."
"Someday, my dear." Slade said with a smile. "Someday."
As they continued down the street, they passed a boy on his way to school, a wooden boy with black hair.
"Huh." Slade said. "A wooden boy." After a few seconds, the shock of what he just saw hit him. "A WOODEN BOY?!"
"Holy cow!" Harley exclaimed. "Just look at him!"
"I know, Harley." Slade said. "A puppet that moves along without strings and apparently of his own free will. That'll be worth a fortune to someone, now who…" Slade then smirked as he thought of the poster. "Of course! Luthor! That phony would pay a fortune for something like this!"
"Sweet!" Harley called out.
"Listen, we play our cards right, we'll be on easy street, or my name isn't Honest Slade Wilson." Slade said.
"Can we get Jack out of the slammer after we sell the squirt to LL?" Harley asked.
"Of course dear." Slade said. "We better hurry before he gets to school."
They rushed to a corner just in front of the wooden boy, and Slade smirked.
"Now here's the plan." Slade said when he turned to Harley and saw she was carrying a ridiculously large mallet.
"Not that way stupid." Slade said as he pulled the mallet from her hands. "Let's not be crude. I'll handle this."
Slade then stood by the corner and extended a cane he'd grabbed out as he appeared to be talking to Harley.
"As I was saying to our associate just the other day, Harley-" Slade began when just as he planned, the wooden boy tripped on the cane and fell over. "Oh my poor boy, I'm so sorry. I do hope you're alright."
"I'm fine." The boy said as Slade surreptitiously slapped Harley's hand away from the boy's pocket.
"Well, well." Slade said as he picked up the book the boy was carrying. It was an alphabet book for kindergarteners. "A man of letter's I see. It's not often we meet a scholar is it, Harley?"
"Nope." Harley said.
"Here's your book." Slade said as Harley pocketed the apple as the boy wasn't looking.
"I'm going to school!" The boy said.
"Ah, school." Slade said as he put an arm around the boy. "I guess you haven't heard of the easy way to success."
"Uh-uh." The boy said.
"No?" Slade said in surprise. "I'm speaking, my boy, of the theater!" Slade might have made a good actor himself with all the dramatic cons he pulled. He then tugged the apple away from Harley before she could eat it and handed it back to Conner. "Here's your apple. Anyway, the theater. Bright lights, applause, fame!"
"Fame?" The boy asked.
"Yes!" Slade said. "And with that personality, that profile, that physique! Why he's a natural born actor, eh, Harley?"
"Oh, he'll make all the kindergartner girls melt." Harley said. "Everyone will wanna be friends with… Um… What's your name?"
"Conner Kent." The boy said.
"Conner Kent!" Harley called out. "I can see it on big letters over the box office! C-O-N… Uh… How do you spell 'Conner' Mr. W?"
"You're the former secretary, how did you spell 'Conner'?" Slade asked.
"With three 'n's and a 'u'." Harley explained.
"Three 'n's and a 'u'?" Slade asked.
"Well that way it looks like a typo, and it'll be up to da guy who got it ta figure it out." Harley said.
"You two are funny." Conner said with a laugh.
"Oh, you should see Jack, but he's in-" Harley began before Slade cut her off.
"Another town at the moment, but we're wasting precious time." Slade then put his hand on Conner's shoulder. "On to the theater!"
Hi-Diddiley-Dee
An actor's life for me!
A high silk hat
And a silver cane.
A watch of gold
With a diamond chain.
Hi-Diddiley-Day
An actor's life is gay!
It's great to be a celebrity.
An actor's life for me!
Hi-Diddiley-Dun!
An actor's life is fun!
They walked off in the direction of where Lex Luthor's carriage.
()()()()()
Megan was sleeping in the bed as she was being shaken.
"Megan, wake up." A voice said. It didn't sound like the mean lady who ran the orphanage. She opened her eyes and saw a lady with purple eyes and black hair, and it all fell back in place.
"Oh shoot!" Megan called out.
She rushed out of bed, tossed off the night-gown Mrs. Kent had given her and tossed on her freshly clean leotard and grabbed her cloak as she rushed down.
"See you tonight Mr. and Mrs. Kent!" Megan shouted as she ran out of the door.
"A fine conscience I am." She said to herself as she clasped her cloak around her neck. "I over slept on the first day! Oh well, how much trouble can he get in between home and school?"
Eventually, she arrived at an arch and heard someone humming.
"Ooh, a parade." Megan said with a smile as she watched for it to pass, and she saw Conner in the ground.
"WHAT?!" Megan asked in alarm. "Conner?! Where is he going?"
Megan ran up and grabbed the girl by her pig tails to get her to stop.
"OUCH!" The girl called out.
"Oh hi, Megan!" Conner said.
"Ah, there's a monkey in my hair!" The girl said. "Get it out Mr. W! Get it out!"
"Oh, it's just a little-" the man, Mr. W, said before the girl took out a mallet and tried to smash the supposed Megan away when she hit Mr. W on the head, so that his hat ended up over his face.
"Uh-oh." The girl said as she looked down and saw Megan there. "I am in trouble."
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Mr. W shouted through the hat.
"Don't worry Mr. W, I've got ya!" The girl pulled the hat off, and she looked at it. "Don't worry Mr. W, da hat is okay!"
Mr. W rubbed his hands through his black hair and pulled the hat away from the girl.
While this happened, Megan took Conner aside.
"Hey Megan!" Conner said excitedly. "I'm gonna be an actor!"
"Oh yeah?" Megan asked. "Remember about temptations, about how the wrong thing may seem right at the time?"
"Yeah." Conner said.
"Well that's basically what this is." Megan said. "That guy and his friend are temptations."
"No they aren't." Conner said in a perfectly friendly way. "That's Mr. Honest Slade and his friend Harley."
"Oh… Boy." Megan mumbled. "Look Conner, you should go to school to get an education and an actual career. Just go over there and tell them that you can't go to the theater, say thank you just the same to be polite and that you're sorry, but you have to go to school."
"Okay." Conner said.
"So Conner, ready to continue?" That Slade guy asked as he walked up and turned Conner away from Megan. "On to the theater, eh?"
"Bye Megan!" Conner called out as he walked on.
"Good-bye?!" Megan exclaimed as they walked off. "Conner, we've gotta- You can't-"
Megan watched them walk off.
"What am I supposed to do?" Megan asked herself. "Wait, I can just go tell Mr. and Mrs. Kent! No, wait, I'm supposed to do good things since I'm a conscience, and if I told them that'd be snitching, and that's bad. I'll just go get Conner myself."
Megan then ran off after Conner.
Oh yeah, that was a real smart choice. A five-year-old goes off to try and take a wooden boy away from a guy like Lex Luthor!
Megan: Two days!
Kara (sleepily): Yay…