Jimmy.
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Young Jimmy was sweet on Chloe from the start. They met here durin' her internship. Fact, I saw the whole thing. It was right by the ol' revolvin' doors they had before they put in these fancy new-matic doors. Jimmy was goin' out as Chloe was comin' in and don'tcha know the young fella just kept on goin' and followed her back inside. Round and round those two started… round and round they went for years.
He was a likeable one that Jimmy. Never saw someone smile so much. And always had his camera on him. I used to tell him he was goin' to miss out on life coz all he could see was the tiny piece you got in the little viewfinder. I shouldn't have bothered. Jimmy got life, alright, and he lived it. But he was always takin' pictures. In fact, I got one of his pictures here… in my wallet. Hold on, lemme get it…
That's all o' us. Taken on my 80th birthday, that was. Back in 2008. Jimmy brought his tripod, and set the camera to a timer. See how we're all laughin'? That's coz when Jimmy told everyone to say 'cheese', Lois stuck her tongue out and made that 'cut the cheese' noise! You know the one… a raspberry they used to call it. That cracked us all up, I'll tell ya!
That's Lois there. Beautiful, wasn't she? And Clark, next to her o' course. He was always next to Lois. That's Chloe. Told ya! Bright as a button, that one. And me, o' course… and Jimmy. See the smile? The smile of someone who knew about life! I don't tell a word of a lie.
Jimmy came to me for advice when he decided to ask Chloe to go steady with him. Do they still call it that? Goin' steady? I don't know… but that's what Jimmy called it. He had ants in his pants, he was so excited. Couldn't stand still long enough for me to give him my two pence worth. I was married to the same woman for 63 years, and that's why Jimmy wanted to talk to me. He said the world was full of advice for trickin' women into… doing things with ya… but not much about how to woo a girl. He wanted to woo Chloe. I liked that Jimmy.
Anyways, I gave him my advice and, sure enough, he cocked the whole thing up. I told him to buy her flowers. Roses. But to Jimmy, roses was borin' and he could do much better. So he went out and picked her some wildflowers. Not a bad idea, I'll grant ya… Certainly on the right track for showin' a gal you care… But did he have to pick a flower that twisted itself round poison oak?
They were both out of work for a week. But the way Chloe told it, sick as he was, Jimmy took care o' her. Nursed her back to health, and that's when she fell in love with him. So maybe young Jimmy knew somethin' I didn't.
She invited me to her wedding. I thought that was so sweet o' her. It was out in Smallville, on the Kent Farm. That's a museum now, or some such, isn't? The farm? Anyways, the wedding was in the barn and it was beautiful. Clark and Lois decorated the place like somethin' out of a fairytale, which I thought Chloe and Jimmy deserved. They looked so happy together.
It was at that wedding that I met Miss Lang. Course, I knew her as the ex-Mrs Luthor. She was a pretty girl – more'n pretty, actually – but there was somethin' off about her. It was in the eyes. You spend enough time with reporters, and you pick up on these things. With Miss Lang, I just thought… "God! This girl is so sad and she don't even know it." She looked like a girl the world had gotten to years ago, and was just carryin' on. She was walkin' and talkin', but not really livin'. The opposite of Jimmy, if you get my drift.
What happened at that wedding, I don't wanna talk about much. It's in the record books, and you can dig up as much about it as you want. I don't particularly care. History calls it the first appearance of the beast that killed Superman. I call it the time a monster almost killed one of the best boys I ever known. I saw Jimmy lyin' on the floor, his head in Chloe's lap as she cried an' cried… There was so much blood.
They say that thing killed Jimmy in the end… months later. I don't know the truth of it. All's I know is I only cried at three funerals in my life. My wife's – may God rest her soul, Superman's… and Jimmy Olsen's. He was so young. He coulda captured the world and shown it to us in his pictures. Instead, all's we're left with is a picture of an old man's birthday… and the image of a boy who'll never smile again…
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