LINDA?
"The dodo was native to the island of Mauritius, which is right…" Fred Danvers scanned the world map on the wall behind him. He found the island nation in the Indian ocean and pointed to it "… right here."
Linda studied the projection on the screen in the front of the room of the artists rendition of the dodo. She continued her doodling, sketching a flying dodo into the scene she was creating in the margins around her notes.
"It couldn't fly…. and… uh…."
Linda's erasing a large swath of her notes caught Fred's attention. He paused for a moment to watch her. Linda felt his eyes on her. She flipped her pencil around and wrote "couldn't fly" in big letters on the page. She looked up at Fred and smiled innocently.
"…uh… didn't have any natural predators on the island. So, these birds didn't know to be afraid of people or other animals. It was really easy for people to catch them because they didn't even try to run away. Some people think that's why they were called 'dodos,' because they… weren't smart enough…. to run away from people or animals that wanted to eat them. The word 'dodo' may come from the word…. " Fred glanced at the notes in his hand. "… doudo which is Portuguese for…." He double checked to make sure he had this right. "…dodo."
The bell announcing recess rang.
Fred spoke quickly so he could finish the unit. "The dodo became extinct, at least partly due to overhunting by the Europeans and…." He rose his voice to be heard by the students who were already leaving their desks and chatting with one another. "… their introduction of animals to the island that raided their nests and ate their eggs. Please hand in your homework assignments on your way out!" He raised his voice even more till he was almost shouting. "Mrs. Cafferty will be back tomorrow from her medical leave."
"Yeh," joked Stephanie loudly so everyone could hear. "Her paper cut finally healed."
Everyone but Fred laughed. He sighed.
"It was my pleasure substituting you…. again."
Fred collected the homework assignments as the students filed out the door. Linda tried to slip past without being noticed. "Linda, where's your homework?"
"I couldn't find it this morning." Linda lowered her gaze and stood in the doorway.
"You did it, though?"
Linda nodded, still not looking at him.
Fred considered the young girl for a few moments. She was such a sweet girl, and he felt so awful he couldn't do more to help her in her 'situation.' Homework-gone-missing was one of the least upsetting matters she had to deal with.
"Fine. Go and enjoy recess."
"Thank you." Linda ran out to join her friends.
"Vacuous. Steph, your turn. Vacuous."
"Vacuous," recited Stephanie. "…devoid of intelligence. Vacuous."
"Use it in a sentence," insisted Alissa.
Stephanie didn't respond. She had already returned her attention back to the slushy romance novel she was reading.
"Steph-a-nie! A sentence!"
"The boy was vacuous," grumbled Stephanie.
"Come on, that's pathetic," complained Alissa.
Stephanie looked up and grinned. "The stupid boy was vacuous."
Everyone except Alissa chuckled. "Don't blame me if you get a zero on the vocab quiz."
"I won't," Stephanie assured her.
Alissa huffed. "Vindictive. Zoe."
Zoe stopped counting the blades of grass in a small patch she had cordoned off. "I'm at 127. Don't let me forget. What was the word?"
"Vindictive."
"Showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt. The boy was vindictive." Zoe giggled at Alissa's obvious annoyance. "OK. OK. The malicious boy was vindictive. It was 127, right?"
Alissa shook her head in exasperation. "My turn. Vociferous: Conspicuously and offensively loud." She paused to think. "OK, whatever, I give in. The offensively loud boy was vociferous."
Everyone giggled.
"Vulnerable," Alissa continued. "Linda, your turn."
Linda was too busy with the drawing of a house on the seashore she was working on.
"Hey, Earth to Linda. Vulnerable."
Linda kept drawing. "Capable of being wounded or hurt. The wounded boy wa…."
"Hey, Linda." Nasthalthia Luthor approached the group of friends and offered some papers to Linda. "I found your math homework from two weeks ago. Must've put it in my backpack by accident and… I guess it just got lost in there."
Linda took the papers. "Thank you," she said quietly.
Zoe sneered at the newcomer. "Hey Nasty. Why don't you have the right kind of accident for once? Like a really bad car accident."
"Don't Zoe," Linda pleaded.
Zoe continued. "And you're the one that needs to 'get lost.'"
"Zoe! Don't make her mad."
"I'm sick and tired of her picking on you," Zoe complained. She stood up and faced Nasty. Zoe was a good two inches taller than Nasty and her substantial frame made the other's physique look puny in comparison. But Nasty wasn't easily intimidated.
"Don't provoke her," Linda insisted. "Please. You don't have to sleep in the same room with her tonight. Just ignore her."
"No one ignores me, Linda," Nasty remarked snidely. "That's what we have you around for. Even your parents ignore you. They can't even stand to be around you."
"That's not true," Linda shot back, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Oh yeh! So then where are they?"
"Shut up, Nasty!" Zoe pushed Nasty and she fell back a few steps. Nasty pushed her back.
"You're so mean, Nasty!" Alissa also stood up and faced the mean-spirited girl. "Leave Linda alone."
Stephanie patted Linda on the shoulder to try to comfort her. "Go away Nasty."
"Awe, are you gonna ca-wa-eye? Poor baby. Too bad your mommy's not here to take care of her crying baby."
Zoe pushed Nasty, harder this time. She fell to the ground. She jumped up and charged at Zoe, but the larger girl stood her ground and Nasty ended up on the ground again. Nasty's hand found a fist-sized rock. She curled her fingers around it, got up and lunged at Zoe, swinging the rock at her face.
"Ooowwweee!" Nasty hit Superman straight in his chest instead.
"Ow!" She yelled again. "You broke my finger!"
"It's not broken," Superman assured her. "But you might want to put some ice on it."
"You'll be hearing from my father's attorney." Nasty started walking away toward the school building, nursing her smarting hand.
"I'm sure I will, if he's as vociferous as you are." Superman called after her. He winked at the remaining four girls. "Hello, ladies."
The four friends giggled nervously.
"Are you really Superman?" Alissa asked, as if him appearing suddenly out of nowhere wasn't proof enough.
"Can I have your autograph?" Stephanie grabbed Linda's notebook, tore out an empty sheet, and handed it to Superman along with Linda's pencil.
"Hey!" Linda protested.
The other girls also tore out pages from the notebook and crowded around Superman.
Linda gave in. She, too, tore out a page and waited her turn.
Other girls were running over to them from all over the playground. Many of them rummaged through Linda's notebooks and papers that were now strewn all over the ground, looking for a good piece of paper for an autograph.
"Your name is Stephanie, right?"
Stephanie nodded, completely flummoxed that Superman knew her first name. He had to ask for her last name. He finished her autograph and handed it to her.
Zoe blushed when Superman also called her by her first name. He had to ask Alisa for her full name, and she was obviously disappointed. But as he handed her her autograph he told her "It was really brave of all of you to stand up for your friend." Alisa also blushed and was placated.
Then he turned to Linda. "And your name's Linda?"
Linda nodded. She handed him her piece of paper.
"Linda?"
"Linda Lee."
Linda Lee? Where'd that name come from? And what was it with all the L.L. initials of the people in his life?
He searched Linda's face to try to detect any hint of recognition or anything at all that indicated she was at all different from the other giggling 11-year-olds surrounding him. Nothing. His gaze quickly shifted from her face to the comb in her hair and then down to the crystal embedded by her left collarbone he could see with his x-ray vision. He tried to hone one of his long-atrophied Kryptonian senses. Maybe he detected a faint hum. Maybe.
The bell rang, indicating it was time for the girls to go back into the building.
Superman quickly finished Linda's autograph and handed it to her.
"I'm sorry, ladies, but you have to go back to class now." With super speed, he signed a few more autographs. He didn't have time to ask for names, though. Then he gently extricated himself from the giggling gaggle of girls.
"Bye!" Superman flew up up and away.
"Bye!" all the girls called to him. They chatted and giggled excitedly as they ran back to the building.
Linda hung back to gather her belongings that were scattered about. She got down on her hands and knees and quickly collected them into a messy pile.
"Here, I'll help you with those."
Linda gasped and fell back on her haunches and then onto her behind. She stared at Superman, mouth agape.
"Sorry," Clark apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you." He got down on one knee, picked up the remaining papers and notebooks and assembled them together the best he could. He noted Linda was a much better artist than student. Now that they were alone, he was better able to concentrate on the faint humming. Familiar, but fuzzy, blurred and…. tainted somehow. It was only because his senses were super strong he was able to detect anything at all. He knew Linda certainly couldn't feel anything.
Clark stood up and offered Linda his hand. When their hands met, the humming became a just a bit more distinct. Linda stood up and tried to reach for her papers. But Clark was still holding her hand. He helped her tuck the pile of papers under her other arm.
"Thank you," Linda whispered shyly. She gently tried to pull her hand away and put on a confused expression when Clark wouldn't let go. "I have to go to class."
Clark brought his free hand to her neck and traced the outline of the crystal by her collarbone with his finger. He didn't understand much about mermex crystals, but he could tell that this one was almost full.
Damn! How'd that happen?
He knew he was making Linda uncomfortable and he was sorry about that. He dropped his free hand to his side.
"You know, you and I have something in common."
Linda furrowed her brow in confusion.
"We're both bullied by a Luthor." He grinned at her.
Linda giggled nervously.
He finally let go of her hand. "You'd better get to class."
Linda nodded, turned around and started running towards the school building.
"Linda," Clark called after her.
She paused and turned to face him.
"I'm sure your parents…" Clark paused, not sure which tense he should use. "…love you very much."
Linda smiled at him, turned back around, and ran inside the building.
