My Weird Little Brother
Lois and Clark – The New Adventures Of Superman
By Thomas Mc
Alien or Mutant?
As she walked home from school, fifteen-year-old Susan thought about the 'Outer Limits' episode they had seen last night. It was another one that involved a man from outer space with special abilities. Her thoughts turned to her little brother. Though Clark tried very hard to hide it, she knew that he was different. He never got sick and he never got injured. He was stronger and faster than he should be. He could see and hear things that normal people could not see or hear.
He was too normal looking to be a mutant so he had to be a space alien. It was the only logical explanation for all the things that she knew about him. She wondered if Clark was aware of what she knew about him. Then she wondered if Mom and Dad were aware of what was happening to him.
She entered the house to find Mom in the kitchen and Clark at the table working on his homework. A plate loaded with freshly baked cookies sat near the center of the table and a glass of milk sat on the table near Clark's left hand. There was no indication in this totally domestic scene just how weird her little brother really was. She shrugged as she announced her arrival home.
She glanced again at Clark. He may be weird but he was her little brother and it was her job to look out for him. As she passed him she reached out and ruffled his hair, causing him to duck and grimace, followed by a verbal protest. Without breaking stride, she grabbed a couple of cookies then headed up the stairs to her room.
~ o ~
Susan hurried home from school and looked around for Clark as soon as she arrived. She had heard about an altercation between Clark and two older boys shortly before the final class of the day. The details varied depending on who was telling the story. Because of Smallville's size the elementary and middle schools shared the same building and gossip traveled fast. All she knew for sure was that Clark was upset and she needed to find him before he worked himself up into doing something foolish. He was twelve years old which meant, to her mind, he was half crazy by definition. She knew that he would not do anything violent. It was not in his nature. But if just half of the things she had heard were true, he might just decide to run away.
At this time-of-day Dad would be out working the fields. The missing truck combined with the fact that it was Thursday probably meant that Mom had gone into town to do the grocery shopping.
A quick search of the house did not turn up any sign of her brother. Next she went out to the tree house that they built together three years ago. A hand lettered sign that Clark had nailed to the side proclaimed it the 'FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE'. Clark sometimes displayed a flair for the dramatic. Clark and Susan were both known to occasionally retreat to the structure when they had a problem or a worry that they needed to work out for themselves.
Clark was not here which surprised her. If Clark was not in the tree house, then he must be hiding. Susan leaned back against the tree to think. Now where would Clark go if he didn't want anyone to find him ...
The Hay Loft! ... Susan ran over to the barn that set on the edge of the newly plowed field.
"Clark, are you up here?" Susan called out softly as she reached the top of the ladder.
Clark was there huddled in on himself looking thoroughly dejected. Susan knelt beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Clark, tell me what's wrong."
"They said I'm a freak 'cause I ran faster than Andy in gym class!" He yelled in anguish and fear. He knew he was different and he did his best to hide it from everyone but Andy had been teasing him mercilessly so he had allowed himself to out run him when doing laps in gym. "They also said that I didn't belong here, and that I wasn't really a Kent ... that I was just some thrown away orphan that the Kents felt sorry for." He picked up a broken brick from a small pile that always occupied that space next to the ladder and threw it at a hay bale near his feet. "FREAK!" He yelled as the brick buried itself deep into the hay bale. "It's not right." He glared at the hole. She looked at him, trying to decide what to say, when she saw a barely perceptible line of heat haze coming from Clark's eyes. Her eyes followed the line of rippling air to the hole where the brick had entered. Smoke came pouring out of the hole followed by a burst of flames. With a yell of surprise Clark kicked out, hard, sending the bale flying out through the upper hayloft door. The next instant Susan watched in helpless horror as Clark went backwards past the edge of the hayloft and dropped from sight. She had reached out to grab him but she was not fast enough. This was followed by a sickening thud mixed with the sound of rattling metal.
Fearfully she looked down over the edge of the loft. Clark was sprawled across the large open tool bin, filled with very sharp farm tools and looking dazed and frightened. Susan rushed down the ladder and over to Clark's side as he began to move.
She reached out and gently touched his chest. "Don't move, Clark, we don't know how badly you've been hurt."
Clark looked up at her puzzled and unsure. "I don't feel hurt?" He shifted a bit then sat up.
Susan quickly examined his back. The back of his shirt and pants were shredded yet there wasn't a mark to be found anywhere on his skin. They stared at each other, an unspoken question hanging between them.
She shrugged. "I've known for a long time that you are a little bit different." Then Susan's eyebrows shot up. "The hay bale!"
Clark scrambled out of the tool bin and the two of them ran out of the barn. The hay bale was burning pretty good now. Susan ran over to the house and retrieved the rolled up hose, with a garden sprayer on the end, that always lay next to Mom's garden. She ran back to the barn and hooked the hose to the stand pipe at the corner of the building. Clark was still standing where she had left him and staring, mesmerized by the burning hay bale. She turned on the faucet and began spraying water on the fire.
After a couple of minutes the hay bale was finally out. Susan and Clark stood there looking at the bale then at each other.
Clark quickly closed his eyes and turned away as she took a step toward him. "No, stay away!" He cried out.
She stopped. "Why? What's wrong?" She inquired as she took another step.
He turned his head further away while pointing in the general direction of the hay bale. "I don't want to hurt you." There was real anguish in his voice.
Susan stopped a moment deep in thought for a couple of seconds. She heard him sigh with a heave of his shoulders then give out a sniffle.
There was a hint of command in her next words. "Clark, look at the hay bade!"
Clark nervously shook his head, keeping his eyes tightly shut.
Susan spoke again, this time with more command in her voice. "Clark, do as I say. Open your eyes and look at the hay bale!"
After a second Clark reluctantly opened his eyes while keeping his gaze focused on the ground in front of him.
"Look at the hay bale, Clark." She commanded.
He shifted his gaze over to the hay bale.
"Look really hard at it!" She commanded, a bit more gently.
He shifted his stance very slightly and she could see the look of concentration on his face. She looked at the hay bale. Nothing was happening, she thought with a hint of relief. After a quick scan of the ground she pointed to a three foot long piece of broken tree that lay six feet from the hay bale. "Look hard at that tree branch." She told him.
He glanced momentarily at her then quickly looked away with a hint of panic in his eyes.
"Look at the tree branch, Clark!" She spoke more insistently.
After a second Clark shifted his gaze to the branch.
"Look at it really hard at the center of it and think about Andy."
Again his brows furrowed with a look of anger mixed with wariness. Nothing happened. Susan nodded to herself as she thought furiously about what to do next.
With a nervous sigh and a silent prayer that she was doing this right, she spoke again. "Now, keep your eyes on that branch and remember how it felt when the bale caught fire."
Clark's look of concentration shifted almost imperceptibly. A second later barely visible red beams shot from his eyes to the center of the tree branch and the one inch spot where they struck began to smolder.
"Now, turn it off!" Susan snapped.
The beams vanished immediately and she sprayed a stream of water over the smoking spot. She smiled at Clark. "That's perfect." This time in a less commanding voice she suggested. "Now, do it again at a different spot."
Clark did as she had suggested. This time the burn spot was slightly smaller in diameter. After a second the beams vanished and there was a soft hopeful smile on his face.
"Clark, look at me." She suggested.
Clark turned toward her but wouldn't look directly at her. She put one finger under his chin and gently urged him to look directly at her. "OK, we've proven that you can turn it off at will, even when you are really mad, so you don't have to worry about hurting anyone by accident. Right?" She waited till he nodded 'yes'. "Later this week we can work on how to control those beams and focus them more accurately." She watched the hopeful relief play across his face as he realized that she had not rejected him. Now it was time to hammer the point home. "No matter what you can or cannot do or where you may have come from, you are still my weird little brother and I love you just as much as Mom and Dad do. They probably know more about where you came from than they let on and still want you. They have always treated us both as if we were their natural children. I think it is about time we talked to them about who you are and where you come from." She reached up and ruffled his hair, causing him to duck and grin. "We'll talk to them after dinner. Now let's go inside and clean up. Mom should be getting home any time now and Dad will be coming in from the fields in about an hour."
Just as Susan and Clark closed the front door, an old blue pick-up truck turned up the gravel driveway to their house. As she pulled up she noticed the hay bale with the black hole in it sitting on the ground in front of the barn. She also noticed her garden hose laying on the ground next to it and the faint odor of burnt hay. 'That ought to make for an interesting story.' She thought. Five minutes later Martha entered the home. "Kids, I'm home!" She called out.
She was answered by a two children stampede clattering down the stairs. Clark embraced his mother a bit tighter than usual. Susan's response was just a tiny bit more reserved than usual. Martha wondered what had happened today for a few moments. She ordered her thoughts and had Clark bringing the groceries in from the truck while she and Susan put them away.
Out of the corner of her eye, Susan noticed that their mother was watching the way Clark was effortlessly carrying those, often very heavy, grocery bags. It seemed that Mom was not totally clueless about Clark's uniqueness after all.
~ o ~
About an hour later, Jonathon arrived from the fields driving the farm's tractor. He came around the barn to park the tractor under the covered pad on the north side of the building. As he rounded the building he noticed the hay bale sitting on the ground in front of the barn. He dismounted the tractor and approached the bale. For several seconds he stared at the five inch hole burned into the hay bale. He shook his head and started for the house. He was thinking that there must be a very interesting story about that hay bale.
Jonathon entered the house and heard Martha call out. "Hurry and wash up honey. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes.
Three minutes later Jonathan joined the family at the table. After a second of silence Jonathan opened his mouth to ask about the hay bale but Susan beat him to it. "Mom, Dad ... there is something very important we need to talk about ... but it should wait until after dinner."
Dinner was a relatively quiet affair as each person mulled over what might be happening afterward. Jonathon and Martha were wondering how a half burned hay bale could be involved. Clark was afraid that his parents would reject him as a freak. Susan was determined to get some answers ... for herself and for her brother.
After dinner Martha was the first to speak. "What is it you want to talk about, sweetheart?"
Followed almost immediately by Jonathon's inquiry. "Does this have something to do with that hay bale in the front yard?"
Susan reached out to lay her hand on Clark's shoulder. "Mom, Dad, is Clark some kind of space alien?"
Clark glanced at Susan in surprise then his attention shifted to their parents. Martha and Jonathan stared back in shocked silence.
Disclaimer: This story is based on the television series "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." The recognizable characters and settings in this story are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them, and I have no claim on them whatsoever, nor am I profiting by their use. The story, however, is a product of my own imagination. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans.
