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 an artist's rendition of the dodo. She continued her doodling, sketching a whimsical flying dodo into the scene she was creating in the margins around her notes.
"It couldn't fly…. and… uh…."
Linda wrinkled her nose in mild irritation. Flipping her pencil around, she set to work erasing the errant dodo. The abrasive scratching sound drew Fred's attention, causing him to pause and observe her. Linda sensed his eyes on her and, stealing a quick glance, confirmed that both he and some of her classmates were indeed watching. She felt her cheeks flush as she flipped her pencil back around and wrote "couldn't fly" in big letters on the page. Then 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 while the majority of the students were still within earshot. "The dodo became extinct, at least partly due to overhunting by the Europeans and…." He raised 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."
"Yeah," 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 gathered the completed homework assignments while the students exited the room. Linda attempted to slip past unnoticed. "Linda, where's your homework?"
"I couldn't find it this morning." Linda paused in the doorway, her gaze lowered in mild embarrassment.
"But you did complete it?" Fred inquired.
Linda nodded, still avoiding eye contact.
Fred pondered the young girl for a moment. She was such a sweet girl, and he felt a pang of regret that he couldn't do more to assist her in her challenging circumstances. The matter of missing homework seemed trivial in comparison to the other issues she faced.
"Alright. Go and enjoy recess."
"Thank you." Linda swiftly ran outside to join her friends, eager to enjoy the beautiful spring weather.
"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 giggled. She looked around at her friends, sprawled comfortably on the grass in the schoolyard, enjoying the warmth of the sun on a beautiful spring day. None of them seemed to be appreciating her efforts to help them. She shot a disapproving glance at Stephanie. "Don't blame me if you get a zero on the vocab quiz."
Stephanie didn't even bother looking up. "Don't worry. I won't," she 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.
Stephanie 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 Steph," Linda pleaded.
Stephanie continued. "And you're the one that needs to 'get lost.'"
"Steph! Don't make her mad."
"We're 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, kicking the pencil out of Linda's hand. "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. She tried to rub the sting out of her fingers.
"Oh yeah? So then where are they?"
"Back off, Nasty!" Zoe pushed Nasty and she stumbled backwards. "You touch Linda again, and your parents are going to have to visit you in the hospital next time."
Nasty regained her footing and pushed Zoe back. "Only cause I'll be there visiting you in your full body cast."
"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, is Linda gonna ca-wa-eye? Poor baby." Nasty pantomimed a crying baby. "Too bad your mommy's not here to take care of her crying baby."
Zoe exerted more force this time, pushing Nasty harder until she tumbled to the ground. Swiftly recovering, Nasty sprung back up, charging at Zoe. Despite her attempts, the larger girl stood firm, causing Nasty to find herself on the ground once more. Nasty's spotted a fist-sized rock within her reach. Curling her fingers around it, she rose and lunged at Zoe, swinging the rock towards her face.
"Ooowwweee!" Nasty hit Superman straight on his chest. She dropped the rock and tried to rub and shake out the pain from her stinging fingers.
"Ow!" She yelled again, glaring at Superman. "You broke my finger!"
Nasty didn't seem at all surprised or flummoxed by Superman's sudden appearance. The other girls, on the other hand, were speechless and frozen in shock.
Folding his arms across his chest and looking sternly down at Nasty, Clark tried to do his best Superman impression. Honestly, sometimes he felt like a caricature of himself. "It's not broken," he assured Nasty in a deep, measured tone. "But you might want to put some ice on it."
Nasty continued nursing her throbbing hand. "You did this on purpose, you… you… alien freak. You don't even belong here. Go back to where you came from. Oh, that's right, you can't. You and your disgusting… kind…. couldn't even save your own world, so you came here to destroy ours too."
The other girls were nearly as shocked at Nasty's audacity as they were at seeing Superman in their schoolyard.
"Shut up, Nasty," Zoe warned her in a loud whisper.
If Nasty's tirade bothered Superman, he didn't show it. He remained stoic.
"You'll be hearing from my father's attorney about this." Nasty started walking away toward the school building, still attempting to soothe 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 one of Linda's notebooks, 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 notebooks 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 schoolyard. 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 dumbfounded that Superman knew her first name. He asked her for her last name, and then 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. 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 that indicated she knew 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 and focus in on 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 through the schoolyard back into 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, Clark was better able to concentrate on the faint vibrations emanating from a small organ located behind Linda's throat. They seemed familiar, but fuzzy, blurred and…. tainted somehow. The oscillations were almost too weak to be perceptible. It was only because his senses were super strong that he was able to detect anything at all. 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 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? Scanning deeper still, he grimaced as his x-ray vision focused on a small device nestled within the Kryptonian equivalent of the sternum. The distinctive signal patterns it was emitting hinted at geo-tracking technology. The realization of the potential implications prompted a momentary furrow of his brow. Quickly, he composed himself. He knew he was making Linda uncomfortable, and he was sorry about that. He dropped his free hand to his side and smiled warmly at her. "You know, you and I have something in common."
Linda's brow knitted in confusion as she shook her head slightly.
"We're both bullied by a Luthor." He continued smiling at her.
Linda smiled back and giggled nervously.
He reluctantly 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 hesitated, not sure which tense he should use. "…love you very much."
Linda's countenance shifted into radiant happiness, and a grateful smile lit up her face. The assurance from Superman, the powerful and revered superhero, had the profound impact Clark intended. Filled with newfound jubilance, she waved enthusiastically at him. "Bye!" She turned back around and sprinted into the building.