THE NEW GIRL IN SMALLVILLE
by Christopher Leeson
Part One
Jonathan and Martha Kent cleaned up their basement on Sunday morning. No casual visitor would have noticed that a secret exit was concealed there. Their adopted son, Clark Kent, used a tunnel to enter and leave the family home unobserved.
The sudden pivot of the trapdoor and the familiar blur of a figure in red and blue scarcely surprised the elderly couple. Mrs. Kent called out over her shoulder, "Just in time to help, Superboy!"
"Jehoshaphat!" Jonathan cried out. "That isn't our son!"
Martha swung about and gaped with alarm. An unknown girl, not their adopted son, had alighted in front of the Kents. She stated in a shaky voice, "Yes, Dad, it's still me! Mentally at least!"
The old people barely grasped the meaning of the girl’s words and continued to stare uncomprehendingly. The girl had long black hair and stood with clenched fists. Her garment was a blue and red action outfit like Superboy’s, but the form-fitting fabric made her maidenly outline unmistakable.
"You'd better explain yourself, young lady!" said Pa Kent.
And the unknown girl let loose with a hurried cascade of words that were hard to follow.
“It's me, Dad,. I'm Clark!" the stranger said. “Something’s happened!”
“Is something wrong with your mind?” Jonathan asked sternly.
The unknown girl let loose a hurried cascade of words. She declared that she had been patrolling as Superboy near the foothills of Colorado when a small spacecraft broke through the afternoon cloud cover. His supervision revealed that the only occupant was a single female pilot who looked to be in distress. Her craft suddenly nosedived toward the rough country on its trajectory.
When it came to saving lives, Superboy didn't discriminate against alien beings. He darted ahead to pulverize the rocks looming in the way of the small ship’s flight path.
Afterward, the pilot managed a shaky landing. This was the first female space pilot Superboy had ever encountered. How ironic it was that immediately after her arrival, she was living up to the stereotype of “a woman driver.”
The exit hatch peeled open, and the pilot, looking remarkably human, came out. She wasn't limping and didn’t seem to be in pain. Her very short dress was, interestingly, in style with the times on Earth. She wore what was currently being called a “mini dress.” It was hardly becoming worn by a woman who looked to be about forty by Earth standards.
Instead of being frightened by circumstances, the stranger looked angry. "My name is Shar-La,” she stated harshly. “I am an administrator of authority in the world where I come from. We are a telepathic race, and I have overheard your rude and demeaning thoughts. I demand an apology for your false and unwarranted opinions.
Superboy briefly frowned, surprised and annoyed that she was mind-reading him. His intervention had saved her life, and all that mattered to her was her low opinion of her fashion taste?
“Lady, please do not invade my mind. On this planet, such an action is considered discourteous.
"Another insult!" she declared! Your mind tells me that this is a barbarian world where men have usurped women’s right of primacy and dominance. Your culture offends me and I wish to depart from such a place as soon as as possible!"
“You shouldn't be calling people you don't know barbarians,” said Superboy. "In this world, we accept and respect other people's ways. We have many different cultures, and respecting one another allows our many cultures to live together peacefully!"
Apparently, the woman did not respect backtalk. She started shouting not with her mind but with her voice, using an unearthly language. Suddenly, Shar-La lifted her fist toward Superboy and projected light rays from a finger ring she wore. Clark, feeling nothing, stood his ground, unafraid of a mere beam of light.
"If you’re attempting to injure me," he said, "it won’t work. I can only be injured by a mineral called Kryptonite. Now, I have to ask, are you all right? Will you need further assistance?”
"A woman needs no help from any man,” declared Shar-La. “It's men who need help from women, as you will soon be hoping from helf from me!"
Superboy sighed at her illogical statement. If women like her ruled a planet, he felt sorry for any men who lived there!
“You appear to be fine, ma’am,” the superhero stated. "If you don’t mind, I’ll be on my way. I have a good deal to do before darkness falls.
“Go then!" she declared. "And as we say on our world, ‘May you have an interesting life!’”
Clark Kent leaped into the air. Meetings with alien beings were often hostile, but always interesting. How strange it was that this alien had wanted to quarrel right out of the gate. He thought he had been right to break off the contact.
For several minutes Superboy soared west, surveying the ground for problems or people in danger. Suddenly, he saw his reflection below in a mountain lake....
Only it wasn’t his reflection.
The mountain reflected a flying girl wearing a super costume like his. Superboy descended for a better look, and it took only seconds before he realized that the reflection was his own! He gasped. Unless he had lost his mind, he his reflection was the image of a teenage girl in a suit like his, her long, black hair blowing behind her.
Superboy halted in mid flight. What he was seeing had to be an illusion produced by Shar-La’s telepathic ability! He touched his chest and was shocked. He touched elsewhere, too, and realized that his body had either physically changed, or else Shar-La had implanted into his mind the delusion that he looked like a girl!
He first tried to banish the illusion with the force of his will, but when that had no effect, he decided to fly back to Shar-La immediately and make her stop whatever she was doing!
Superboy's return consumed only seconds, but when he reached the pulverized hilltop, Shar-La and her ship were absent. Clark did a super-scan of the sky, but couldn’t see her craft within thousands of miles of the hilltop. Then he looked landward, for hundreds of miles in all directions, his view unobstructed by hills and mountains, but caught no sight of her! If the witch from space had already left Earth’s vicinity, how in thunder could he track her down?
He fought against panic. This had to be an illusion. And the best way to prove that was to speed home where he could find people he could trust to look at him with fresh eyes.
#
In the Kents’ basement, the girl ended her story, saying, “Please tell me that I don't see what I see when I look into a mirror!”
"I’m sorry, son," said Clark’s mother," but from what Pa and I see, it looks like we'll have to get used to having a daughter!"
"Mom!" Clark exclaimed. "If that's a joke, it's not a good one!"
“Don’t be upset, darling,” Martha urged. “Maybe the light that beastly person struck you with will wear off like Kryptonite. You have to remain confident that you'll be yourself by morning.”
“What if I'm not myself?”
“If that happens, we’ll all have to do some hard thinking.”
“I can't show myself to people looking this way!" Clark declared.
Martha thought for a moment. “That's true. If it persists and you have to go out, you’ll have to present yourself in a new assumed identity. You'll have to claim to be a young relative of ours who's come on a visit. You’ll need proper clothing, though, and work out a story to explain why you're here. But whatever happens, we don't dare panic. You must not do anything that will expose your secret identity.”
“Mom! This is something that has to be fixed, not just explained away!”
“Like I said, it might fix itself. But until that happens, you have to appear to be an ordinary girl. Especially at school.”
“Martha,” her startled husband finally joined in. “If Clark stays this way for very long, people will ask us what happened to Clark. If people become suspicious, the police might be called in. We have to be ready with appropriate answers.”
Mrs. Kent sighed. “I suppose we can say that Clark has gone east to visit one of your brothers, and that... this person is his daughter, who is visiting us in return.”
Jonathan Kent thought hard. "We can say that my brother is in need of a sturdy boy like Clark to help him do a man's job at his home. And we can say that the reason he's sent us his girl is so she can do Clark’s work at the store.”
“That makes sense. It should gain us some time,” said Martha.
"It will, but only a few weeks at best. If Clark doesn't return, people are going to start to wonder. We may to leave Smallville then. It will mean breaking all local ties and setting up a new identity elsewhere, as a couple with a daughter, not a son."
"I don’t want this to turn our whole life upside down!" said Clark.
“Your father may be right,” said Martha. “What makes things even worse is that some people may get curious as to why Superboy has disappeared at the same time Clark has. The fallout might expose your super identity.”
“This is a disaster,” declared the brunette teen.
#
“Okay, everyone must stay calm," suggested Mrs. Kent. "The best way to address a big problem is to take it one step at a time. If you have to impersonate a girl cousin, Clark, you have to start immediately. For one thing, we need to get you girl's clothing.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Clark.
Martha went to a drawer and took out a measuring tape. Soon, provided with Clark’s new measurements, she went shopping. It was mid-afternoon before Martha returned with the start of Clark's new wardrobe.
Looking into the bags with super vision, the girl didn’t like what he saw.
“If you aren't yourself by morning," Clark’s mother explained, “we’ll have to register you with the school as a new student, just as a precaution. If it goes that far, you will have to wear dresses to school because of the dress code."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," said her daughter.
“But the way I came up with a new name for your new identity. Claire. You should pose as our niece, the daughter of your uncle Burt."
“Claire?” the girl echoed, wrinkling her nose. Then she shrugged. “Well, what does it matter? Names are the least of our problems.” Then Claire looked with special distaste at a flat box with a clear cellophane window. The sight of a white brassiere in it soured the girl’s expression.
"It may take you a while to get used to wearing skirts and dresses, so you need to start getting used to them before you attend school.”
Claire could only give a woeful head-shake.
Matha led the gloomy girl upstairs to help her dress. Holding up on of the skirts, a pink one, Claire said, "I can't wear my super suit under a dress! The pants legs will show."
Martha crossed her arms, considering. "That’s true. Maybe I should alter your super suit by removing the pants legs. We really only need to keep the red trunks. Do you want me to get to work at the alteration?"
"Not yet! Maybe this—whatever it is—will soon be wearing off."
"Hopefully it will, but until it does, we can make do. You can wear a pair of bright red spanky pants. They will resemble your super trunks. Girl athletes wear them all the time. Just remember, they won't be indestructible so you'll need to be careful not to burn or tear them."
Claire's face contorted with misery.
“And we’ll have to get you a new pair of girl-style glasses,” Martha continued. “You don’t need prescription lenses, so any second-hand spectacles from the thrift-shop will serve. You'll just have to avoid projecting your heat vision through them. They won't be invulnerable like the lenses we made from your spaceship's windows.”
"I think I’m going to be too sick to attend school this fall," Claire grumbled.
#
When her girl's sartorial change was accomplished, Martha stood back to take in it overall effect. "I’m encouraged," she said. “You look very normal. If anyone looks at you twice, it will only be because you’re so pretty.”
“Mom! Please don’t talk like you’re enjoying this!”
“I’m not enjoying any part of this disaster. I’m just glad that it seems to be possible to set up a new identity for you. And if I'm not mistaken, Lana Lang could help us.”
“How?”
“We'll tell her you're our niece. She’ll be glad to introduce you to her friends at school, and that will make things easier for you.”
"Ma, I already know all the kids at school!" Claire protested.
“I know you do, honey. But Claire Kent has to act as if she's meeting them for the first time.”
“I suppose so,” Claire sighed.
Lana Lang arrived just a few minutes after Mrs. Kent phoned her, excited to meet the new girl in the neighborhood. After she and Lana spoke for a few minutes, the red-headed schoolgirl urged Claire come over to her house and see her things.
When Claire glanced uncertainly toward her mother, Martha encouraged her to go with Lana, but to be back by suppertime. She invited Lana to dine, too, but their neighbor declined. She still had some unfinished homework.
#
When Claire came back she was scowling. “When did Lana's conversation get so boring? Boys! Fashion! Singers. Dull LPs. If I'm condemned to listen to girl-talk for the rest of my life, I'll go crazy!”
In reply, Mrs. Kent only sighed. As the family ate, Martha suggested a plan for the day ahead. "Tomorrow morning, we'll go over to the high school and get you registered for classes.
After that, we’ll hurry off to Metropolis. The selection is better there and you need plenty more clothing. On top of that, we need things for your room. We need to make it look like we weren't taken by surprise at having a girl visitor."
"Are you supposing that I'll look like this for a long time to come?"
"I hope you don't, Claire, but we can't leave anything to chance."
Okay,” Claire grumbled. “I'll hide my old stuff away in one of those rooms I added to the tunnel last year.”
#
Arriving at school at eight sharp. Martha introduced Claire to the principal and filled out the paperwork to enroll her as a student. The secretary estimated that Claire would be able to start school before the end of the week.
Afterward, Martha drove Claire off to Metropolis, Missouri. The two of them shopped at a hectic pace. Mrs. Kent bought things both new and used. It would not look good if all of Claire's things looked like they were fresh from the store. Also, the thrift stores had many things that would look appropriate in a girl's room. As the busy day wore on, Martha noticed that Claire was gradually becoming less self-conscious about going about town wearing a white blouse and pink skirt.
At a sports supply store, Martha bought Claire three pairs of bright red spankies. The boxes were decorated with images of cheerleaders. Claire sighed when the garments were placed on the checkout desk.
But Mrs. Kent had seen Claire react even more strongly whlen she picked up a basic makeup kit. The girl seemed to like lipstick even less than she did bras. But it couldn't be helped. Girls' Claire's age wore makeup, and the young Miss Kent would stand out if she didn't do as they did.
On the drive back from the city, the mother and daughter worked out more details about Claire’s imaginary background.
Martha proposed a scenario in which Clark had gone to help his widowed uncle remodel his and Claire's home. Burt, being a retired former contractor, needed a helper stronger and more sturdy than his own daughter. Claire, in turn, would help Jonathan at the store.
Claire suggested that she could publicly announce that she was Superboy’s sister, who had been raised on a different planet. She could claim that while she visited Earth, Superboy would stay on her own planet to protect it while she was absent.
“What will you call yourself? Supergirl?” asked Martha.
Claire shook her head. “‘Supergirl’ sounds like a silly name. I need to think of something better.”
“Like what?" her mother inquired.
"I'm not sure. I hate the idea of losing Superboy," the teen replied gloomily.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
