Eldirao

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The Rosses arranged an overnight party for their triplets and their friends on Sunday to end Monday, the Fourth of July with a picnic. Larry was invited and the Kents went to help. "Lexy, call us if you and Clark need anything," Jon said, waving from the truck. Clark and Lexy waved goodbye when Jon, Martha, and Larry left in the afternoon.

Lexy had a cold supper prepared when Clark finished the chores. She served it in the kitchen, and they ate quickly.

"I have to leave for Metropolis right after dinner," Clark said. "If you need anything, call Pa. I'll be back about 8:00." He stood up and put his dishes in the sink.

She walked outside and watched as he flew away, shading her eyes from the sun. When he was out of sight, she cleaned up the kitchen and finished another report for Barry.

She soaked in a bath, got in her nightgown and robe, and sat on the back porch to dry her hair as the sun set. A few minutes before 8:00 Clark came out of the house and sat beside her.

"I didn't see you come, Clark. Do you have another route?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be seen, so I fly high. I left my bedroom window open, so I just flew in." He relaxed, and they sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes.

"Did anything happen in Metropolis?" she asked.

"Not much. A bank robbery, two fires, a cat up a tree, and so on. I talked with Barry and he says they've learned about your world. It's different from ours, from this Earth in some ways."

"How so?"

"He thinks that though both worlds have yellow suns, I wouldn't have superpowers there. Something different about the suns. Metahumans probably wouldn't be there, nor one with special tools, like Green Lantern and his power ring, or types like Aquaman."

"Interesting. What would you do on a world like mine?" She turned to look at him, his face lit by the setting sun, his dark, curly hair reflecting the last rays of the sun.

"Oh, I just be an ordinary human, maybe a little stronger than most, better senses, but not meta. I'd be a reporter for a, New York, where you came from, paper, married to an Earth girl who works in an office, and go home at night to an apartment where we live with our 2.4 kids. We'd have a cat like Bootsie."

Lexy laughed lightly. "That sounds like a good plan. I'm not from New York City, though, I just moved there when the Maelstrom came."

"Where are you from? Tell me about yourself and your family."

"Born in Trenton, that's in New Jersey, and raised in Plainsville until I was 10, when Dad died. I kind of liked it there. Mom moved us to South Carolina, where her family lived. She didn't get along with Dad's family. Family was my sister, Pris, and younger brother, Marty." She was silent for a moment, "Marty died during the pandemic last year."

"Pandemic?"

"Yeah, a virus went around the world. My family all had it, but only Marty got a bad case and passed away. Mom was crushed. He was her favorite."

Clark slipped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him.

"Anyway, want to hear more?" She twisted her head to look at him. He nodded.

"We lived in Beaufort until Pris started college at USC. Mom lived on savings until then, but they ran low and she had to get a job. Her brother rented her his house in Columbia cheap, so we moved there so Pris could live at home while going to college. She graduated and worked as a paralegal in Atlanta for a while, then to Chicago, where she married and had Bonnie and Sadie. She divorced, and sent the girls to Mom in Columbia, and she went to New York City."

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