Superman Returns by Marv Wolfman

Author:Marv Wolfman [Wolfman, Marv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure
ISBN: 9780786171330
Google: 5SriGwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0786171332
Goodreads: 461450
Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
Published: 2006-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Eighteen

Long before they saw him coming they heard the familiar whoosh of wind. Old-timers knew he was heading toward them, soaring through Metropolis at superspeed. Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound, as they used to say. When they saw him, however, he wasn't flying over the skyscrapers; he was no more than twenty-five feet off the ground, corkscrewing his way through the city streets and alleys, in and around the buildings. They could tell he seemed… distracted.

They called his name but he didn't appear to hear them. Perhaps, they thought, he was on his way to some emergency and had no time to acknowledge their presence. They waved and jumped while shouting at him, trying to catch his eye, but he continued meandering through the city, heading east down Broadway, then hopping over the Metropolis River, flying parallel to the City Bridge, then west to the suburbs.

He studied the rows of luxury housing built along the shore, back in the sixties when the suburbs were just beginning to boom. This was before shopping malls equalized opportunities and before transportation made it just as fast to get to the city center from the heights of Wedge-more as it was from the upper west side.

Single men and women lived in the city's high-rises, taking in its nightly events, clubbing their way downtown or just luxuriating in a city that never seemed to sleep. But married couples, overflowing their tiny apartments with burgeoning families and two oversized cars, moved farther away, searching for a less harried lifestyle and affordable two- or three-bedroom homes with fenced-in lawns where their kids could play safe and protected.

Superman hovered over the homes. He looked up and down the streets until he saw a seaplane floating next to a small dock that led to a large yard and a fancy all-wood swing set. The lights inside the two-story house were on and he could see its owners rushing about inside, preparing for dinner.

This was it. He quietly lowered himself behind the trees, hovering just outside the dining-room window, unseen.

He could hear "Heart and Soul" being played over and over again inside. He focused his eyes, and the outside wall seemed to disappear. He could see a child's bedroom on the second floor. The parents' bedroom was across the way. Both were messy.

The boy's room had a small bed tucked to the side of a long wall. In front of it was an old toy chest, filled beyond capacity, its top unable to lie flat against it. A desk, just about large enough for a kid, was pressed against the wall under the open window. He saw toy airplanes hanging on fishing Une from the ceiling, and toy trucks sitting atop a small dresser drawer. Typical boy's room, he thought. One that shows there's a lot of love here.

Superman wanted to leave—he knew he shouldn't have come in the first place—but for reasons that escaped him he continued to linger. He turned to the kitchen.

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