The Adventures of JoJo Kent - Superman Rulez!
(A six-year old Jo Kent has her "first" encounter with Superman)
JoJo Kent sits down under the tree at the park a few blocks away from her house and starts to cry. She's not sure which way her house is from here and she doesn't remember her phone number all the way so that she can call her Mom to come get her. Her Daddy is supposed to come home from France tonight. All of her friends went home a while ago. She has to be home soon, too, for dinner. Her big brother Jon is sleeping over at a friend's house, too.
JoJo laments sneaking out of the house to go to the park after Mommy said not to.
The sun is going down further and the street lights are coming on and JoJo gets more and more worried. Bad things happen to people in the park when it gets dark; she's read the stories that Mommy writes. Little children get eaten or taken away and never go home again. Sometimes, even Superman can't find them, and he's the most powerful superhero in the whole world. Both her Mom and Dad write stories Superman and they've met him. Jon has, too, and he says Superman is the best, but JoJo has never seen him, except as a blur on a newspaper page.
As the shadows get darker, JoJo realizes she's going to be in trouble for coming home late. Mommy won't be happy and neither will Dad, because Mom will tell him.
So JoJo does the only thing she can think of, because she's in trouble.
"MR. SUPERMAN! HELP!" she yells. "MR. SUPERMAN! HELP!"
Minutes go by...and nothing.
"I guess it doesn't really work." JoJo says, huddling down under the tree.
--
Superman hears the voice from halfway across the planet and he can't believe his ears, but he's known the pitch and timber of that voice since the day he first heard it. He ties up Parasite and then lifts off into the sky at blazing speed, headed back to Metropolis.
He finds his little girl under a Sycamore tree at the park just a few blocks from their house. He can also hear Lois calling out Jo's name frantically and understands what just happened; Lois told Jo not to do something, and in typical Jo (and Lois) fashion, Jo waited until her Mom was busy elsewhere and did it anyway. But now, Jo was afraid or unable to go home and her plan didn't look like fun anymore.
It would be funny if both of the women in his life weren't so scared right now. Superman rushes home to tell his wife that he found Jo, but to wait at home so that he could talk to her on the way. With that, Superman returns to the tree and touches down lightly next to the little girl.
"Excuse me, Jo Kent? I'm Superman. I'm here to help you find your way home." he smiles.
--
Jo looks up, sniffling, at the big red "S" on Superman's chest and her eyes widen.
"IT'SREALLYYOU!IKNEWYOU'DCOMETOHELPME!" she says, jumping to her feet and hugging Superman's leg. There was something really famililar about him, but Jo didn't know what. He was tall like her Daddy, and had the same color hair and eyes, but Daddy wore glasses because he had bad eyes. Daddy also dressed up a lot for work.
She laughed at the idea of her Dad dressed up like Superman, causing Superman to raise his eyebrow.
"Did I say something funny, Jo?" Superman asks.
"Nope! Wait, how do you know my name?" she asks.
Superman grins. "Lucky guess?"
Jo seemed to accept this, for the moment. After all, Daddy always said there was only one JoJo.
"Are you ready to go?" he asks.
"Um...yes, but I don't know my way home, Mr. Superman. " she says sadly.
"First, call me Superman, Jo. And, don't worry, I think we can find the way to your house together. I think it might be...that way." Superman says, pointing toward the north, which was opposite the way Jo came to the park.
"Uh-uh. I think it's the other way." Jo says, pointing in the correct direction.
"Oh, well then. Let's start walking. Maybe we'll see something you recognize on the way." he says.
And so they walked....and walked...and walked.
JoJo talked....and talked...and talked. About everything. She talked about the My Little Ponies she wanted, and how her parents were reporters and wrote stories about "Politickers" and "Entre Maneuvers" and even how they wrote about Superman. JoJo noticed how Superman seemed to smile when she talked about her mommy.
Eventually, the pair ended up at JoJo's house, where Lois was waiting on the steps. JoJo yelped and ran right to her mother, who caught the little girl in her arms and hugged her senseless. JoJo had to remind her mom that she couldn't breathe a couple of times, but it was okay.
"Mommy! Look who helped me! It's Superman!" JoJo says, pointing wildly.
Superman just smiled at Lois. "It was no trouble, Mrs. Kent. Your daughter was just a little lost, but she found her way home. She also told me a lot about you. I feel like we know each other already."
Lois smiles. "Funny, so do I." she says.
JoJo didn't understand why they were looking at each other like that, but she also thought grown-ups were weird.
"Mommy, can Superman stay for dinner, pleeeeeeeeeeease? He deserves a good meal for helping me!" the little girl says.
Lois pretends to think about it.
"Sure, why not?" Lois grins.
--
And JoJo continues to talk about Superman to her mother during dinner. Every so often, gets up to see if Daddy is coming up the path to the house, but when she doesn't see him, she goes back to her spot at the table. Mom and Superman talk a lot, too, but mostly to each other.
Eventually, a look of worry settles over JoJo's face.
"Superman, could you check on my daddy, please? I think he might be lost, too." she says.
Superman nods. "All right, Jo, I'll go check on your dad for you. From now on, though, young lady, when your mother tells you to stay home, you have stay home. No sneaking out. You have to take care of her when your dad and your brother aren't here. Can you do that for me?" he asks.
"Yes, sir, Superman!" JoJo says, giving her best military salute, like Grandpa Sam taught her.
Superman smiles and nods, then heads out the back door and flies away.
---
Half-an-hour later, JoJo has fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her dad, but she feels herself lifted from the couch and placed in her bed. When she opens her eyes, she sees her daddy smiling back at her.
"Hi, Daddy." she mumbles sleepily.
"Hi, Jo." Clark says. "I heard you had a busy day and met someone. Can you tell me whom?" he asks.
"I met Superman, Daddy. He listened to me talk and he had dinner with us. Did you see him? I asked him to make sure you weren't lost coming home." she says.
"Superman found me, honey, and he told me why he was looking for me. He also told me that you were a good little girl and that I should get you a new teddy bear, which I did." Clark says, handing over a Superman teddy bear to JoJo. She smiles and clutches it tightly, cuddling with it as she closes her eyes.
"Daddy...I'm gonna marry Superman when I grow up. He's awesome...and he reminds me of you." JoJo says. Soon enough, she's asleep once again.
Clark just smiles at his sleeping daughter and kisses her on the forehead, before stepping back to leave her room and let her sleep.
Jo loves Superman.
Clark can't help but chuckle to himself as he goes to find his wife.
Just like her mother.
-END-
