Social Icons

Pages

25 August 2008

Shadows - Chapter 5



Lou’s Place. It was a tiny little diner on the corner of 134th and Regent, not too far from the Metropolis Gazette, or the Daily Planet for that matter. It was a small, one story building that made Perry White think of a lingering baby tooth in a mouthful of otherwise adult teeth. Every other building in the vicinity was a skyscraper of epic proportions, but not Lou’s little place.


Some things about Lou’s had changed since Perry had last visited it, which was over ten years ago, when drink had put him on a downward spiral out of his marriage and out of his career as a journalist. Some of it hadn’t changed at all. He’d frequented Lou’s for the food and the cheap drink, certainly not the décor. Actually, the décor did have some appeal. It was like stepping back in time to the fifties, only with a slightly seedy element that didn’t appeal to very many sober people.

Lou’s had been redecorated to look as it had when it was brand new. The booths and stools and chairs had all been repaired, probably under threat of demolition by the city since they’d been fairly dangerous to sit on. Perry couldn’t count the times he’d crawled drunkenly from a booth to wake up the next morning with a puncture in his ass from an exposed spring he’d been too drunk to feel earlier. Perry grinned at such memories. You could always tell when someone had been in Lou’s, back then, simply by looking for rips and holes in their clothes from the seating. Perry just hoped the food was still as good.

Stepping inside, Perry took in a deep breath and smiled yet again. The place smelled the same. Exactly the same. Old grease and meat, fries, and pie, and yes, cigarette smoke. With smoking banned in public places, Perry wondered how Lou got away with allowing people to smoke indoors.

“My God, I don’t believe it! Perry ‘Mad Dog’ White!”

Perry hadn’t been called Mad Dog in ages. He hadn’t believed there was anyone left in Metropolis who knew him back when he’d been called that. He hated the name now. It reminded him of the man he used to be. The man who spoke it, however, held quite a fond place in his heart.

“Lou?” Perry asked, looking at the gray-grizzled man behind the counter with a fat, soggy cigar hanging from his mouth. A couple of female Gazette Journalists coughed when a cloud of smoke blew into their faces from Lou’s mouth. Lou didn’t seem to notice, or he didn’t care. Except for that cigar, he didn’t look anything like what Perry remembered.

“Lemme guess,” Lou groused in that whiskey and cigar voice of his. He sounded like he needed to clear his throat. He’d always sounded like that. “Cheeseburger with sautéed mushrooms and onions, cheddar cheese, tomato, a side order of fries, a Coke, and a shot of bourbon.”

I really can’t afford to eat like that anymore, Perry thought, but what the hell, for old time’s sake.

“Exactly, Lou, but hold the bourbon. I don’t drink anymore.”

“Me either!” Lou said, laughing with an unhealthy mucous-laden rumble. “I took out all the alcohol around the same time you bottomed out.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah. I didn’t want to end up like you.”

Lou laughed raucously, and the women from the Gazette started to laugh until Perry glanced at them. He was the new boss. They had no way of knowing if he’d find some reason to fire them for laughing of if he’d laugh along with them. He decided to let them think he was an asshole until he’d established his authority at the paper, and then show them he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

“How much’ll that be, Lou?” Perry asked.

“On the house, buddy! On the house. Alice, bring that to booth four, will ya?”

Alice is still here?” Perry asked incredulously. He strained to get a glimpse of her, but all he could hear was her voice confirming his lunch order. He wondered if she was still as sexy as she had been when he'd last seen her, or if she'd picked up all the weight Lou had lost.

“Damn right! If she wasn’t this place would be gone. People only come here for her cookin’,” Lou said, coming around the counter and bringing two Cokes with him. He’d lost about a hundred pounds, maybe more, since Perry had last seen him. Apparently he’d stopped eating his own product.

Taking a seat at Perry’s favorite old spot, the two men clasped hands. “You look great, Lou!”

“I feel great, Perry, I feel great. What’re you doing with yourself? You’re not drinkin’ anymore, I can tell by lookin’ at ya.”

“Nope, no more drinking for me. I’m the new EIC of the Metropolis Gazette.”

“Get out!” Lou said, grinning broadly. He’d been missing most of his teeth in the old days. He had a full, perfect set of dentures now. By the looks of them, they were the kind to have been implanted into the bone, like real teeth. “That’s the next best thing to the Planet. Speaking of, have you seen the women working at the Planet nowadays? They’re like supermodels. There’s these two that come in, cousins, Lois and Chloe, oh man! They make me wish I were thirty years younger.”

Perry frowned a little. “Chloe…Sullivan?”

“Yeah, you know her?”

“I knew of her. Met her a few years ago when she was working for her High School paper. Sweet girl. I always knew she’d go far. The Planet! Good for her.”

“Well, not anymore. She got on Lex Luthor’s bad side and he canned her. But her cousin is still there. Oooh, here she comes.”

Like a love-sick school boy, Lou eyed a pretty brunette with long legs and more curves than the Monaco Grand Prix, two quote an old gumshoe. She was gorgeous, and judging by the bacon cheeseburger, fries and shake she’d sat down to she wasn’t embarrassed to eat in public. Perry could understand why Lou was so taken with her. He just wondered what she did with all those empty calories.

“I hear there’s a new paper in town,” Lou said, tearing his attention away from Lois. From the corner of his eye Perry noticed Lois pause with her burger half-way to her mouth. It dripped mustard and then she resumed eating. Interesting…

“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” Perry said. “Nice little piece of fiction.”

“You don’t believe the stuff written in it?”

“Do you?” Perry asked evasively. Lou shrugged.

“Tell him about what happened the other night, Lou.”

Perry looked up and felt his heart start to thunder in his chest. Alice Burrows stood beside him, smiling down at him. She was a classic beauty, and just as lovely as Perry remembered her from before. Now in her early fifties, she looked as though she could have been a veteran Hollywood actress from the forties. She wore her hair red and short and classically styled. Her pale skin, while lined, was still fairly smooth and shined with a light gleam of sweat from her work in the kitchen. Even though she smelled like fried food, there was a hint of something clean and flowery underneath. The only makeup she wore was a light touch of red lipstick to rose her lips. Her body was slender and long and every bit as curvy as Lois’s. And those eyes…those crystal blue eyes.

Lou stomped on Perry’s foot under the table.

“Here ya go, doll,” Alice said, setting Perry’s lunch in front of him. “Lou has an interesting story to tell you, so pay attention.”

She lightly pinched his chin with baby-soft fingers and then walked away. Perry watched her leave, astounded that Alice’s ass looked like it belonged on a thirty-five year old woman.

“Still got the hots for Alice?” Lou said.

“You still don’t?” Perry asked incredulously. How any man could be around her and not be in love, Perry would never understand.

“I’ve known her too long, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful, but she’s more sister-like than anything.”

Perry liked to hear that. He really liked to hear that. “So tell me about the other night.”

“I was walkin’ Alice to her car after we closed up, see, and I had the bank for the day under my arm. Well, this thug steps into the light at the corner, and I could spot him for a stinkin’ thief a mile away. I told Alice to get in the car and start up and be ready to peel out when this weird light flashes around the guy. He goes from bein’ under the light to right beside me just like that.” Lou snapped his fingers to emphasize the last few words.

“Super fast?” Perry asked. “You sure you quit drinkin’, Lou?”

“I swear, I put the plug in the jug eleven years ago, Perry.”

Lou’s eyes were so open and honest that Perry believed him. Or he at least believed that Lou believed what he was saying. Apparently so did Alice, by the way she’d encouraged Lou to tell the story.

“So he got away with the day’s earnings?”

“No, that’s just it. Some other super fast boy came along. He was young, looked like he was a tall twelve year old, had on a red running suit with a yellow lightning bolt cross the front of it.”

“What happened?”

“Well, the kid in red told the other guy to surrender, that he was takin’ him in to Belle Reeve, whatever that is, and the guy tries to bolt. They’re movin’ around each other so fast I got kinda dizzy. Then I realized the kid in red was a lot faster than the thug who was gonna rob Alice and me. He’s playin’ with the thug, all immature like, sneakin’ in punches, trippin’ him up… Tell ya the truth, Perry, I started to feel sorry for the thug after awhile. I had to tell the kid to wrap things up so I get home and watch the game I’d Tivo’d.”

“You tell this to the police?”

“Yeah, like they’d’ve believed me, right? I didn’t tell nobody.”

Perry hadn’t allowed himself a burger in a long time, and just eating it gave him an endorphin high. He focused on Lou. “Well, this sounds like something you’d read in this new rag.”

“That’s not all, though. I got interviewed for it.”

Both Perry and Lois both choked on their burgers, which proved to Perry that Lois was eavesdropping. He’d have to have a talk with the girl about how to remain calm and cool while gathering intel. Eavesdropping 101, so to speak.

“I thought you said you didn’t tell anybody,” Perry said.

“I didn’t. This broad found me.”

“Broad?” Perry said.

“Sorry, lady,” Lou corrected with a roll of his eyes. “She was all done up in this crimson colored costume with white trim. Couldn’t see her face or nothing, and her voice was distorted. Called herself the Phoenix Guardian or something.”

Phoenix Guardian…I’ve never heard of her,” Perry said.

Lou shrugged and pulled a fry off Perry’s plate, which was fine with Perry. The burger was starting to settle like a stone in his stomach.

“She had a really hot body. I mean, her ass in that spandex, damn near gave me a heart attack.”

“Did she display any special powers?” Perry asked.

“She could fly.”

“Fly?”

“Yeah, she had these jet things on her boots and the palms of her hands. She was real clumsy with it too. I felt sorry for her. I hope she gets better at it ‘cause it’d be kinda hard for people to put their trust in a superhero who’s a klutz, you know?”

“I don’t suppose she mentioned how she knew you’d been rescued?”

“No. Why? Does it matter?”

“Matters if you’re trying to find her,” said Perry. “Lou, thanks for free lunch. I’ll see you around.”

“Sure thing, Perry. Sure thing. Just don't wait twelve more years to come back. And next time, you're payin' like everybody else.”

Perry laughed and left the diner, unsuccessful in his attempts to catch another look at Alice. He fully expected Lois to follow him out. He wasn’t disappointed--she fell into step beside him.

“Mr. White? Lois Lane, Daily Planet reporter.”

“Really? I’ve never seen your name in print, and I read the Planet front to back every day, along with the Gazette.”

Lois looked stung. “Yeah, well, I am a reporter there, and I will get published when the paper’s under better management.”

“I’m sure you will, Miss Lane. I’m sure you will.”

“Listen, I heard what you said back at Lou’s.”

“I know, you were pitifully obvious.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen more stealth from a lumbering elephant.”

Lois trotted in front of Perry and then stopped dead in his tracks, putting her hands to his chest and making him come to a stop too.

“You’re legend in this business precedes you, Mr. White. You were known as a go-getter, but no one ever said you were obnoxious.”

“Word of advice, Miss Lane?”

“Why not?”

“If you want to be a reporter at the world’s best paper, you need to grow a thicker skin.”

“We’re after the same thing, Mr. White. We both want to know who this Phoenix Guardian is.”

“Why do you care?” asked Perry.

“I have my reasons.”

“And you want my help?”

Lois looked away, fidgeted. “It couldn’t hurt.”

Perry was grinning knowingly. “I’ll bet you’ve worked your hiney off trying to find out who the Phoenix Guardian is, and you haven’t gotten a single step closer.”

Lois made a noise of disgust and turned away. “Just forget it.”

“When you’ve learned to swallow your pride, you know where to find me.”

“To do what, kiss your ass?”

Perry feigned astonishment. “Gosh no, Miss Lane! You’re a little fish in a big ocean. You’re swimming with the sharks. If you want to learn to survive in these dangerous waters, come see me. We’ll start looking for this self-appointed Guardian who claims to have the ability to rise from the ashes but flies like a drunk turkey.”

He saluted Lois as he passed, and started whistling a jaunty tune on his way down the street, heading back for the Metropolis Gazette.

Previous chapter // Next chapter

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feedback is always appreciated.

 
Blogger Templates