Clark Kent, 1978

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Superman, the son of Jor-El, known to his fellow Daily Planet reporters and citizens of Metropolis as Clark Kent, had been invited to a dinner at one of the city’s finest hotels. Among the diners, gossip was afoot. They drank glasses of champagne and spoke in hushed tones about the mysterious being who had saved Lois Lane from a helicopter crash. How had he done it? A man with super powers...a superman. A man who could fly, and carry a helicopter with one arm as if it were a football. Tonight, Clark Kent was a quiet presence. Officially, he was a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. In reality he was the star of Metropolis, the man everyone wanted to know about. Unfortunately, Lois Lane was not there tonight. “However are we going to find out who this Superman is? Where could you meet him?” she had asked him in her office earlier that day. She wanted to know everything about the hero, but Clark Kent needed to keep his secret; such was Superman’s greatest dilemma. Lois Lane was falling in love with Superman, and Clark Kent had grown very fond of her.

Superman was Jor-El’s only son, and had been sent to Earth, to Metropolis specifically, to watch over its citizens. It was his duty to see that justice was done and that the law was upheld. Clark Kent listened to the conversations around the table.

“Superman is incredible! People are saying he comes from another planet!” 

“Lois Lane almost died in that helicopter crash. The people down below couldn’t believe it when they saw the guy flying to her rescue.”

“It’s extraordinary, I’ll give you that.”

“But with those kinds of powers, he could be dangerous.  Superman should unveil himself to the public.”

Clark Kent smiled, but said nothing. In the eyes of his fellow citizens he was just a quiet, humble man. He thought about the burden he bore, and the weight of his secret. Would he be resigned to a life of solitude and deception? If he gave away his identity he ran the risk of being imprisoned, judged and constrained. As Superman, he could do as he pleased. He was a guardian of justice, not a fairground attraction. Nobody could know, not even Lois Lane. Only his adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, who had found him in his crashed spaceship in Smallville, Kansas, knew the truth. From a young age, Clark’s superpowers had been apparent. He was different – he could run fast, he was clumsy, he could lift a car with one hand. Such things could not long go unnoticed. Now he knew how to control his strength, and to keep it hidden behind an alter ego. Growing up had meant learning to protect himself from himself and from others; learning to blend in, and to create a mask for himself. Sometimes he dreamed of a simpler life, far from the weight of responsibility. 

Clark Kent was growing weary. “Please excuse me, I have to go!” he told the diner next to him. He pulled on his jacket and headed for the elevator. He pressed the button for the top floor. Tonight, he needed to fly. He took off his glasses and stowed them neatly in his pocket. On the top floor he took the emergency staircase up to the roof. Nobody saw him; no-one was watching. Jor-El’s son spun around at two hundred miles an hour like a possessed spinning top, and transformed into Superman. He raised his arm and shot up into the atmosphere, where he was weightless.

Superman was up there, somewhere, keeping a watchful eye over Metropolis.

Alan Alfredo Geday