INT. KENT HOME/CLARK’S BEDROOM — MORNING
Clark, wide awake, clad only in pajama bottoms, sits atop his bed, reading a paperback novel.
MARTHA
(O.S.) Clark Kent, you’re about to miss the bus!
Hearing his mother’s voice, Clark sets down his book and rises. Sauntering over to his bedroom window, he opens it and leans out. Allowing the cool morning air and warm morning sun to play across his bare skin, he closes his eyes, relishing the sensation.
EXT. ROAD — MORNING
Clark — groomed, in fresh clothes, notebooks in hand — comes to the top of the driveway just in time to see the school bus pulling away. He frowns, bemused.
INT. SCHOOL BUS — MORNING
Inside the bus, near the back, Pete and another boy share a seat. Looking behind them, they watch Clark’s diminutive shape recede in the distance.
PETE’S FRIEND
(hands Pete 25¢) I can’t believe you bet against your best friend.
EXT. ROAD — MORNING
Clark stands there, watching the bus shrink into the horizon. With his super hearing, he listens in on the two boys’ conversation.
PETE
(O.S.) It’s a statistical fact: If Clark moved any slower, he’d be extinct.
Once the bus has disappeared from sight, Clark’s bemusement fades, replaced with a wry smile. Breaking into a run, the world slows to a crawl as he attains top speed. In seconds, Clark overtakes the school bus. Twisting around, running backward, he waves to the motionless vehicle and its oblivious passengers. Turning back 'round, he leaves the bus far behind him, eating his dust.
EXT. SMALLVILLE HIGH/ENTRANCE — MORNING
Clark is loitering by the school entrance, propped against a stone wall, arms crossed in front of him, when the school bus finally pulls up by the curb. Exiting the bus, Pete and his friend come to the entrance, where they find Clark in-wait.
PETE
(dumbstruck) How’d you get here so fast?
CLARK
(smirks) I ran.
Uncrossing his arms, Clark heads inside.
INT. SMALLVILLE HIGH/TORCH OFFICE — DAY
Opening the door, Clark enters the office of the Smallville Torch. Equipped with a pair of desks with a typewriter each, three file cabinets, and a table at the back complete with hand-cranked mimeograph machine, it is windowless, with bare brick walls — quite small, hell in less temperate seasons, but adequate for the needs of a small student newspaper. Lana, present at her desk, is busy at her typewriter, typing an article for the Torch’s upcoming back-to-school issue. Setting his notebooks atop the other desk, Clark comes up behind Lana, leaning over her shoulder to peer at what she’s typed.
CLARK
“Effluvious” has two "F"s.
Pursing her lips, Lana goes for her bottle of correction fluid, but Clark beats her to the quick. Uncapping the bottle, he applies the black fluid to the mimeograph stencil, covering up “efluvious”. Once it has dried, Lana retypes the word with the extra “F”.
Still leaning over her shoulder, Clark looks to Lana, and she to him. Her eyes, hazel, meet his, azure. In that moment, nothing exists for them beyond each other. And then the spell is broken. Straightening, Clark steps back, putting a hand behind his head. Confused, hesitant, Lana turns back to her typewriter. Retiring to his own desk, Clark begins consulting a notebook.
LANA
(faces Clark) Clark?
CLARK
(looks up) Lana?
LANA
(cont’d) Aunt Hel’s back in Smallville.
CLARK
Is she?
LANA
(nods) For keeps. (beat) Her property’s in need of sprucing up. She’s looking for a part-time hand. (beat) You always seem to have time on your hands.
CLARK
I’ll ask my folks tonight.
Lanas smiles tightly, then returns to her article.
INT. KENT HOME/DINING ROOM — NIGHT
Clark is with his parents at the dining room table. They are enjoying a dinner of shepherd’s pie with bean salad.
CLARK
Helen Winters’ back in town.
MARTHA
Helen’s back? (faces Jonathan) It’s been ten, eleven years since we saw her last?
JONATHAN
(distant) About that.
MARTHA
We should pay the old girl a visit.
JONATHAN
(non-committal) Um-hmm.
CLARK
She’s looking for part-time help. I figured …
This gets Jonathan’s attention.
JONATHAN
You have school work, and chores.
CLARK
Duck soup, pa. (beat) We could use the cash.
MARTHA
It shouldn’t be a problem, Jonathan.
CLARK
It shouldn’t, should it, pa?
JONATHAN
(frowns) It shouldn’t. (beat) No, no, it won’t.
EXT. HELEN’S HOME/FRONT YARD — DAY
Dropping out of super speed, Clark arrives at Helen’s home. A two-storey house in fine structural condition, it nevertheless needs new shingles, a fresh coat of paint, and the surrounding yards weeding and mowing.
Climbing the porch steps, Clark knocks at the front door. In moments Helen opens the door. Though her hair has gone salt-&-pepper and her face lined with age, she’s still quite the handsome woman.
HELEN
Hello?
CLARK
Clark Kent, ma’am.
HELEN
(astonished) Clark Kent‽
CLARK
I go to school with your niece. She told me you were in need of a hand?
HELEN
Come right in.
INT. HELEN’S HOME/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY
Stepping aside, Helen allows Clark inside. Closing the door after him, she examines him head-to-foot then foot-to-head with her eyes.
HELEN
Clark Kent. You were seven years old the last I saw of you. (beat) You’ve surely grown.
CLARK
That I have, ma’am.
HELEN
(rests hand on Clark’s shoulder) Will you walk into my parlour?
INT. HELEN’S HOME/PARLOUR — DAY
Helen and Clark enter the parlour. Guiding him to a small table surrounded by two padded side chairs, she sits him down in one.
HELEN
Would you care for something to drink, Clark? Iced tea?
CLARK
(nods) Thank you, yes.
Helen leaves. Shortly she returns, carrying a metal platter laden with two tall glasses and a full pitcher of iced tea. Setting the platter down on the table, she fills both glasses, then takes the chair opposite Clark. Hiking the hem of her brown paisley dress up, Helen crosses her legs, affording Clark an unobstructed view of them. Shapely gams clearly run in Lana’s family.
HELEN
What would you say needs doing?
CLARK
(distracted) Excuse me?
HELEN
Around the house?
CLARK
(looks about room) Your home looks quite nice inside. There’s no sign of termites or dry rot.
HELEN
(smiles) You’ve quite the peepers, haven’t you, Clark?
CLARK
(antsy) Just my cursory examination, missus. (sips iced tea) The roof needs attending to, and the yard, certainly.
HELEN
(nods) How does 10¢ an hour sound to you?
CLARK
It sounds quite fair to me, Mrs. Winters.
HELEN
Miss Potter. But call me Hel.
CLARK
Hel it is.
Smiling, Helen drinks from her glass; some of the tea runs past her mouth, down her neck. Collecting the tea on a finger, she sucks at it. Clark doesn’t fail noticing the fullness of her lips.
EXT. FOREST — SUNSET
SUPERIMPOSE: ELK MOUNTAINS, COLORADO
A large fireball comes streaking down from the sky above. Passing over the lush, verdant wilderness, the spaceborne object splashes down in a distant lake.
EXT. LAKEBED — STARCRAFT — SUNSET
At the bottom of the murky lake, mired in the dark mud, is a familiar starcraft, the telltale signs of meteoroid impacts marring its otherwise pristine chrome exterior.
INT. STARCRAFT/COCKPIT — SUNSET
We find Luma in her seat, suit and helmet sealed and unbreached, unmoving.
INT. SPACESUIT
Within the helmet’s confines, we see Luma’s face. Eyes closed, expression placid, the Kryptonian girl’s features are unaged and uncorrupted; she looks exactly as she did the day she set upon her 50-year migration.
Around Luma’s neck, the S-pendant begins resonating a white glow.
INT. KENT HOME/KITCHEN — SUNSET
Clark is with Martha, helping her with the dishes. As she washes and rinses them, he dries them and puts them away.
Quite suddenly, Clark stiffens. A strange expression comes over his face.
MARTHA
(frowns) Clark?
CLARK
Someone just walked over my grave.
He resumes drying the dishes, still uneasy.