Angelic Paranoia

"Clark, breakfast!"

At the sound of Lois calling, Clark switched off the tractor, jumped out of the cab and stretched. As he looked across the field he smiled, pleased with his progress. However, he'd decided to start far away from the house, so he wouldn't wake anyone up. Which meant a long walk back. Definitely an excuse to use super speed.

Seconds later he walked through the door and into the kitchen.

Lois handed him a mug of coffee, frowning. "Where have you been?"

"Plowing." He took a sip, which he needed after his morning's work. "Ooh, omelets."

"They're pancakes," she said as she sat. "What time did you start?"

He shrugged and made sure not to look at the underside of the pancake on his plate. He liked the crispy bits anyway. Unlike Jordan and Jonathan who were picking at theirs. "Dawn."

"Dawn?" Jonathan made it sound like that was the middle of night. Which it probably was to teenagers.

Clark swallowed his mouthful of pancake. "I wanted to make the best use of the daylight. It takes a long time and I need to get it done before the weather changes."

"Why don't you just use your powers to pull the plow yourself?" Jordan asked.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Both boys looked at their mother, who shrugged. Clark continued smiling, not seeing the problem at all.

"Have you decided what you're going to plant?" Lois asked.

Clark shook his head. "I'm not sure." What he really wanted was to grow all the things he remembered from when he was a kid. But time had moved on and if he wanted to make this farm work then making money was more important than nostalgia. Despite the device in his pocket accurately telling him the weather in a way that would have been science fiction when he was growing up, farming was much harder now than it was back then.

"Anything you'd like?" He looked across the table at his sons.

They both shrugged. "What sort of things can you grow?" Jordan asked.

Clark sighed. Despite the visits here while they were living in Metropolis they'd learned nothing about farming. Which was partially his fault: it hadn't been important to teach them.

"What about the summer you spent here? What was growing then?" Surely his mom would have taught them something. She'd certainly put them to work, which they'd taken to happily because it was a novelty.

"Corn?" Jordan guessed.

"Can I drive the tractor?" Jonathan asked. "It's got to be more fun than a car, right?"

Clark opened his mouth to say that actually, plowing a field was hard work when Jordan said, "I'd like to help too."

Hadn't he just been worrying how little his sons knew about farming? And this would be a good opportunity to spend time with them. He glanced over at Lois, who smiled, clearly thinking the same thing.

"Great idea!" he said, enthusiastically. "Finish your breakfast and I'll teach you how to drive a tractor." With a lot of supervision.

He didn't want them to change their minds, so he shoved the last of his pancake in his mouth, drained his coffee, and pushed his chair back. The boys had already done the same, leaving Lois with the clearing up.

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