In Light Of The Subject

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In Light Of The Subject

Superman, who at this time was just a superboy, was washing the dishes after he and his mother and father had eaten dinner. He used the dish soap scented like lilacs and roses. As he was washing dishes, he smiled. After glancing around him, he squirted some of the soap on his hand and smelled it. Gosh, it smells so good he thought. He coughed and accidentally broke a dinner plate.
“Clark! Be careful, please!” his mother called from the living room. Clark threw out the pieces of the broken pottery and returned to washing dishes. When he was done, he ran upstairs to his room and closed the door. Before he turned away, he locked it. He lay his hands on his hips and smiled, glancing at his closed closet door. Walking to the closet, he began to grow exited. He flung open the door and giggled as he was greeted by the hangers of dresses.
There were pink ones and blue ones, green frilly ones and white prom dresses. On the floor of the closet lay boxes and boxes of high heels. Clark smiled to himself. He grabbed a long red dress and a pair of red high heels. Returning to his bed, he got on the floor and rolled out a long box. Opening it, he giggled once more as the make-up and womens hair supplies met his eyes.
He slipped the red dress on, which actually fit him perfectly, and the high heels as well. Then, Clark chose a bright red lipstick and pink blush. He applied them to his face as he attached a small red butterfly to his black hair.
He stood, giddy with his new outfit on. He grabbed his teddy bear and began to dance salsa. He spun in circles, like he had seen the women do on the Spanish channels of the television.
He danced with his teddy for an hour, until his mother called for him to open the door. Clark quickly pulled off the dress and hid his make up bin back under his bed. Wiping off his lipstick and blush, he dressed back into his jeans and white shirt.
He opened the door and smiled at his mother.
“Yes, mother?”
She looked him over suspiciously. Doesn't he know he is not allowed to EVER lock his door, she thought. She shook her head.
“Your father and I have something to tell you. Please come downstairs with me.”
Then she turned and Clark followed her to the living room. His father sat on the large plush chair and his mother sat on the white sofa. Clark gingerly sat next to his mother. They looked at him with sadness.
“Clark, you are aware of your strength, correct?” said his father in a gruff voice.
Clark nodded.
“Baby, you are special. There is a reason you are strong,” his mother crooned.
“You are not from this planet,” they said together.
“You're kidding! Nice joke, guys,” Clark laughed, then fell silent, for his parents were serious he realized. No, this is crazy. Are they saying I am an alien?
As if reading Clark's mind, his father added, “Don't worry, not an alien, just not from Earth. On the night we called your birth, a meteor had fallen from the sky. When your mother and I went to look at it, we found you.”
“You were just a child, crying and unharmed by the crash. We were amazed. From that moment, we knew you were a blessing,” said his mother.
“We never knew how much,” his father whispered.
I hung my head, not really believing their story. It is just a story, right? I'm not really an alien, right?
“I have something to tell you guys too,” I gulped.
“What is it, baby?” asked his mother.
“I am a transvestite. I like looking like girls,” I whispered slowly.
Last edited by emmylou1995 on Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
When all you have is nothing, there is alot to go around.




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Two quick things before continuing with this review....

Firstly, don't switch to using "I" unless you are going to use it through the whole piece. You probably did this inadvertantly, and its easiest to do this in the heat of writing.

Secondly (and this is a nerdy part), it was Clark Kent, if I remember correctly. His mother wouldn't address him by his last name, as it is hers as well. Rather, she would likely call him "Clark."

Now down to business =)

This wouldn't normally be my type of story, because it's based on something already written about. However, your command of prose was relatively good and it was a very well-paced and very much deserving of a review!

Overall, this was a little expositional for my tastes. This is easy to do when you are working off of a story that has already been established--you want to blur by the stuff that everyone already knows "Blahblahblah Superman....okay, now on to the story!" But it comes across, here as being extremely rushed. And because you've started with a mundane scene (read: washing the dishes), it gives you the perfect opportunity to fill the reader in. Only it makes the reader feel as though he is joining a story already in progress, rather than one that is going to take any time to be established.

To be honest, it almost read like the back of a book: "What if Superman were a transvestite?" Take a risk--explore your concept a little more thoroughly so that it won't feel like you are nibbling around the edges. Here, it's only an anecdote. There is no climax, no building of tension to help the reader understand your pacing a little bit better.

But your concept is original. It deserves the tweaking if you have the time to give it!
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Nije vas zahvatila druga kušnja osim ljudske. Ta vjeran je Bog: neæe pustiti da budete kušani preko svojih sila, nego æe s kušnjom dati i ishod da možete izdržati.




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Thanks! This is actually for a contest, but i thought it was a great idea. I mean, Superman wears tights, right? Why not add a tutu?
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Hey. Firstly, I don't usually read things based on current stories because I like originality. But I guess you got there with that. So this is what I thought. At first I thought that this was really weird. I was thinking, 'Really? Superman? Like that? Really?' But by the end, I thought it was rather funny. He does wear his underwear on the outside. And as you said, the tights. The only thing I'm wondering is, what contest? (I probably know, but it's still quite funny.) Good job with this. You definitely made it original.




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Thnks, kingolions. It was for the superheroes contest. The point was to have an original idea and write a short story. Well, i wanted mine to be funny.
When all you have is nothing, there is alot to go around.



The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.
— Richard Price