by Goose Gansler
Monday morning arrived, and the second bell rang at Smallville High School. The talk on virtually everybody’s lips was about the devastating loss to Midvale in general and about C.J. Kent’s role in injuring Pete Ross in particular. Voices continued to buzz in each of the homerooms until the opening chimes of the morning announcements came over the speakers.
“Good morning, Smallville High!” a voice exclaimed. “It’s Monday, so that means your favorite pair of announcers, Tim and Tom, are on the air.”
“Good morning, Tom.”
“Good morning, Tim.”
“Today we lead with the most important story of the day.”
“What would that be, Tim?”
“That would be the boys’ soccer team’s tenth consecutive win over Midvale, a two-to-zip triumph.”
“And who scored those goals, Tim?”
“That would be you, Tom.”
“And who provided the assists?”
“That would be me, Tom.”
“OK,” Tim continued. “Now onto less important and more depressing matters. The football game. Do we really need to go into this, Tom?”
“That’s why they pay us.”
“They pay us?”
“Well, at least they pay me, Tim.”
“OK, then, let’s get to the gory details,” Tim said. Then there was a pause and what sounded to be a great deal of whispering.
Homerooms erupted into speculation as to what Tim and Tom were going to do. They were known for their mocking of the football team. Would they have something really special cooked up? Many wondered what they would say about the real loser of the game — C.J. Kent. It was only then that the classmates in C.J.’s homeroom realized that he wasn’t there yet.
“Probably too afraid to come,” came one comment.
“Don’t blame him for that,” said another.
Tim came back on the air. “Well, Smallville, we have a special guest in the studio today — the Smallville sensation, the Boy of Steel himself, Superboy.”
“Hello, Smallville High School.” Superboy’s voice came over the speakers. “I just wanted to let you all in on something regarding the football game against Midvale. The game was unfortunately rigged against you.”
“What?!” came the collective gasp.
“I can’t go into all of the details, but there was a super-villain at work affecting the game. It was all part of his diabolical plan to get at me.” Superboy paused. “In fact, it was the same super-villain who forced C.J. Kent into Pete Ross and caused the resulting injury.”
“What?!” came another collective gasp.
“I’ll be making a statement to the state Interscholastic Athletics Board. I don’t know if they’ll rule that the game needs to be replayed or something, but I wanted you all to know that Midvale didn’t beat you — foul play did. Thanks for listening.”
“Thank you, Superboy,” Tom noted.
“Oh, yeah, one more thing,” Superboy added. “GO SMALLVILLE!”
Meanwhile, C.J. Kent walked into his homeroom. His classmates sat dumbfounded as Superboy’s last words came over the air. C.J. smiled. The small delay device that his pal Whiz Kid had whipped up had worked perfectly. “Did I miss something?”
The End