A Golden Opportunity (Justice League,8)

CHAPTER 1 The bright metal globe atop the Daily Planet Building glowed red, reflecting the crimson light of the setting sun. As many in the great city of Metropolis made the transition from day to night, from work to play, activity within the offices of the Planet was reaching its daily fevered crescendo. Reporters hurried to put the finishing touches on stories slated for the edition of the paper that would go to press late that night. Layout artists pieced together the words, photographs, and advertisements that made up the great metropolitan newspaper. In the pressroom, the people who supervised the printing of the Planet prepared for another long night of work putting the efforts of the rest of the staff onto paper for the city to read the following morning. On the thirty-third floor, Lois Lane, veteran reporter for the paper, dashed down a corridor, her latest story clutched in one hand, her coat and bag dangling from the opposite arm. Lois loved her life as a reporter. It was all she had ever wanted to be, for as long as she could remember. Despite her confident, sometimes cocky attitude, she still woke up some days amazed and thrilled that she was actually a working reporter at the city's top newspaper. A pretty, young copy editor with short reddish brown hair rushed up beside Lois, matching her long steps stride for stride. "Is that your feature on the homeless shelter, Miss Lane?" the woman asked. "The very one, Kate," Lois replied, attempting to slip her coat on without getting either her bag or her story caught in the sleeves. "Ready to read it?" "You bet!" Kate said eagerly, taking the papers from her as she helped Lois put her coat on. "Any chance to read your stuff, Miss Lane. It's like taking Journalism 101." "Thanks, Kate," Lois replied, smiling. "You're sweet." "Rushing off to someplace exciting?" Kate asked, imagining an exotic assignment filled with intrigue or danger. Kate was new on the paper and wanted to be Lois Lane when she grew up. "Oh, not very," Lois replied with an exaggerated touch of modesty. "Just heading over to city hall for an exclusive interview with the mayor." "Awesome!" Kate said, turning left at an intersecting hallway, heading back to her desk. "Can't wait to read it! Good Luck!" "But first," Lois said, pausing in front of an office door labeled Clark Kent, straightening the collar on her coat, then brushing her stylish black hair from her forehead, "I'm going to pay a certain someone a little visit." From the moment he had shown up at the Daily Planet, looking for a job that would allow him instant access to information on crime in Metropolis--the better to do his job as Superman--Clark Kent felt himself in competition with Lois Lane. Not that he sought the rivalry. Clark had always considered himself a rather shy, self-effacing farm boy from a small town in Kansas, who just happened, in reality, to be the last son of the planet Krypton. But competition was a powerful part of Lois's nature, and in fact, it was one of the many things Clark found attractive and irresistible about her. So he didn't mind when he often found himself caught up in the glorious whirlwind that was Lois Lane. Not in the least. What he did mind, at this very moment, was the "dog" of an assignment he'd been stuck with. The light-features editor was on vacation, and Perry White had asked Clark--whose resume included exposes of organized crime, daily journals of alien invasions, and exclusive interviews with Superman--to cover the Metropolis dog show earlier that afternoon. "What am I going to write that hasn't been written about this a million times before?" Clark moaned to himself, shuffling through a stack of glossy photos of dogsMichael Teitelbaum is the author of 'A Golden Opportunity (Justice League,8)', published 2003 under ISBN 9780553487794 and ISBN 0553487795.