20demayo 239 A Farm Boy Farms
239 A Farm Boy Farms
239 A Farm Boy Farms
The next morning, Johnathan had somehow convinced Martha to let him take me out on the tractor as he tilled the field for the fall planting season. We were planting turnips and rutabagas this time and the turnips would have almost three full growths and harvests by the time the rutabagas were ready after three months. The turnips were used as a quick turnover while the bumper crop of rutabagas grew.
“You're a lot smarter than you pretend you are.” Johnathan said when he finished planting the first field with turnips.
“Da.” I said and he gave me a pointed look, because I didn't call him John. “Ma happy.”
Johnathan held the pointed look for a moment and then sighed. “You have a point.”
I nodded and he climbed back onto the tractor and we plowed the next field. As we worked, Johnathan told me about his crop rotation and how he won't plant anything for the few winter months to let the soil recover, then he would plant potatoes in January and then harvest in March. Another short break for the soil to recover and he would plant corn in late April or early May.
For the summer, it was time for corn and that would grow for three to four months, then he would go back to turnips and rutabagas. It left lots of time between different crops for the soil's nutrients to not be used up quickly. With the addition of fertilizer and regular watering when necessary, if there wasn't enough rainfall, each harvest produced the largest yield possible for sale.
Johnathan also mentioned rotating in cabbage and lettuce, because they were good companions for the rutabagas and didn't compete for the same nutrients as a root vegetable. They also had similar harvest times and brought in almost as much money, thanks to the similar growing times.
“Onion.” I said and his arm stiffened around me. “Garlic.”
“How do you know that?” Johnathan asked, his voice a little sharp.
I didn't want to admit to growing several large farms back in the Walking Dead and the Last of Us universes, so I lied and mentioned what I saw on the coffee table. “Farm... er... me... nak?”
Johnathan let out a sigh and chuckled. “The farmer's almanac.”
I nodded and he didn't say anything until we finished the next field and he climbed off the tractor to change out the things he was planting.
“You can read.” Johnathan said as he looked into my eyes.
I tilted my head slightly and knew I couldn't lie about it, so I nodded.
“You just have a hard time speaking.” Johnathan added.
I nodded again, since I was only a baby and needed time to develop properly. I had gone through a lot to gain a Kryptonian body as a base for my divine body and I wasn't going to screw that up by trying to transfigure myself to allow proper physical movement or to allow speech be produced from my infant throat.
“How smart are you?” Johnathan asked.
I had to shrug at that, because I honestly didn't know. Just because I had more powers than I could count, that didn't mean I was suddenly a genius or could remember everything I ever did or learned. Despite a few inspiring thoughts, I wasn't that big of a thinker, as the massive mistake I made on the last world clearly proved.
Johnathan adjusted the planter for the next field and climbed back onto the tractor. We did up the last field and returned to the barn along a small access road. Martha stood inside the barn with a frown on her face, her foot tapping the ground, and she had a packed baby bag hung over her shoulder.
“We completely missed lunch, didn't we?” Johnathan asked.
“Wunch!” I said happily and clapped, making Martha smile.
Johnathan climbed down off the tractor and reached back to pick me up. He had barely turned around when Martha snatched me out of his arms and cuddled me and kissed my cheek several times.
“Who's my cute little farmer boy?” Martha asked me and then blew a raspberry on my neck.
I laughed a high pitch baby laugh, just like she wanted. It really tickled, too. “Me!”
“Yes, you are!” Martha carried me over to the barn door. “Say bye to Da!”
“Bye John!” I said and Martha laughed all the way over to the house.
“Smart-ass kid.” Johnathan said and then he chuckled as he started to put the equipment back where it was supposed to go. “I haven't heard Martha laugh like that in ages.”
I hugged my mom's neck and gave Johnathan a quick thumbs-up gesture when he looked over at us. He nodded just before Martha brought me inside and shut the front door of the house. I was happy that he was fully onboard with making Martha as happy as we could and he wouldn't take my name jokes personally anymore.
*
When I was five, Martha did not want to let me go to school. She loved me too much to stay at home all day by herself without me there to keep her company. She cried more than I did when she had to let me go and passed me off to the teacher of my Kindergarten class.
“I already know my numbers and letters!” I exclaimed as the teacher brought me into the classroom.
“That's very good Clark.” The teacher said, quite condescendingly. “Now play nice with the other children until recess and then we'll see if you know your colors, too.”
I tried to not glare at her as she sat me on a plush mat with three other kids. I knew I had to try and pretend to be a normal kid, except I knew my adoptive mom was going to suffer a lot as she stayed at home without me there. I used a touch of Clairvoyant's power and focused it on Martha, only to find out she was still right there in the parking lot beside the school.
Martha blinked her eyes at them and then looked at me. “Clark?”
“I don't know much about college stuff.” I said with a shrug. “I have to study more.”
Martha opened her mouth, closed it, opened it, and huffed. “I think I'd prefer it if you stayed a kid for a little longer than a single day at Kindergarten.”
I grinned at her. “Oops.”
The high school principal barked a laugh. “I see what Mrs. Crenshaw meant about him being a disruption wherever he went.”
Martha nodded and she talked to them about my first day at school as we waited for the results. I passed with 95% and only my teacher was shocked by how high it was.
“I'll have a certificate drawn up and sent over.” The high school principal said. “You'll have to wait for the end of the school year if you want to attend the graduation ceremony.”
“No, thanks. There's farming to be done.” I said, matter of factly.
Martha kissed my cheek and smiled. “My adorable little farmer is already planning next summer's crops?”
“I always am.” I said smugly and the adults laughed.
“Let's go home.” Martha said and held a hand out to my teacher and shook hers, then the grade school principal's, then she shook the high school principal's hand. “Thank you all for doing this.”
“It's unprecedented and will be one for the record books as the youngest high school graduate.” The high school principal said. “Perhaps he'll become the youngest college graduate, too.”
“Maybe in my spare time between finger painting and bubble baths.” I joked and only Martha laughed. “Tough crowd.”
“It's not their fault, Clark. They don't know how funny you can be.” Martha said and walked over to the door of the room with me still braced on her hip. “It was nice meeting you all.”
The three adults waved or nodded as we left. I was placed on the passenger seat of the truck and buckled in and Martha climbed into the driver's side and we were soon on our way home.
“Clark.” Martha said, almost in a whisper.
“Ma.” I said and turned to smile warmly at her.
Martha glanced at me and saw my smile before she looked back at the road. “Thank you.”
“I didn't want to leave you alone, either.” I said, knowing that was what she meant.
Martha smiled. “Johnathan's not going to be happy when he finds out.”
I couldn't stop my laugh at being reminded of that. “Let's not tell him and bet on how long it takes him to figure it out.”
Martha laughed, too. “I think I'll take that bet.”
“Two weeks.” I said and she glanced at me. “I'll plant the radishes next time.”
Martha smiled knowingly at me and looked back at the road. “I'll say a month and you have to convince Johnathan that rice is a good crop for the back 40.”
I laughed hard at hearing that. “We'd have to borrow Mister Johnson's backhoe to dredge out enough irrigation for that to work!”
“I know.” Martha said with a grin.
“You're on.” I said and held my little hand out.
Martha took a hand off the steering wheel briefly to shake mine and concentrated back on the road.
By the next morning, I knew I had been scammed. Martha acted exactly the same way she had when I had to go to school the day before, then she drove me away from the farm as if taking me to school... and went all the way through town to the mall and we stayed there until it was time for school to let out.
I hugged her neck and complimented her for being so smart. It made her blush and she looked proud. As another reward, I granted her the same first stage tune-up I did for Jensen back in Worm. I still wasn't able to access all of my powers, not even the inherent ones I should have had as a Kryptonian.
Then again, I was only five, so I probably needed to be a few years older to activate a majority of them, kind of like Superboy did. Oh! Maybe I was in a pocket universe the Time Trapper made with just Earth and Krypton in it? That would be both neat and disappointing if it was true.
At least I still had my magic and I used it in secret at night to let us have great crops every year. I sometimes managed to also affect the fields on either side of the farm, just so it wasn't only us that were having great growing seasons the last few years.
By the time the month of the bet was over and Martha hung my diploma on the living room wall, making me laugh and my dad spit and sputter, I had already convinced Johnathan to plant rice on the almost useless land of the back 40, since it would prime the land for a great wheat harvest the next summer.
I also gave him the same tune-up I gave my mom and both of them had a much easier time living the farm life, just like I was. I didn't miss going to school, thanks to the books Martha borrowed from the library for me. There wasn't anything like a correspondence course, so I would have to wait for a long time before I would be allowed to go to college.