Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

are the things that you can’t plan for. Those are the things that just happen. And what if they don’t happen? Do you spend your whole life pining for them? Waiting to be happy?
    That night, Lincoln got an e-mail from Dave saying that Saturday’s D&D game was off. One of their kids had rotavirus, which Lincoln had never even heard of. It sounded awful. He pictured a virus with rotating blades and an engine. Dave said there’d been lots of vomiting, that they’d had to go to the emergency room, and Christine was scared to death.
    “We’ll probably be on hiatus for the next couple weekends,” Dave had written.
    “No problem,” Lincoln messaged back. “I hope he feels better. Get some rest.”
    Poor kid. Poor Christine.
    This isn’t a big deal, Lincoln told himself. The plan is flexible. He could still go see a movie this weekend. He could pick up his comics. He could call Justin.
    There were twenty-three red-flagged messages in the WebFence folder. There might even be something in there that Lincoln should take care of. He opened it, telling himself that he may as well earn an hour of his paycheck tonight.
    He opened it, hoping.

CHAPTER 21
    From: Beth Fremont
To: Jennifer Scribner-Snyder
Sent: Thurs, 09/30/1999 3:42 PM
Subject: If you were Superman …
    …and you could choose any alter ego you wanted, why the hell would you choose to spend your Clark Kent hours—which already suck because you have to wear glasses and you can’t fly—at a newspaper?
    Why not pose as a wealthy playboy like Batman? Or the leader of a small but important nation like Black Panther?
    Why would you choose to spend your days on deadline, making crap money, dealing with terminally crabby editors?
    <> I thought we agreed not to swear in e-mails.
    <> We agreed that it would probably be a good idea to stop swearing in e-mails.
    <> Still thinking about Lois Lane?
    <> Sort of. I mean, I get why Lois Lane went to journalism school. I know her type. Wants to make a difference, wants to uncover great truths. Nosy. But Clark Kent …why not Clark Kent, sexy TV weatherman? Or Clark Kent, mayor of Cincinnati?
    <> Aren’t you missing the point? Clark Kent doesn’t want to be famous. He doesn’t want people to look at him. If they really look at him, they’d see that he’s just Superman with glasses.
    Plus, he needs to be someplace like a newsroom, where he’s the first to hear big news. He can’t afford to read “Joker attacks moon” the next day in the newspaper.
    <> You make an excellent point. Especially for someone who doesn’t know that Superman never fights the Joker.
    <> Especially for someone who doesn’t care. I hope you’re not right about life sucking for everyone who can’t fly and wears glasses. That describes everyone in this room.
    What are you working on?
    <> We do all wear glasses. Weird.
    Another Indian Hills story. I’m not so much working as I am waiting for a phone call.
    It turns out, the hospital next door to the theater already bought the land. Months ago. They’re going to make it a parking lot. I’m waiting for the hospital spokesperson to call me back so that she can say, “No comment.” And then I can write, “Hospital officials would not comment on the sale.” And then I can go home.
    Do you know how mind-numbing it is to sit around waiting for someone to call you back so that they can officially tell you nothing? I just don’t think Superman would stand for it. He could be out finding lost Boy Scouts and plugging volcanoes with giant boulders.
    <> Superman works at a newspaper because he’s trying to get with Lois Lane.
    <> He probably makes twice as much as she does.

CHAPTER 22
    ON FRIDAY MORNING , Lincoln picked up a spring schedule from the city college. There was a professor in the anthropology department