The Protagonist System

247 Farming A New Way Conclusion

I watched a flustered Margaret driving away and was glad I hadn't tried to flirt with her. She was married and it was mostly cordial, if not overtly happy, and they had no real problems. They both enjoyed their demanding careers and were busy a lot, so they hadn't had a lot of time to spend together, besides their evenings and a few weekends a month together.

In my opinion, they were technically still in the dating stage of their relationship, despite their marriage and living together. Neither of them had the time to dedicate to a significant other and I was sure that was one of the more attractive aspects of their relationship, because neither would feel neglected while coming into the relationship with the same backgrounds.

I wasn't getting into the middle of that, just like I hadn't tried anything with any of the sexy older women that were all around the town. Why would I try to break up a happy marriage just to have a good roll in the hay? That was where the saying came from, too. Farmers having sex in the hay loft. I haven't tried to enjoy the trope myself, mostly because I knew I was destined for something greater.

I had thought there was potential with Enchantress, then I lost contact with her and a few basic magic probes had been rebuffed and deflected. My clairvoyance power couldn't find her at all, which meant she must have been somehow blocked from being seen in this cluster of the multiverse, or heaven forbid, was dead.

Oh, and there was a multiverse. I had suspected there was, only I never tried to see if I could 'see' into them, because it was dangerous and you could never tell what could see you when you looked at them. My brief glance into one as I looked for Enchantress, had me mentally slapped down by The Spectre.

To be fair, he was protecting me from angering The Green, or the life energy of the planet. Apparently, their version of the Enchantress was the guardian there in that world and my thoughts about dating her would have pissed her off. She hated what humanity was doing to her planet, which I suspected that ours did as well. I stopped trying to look for her after that.

The Swamp Thing had been created here about six years ago, after an unsolved murder case was closed. It had slipped through my own diligence to check on everything going on, probably because it happened around the same time Bruce Wayne's parents almost died. I hadn't been able to hone in on things well back then and it has taken years of practice with Martha to be as proficient as I was.

In any case, I wasn't going to bother Swamp Thing. He was too much of a grouch about being murdered and becoming a mass of swamp fertilizer. That did give me the thought to wonder if he knew what I was doing here, with helping to change how things were grown and adding a little magic when possible.

I dismissed those thoughts and went back inside the trailer and stored the food to eat it later. I had made a lot, like I always did when I cooked, and it saved me so much time when I didn't have it to spare. For some reason, reworking how to grow things took up an inordinate amount of time to figure out and to put into practice.

I went to bed with thoughts of farming and plants going through my head after seeing Margaret's reaction to all of the things I had set into motion. The biggest surprise was that I had a great start with the tomato plants and she looked like she admired them a lot.

Those things had taken to the vine racks like monkeys climbing a tree and were already sprouting tons of leaves and were growing like weeds. It was nice to have confirmation that at least one method was going to be a huge boon to growing something and it was going to make harvesting them a lot easier, too.

On the other hand, the grapes were a struggle to get rooted. I had to keep a constant watch on them, because I didn't want to lose them. If I could get them to grow in large enough quantities, I could break into the market with larger, plumper, and juicier grapes. I just had to figure out the best environment settings to have the damn things grow without constant supervision.

Maybe a quick trip to a vineyard in France would let me figure out what I was doing wrong. It was a thought, anyway. Would they even bother trying to explain it to me? Did they have tours and things for that? A trip into town might be needed to find that out.

The basic crops were easy to plant and get growing, since I had been doing that for years. Adapting them to greenhouse growth took almost no time at all and they were all rooting nicely. The lettuce and cabbages were also having a great time under the optimal growing conditions and were already budding with golfball-sized growths.

My projections had them ending their growth and becoming ripe when they were larger than my head and that was going to be great for both harvesting and for sales. I needed a good selection to bring to the market stands when they opened in the spring, too. With luck, I'd have at least two full harvests of everything by then and could show everything off.

I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face and plans to go into town after lunch. I would have to put the grape vines under preservation and stasis charms until I found the information I needed.

*

Lisa Lasalle was sure that taking a job at the small travel agency in a hick town was a mistake. She needed money, however. Travelling to Metropolis by car was taking longer than she had planned for and her car had broken down on the interstate. The towing fees to the closest town had pretty much cleaned out her spending money and she was stuck in Smallville until she earned enough to get it fixed.

At least, that was what she was thinking until a huge hunk of a man walked into the tiny office. Her hands immediately checked her long red hair, which was prefect. She glanced at her reflection in the window to make sure her blouse was slightly open at the top to reveal some cleavage and saw a look of shock on her own face.

Lisa fixed that by smiling a genuine smile and not the fake one she had been practising for her future modelling interviews. “Hello, welcome to Travel Inc. where your dreams can come true. What can you do for me today?” She asked and then mentally cringed at the slip-up. She didn't try to correct herself, though. She said it and it was out there, so she wanted to see how he would take it.

Instead of looking put-off by the question, the handsome stranger that she really wanted to get to know, smiled a genuine smile right back and even looked a little amused.

“I've had the inspiring idea to tour some vineyards and wondered if you could help me with that.” The dark-haired and blue-eyed man said.

“Of course, I can. It's my job, after all.” Lisa said, confidently. “Please, have a seat.” She had studied the brochures for hours the night before and knew exactly what packages to offer him. “We have two choices for you, actually. One is in France at a popular tourist spot near Bordeaux, and the other is the more well known option in Tuscany, Italy.”

“Italy? I hadn't thought of that.” The handsome man said and looked thoughtful, then he smiled a smile that should win awards. “I was thinking France before I came in here.”

Lisa tried to not show how turned on she was and gently rubbed her thighs together as she dug out the two brochures to hand over. “France is the more romantic option and your girlfriend should be more than happy with the trip.”

“Girlfriend?” He asked and shook his head. “I don't have one of those and was planning on going by myself.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Lisa was shocked and couldn't stop it from showing on her face. This guy was single? Really? Was everyone in this town blind or stupid?

He saw her face and lightly laughed. “You obviously have a lot more experience with this, so what would you recommend?”

“Take me with you.” Lisa said before she could stop herself. Again, she didn't try to correct herself, even if she felt mortified at throwing herself at him like that.

He barked a loud laugh and set the two brochures down on her desk without looking at them. “I don't even know your name.”

“Lisa Lasalle, I'm 18, single, and I'm only working here to get enough money to fix my car and finish my trip to Metropolis to start my career as a model.” Lisa said, her mouth spouting out as much of her life story as it could in as short a time as possible.

He smiled warmly and Lisa felt her panties dampen at how much promise it contained. “It's nice to meet you, Lisa. I'm Clark Kent, I'm 15, and I own a small farm outside of town. I graduated high school when I was five and earned a college degree this past June.”

Lisa was again shocked. He was only 15 and looked like that? What was he going to look like when he was fully grown? “Wait a second! It took you ten years to graduate college?”

Clark laughed. “No, it only took a year. I didn't attend until I looked old enough to fit in without causing a lot of obvious problems.”

Lisa nodded, fully understanding what he meant. If you didn't look the part, everyone questioned why you were there, especially yourself.

Clark glanced at the two brochures on her desk and at her face. “Well, Lisa. If I did accept your offer, which one would you take for the best experience for visiting vineyards and seeing their methods for growing grapes?”

Lisa didn't hesitate as she picked up the one for France. “Your first thought of where to go was the right one. The one for Italy is more for wine tasters than for the vineyard tours.”

Clark nodded at the admission and accepted the brochure. He read through it quickly and nodded again. “All right, I'll take the two week package, with the all expenses paid option for two people.” Clark said and Lisa caught her breath. “I don't want to worry about carrying local currency.”

“Are... are you serious?” Lisa asked. He was her very first customer and she was going to sell their most expensive package without really trying.

“Yes, I am.” Clark said, his voice sure.

“But, you don't really know me.” Lisa said and then cursed herself silently at stupidly trying to convince the handsome young man to not spend a few thousand dollars on her. His age wasn't really a factor for her, either. She had met men three times his age that weren't as mature as he was, her own father included.

Clark chuckled and handed her the brochure with that award winning smile on his face. “We'll have two whole weeks in the most romantic country in the world to fix that little problem, won't we?”

Lisa barely stopped her reaction to the pleasant shiver that rolled down her spine at the suggestion. She knew then she wanted to keep seeing his smile for as long as she could and wondered what else of his that she was going to see.

“Give me a few minutes to find the information to book the trip for you... for us.” Lisa said and turned to the filing cabinet behind her and opened the top drawer. “When would you like to leave?”

“How long will it take for you to pack?” Clark asked, teasingly.

Lisa felt that pleasant shiver again and didn't bother trying to hide her reaction to it. “I haven't unpacked.”

Clark laughed and Lisa smiled at hearing it. “If you can arrange a flight out of the nearest airport for the morning, we can both get what we want out of this trip as soon as possible.”

Lisa blushed at his words, because she knew what she wanted out of the trip. She grabbed the right folder and turned back to the desk. Her eyes took in his muscles that were barely restrained by his t-shirt and she was really looking forward to seeing those wonderful muscles naked and above her.

“You know, I don't usually do things like this with a guy I just met.” Lisa said and opened the folder to find the pre-made trip details and the order code to tell the airline and the hotel in France to apply the right package details.

“Me, either.” Clark joked and grinned at her.

Lisa made a snort sound as she tried to suppress her laughter. That would have been just her luck to meet a great guy and have him turn out to be gay. She looked up from the papers again and saw in his eyes that he was mentally undressing her. She had seen that look a lot, not in a good way, and this was the first time she didn't mind that he was doing it.

It was only fair, since she had done the same thing to him only a few moments before. Lisa looked back down at the information and started making the calls. Before she could ask him how he was paying, he handed over a piece of paper with his bank account information and made her job a lot easier.

Plus, she was getting a nice commission from the package sale that would almost be enough to have her car fixed. That was a little disappointing, considering she would have to quit this job to take the trip. It had been easy to do and the pay was decent.

Lisa blinked when a piece of paper was slid over the desk. Call in sick for the next two weeks. It's flu season. She read and looked up. A smug smile was on Clark's face and she smiled right back. Thank you. She mouthed to him.

Clark nodded and Lisa went back to work arranging their vacation in the countryside of France. On a whim, she added a day for a layover when they transferred planes in Paris on the return trip. An extra day wasn't much more expensive and she couldn't pass up seeing the Eiffel Tower at least once in her life.

Lisa glanced up when she spoke that small altered detail out loud over the phone to the airline and saw Clark give her a nod. She beamed a smile at him and enthusiastically confirmed their two week trip was all set and all expenses were paid.

She knew this was going to be a vacation that she was going to remember for the rest of her life and promised herself that she would make it just as memorable for the young man that had suddenly dropped into her life out of nowhere.

“I'll pick you up in the morning.” Clark said when she handed over all the details.

“I'll be ready.” Lisa promised and watched him leave. It was sinful how his jeans fit him so well and she wondered where he bought them. Her ass would look spectacular if her jeans could fit her as perfectly as those did.

*

It was impulsive and reckless to fly halfway around the world with a girl I just met; but, in my defense, she looked like a younger version of Martha Kent and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity Lisa Lasalle provided. I had been getting antsy a lot more lately and frustrated over the stupid grapes, then I realized it must have been puberty trying its best to wreck my personal life and I needed an outlet.

Lisa was perfect for that, because she was an outsider in town and there wouldn't be any awkward moments with any other girl that lived there if it didn't work out between us. Also, she was dead set on making the trip memorable for me and for giving her something she might never have gotten for herself if her career didn't take off like she hoped.

Surprisingly, Ma and Da were fine with me going off for a vacation for the first time in my life, despite how sudden it was. Well, Martha was fine with it and Johnathan complained about wasting my time, until I told him I was going to study how to grow grapes and he fully approved of it. Making my farm better was more than enough justification in his mind.

I packed a bag, just for looks, and drove my new truck to Lisa's address, the motel at the edge of town. She had been renting by the night and spending more money on it than booking it for a month was at a discounted rate. I didn't mention it, since she was leaving for two weeks anyway, and was also taking her three suitcases along with her.

I loaded them in the back and covered them with a tarp, then helped her into the passenger side. She looked both surprised and amused, so my chivalry achieved its purpose. I climbed into the driver's side and drove away from the motel to head to the next town. Smallville was too small for its own airport and the drive wasn't that long.

We arrived in plenty of time, checked her bags and my single one, and went through security. The tickets were picked up at the counter and we only had to wait half an hour before boarding the plane. We were off the tarmac twenty minutes later and we were off to spend two great weeks in France.

With luck, I'd learn the best way to grow grapes and would apply it to the grape vines back at my farm. Maybe I could even buy some cuttings from their more prolific vines as well. That would definitely make the trip worthwhile on its own.

I glanced at the beautiful girl beside me and I saw the excitement on her face. Even if I didn't learn much and didn't get any cuttings, the trip was worth taking to make someone smile like that.