oh, wonderful. small and tart-sweet and just enough. the age issue, the gesture because clark doesn't work well with words and confessions, the pink elephants, how much is unspoken and...not to say the same thing as every other commenter...but the book. the book that breaks my heart even thinking about it now. were you thinking about future ramifications of lex-as-tree, always there and giving, or at least wanting to? or was this only (but of course not only) a comment on their give/take pattern up to now? despite convincing arguments, i'm still siding with 'clark should have made a gesture,' and this one works for me. thanks much.