Clark got up early the next morning to start on his chores. He knew that he didn't have to get up early to be able to do his chores without Peter seeing him. He just decided to help his dad before Peter got up so he wouldn't feel like he had to help. The sun was not completely up but was already shining bright. It looked like it would be a gorgeous day.

Clark walked into the barn to get the grain to feed the livestock with. He bent down to pick up the bag of grain and threw it up on his shoulder. As soon as the bag hit his shoulder it exploded sending rolled oats flying everywhere. Clark coughed slightly from the ensuing dust storm and waved his hand in front of his face to try and get rid of some of the cloud. As it cleared he realized that was now looking out on the farm, through the barn wall. He blinked rapidly and his vision corrected itself and he was now staring at the wooden barn wall.

He then examined the busted feed bag. He noticed that it had not busted at the seam but it had busted right across the middle where it had hit his shoulder. "Oh. No. Not again." Clark groaned. He hadn't heard anything about any more solar flares on the news. Maybe that wasn't what it was. Maybe it was just a slight hiccup in his powers, kind of like a growing pain that he heard people talking about.

"Clark, can you come and help me with the tractor?" Jonathan yelled from outside the barn door.

His dad's request broke Clark from his thoughts and he hesitantly approached the tractor, "Dad, I don't know if you want me to do that right now."

"What do you mean I wouldn't want you to help me?" Jonathan asked absently.

He crawled out from underneath the tractor and looked up and instantly sensed something was wrong. "Clark, what's wrong, son?"

Clark tried to shrug it off as he said, "It's probably nothing. I just had two of my abilities go on the blink for a moment. But, I'm okay now."

Jonathan was not buying it. "Clark, if nothing wrong, then why are you worried about helping me with the tractor?" He put a reassuring hand on Clark's shoulder. Clark looked at his dad, thankful that he was always able to see right through him and know when something really bothered him.

"Tell me what happened" Jonathan said.

"I picked up the feed bag and it exploded as soon as it hit my shoulder."

"Well, the bag could have had a hole in it and just came apart when you picked it up." Jonathan replied trying to ease Clark's fears by coming up with a logical explanaton.

"But dad I checked that, " Clark countered, "There wasn't a hole anywhere in the bag and it was torn straight across the middle."

"Okay, what else happened?"

"Then my X-ray vision kicked in without me wanting it to and was staring through the barn wall." Clark explained nervously.

Jonathan remained calm for Clark's sake but was getting nervous on the inside. "What do you think is causing it?"

"I don't know," Clark replied while shaking his head. "I haven't heard anything on the news about there being any more solar flares"

And you're not sure if that's what's causing your powers to glitch? Jonathan asked.

Clark nodded his head.

"Okay, well you just take it easy today and lets just wait and see if anything else unusual happens. Okay."

Clark gave his dad a wry smile, "Unusual...Dad unusual stuff happens all the time."

"You know what I mean." Jonathan grinned. "More unusual than normal. Now, go on inside. Your mother has probably gotten breakfast ready by now. I'll be inside in a minute." Jonathan started to turn back to tractor.

"Dad, what about the tractor?"

"It can wait. I will do what I can." Jonathan said and motioned for Clark to go inside. "Go on and get some breakfast."

Clark walked into the kitchen just as Martha was putting the finishing touches on breakfast. "Clark, will you tell Peter that breakfast is ready?"

"Sure," he then turned and yelled up the stairs. "Peter, breakfast is ready." Clark turned back to his mother to see her looking at him with a cocked smile and a raised eyebrow. He returned the gesture with a completely innocent smile.

Peter appeared at the bottom of the stairs and overlooked the bountiful breakfast that was prepared before him. "Wow! That looks so good!"

"Why, thank you." Martha said. "I am glad someone around here appreciates my cooking."

"You know we like your cooking." Jonathan said closing the screen door and walking past Martha giving her a peck on the cheek before washing his hands at the sink.

"What do you boys have planned for today?" Martha asked as she scooped scrambled eggs and bacon onto their plates.

Clark looked up at his father quickly before answering, "Um. I don't know. We may just stay here for a while since Peter wanted to see how a farm really works."
After breakfast Clark and Peter headed out to the loft while Martha and Jonathan cleaned up the kitchen.

"Jonathan, I saw that look Clark gave you when I asked what he was going to do today. What is going on?"

Jonathan tried to allay her concerns by saying, "Clark just had a slight quirk with his powers earlier."

Martha turned from the dishes and waited for Jonathan to elaborate.

"Well," Jonathan paused, "Clark's strength and X-ray vision acted up and he doesn't know why, so I told him to just stay near the farm in case anything else acts up."

Clark walked over to the computer in the loft and pulled up NASA's website to see if he could find out if there were indeed more solar flares.

"That's just great," Clark grumbled.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, confused.

Clark sighed and turned to face Peter, "I recently found out the source of my power is the sun."

"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed, "You mean you are like a walking solar battery."

Clark snorted at Peter's comparison. "Yeah. I guess you could say that. There is one catch, though ...solar flares," Clark responded pointing to the computer screen. "I also found out that they affect my abilities."

Peter looked at him still slightly puzzled. He knew how the effects of solar flares could impact computers and communication systems if it did the same thing to Clark that could be dangerous. "I'm guessing this isn't the first time you've had problems like this?"

"No. It happened once before. I trashed a tractor and nearly caught the house on fire." Clark said.

Peter exclaimed. "What?"

"Yeah." Clark answered. "It makes my abilities fluctuate going from way too much to none at all." Clark moved his arm up and down as he was talking and as his hand came down it hit the edge of the table shearing it off.

"Just great." Clark bent down to pick up the piece of table that had fallen off when a sharp edge pierced his finger. "Owww!"

"Clark, you're bleeding." Peter looked at him concerned.

"I guess I am at zero power now." Clark said as he walked over to the nearby first aid kit and put a band-aid on his finger.

"Hey, why don't we go for a ride? The meadow down by the creek is still pretty nice this time of year," Clark said.

"Horses, huh? As long as I get a mellow one I'm good." Peter replied.

They started to head down to get the horses when Clark's computer chirped. "You've got mail."

Clark walked back over to the computer and opened the new e-mail. It was from Lex. All it said was "I have found something I think is yours. Come and see me to get it."

"Lex has something that he says is mine," Clark said, "I need to find out what it is. I'm sorry, I won't be gone but a little while."

"That's okay, I'll collect the eggs and see what other chores I can do while you're gone," Peter responded with a smile.

"Great, thanks. I'll be as quick as I can." Clark replied as he bounded down the stairs.