Lynn stared at the unassuming 13.5 oz can of spinach, and felt her world had completely turned upside down in a matter of about an hour. An old cartoon might have had held the secret of her missing father for years, and now her uncle was suggesting that she could literally gain super strength by eating a common vegetable?
Had she ever actually had spinach? Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember ever eating any. She couldn't place either a texture or a taste to it.
No, she thought to herself. That was just too crazy. She took the can, put it on her desk, and put on the more realistic part of her present, the She-Ra DVD, and began to work on her actual homework. Homework, as she grew less focused, was interspersed with playing with Checkers, watching pieces of her new DVD, and mucking about online. The searches she made online described Popeye as a minor sensation a few decades back, and that was about it. Though, that the work faded into obscurity because one of the main voice actors went missing... that was telling.
Eventually, though, the clock struck ten thirty. With her homework done, it was time to go to bed. She brushed her teeth, changed into her pajamas, and went to bed.
Her dreams that night were weird, and even weirder that she remembered them, albeit in pieces. She was running after someone on a forested island, trying desperately to catch up. It looked like a giant chested human, but with an overly round head and an extremely large nose. In the dream, Lynn was wearing a gun belt, like you would have seen in a wild west show, but with cans of spinach instead of six shooters.
She was almost ready to catch whatever that humanoid was... but there was something chasing after her. Something meowing.
She opened her eyes to see Checkers standing on her stomach, meowing his head off.
"I forgot to fill your water, didn't I?" Lynn mumbled. She clicked on her reading light, and went into the bathroom to fill his water dish. "There you go. Now let me sleep."
If she had further dreams that night, she didn't remember them, which was something of a relief. She also didn't have swim practice, either, so the extra hour of sleep was good too. Still, even a night's worth of sleep didn't have her feeling any less conflicted. She forced herself off her bed and into her morning routine. Get dressed. Get breakfast. Brush teeth.
"You've been quiet this morning," her mother observed. "And on your Birthday."
Lynn feigned a stretch. "Checkers woke me up last night, didn't sleep well." She gave what she hoped was a sweet smile. "How was your night?"
"Oh, I slept like a log," her mother giggled. "Maybe you should put the cat out for the night." She paused. "That never worked for Fred Flintstone, did it? Nevermind. It's about time to go. Have everything?"
"Just need to get my backpack," Lynn said guiltily.
"Go get it, I'll get your plate," her mother told her.
She headed back up stairs, and her eyes fell on the can, still sitting on her computer desk. She grabbed it and threw it in her bag. It'd save her at least a few awkward questions if her mother happened to see it there. Then she headed back down and to the car.
"You're still quiet. Are you feeling okay, Lynn?"
"I'm fine. Promise," Lynn said. She felt guilty lying like this, But it was either lie or break her promise to Uncle, and she hated breaking promises more. "Is Uncle picking me up again today? He said something about it yesterday."
"He is. I have the late shift again today, I'm sorry."
Her mother worked at pet shelter. "Late" in her case, meant about ten to six. She expected Lynn to be mad about that? "You're fine. I'll see you at dinner."
"I'm going to bring home something special. No cooking tonight," her mother promised. "Have a good day at school. Please don't get into any more fights."
"I'll do my best," Lynn promised. "Love you." So saying, she closed the door and headed into her school. She headed to her locker. She wasn't one of the popular kids who got her locker decorated on her birthday, but both Greg and someone on her Swim team had left her envelopes with birthday cards taped in her locker. She opened them up, and put them on the top portion inside her locker so she could see them throughout the day.
Then it was divesting herself of the books she wouldn't need until later and heading to homeroom. They had a substitute again, but he remembered her nickname, so it was all okay. She used the time after the daily announcements to thank Greg for the card. "By the way, have you ever heard of the 'Popeye' cartoon?"
Greg looked at her blankly. "What?"
"Never mind then. Just something my Uncle brought up to me last night. I'd never heard of it either."
"How's your eye feeling?" Greg asked.
Lynn subconsciously rubbed at it. "Still a bit sore. But I can see out of it still, so I guess it's okay. Thanks for asking."
During the rest of the mornings, when she could get away with, Lynn asked a few of her other acquaintances about the cartoon her Uncle had showed her last night. But none of them claimed any knowledge of it.
All too soon, lunchtime arrived.
Normally, Frank wouldn't have done the same bullying action twice. Even he usually knew better than to push his luck and get himself in any actual trouble.
Normally, Lynn would be too preoccupied nursing her previous wounds to be able to care what he was up to. But today, he was going after another Freshman sitting not five feet from her. What was the line her uncle had used? "When you've had all you can stands, and you can't stands no more." That described her right now.
She rummaged in her bag for the now dented can of spinach. "I'll be right back," she told Greg.
"Not again, Lynn. You want a matching set?" Greg basically pleaded at her.
"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back." She left in a huff, and once clear of the cafeteria, sprinted the dozen or so feet into the girl's bathroom. She, very carefully, made sure every stall was empty, that she was absolutely alone before doing anything else. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. Probably nothing and she was about to feel like a complete moron, but... just in case.
She held the can in her right hand and tried to squeeze it open, only to realize she didn't nearly have the arm strength for that, and had to settle for pulling the pop top instead. She also didn't try to pour the green leafy things down her throat either. She reached in, grabbed a wad, and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing only as much as she needed to to swallow. She didn't even really taste it, as focused as she was on the unstoppable bully in the cafeteria.
The spinach never felt like it reached her stomach.
Somewhere in her throat it felt like it had disappeared completely, magically (and there was no other word for it) replaced with some type of pure energy. An energy she felt rolling down straight down through her body, strengthening and empowering her legs. Not even a moment later, the energy entered her arms, swelling them to two, maybe even three times their normal size. She involuntarily flexed, feeling a sense of incredible raw power. The swell lasted only for a second, but sheer intensity of it remained. She looked up into the bathroom mirror, and was convinced she saw an actual fire burning in her eyes.
Lynn knew what she had to do.
First was finish the can. She had no idea how long this power would last, and in the middle of the confrontation seemed like a bad plan. Then she jogged back into the Cafeteria, where Frank was still involved in his shakedown for lunch money.
This time, instead of getting his attention by stomping on his foot, she gently, and politely, tapped Frank's shoulder. "You need to stop bullying people."
Frank turned to look at her, staring into her eyes, and not recognizing her. "Hmph," he said, lifting his hand to slap her across the cheek. Except Lynn didn't even feel the slap. Frank did, he shook out his hand as if he had tried to strike a stone wall.
Lynn folded her arms across her chest. "You need to stop now. Right. Now."
Frank gave a roar, and pulled his arm to give her a straight punch to the face.
But quicker then he saw, Lynn grabbed his fist with her left hand, and with her own current supernatural strength, ground his fist to a halt. Before Frank could process how this girl about two thirds his size was matching muscle with him, Lynn counter punched, straight into his gut.
Frank gave a grunt of pain as he doubled over, perhaps the first one of his life. "You asked for it, twerp," he told her after straightening up. "Now I'm going to punch you into next week."
"No," she told him. "You're done hurting people today, and if you're smart, for good. With that, she reared one arm back, gave him an uppercut to the jaw powerful enough to lift him off his feet and into the wall. He sat there, unable to get back up. Lynn was confident he was seeing birdies... or stars... something. It was remarkable how much she felt she could control this strength, too. She knew it hurt, it had to have hurt. But she was just as sure she hadn't broken any bones, either. "Do not make me do this again," she told him. As the entire lunchroom stood to applaud her, Lynn hurried out the other exit. The school was too big for everyone to know everyone, but she'd rather as few people recognized her as possible.
She returned to the restroom, making sure the emptied (and now washed) can was buried deep in the garbage where no one would would find it. The energy lasted about another three minutes, before she could feel it petering out in her system. It was simultaneously depressing, and a relief, to feel that she was in possession of her normal body again.
She slipped back to her table, where Greg, and most of the rest of the lunchroom was still staring at the stunned form of Frank Covett, who still hadn't moved from where the force of her final punch had left him.
"Do you know what you missed, Lynn? Some girl came in and just socked Frank! He's still looking cuckoo for Coco Pops over there."
"Some girl?" she asked incredulously.
Greg turned to stare at her. His brow furrowed. She could hear the gears turning. "There's no way that was you. I mean, she had to have been bigger than Frank is to give him such a pounding. But... but..." He finished in a whisper. "It was you, wasn't it?"
"It was," Lynn said, matching his own whisper. "Maybe it's better nobody realizes it, though. I'd rather not have Frank hunting me all over creation."
"But you took him once... how? How did that happen?" Greg asked.
"Not now," Lynn told him, "I mean, you'd never believe it. I barely believe it. And I really want to eat before the end of period this time."
The only thing that anyone in the hallways was talking about for the rest of the day was the drubbing Frank received. He apparently had spent the next period in the nurse's station, getting his entire back and face iced down, before being forced to return to class. The strangest part was nobody actually pinned the deed on her. Maybe they didn't want to get her in trouble. Maybe nobody really got a good luck.
Nobody? That didn't seem to check.
Lynn kept her head down, and didn't participate in any of the conversation. She was very relieved when the final bell rang and she was able to escape to the safety of Uncle's pickup.
He looked at her, an unasked question on her face.
She looked back. She nodded once.
Without a word between them, he drove out of the pickup line, and back on to the main road. When there was about a mile between them and the school, Lynn spoke up. "You're Bluto? And Mom is..." She paused and took a deep breath. "Does that mean you know what happened my father? Why any of what happened today happened?"
Her uncle gave a kind of shrug to her, holding one hand out, and waggled it back and forth. "Let's go to the boat. And I will explain as much as I understand."
