After Uncle had disentangled himself from Lynn, he looked at his watch. "Time to get you home. Though perhaps we should stop by the grocery on the way."

Lynn considered her uncle for a moment. "I have one more question."

"Go for it," he said.

"Why now? You've known me since I was born. So why are you telling me all of this now?"

Uncle scratched his beard. "You're turning sixteen. That's about the age you start getting adult responsibilities. You're getting your driver's license, for example. But you don't have a job..." he trailed off.

"So you're saying I'm not a girl, but not yet a woman?"

"I guess," he said, the reference flying right through a porthole. He was probably more of a Taylor Swift fan. He shrugged, "I'm not sure. It feels right."

"I guess that's fair enough. If it's time to go, it's time to go." Lynn finished the rest of her soda and stood. She walked up the stairs to the deck, and back out to the car.

They did stop by the local grocery before dropping Lynn off at home. Uncle used the self checkout, to avoid any weird questions from the clerk about why the only thing he was purchasing was six more cans of spinach. "Just in case, right?" he said, winking.

They also stopped for some fast food, ordering enough hamburgers for both Lynn and her mother before he dropped her off. Mother came home shortly thereafter, looking exhausted. They watched TV while munching on fries. Then Lynn went up to her room to work on homework and try to parse everything that happened that day.

She was kind of doodling on her science homework when her cat leaped on the desk, bopping his head into hers. "Thanks, Checkers," she said, skritching the cat's head. "Good to see you too."
"Mrow?"

"Fine, fine," she said. She stood, took the cat's dish, and refilled it with wet food, placing it down near the door. By the time she focused enough to finish her homework, it was approaching eleven PM. She unloaded half the cans from her backpack into her chest of drawers 'junk drawer', and made ready for bed. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

It was kind of surreal waking up the next morning. Lynn laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling as her alarm blared at her, wondering if it had all been a dream. She heard her mother knock on the door. "Lynn! It's Wednesday. Don't you have swimming practice today?"

Lynn's eyes went wide, dug herself out of bed, and into some clothes. She chucked her homework into her bag, and remembered the three cans of spinach in there. She took a deep breath, and zipped them in tightly. She slung the backpack over her shoulder, and headed to get some breakfast before she had to get to school.

Her mother was on the phone. "No, no, that's fine Bart. I've asked too much from you this week. Work is just killing me," there was a pause, "I'll see you this weekend during the party, right? Oh good... thanks. See you then."

She pocketed her phone. "I'm working late the rest of the week," she told Lynn, pushing a plate of toasted waffles at her. "But Bart isn't available to pick you up."

"It's okay," Lynn told her. "I'll crash at Greg's place. Either you can pick me up there, or if his parents are willing, they can drive me home."

"Are you sure they'll be okay with that?" her mother asked.

"Almost certain," Lynn said. "I'll send you a text at lunch if they're not. Even then, I'll figure something out."

Her mother let out a sigh of relief. "That's good, then." She looked at the time, "but we'd better hurry or you'll be late." With her waffle still in her mouth, Lynn left the house and went to the car.

"Was there any news about whoever socked Frank?" Abigail asked, as they headed out to the pool.

"Not that I heard..." Sarah replied, before they all had to be quiet when Coach Robbins arrived to give them lane assignments and start their timers.

"What I don't understand," Charlotte said as they headed to the showers, "Is why didn't she stand up to Frank before. There haven't been any new students this past winter, were there?"

"I don't think so?" Abigail said. "But I'm just glad someone finally did. He's been a bully long enough."

Through it all, Lynn said nothing, and no attention was paid to her. If the other members of the swim team hadn't figured her out, she was pretty sure nobody else would, not counting Greg, of course. There was still Frank, but there was no avoiding that one.

The rest of her day went more or less as normal, though the conversation was still dominated by the walloping Frank took. Ms. Patterson was back in homeroom, and while she was trying to pretend she was uninterested, it seemed clear to Lynn that she was hanging on every word her students were saying. The teachers must have hated Frank as much as Lynn did.

When Lynn arrived at the lunchroom, Greg waved her down. He was sitting in the corner of the lunchroom, away from everyone else. For a change, there was no sign of Frank. "Hey, Greg. Have you seen Frank today?" Lynn asked as she sat down.

"No. He's either absent or laying really low," Greg reported.

"Huh. Well, small favors, I suppose," Lynn said. "Mom's working late, and asked if I might be able to stay with you until she can pick me up."

"Should be fine," Greg told her. "I'll see you after class then."

The final bell rang. Lynn met Greg at his locker, and they headed out with a large group of fellow schoolmates into the early spring air. It was cool, but not cold, and the sun shone on them from a partially clear sky.

The crowd slowly split up as those who lived nearby went to their own streets and homes, until Lynn and Greg were mostly alone on the sidewalk.

"Let's go this way," Greg said.

It wasn't the usual way to his house, but it wasn't really out of the way, so Lynn didn't think much of it. Until Greg stopped suddenly, and pointed. "Let's go in there," he said, grinning at her.

'There' was a construction site. It was supposed to have been a veterinary, at first, until he got a better offer the next suburb over. Then a strip mall, until none of the potential shops sold. For the moment, it was a mostly built stone structure with a few interior walls, but mostly it was an abandoned construction.

"Why?" Lynn asked, though she'd figured out the answer.

"You asked me about that old cartoon – Popeye. After what happened yesterday, I went looking for it, and saw a few episodes on the internet," he gave Lynn an incredulous look. "Spinach?"

Lynn lowered her eyes. "Spinach," she confirmed. She could feel her face flushing.

"I'm not judging," Greg told her. "But don't you want to practice with it?"

"Wait... you want to 'Shazam' me?" Lynn asked. "I don't know about that. It feels like it's only something I should do if there was an emergency. This feels flippant, somehow."

Greg studied her for a moment. "If it was an emergency, and you did have to rely on this superpower..."
"I'm not some kind of superhero, Greg, and I don't want to be," Lynn said.

"Tell that to the frosh you saved from Frank yesterday," Greg said, grinning. "Or the person you tried to help the day before, or the however many people you stood up for, only to be decked by Frank."

Lynn tried to think of a way to disagree with this statement, but she couldn't come up with anything. Besides, if she was being fully honest with herself, she was curious too. "Okay, okay. You've convinced me. What did you have in mind?"

Greg pulled out his phone, and looked at it.

Lynn rolled her eyes. Had he been planning this since lunch?

"So there's three initial questions," Greg said, looking up from his notes. "First, and probably most important to you, how long does this strength last? It always seemed to last into the end of the cartoon, but that doesn't help you."

Lynn conceded that was something that she really wanted to know. It did run out, and if it ran out at a bad time... she didn't really want to think about what might happen next.

"Second, how strong you actually become," Greg continued. "In the cartoon, it's as strong as he needs to be. Popeye doesn't lose, after all. But I'm willing to bet there's a limit." He shrugged kind of helplessly. "I mean, probably?"

"Okay. Fair enough, What's the third?" Lynn asked.

"Are you actually invulnerable?" Greg asked, "Can you be..."
"You DO want to Shazam me!" Lynn said. " I swear, Greg, if you try to set me on fire..."

"Wait, wait, I didn't mean... Lynn!" Greg sputtered, "I saw you take a straight punch to the chest and it was Frank who seemed to get hurt by it. I'm not suggesting I try to burn you alive!"

"Okay, okay," Lynn said, mollified. "I assume you're going to use your phone's timer for the first one, Do you have any ideas for the other two?"

"There's several things you could try to lift, I was going to start with that dumpster full of dirt," Greg said, regaining his composure. "And go from there. Does that sound okay?"

Lynn nodded. She looked around, and as far as she could tell there was no one else observing her. So she slipped off her backpack, and pulled one of the cans out of it. "This still feels weird," she admitted.

"It sounds unbelievable. If I hadn't seen you sock Frank into next week, I would have never believed it. Let's just start with a full can?" Greg suggested, ready to start the timer.

"Sounds good," Lynn agreed. She popped the top on the can, and reached in to take wads of green leaf from the can, chewing it carefully, and swallowing. She could feel the magic happening as soon as the spinach passed through her throat. Just like before, the energy swept through her body. She could feel the power starting with her legs, and from there, into her arms.

"Okay," Greg said, "That looked very impressive. Started the clock!"

Greg pointed to the dumpster.

Lynn nodded and strode to the dumpster, crouched down, gripped it from the bottom. She strained, and managed to lift, but only a few inches. She could feel the energy surging through her arms, but it just wasn't enough. After about thirty seconds of trying, she was forced to admit defeat.

Greg looked surprised, but quickly recovered. "That big rock?" he suggested.

That big rock was about four, four and half feet in diameter, which may not have quite qualified as a boulder, but it was quite a large rock. It still probably outweighed her. She jogged over to it, aware that there was an unknown time limit. She again planted her feet. It was a strain, but this time, she was able to slowly but surely lift the big rock. It did take both hands, and she could feel the exertion building.

"Three minutes," Greg called.

Lynn put the rock back down, she did not want to be suddenly not strong enough to hold it.

"Invulnerability test?" Greg called. He was holding a tennis ball.

Lynn sighed. "Go for it."

Greg didn't 'fire' the tennis ball. He wasn't athletic enough for that, but he did throw it straight for her face. Accurately too, the ball hit her right on the cheek, just below her left eye. And to her shock... "That hurt!" she exclaimed, "I mean, it was a tennis ball so, not much, but..."

"No invulnerability," Greg said, and he sounded as surprised as she felt. "I mean... I saw Frank slug you right in the chest..." He shook his head. "Three and a half minutes. Maybe... jumping?"

Lynn nodded, took a brief running start, and jumped.

This was more successful, powerful legs propelled her through the air. By the time she landed, without breaking stride, she must have jumped a good twenty, twenty five feet. If it wasn't a world record, it must have been close.

"And height?" Greg said. "Can you jump on to the top of that building?" He pointed to the half completed stone husk that took up the bulk of the construction site, probably about seven-eight feet tall.

She wasn't sure, but she was game to try. She ran to the wall, took a moment to focus herself, and leaped straight up. She didn't quite make it all the way up, but she jumped high enough for her hands to grab the edge. From there, it was easy enough to clamber up, over, and onto the mostly complete roof.

She held her arm up in a celebratory fashion, then stumbled for a second. The energy was wearing off. "Time?" she called down.

Greg looked down to his phone. "Just over five minutes. Maybe a bit more, I don't know if I started the clock right away. But that was very impressive."

That was all and well and good, but now Lynn was up on top of a building with no obvious way down. She very carefully climbed back over the edge, letting herself hang, Ninja Warrior style, before dropping down to the ground. This was less dexterous, and she landed in a small heap, albeit unhurt, on the ground.

"You okay?" Greg asked, walking over to her and giving her a hand up.

"Only my pride got hurt," Lynn told him. "Anything else you think I should test?"

"Well. I do wonder how much amount matters. I would guess that amount consumed either makes it last longer, or more effective. But that's it." He held out her backpack.

"Yeah. That sounds reasonable," Lynn said. She withdrew a second can from her backpack, and popped the top. She took about a third of the can's contents and downed it. The energy again flowed through body. But this time, she really didn't have anything to do with it, so they just sat and waited. Which turned out to be good, it expired relatively quickly, not even lasting a full two minutes.

"That settles the easy question," Greg said. "Let's go ahead and go home before anyone decides to ask us why we're here. Or my mother decides I'm really late coming home and calls me."

Once safely ensconced in Greg's home, in front of the living room TV, Lynn asked Greg if he had any deductions to make.

"Shall I start with the obvious one?" he asked.

"That spinach is some sort of power fuel for me?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah. That. I was trying to work out how the tennis ball hurt and Frank acted like he punched a brick wall. Do you remember where he struck you?"

"Yeah. Right in the chest. Right under the..."

"The abs," Greg interrupted her, turning scarlet. "Right in your abdominal muscles. They're real close to the skin, too, so they must have been tougher too. The cheek, on the other hand... loose skin and bone."

"That makes sense." They paused for a while, munching on the potato chips provided by Greg's mother. "There is one other thing that bothers me," Lynn said, finally. "I really thought I would be stronger. I realize I'm going off a cartoon, but some of the feats in it..."

"I mean, that's one possibility, exaggeration for effect" Greg said, "But I can think of two others. One is that there was that you were calm. When you took on Frank, and in most of the cartoons, there's anger, and adrenaline, going. That might account for it."

"And the other?" Lynn asked.

"Well, if your muscles really do get supercharged, maybe it's because you don't have as much of them as your father did." He held up a hand. "That's something you could change, you know."

Lynn would have to think about that. Coach Robbins was always trying to get them into the weight room. None of the girls would take him up on it for a second more than they had to, for fear of turning into Serena Williams and never getting a date again, no matter how much he assured them that wouldn't happen. "It's something to think about," she repeated, aloud this time. "And Greg? Thanks."

"You're welcome."