The Inheritance  part 2 
by Rick Powers
Some mysteries get solved while new ones await.


Silently, Sunshine crept down the stairs and found a flashlight in a box of
stuff they had brought with them from Oregon. Then she slipped out the back
door and crossed to the barn. The door was locked, so she fished out the set
of keys her mother ... oh yeah ... 'Clover' had given her. God, I'll never get
used to that, she thought, kids shouldn't be so informal with parents. It's
not like she's a buddy or something.

She finally found the right key and with a little persuasion, the old lock
opened. Using her flashlight, she searched the blackness for a light switch.
"Sure hope Aunt Mary believed in using electricity," she mumbled to herself.
After a brief search, she found several switches.

The first one she tried lit an outside light. She quickly extinguished that
and tried the next one. Success! The inside of the barn blazed with overhead
lights. But what Sunshine saw in the barn shocked her so much she nearly
dropped her flashlight.

The barn was not very big, maybe 30' long and 20' wide. But stacked neatly
against the north side was a wall of crates, reaching up to the rafters.
Fifteen rows of crates, stacked ten high. All labeled with that homemade
label: FEMINOX. Next to Sunshine were some empty crates, waiting patiently for
the last decade for someone to fill them and add them to the stacks.

Sunshine closed the door behind her and walked softly across the cement floor
to examine the crates. They looked identical to the ones in the health food
store. The last row of crates was only three high, so she could check out the
contents. The bottles were labeled the same as the ones in the store, but
these were smaller and made of plastic.

"Hmmm .... looks like Aunt Mary updated a few things over the years," she
mused as she lifted up a bottle.

"But not everything."

Sunshine was shocked by the voice and nearly jumped out of her shoes. "Mom!"

"Oh, I'm sorry I scared you, angel. I was coming downstairs for a bite to eat
when I saw you going into the barn. I got to peek inside here this morning
when I carried the trashcan out here. Pretty impressive, eh?"

Along the other wall stood two machines. There was only a narrow walkway
between the crates and the machines. It was easy to determine the purpose of
one of the machines. It had rows of open plastic bottles lined up and a hopper
for pills above them. It also looked like there was an electronic counter to
regulate the number of pills per bottle. There were a number of bottles still
waiting patiently to be filled, but no pills in the hopper.

The other machine must have been the actual pill making machine. It wasn't all
that large and looked like it could be operated easily by one person. In fact
the whole operation from start to finish could be handled by one person.

"This must be Aunt Mary's Feminox manufacturing plant," Sunshine whispered.

"And take a look at this," Clover said as she stepped into an attached room.
The room had served as an office for her small business. There were a couple
of file cabinets, a small desk with correspondence still on it from ten years
previous, and a typewriter. "It looks like Aunt Mary hand typed each of those
labels." There was a sheet of labels still in the typewriter, half finished.

Sunshine went back into the main room and inspected the pill making machine.
"It looks like she ran out of ingredients, and just left things as they were."

"Yeah," Clover replied. "Well, I'm going to head back to bed. I'm planning on
driving into Reno tomorrow to order our first delivery of product and I'm
going to need some rest. You coming?"

Sunshine looked up at the towering stacks of heavy crates, and then shut off
the lights and locked the door. As she followed her mom back to the house,
something about that whole place struck her as odd, but she couldn't put her
finger on it. Then again, she was dead tired and needed a full night's sleep.
Not like mom, she thought to herself, she just pops a little pill and she's
ready to go all day. I wonder if I should try one?

*****

Early the next morning, Sunshine awoke to that horrible sound. The sound that
she dreaded hearing. Her mother singing and humming like the world was a
wonderful place and like she hadn't just dragged her daughter into some sort
of bleak Dante-ish, version of America.

By the time that Sunshine had made her way downstairs, Clover had already had
breakfast, packed an overnight bag and was ready to skip out the door. "Honey,
I hope you don't mind holding the fort down here for a couple of days. I'm not
sure how long it will take me to negotiate some deals, so I'll probably get a
motel room tonight. You'll be on your own, but I know you'll be fine. Think of
it as a two-day vacation. But you better be ready to work when I get home!
I'll give you a call later." She kissed her daughter on the top of her head,
"Got getting driving, it's going to take forever for the old bus to get
there."

She was about to leave when she stopped at the kitchen door as if remembering
something. She turned to one of the cupboards above the sink and pulled out a
vitamin jar. A Feminox jar to be precise, Sunshine noted. "Ooops! Don't want
to forget these!" she exclaimed as she tossed it into the bag. And then she
was gone, cranking the finely made, German automobile to life, and sputtering
off into the morning

Through it all, Sunshine had not uttered a word, Slowly she got up and started
some tea water. Yeah, she thought, tea will help clear my head. As the water
slowly came to a boil, she stood silently, gazing out the kitchen window at
the back yard and the barn. She poured the water, still lost in thought. There
was something about the barn last night that didn't add up.

Sunshine replaced the box of tea bags in the cupboard, setting it carefully on
top of two other small boxes that held different flavors of tea. Looking at
the boxes of tea bags, it suddenly dawned on her. The boxes. In the barn.

She carefully removed the tea bag and dropped it into the compost bin. They
were totally biodegradable, after all, and a good ingredient for a compost
stew. And hopefully someday they would have a garden again. Then she grabbed
the keys and headed to the barn.

The key turned a lot easier this time and Sunshine stepped into the cool
darkness. Again the lights filled the interior of the barn and she took a sip
of tea while she examined her surroundings. The thing she realized was that
there was no room for a machine to lift the boxes and stack them as high as
they were. And there was no way a little old lady could pick up more than two
boxes, even with Feminox in her system - if it even worked like that at all.
Yet here they were stacked ten high. Even if someone could pick up two crates
over their head, it would be too high to lift it on top of the first eight.
Unless ...

Unless, someone took more than one Feminox pill at a time. Unless Aunt Mary
discovered that the pills could multiply a person's strength. A woman's
strength, to be precise. Why if each pill doubled your strength, Sunshine
thought, it would only take four or five pills until even she could lift a
whole pile of crates.

Sunshine set her tea cup down and picked up a Feminox jar. I guess there's one
sure way to find out, she mused. She dusted off the jar and gripped the lid.
It nearly took all of her strength just to loosen the lid of the old jar.

"Okay, so maybe I could use one of these pills," she grunted as she finally
got the lid off. She reached in and took out two pills. "Well, here goes," she
said as she popped one into her mouth.

Sunshine used her tea to help get the pill down and then paused and stood
still. Nothing happened for what seemed like forever but was actually only a
minute or two. Then slowly she felt a warmth growing in her tummy and
spreading outward to her shoulders and hips then to her arms and legs. The
warmth spread across her back and up her neck to her head. Every part of her
seemed a little more alive than just a couple of minutes ago. Or maybe like
ever ago!

She felt her arms, not sure what to expect and experimentally flexed her
bicep. She registered a slight disappointment that it was not much different
than when she woke up this morning, but it did feel a lot more ... solid ...
she thought.

"I guess one pill is not going to turn me into a muscle woman," she reasoned,
remembering that her mom had been taking a pill a day for a while and wasn't
bursting out of her clothes. "But let's see if it had any effect at all."

Sunshine reached for the heavy crate and grasped the handholds firmly,
remembering to bend her knees when she lifted. Not that she needed to. The box
felt like it was filled with packing peanuts, not heavy bottles full of
vitamins.

Excited by her new strength, Sunshine lifted the box higher. She placed on
hand under it and pressed it above her head several times. "Unbelievable!" was
all she could say.

Then she lowered the box on top of another one, lining them up carefully and
grasped the bottom box's handholds. This was a little bit harder for her and
she barely got it up to her chest level. Still, what an improvement! She was
hardly able to lift one box before, now she could stack two boxes on top of
two others to make a small stack of four.

Four? Could she lift a stack of four crates? She retrieved the other pill and
swallowed it with another sip of tea. This time the warmth came quicker and a
little more intense. This time she could feel her muscles reacting to the
magic vitamin pill. She flexed her arm again and noticed a significantly
larger bulge under the skin.

"Yeah! I'll bet this stack will be no problem now." Sure enough, the young
girl smoothly lifted the entire stack of four boxes with just a little strain.
Sunshine noticed that the crates had been designed to 'nest' inside each
other, which really helped with stabilizing a taller stack. Although it was
easy enough to lift the four-tall stack, she still didn't see how to stack the
crates ten high.

Unless you could put a stack on top of a stack. With one more pill, Sunshine
realized, she could lift a stack of eight crates and place them on another
two. And it wouldn't be so hard to lift them only two feet.

Sunshine thought about taking a third pill to see if she could not only lift
eight boxes, but also keep them balanced enough to complete a stack without
them falling over and breaking the bottles.

"Well, I haven't died yet," she said aloud to no one in particular. "Dear Aunt
Mary," she kind of, sort of prayed as she opened the bottle of Feminox and
shook out another pill, "I hope you're watching out for me today."

She popped the third pill and set herself for the reaction. But even though
she was ready, it still almost overwhelmed her. The warmth was so much more
intense and the feeling of power rising in her was so exciting. She looked
down and swore she could see her chest lifting and thickening. She flexed her
arms and saw a decent bicep push upward.

But the strangest feeling of all was in her breasts. They felt like they were
... growing!?!

Sunshine practically tore off her extra large t-shirt to get a good look at
her chest. My god! she thought, I've got tits! She cupped her hands under her
newly engorged breasts and felt their warmth and weight. "So this is what I've
been missing all my life. Not bad."

Sunshine had to shake her head to get herself back to the task at hand. She
slipped her t-shirt back on, so she wouldn't be too distracted, and grasped
the handholds of the eighth crate down in a stack of ten. She carefully stood
up while holding the boxes. Eight boxes! This stack had to weigh close to 400
pounds!

She turned around and walked a few steps all the while lifting the stack up
and down, testing her new muscles. "Outstanding!" she said as she set the
crates back in the stack. "I guess that solves that mystery. But I still feel
so strong ... like I've got energy to burn. I wonder if that's what Aunt Mary
felt, why she had so many affairs. I wonder if mom ... no, too gross to think
about this early in the morning."

Sunshine looked around for something else to lift. She saw the pill making
machine, "That looks kind of heavy." She figured out the best way to lift it
and then picked it up like it was made out of cardboard. She lifted it several
times and then gently set it back onto the cement floor. That was when she
noticed the lines of a square cut into the floor with a small hole right in
the middle.

"Must be some sort of drain or something," Sunshine mused as she looked
around. But there was no water faucet or even any pipes in the small building.
"Hmmm ... oh well, another one of Aunt Mary's mysteries, I suppose."

But lifting the machine still didn't satisfy the teenager. She left the shed
and started looking around for something else on the property to lift. An old
lawn mower parked next to the larger barn building ("Was there ever a lawn
here?" she thought) was an easy one handed lift. She opened the barn door and
began to poke around looking for something heavy. She found an old farm
implement that probably would have taken several men to lift and she managed
to pick it up. But she was still frustrated not knowing for sure just how
strong she was now with three pills in her. Then she thought about the Muscle
Mine. And Justin Kim.

Suddenly an overwhelming feeling of lust swept through her. All she wanted to
do right then was to rip off some clothes and have wild sex for days. And it
didn't matter whose clothes she was ripping, but it would have been nice if it
were Justin's and her own.

Sunshine collapsed to the ground, overcome by her wild emotions. Somewhere in
her mind she was still thinking analytically. Was this what Aunt Mary went
through every time she took this much of the pill? No wonder she had all those
affairs with men, any man! Suddenly she sprang to her feet and rushed into the
house. She bolted up the stairs and practically tore her clothes off as she
headed toward the bathroom. A cool shower would do her a world of good right
now.

Several minutes later, Sunshine emerged from the shower, still fascinated by
her new growth but not nearly so horny. According to the diary, this should
last all day. As long as she didn't start fantasizing again about ... yeah,
that ... she thought she would be okay.

After a quick breakfast of a toasted bagel and cream cheese, she decided to
walk into town to check up on the store and check the town out a little more.
It was only about a mile and a half to town, and although she could probably
run that in world record time, she decided to not use her 'superpowers,' as
she was beginning to think of them now, and just enjoy the walk.

When Sunshine got to the highway a motorcycle went screaming past her and
around a bend in the road. The teenager didn't pay much attention to it, until
she came around the curve. The cycle had stopped by a car that had its rear
wheels stuck in a ditch off the side of the road. The rider dismounted and
removed his helmet. It was Justin Kim. Great, Sunshine thought, that's not who
I need to see right now.

But Justin was talking to a girl who had stepped out from behind the car.
Sunshine was immediately struck with the girl's beauty and incredible figure.
A hint of jealousy started rising in her as she walked closer and heard them
discussing the problem.

"I looked down at my purse for just a second and then ... I don't know ... the
road just turned ... and I turned too late ... "

"How many times have you driven this road, Jen?" Justin was smiling, obviously
enjoying the young girl's predicament. "It's not like they put some new curves
in the road last night! I'll bet you were also talking on your cell and
drinking your coffee"

The beautiful girl crossed her arms in front of her bountiful chest and
pouted, "So are you going to help me or not?"

Just then, Sunshine walked up to the pair. "Hey, Sunshine!" Justin greeted
her, "How are you?"

"Great. Justin ... right?" Of course he's Justin, dorkus. Now his hot
girlfriend's going to think that I'm an idiot, too. "Everything okay? Anything
that I can do to help?"

"No," Justin replied as he took out a cell phone, "I was just about to call JJ
to come tow Jenny out."

"No!" both girls said simultaneously, then they looked at each other.

"He's such a jerk," Sunshine said.

"And a lech," Jenny responded.

"And sexist."

"And ... and ... yeah!" Jenny added.

Justin looked at the two girls with a bewildered expression. "Okay ... " He
flipped the phone closed. "Oh! By the way, Sunshine, this is my sister Jenny.
Jenny this is Sunshine, her mom's opening up the health food store again next
to the gym."

Sunshine smiled, maybe a little too broadly at Justin's sister, and shook her
hand, "Nice to meet you." God, she was even better looking than her brother,
she thought. Glad she's not a girlfriend - wait, what am I saying? I barely
even know the guy and already I'm thinking of him as a possible boyfriend. I
am an idiot, she scolded herself.

"So if not JJ, how do you two geniuses suggest we get this car out of the
ditch?"

"The three of us could probably push it out if we worked together," Sunshine
suggested.

"Sunshine, this is 1968 ... "

"Mustang. California Special," Sunshine finished. "Does it have the small
block V-8 or the big block 390?"

Jenny looked dumbfounded. Justin was impressed. "Actually, Dad bought this
brand new when he was competing back in the 60's. He went all out. It's got
the Cobra Jet 428. This is his pride and joy - besides us kids, that is - and
if anything happens to it he would die - and so would we!"

"And you think a troglodyte like JJ would treat it any better than we could?"
Sunshine asked.

"Maybe not, but at least he could pull it out of the ditch. Do you have any
idea how much it weighs?"

"I'd guess in the neighborhood of 3000 pounds. Look if you don't want to push
get in and steer. Jenny looks pretty strong and I'm feeling really good this
morning. I just might surprise you with how strong I am. Let's give it a try."
Sunshine walked to the rear of the car that was sitting in the ditch and
looked for a place to push that wouldn't dent anything. Jenny joined her.

"I'm not going to sit in the car while you two girls do all the work," Justin
said as he joined the girls. "Push here," he directed Sunshine.

The three teens pushed with all their might and the car responded by moving a
couple of inches. "Wow," Justin said, "maybe you are stronger than you look.
But this could take all day."

Sunshine knew that they needed just a little bit more help to clear the ditch.
"Hey, I've got some vitamins here that might help." She fished a small bottle
of Feminox from her short's pocket.

"Vitamins?" Jenny asked, "How is that supposed to help?"

"I don't know ... " Damn, I've done it now, Sunshine thought, how am I
supposed to explain this stuff without telling them everything? " ... I just
know how I'm feeling after taking it. I'm like bursting with energy." She
shook out a couple of pills and offered them to the others. Justin and Jenny
each took one and eyed it suspiciously.

"Look," Sunshine said as she walked out of the ditch, "check this out." She
stepped up to Justin's cycle and grabbed hold of something that looked solid
enough. Then she straightened her legs and raised her shoulders lifting the
bike completely off the ground. She carefully set the bike back down and
dusted her hands as she rejoined her friends. "That's what this vitamin can
do."

"I'm convinced," Jenny said as she popped the pill into her mouth. "but how
long does it take to work? I've got to get into town to open the gym for dad
this morning."

Suddenly, Jenny felt a warm tingle flow through her. Sunshine could see her
already tight muscles swell a little bit with the influx of the magical
energy. "Wow, that's fast. You're right, I feel great! Let's try the car
again."

"Wait a minute," Justin was still contemplating his pill, "vitamins don't work
that fast. I don't know, sis."

"Well, if you're not going to use your pill," Jenny swiped the pill out of
Justin's hand before he could react and popped it into her mouth, "I'll take
it for you." All Sunshine could do is stare in concern. I hope this works on
her like on mom and me, she thought.

Soon enough, Jenny's muscles were swelling again. "Alright, guys," she said
with new authority, "let's do this!" She readied her hands and planted her
feet. Justin and Sunshine joined her. With a great shove and much groaning,
the sportscar began the slow, steady climb out of the ditch.

The trio stopped to catch their breath after Justin rushed to set the parking
brake. "Okay Jen, I don't know how we just did that, but we did. I'm headed
over to meet some of the guys at the hot springs. I'd offer to take you there,
Sunshine, but I only have one helmet. Maybe Jenny could give you a lift into
town."

"Sure," chimed in Jenny, "that would be great."

"Just keep your eyes on the road this time, sis. Especially when you're
driving the 'pride and joy.'" He strapped on his helmet and zoomed off down
the road.

Sunshine climbed in the car with Jenny. "So how do you know so much about
cars?" Jenny asked, trying to get the conversation going.

"I grew up on a commune in Oregon ... "

"Thus the name 'Sunshine?"

"Yeah ... you should meet my mom, oh excuse me, I'm supposed to call her
Clover." Both girls rolled their eyes and laughed.

"So anyways, Clover didn't believe in elementary education, so it was either
take up organic basket weaving or find something else to study. There was a
cool old dude down the road that loved muscle cars. He taught me how to read
using his old magazines."

Jenny parked in front of the gym, "Hey it's great to meet our new neighbor.
Are you going to be opening the store soon?"

"No idea. Mom is off in Reno putting in some orders. She won't be back for god
knows how long. I thought I would do a little cleaning and then explore the
town some."

Jenny unlocked the front door of the Muscle Mine, "Cool. Why don't you come by
around noon. Justin will be back to take over and we can go get something to
eat."

"Thanks, Jenny. That would be cool. I'll see you at 12."

Sunshine opened the door to the store and let out a quiet growl. "Agh! That
idiot!" She clenched her fists as she surveyed the new damage caused by JJ's
latest parking job. She spent the next hour cleaning things up again and then
turned her attention to the back rooms. It sure looked like Mary let things go
in her last few years - maybe her last few decades.

Several hours of hard work passed quickly thanks to the energy Sunshine was
feeling from her morning vitamins. She closed up the shop and walked over to
the gym to meet Jenny.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Powers," Jenny called out as a middle aged man left the
gym. It looked to Sunshine that he was the only customer there. "Hey Sunshine!
Come on in. Justin's not here yet. He called and said he was running a little
late."

Jenny stepped out from behind the desk. She was wearing the typical shorts and
tank top. But on her, Sunshine noted, they looked extraordinary. Her muscles
were not very large, but they were definitely well developed from years of
training. Of course having a dad that was a bodybuilder and owned a gym
probably had something to do with it as well. Her breasts well formed, too.
Not huge, but good sized and firm. And of course her face, as Sunshine had
noted before, was just gorgeous. Damn, Sunshine thought, it would be nice to
have a bod like hers!

Jenny started showing Sunshine around the gym, past the cardio area and over
to the large rack of dumbbells. Suddenly she stopped, turned toward Sunshine,
and lowered her voice, "Okay. What the hell is going on here?"

Sunshine was stunned, and her face showed it. "Wh ... what?"

"Look, Sunshine," Jenny looked directly at the girl's eyes, "I know my body.
I've worked on this body for the last six years to be in this kind of shape. I
want to be a professional fitness competitor."

Sunshine wasn't sure where she was going with this. "And I know exactly how
much weight I can lift," Jenny continued. "Until today."

Suddenly, Sunshine knew where she was going with this. And she wasn't sure
that she wanted to go there with her. She glanced at the door behind Jenny.
God, when was Justin going to get here? She bit her lip nervously.

"Today, I'm off the charts." Jenny reached for a massive dumbbell. "Normally I
work my way up to a set of 12 bicep curls with a 20 pound dumbbell when I
train my arms." Sunshine glanced down at the weight she was holding. It had
the number 80 on it. "Today ... " she demonstrated by beginning to curl the
big weight, " ... I'm like a supergirl or something. And the only thing I can
think of that was different today was ... "

"Okay!" Sunshine stared at Jenny who stopped with the 80 pound dumbbell half
way up. "Okay. But it's kind of a long story. And I'd rather not tell you all
about it if Justin's going to be here any minute. But ... " She held her hands
up as Jenny lowered the weight, " ... but I will tell you the whole story."

"Just tell me this ... is it a steroid?"

"No. It really is a vitamin. It's even natural."

"Is it illegal?"

"No."

"Is it dangerous?"

Sunshine paused, "My mom been taking it for days and she's okay. I took some
this morning and I'm alright so far."

"I took two pills and my strength is like four times as much."

Sunshine looked down the rack of dumbbells and selected two, one in each hand.
"I took three pills this morning," she curled the 120 pound dumbbells with
relative ease. She had taken some weight training in high school and knew that
she could handle 15 pounders usually. A quick calculation assured her that
this was a weight she could lift for a quick ten reps. Jenny stared open mouth
at the girl. "The only down side I've noticed is that when I lift heavy
things, I get kind of horny."

Just then she noticed Justin parking his cycle on the street in front of the
gym. With a look of panic, she practically threw the dumbbells back on the
rack and tried to act casually. "Oh look, Justin's here! So Jenny! Let's go
get some lunch!"

Jenny laughed as she put everything together. She grabbed her purse and keys
and exited with her new friend. Justin just stared at the girls, not sure of
what the joke was that they found so funny.