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“This girl doesn’t know about Popeye! ”
    She clambered up to plop onto his lap. Along with everything else, he thought as he winked at her, I feel old. “ Popeye is a cartoon. Where this guy eats spinach and he gets strong and he beats up this bad guy named Brutus.”
    â€œIt doesn’t sound like a very nice story,” she said primly. “Beating up people.”
    â€œOh, it’s okay.” Mark was quick to defend his hero. “He gets the girl, too. A real cute one named Olive Oyl. All because he eats a lot of spinach.”
    â€œIf I eat lots of spinach, will I get strong?” Megan asked him. “Will I be able to use my arms better so I can swim really fast?”
    Mark hugged her. “Nope. It’s a nice thought, little one. But it’s all pretend stuff. The only way your arms are going to get stronger is by doing what we’re doing. Lots and lots of hard work.” Mark glanced up and waved at his sister, who’d just stepped inside the door. Andy waved back.
    â€œDo I get a Pepsi now?” Megan asked.
    â€œNope,” Mark told her. “That’s your mom’s department, not mine. Here she is, too.”
    The familiar car had pulled up outside the doorway. Mark saw Megan’s mother lean across the front seat to open the door for her daughter. He held the double glass doors open for Megan. “See you next Tuesday,” he shouted as the little girl climbed inside the car.
    â€œâ€™Bye, Mark!” Megan hollered back, her little arm fluttering at him outside the window.
    He turned inside. Andy was shaking her head. “I can’t believe Megan,” she commented. “She’s doing so well.”
    Mark began to gather his supplies. “I know.” He picked up dented kickboards, several mismatched pairs of water wings and a ball, then pitched them into a plastic laundry basket. “Her arms are getting so much stronger.”
    Andy tossed one wayward ball in his direction. “I stopped by to tell you I’m going to have a new team member for you soon. I have a new patient. When he gets stronger, I think you can do him a world of good.”
    Andrea and Mark were as close as twins could be. Their father, George Kendall, had spent his life in a wheelchair after a helicopter crash. Together, Mark and Andy had watched him cope. He’d taught them everything they needed to know about courage, about pushing ahead to tiny victories each day. He was the main reason they’d both grown up to work with patients who needed help.
    â€œYou want a hamburger?” Mark grabbed the bundle of folded towels and tucked it under one arm.
    Andy shrugged. “Sure.” She didn’t have anywhere else to go during her lunch hour. “You pick the place. I’ll drive.”
    â€œYou drive and I’ll buy.” He picked one of his favorite restaurants.
    When they arrived, the hostess seated them at a little table for two covered with a red checkered tablecloth. “Onion rings,” Mark said, grinning. “It’s been ages since I’ve had onion rings.”
    â€œMe, too.”
    Mark lowered the menu and eyed her. “So…now that I’ve got you here, how are you really doing?”
    She screwed up her mouth at him. “Is that what this is? You bring me out for lunch and then interrogate me?”
    â€œI’m not interrogating you. I just want to know.”
    â€œI’m fine. Really.” She switched to a safer subject. “You’ll like the little boy I just started working with at Children’s. He’s a resilient one. I can tell he’s probably going to surprise everyone.”
    â€œHow old is he?”
    â€œEight.”
    â€œYou think he’ll beat the odds?”
    â€œThe doctors aren’t certain yet, but I am.”
    Mark toasted her with his soda, which he almost felt guilty for drinking after Megan bargaining for Pepsi. “My sister. The