“She claims to be born, July 2, 1776. Not the Fourth of July, mind you. “The history people got a little confused about that,” she said. “It's not like I was born at all once, you know. Things took more time back in those days.”

I don't know what to think about that. She seems so earnest as she spouts what is obvious nonsense. I ask her why she just recently showed up. “I've always been here. I just haven't always been a superhero. Usually I'm just the girl next door. But it just seemed to me that right now, America needs something a little more . . . I don't know . . . energetic.”

She is that, to be sure. It seems an effort for her to keep from bouncing out of her chair as we talk. My interview required three sessions. She couldn't sit down for more than about a half-hour, so she had to take a break. Each time she stepped outside and flew off into the Portland sky. There were no supervillains to fight, but I learned that during those breaks she cleared up two accidents on I-5 - doing a tow-truck's job in a fraction of the time - and performed repairs for three different motorists stranded on the shoulder. She's return after about an hour, invigorated.