The Healer's Touch Read Free

dishes.
    The back door burst open and Lyric’s hand flew to her heart until she saw Samantha—known to friends and family as “Boots”—standing in the doorway. “It is customary to knock,” she gently reminded the fourteen-year-old.
    â€œSorry. Did you hear that blast?”
    â€œI heard something. Is a storm brewing?”
    â€œNot a cloud in the sky.” Boots took a deep breath and continued. “Can’t imagine what it was. Scared the waddin’ out of me. Lark, you have got to hear this! You know how Caroline is sweet on Henry and they’ve been sort of, you know, courting? Well, tonight Henry came over early because he’s not allowed to stay out much past dark and Caroline’s mother said that she could go for a short ride in his father’s new buggy…and of course you know whereHenry took her. Right straight down that creepy road, and lo and behold the light is acting up again. Why, they saw two poor men, each riding in opposite directions like the old devil himself was on their tail, trying to outrun the thing. But it was pestering them something awful.” She paused to draw another deep breath. “Henry said the light hadn’t shown itself in a while and he wanted to impress Caroline with his bravery, so he brought the buggy up here…”
    Lyric glanced out the window. Darkness encroached and a light fog hung in the air.
    â€œAnyway, he got Caroline all settled with a nice thick lap robe—which she didn’t need because it’s so mild outside, but you know Henry. He’s a real gentleman. Anyway, they settled down to watch for the light. Caroline said he put his arm around her. Don’t you think that’s a little forward, putting your arm around someone on your first—well, maybe second—outing? But he did, and they settled back to watch for the Spooklight.”
    â€œBoots, I wish you wouldn’t refer to that…that thing as the Spooklight .” They had enough to worry about without concerning themselves with frightening legends. Life was difficult enough living in this holler, isolated from everyone by the strange spells her mother’s illness caused. She now lay in her bedroom, frail and weak, awaiting death.
    Lyric had spent her life protecting Lark from folks’ cruel barbs and innuendos about how they were different than others, not worthy to be a part of the community. The entire town isolated themselves from Edwina Bolton, the strange woman with two young girls.
    Boots’s excited voice droned on. “…and then just before dark, Henry suggested that they spread the lap robe on the ground and watch for the light from there. Moony-eyed Caroline agreed that was a grand idea, so they climbed out of the buggy and made themselves real comfortable.”
    A simply grand idea , Lyric silently mocked, aware of how easily ayoung woman like Caroline could be led astray. She just bet Henry was all for getting all comfortable. Caroline and Boots needed better adult supervision than their grandfather provided. Given no choice, Neville had assumed the care of Caroline and Boots when their mother passed a few years back. The father was never found…or known, if the scarce bit of information Lyric heard during her brief trips to town for supplies held true.
    Those hurried excursions gave her goose bumps. Folks turned away as though she was scarlet fever on legs. That silly light that appeared in the holler often did so closest to the Bolton property line. Folks put two and two together and made four: surely the light had something to do with Edwina Bolton and her strange fits.
    That was nonsense and Lyric knew it. That “spooklight” was just a trick of nature. But try convincing the townspeople of that! But it wouldn’t be much longer before her mother passed on, and then Lyric would take her sister and leave this place. Together they would build a new life hundreds of miles from