Read Online Untrained Eye by Jody Klaire - Free Book Online

shivered and turned to smile at who
I knew was there. “You getting air miles for all this, Nan?”
    I heard her chuckle and placed my violin in the case.
    “Shorty, I got some things to say to you.”
    Knowing I was tensing at her words, I tried my best not to let my
temper rise. “My darlin’ mother has already given me a lecture, Nan. I don’t
need another.”
    “What makes you think I’m gonna holler at you?” The humor in her
voice had vanished.
    I could almost see her, five-foot nothing and standing there with
her arms folded and her short white hair bobbing on top of her head.
    I missed her. I really missed her.
    “Everybody else has, why wouldn’t you?” I closed up the violin
case. “I did what I had to and paid the price for it. I made the right
decision.”
    “This about that firecracker of a blonde?” I could feel the
breeze ripple across the room, as though Nan was strutting over to a rocking
chair in the corner. A second later it moved as if somebody was sitting there.
    “Ain’t it?” I took up a seat on the sofa, adjacent to her. I knew
I couldn’t see her but if I tried real hard, I could picture her sitting with
her knitting or maybe fixing this or that. She was always busy.
    “In part. Here’s the deal, Shorty. What you did for her was so
brave an’ true that I been beaming with pride ’bout it.”
    Felt good to hear. At least someone was proud. Only, it made me
miss her even more.
    “Thing is, what you did kinda hurt you. That’s what happens when
you do something somebody ain’t asked for.”
    “So it’s a punishment?” Great. Help somebody out and get a ticking
off from . . . well . . . who or whatever controlled things.
    “You kiddin’ me? You think love and goodness go punishing folks
for helping?” She sounded disgusted. Nan had been a real spiritual sort. I was
pretty sure that going wherever she was couldn’t change that.
    “That’s what it feels like.”
    “ Reason why is when you go fixing folks who haven’t asked, you
end up taking on more than you can handle.” The rocker moved a little
slower, like it used to when she was thinking. “If somebody asks you. They
are focused on what it is. That way you only take what is ailing them.”
    “An’ when they don’t?”
    Nan sighed. “You do what you did, which is go lookin’ for every
hurt they got.” The chair moved a little faster. “You ain’t meant to
carry the weight of the world on them big ol’ shoulders of yours. We had
someone pretty incredible who did all that already.”
    “You gonna start throwing Bibles at me again?” I was half-teasing.
All good was a welcome topic in my eyes. If folks were set on salvation, peace,
love, or being kind to everybody else then I was on board.
    “I should, maybe you’d find solace in it.” She clicked her
tongue. I swore I could hear a knitting needle so maybe it was that. “Come
to think of it. I’m gonna ask your mom to send that priest here and help you
out.”
    “Nan, I ain’t sure he would want to hang out with me.”
    “The guy you met in that hole,” Nan said as if dismissing my worries. “The
guy who helped you think on the armor.” She stopped rocking. “If you
ain’t noticed, all your gifts have faded. You need to ground yourself and get
rid of all that negativity.”
    I groaned out loud. “Can’t I just stand under the shower or
somethin’?”
    “You want to keep on feeling like a bear sat on your hind?”
    Odd image but apt. “No.”
    “Then try listening, Shorty, ’cause I ain’t foolin’ around. You
nearly got yourself in real trouble.”
    She didn’t need to tell me. I’d lived through what happened to
Renee. Not real pleasant.
    “If you’d touched somebody after you saw that sheriff, you could
have done a lot of damage.”
    He’d had some stomach thing that was killing him. I hadn’t meant
to take it away. I was fixing his knee. “But he asked.”
    “No, he didn’t. He didn’t know what you were.”
    “And what am