Page 33 of Mountain Man’s Mystic Touch

“You mean before that.”

“Yes.”

She looks toward the main path, where vendors are beginning to arrive. “I received an impression.”

“Of what?”

“You told me not to read you.”

“I’m asking now.”

Her hands settle lightly against the edge of the table. “Permission given after the fact doesn’t mean I understood what I saw.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“Darkness. Metal collapsing. A restraint pulling hard across my chest. Dust. Someone shouting.”

The booth seems quieter despite the activity around us.

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

She does not ask whether it happened. I appreciate the restraint and dislike the reason she needs it.

“It was the rollover,” I say.

“I thought it might be.”

“You didn’t see anything else?”

“No.”

“A location?”

“No.”

“Another person?”

“I heard a voice, but I couldn’t understand the name.”

My shoulder tightens for reasons that have nothing to do with the injury. Loralee notices. She does not say so.

“Does that happen often?” I ask.

“Receiving impressions through touch?”

“Yes.”

“Not often. They’re more likely when the other person is emotionally open or physically relaxed.”

“I wasn’t emotionally open.”

“No,” she agrees. “You were almost physically relaxed.”

The distinction unsettles me.

“Can you control it?”