Hyllis Family Story 1: Telekinetic Read Online Free PDF

infection! How do you know it’s not infected?”
    “ Well, I can’t be absolutely sure, but as the old saying goes, ‘if it quacks and waddles, it’s most likely a duck.’ That’s why I asked Mr. Benson to leave his shoes off until you got here. So you could see a foot with a case of gout and remember it. You don’t want someday to recommend an amputation for someone who only has an attack of the gout.”
    Benson had flinched slightly at the word, “amputation.” Now, eyebrows up, he said, “No! Don’t be recommending anything like that!”
    Eva Hyllis’ clear gray eyes turned back to Benson, “If it was infection, an amputation might be the only thing that would save your life.”
    “I know, but it’s not…” his eyes suddenly grew much more worried, “is it?”
    “No, it’s not. But, as you can tell from the way it feels, gout’s pretty obnoxious.” She stared at him with a serious look on her face, “You need to lose some weight. And, drink less beer.”
    At first Benson appeared relieved when Eva said it wasn’t an infection. But then his brow wrinkled with worry, “Are you saying it’s going to hurt like this until I lose weight?!”
    “No, like I told you , I’m brewing you some willow bark tea. I’ll give you more bark so you can brew your own. We’ll put a poultice of willow bark on your foot as well. The willow bark should help you get over this attack faster, but you would probably get over this attack in time even without treatment.” She held up a finger in admonition, “However, attacks of gout tend to repeat themselves and can happen in other joints. Losing weight and drinking less beer should keep you from having attacks quite as frequently.” She motioned to Tarc, “Come, let’s see how the tea is coming.”
     
    In the kitchen Tarc’s mother swirled the small pot in which the shredded white willow bark had been steeping, “Your dad said that you’re showing some talent?”
    Tarc shrugged, wondering why they called it ‘talent’ when his father seemed to think it was useless.
    “ Daum told me your talent lets you feel inside of things. Did you try to feel the insides of Mr. Benson’s feet?”
    Tarc ’s eyes widened as he considered that possibility for the first time. He shook his head.
    She poured the tea through a cloth to filter out the willow bark. “Well, you should. I’m so happy for you because that talent is tremendously useful for a healer. Most of the time, it’s how I make a diagnosis.” She put a dollop of honey in the cup of tea; then turned her eyes back onto Tarc. “We have few enough treatments that are truly effective. Being able to make an accurate diagnosis lets us use the correct treatment on the few occasions that a treatment is available. When we go back out there, you sit and study the differences between his feet with your new talent. Hopefully, you’ll never forget what gout feels like.” With the cup of tea in one hand and the compress of willow bark in the other she waved him to come along and headed back out into the great room.
    As they approached Mr. Benson, Tarc’s mother kicked a small barrel up to the end of the table next to Benson’s feet. She pointed to it, so Tarc sat on it. Staring hard at Benson’s feet, he allowed his preternatural sensation to flow out over and into the feet. His mother gave Benson the tea and, when he complained, urged him to drink it despite the taste. She wrapped the cloth with the willow bark around the toe as a poultice.
    Studying Benson’s feet, Tarc observed with a growing sense of astonishment, that he could sense a number of different kinds of tissue inside of them. He recognized hard structures that were obviously the bones. The bones seemed to be much the same in their location and shape from the one foot to the other. There were spaces between the bones that must be the joints where motion occurred. Certainly, he could feel a space at the base of the great toe that must represent the