cracked and bleeding. The rest was blistered
halfway up his arm. He touched his bleeding fingers with his other
hand, then wiped it on his shirt. He looked disbelieving at The Young
Speaker. The rest of the gang turned and fled down the street, while
their leader backed up against the fence.
28 "Give me your hand," comforted The Young Speaker. The older boy
looked terrified. "GIVE ME YOUR HAND!" The Young Speaker repeated, and
timidly the boy held out his hand. The Young Speaker put it between
his, looked to the sky, and prayed , then took his hands away. The
boy's hand was completely healed! There was no sign of the injury!
29 "It's a trick!" the boy stammered, "An illusion! You hypnotized me!
It was an illusion!"
30 The Young Speaker took his books from his friend who had taken them
during the confusion. "Is the blood on your shirt an illusion?" he
asked, "And, that still on your fingers?"
31 The older boy looked at his shirt, then his fingers. The Young
Speaker turned and started walking down the street. The older boy
followed him. "Why did you do it?" he asked.
32 "Do what?" The Young Speaker inquired.
33 "Fix my hand," the older boy continued.
34 "The pain," explained The Young Speaker, "was a lesson, a lesson to
teach you that your physical strength is nothing, compared to the Power
that dwells within me. Once the lesson was learned there was no longer
any need for the pain. You will never attempt
to strike me again."
35 "Damn right!" agreed the older boy. "I won't be burned a second
time!"
36 "Not while you live," added The Young Speaker, "at least. But I
worry about the day that you die! Then, truly, you might know far worse
pain, then I inflicted. You must mend your ways, Thundering Hawk, or
that hour