He kept talking while he stood there. “So I didn’t want to just leave her there, you know?” he said. “I mean, if she was dead, maybe. But she was still alive and I figured maybe a vet could help her. So I dragged her over to the car and kind of pushed her into the back seat. I thought if I could get to the town fast enough, maybe someone could save her. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I could feel him looming over me, making me paranoid.

I opened my eyes to see Kurt upside down in my vision, holding his hands wide apart. At first I thought he was going to box me on the ears, but instead he brought his palms together as hard as he could, making a single, pealing clap. Then he began to rub his hands together, back and forth, faster and faster, clasping and unclasping his fingers. The muscles of his arms flexed. His shoulders worked up and down.

The forest had darkened since I had closed my eyes. We were at the base of a shadowy, pear-shaped vessel now, topped with a pale blue lid.

“So I got back in the front seat and took off down the road,” he said, panting a little. “I drove as fast as I could without sliding the deer off the back seat. I was checking the mirror every few seconds. I could see she was still breathing back there. And I could smell her, too. This terrible, sweaty, fear smell. It filled up the whole car.”

Kurt lowered his palms toward my shoulders. I could feel the heat a good six inches away, a radiant, penetrating energy. His strong hands were almost burning.

Kurt gripped my shoulders. My back tensed up and I grabbed the underside of my legs. He didn’t say anything. He just kneaded my shoulders for a second and then moved his hands behind my ears and held my head and twisted my neck carefully from side to side. I fought against him at first, trying to stand up, but he held me down in the water. I twisted but his hands were too strong. They held me in place. I could see my reflection snapping in and out of focus, and behind me, Kurt’s face, blank with concentration, the white hole of the sun wobbling through spreading branches.

“I was getting pretty close to town,” he whispered, “when suddenly the deer woke up back there. She was only stunned I guess. She woke up and just went crazy. She started kicking and thrashing all around. Making a choked sound in her throat. She clipped my head with her hoof and I almost swerved into a pickup truck.”

“Shit,” I said. I was succumbing to Kurt’s plying hands by then. “And then what?”