“I gotta get to work.”

“The fields can wait. This can’t.”

He sat, blowing on his steaming coffee, not meeting her eyes.

“Something happened to Martha last night while I was gone. I came home and found the barn door open and the kitchen door open and you gone and Martha under the haystack. This morning she won’t talk. Now what happened?”

“I told you she wasn’t to go into the barn.”

“I have no idea how she got into the barn. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I left to go help at an accident. When I left, she was in her room, and she was fine. Now, she’s . . .”

“She’s what?”

“I don’t know. She won’t respond. I’m going to take her to see Doc Pearson this morning.”

“Why don’t you heal her?”

“Because she’s not sick, Harry; it’s something else. Like she got scared or something. She’s just like a little doll, won’t talk, won’t walk, just stares.”

“Hmmm.” Harry picked up his coffee cup and headed for the door.

“Harry, Harry!”

“What?” His exasperation was evident.

“Where were you last night?”

“Out,” he said, and the screen door slammed behind him.

Fern put her face in her hands and cried. Am I that bad a wife? Am I a terrible mother? Why would this happen to my baby while I’m out doing God’s work? She shook her fist at the ceiling. “Why?”

She cleaned up the breakfast dishes and went back to the bedroom. She sat down next to Martha, whose eyes were closed; she was apparently sleeping. Slowly she moved her right hand along the girl’s length, feeling the energy. Her hand stopped at Martha’s forehead. Here was a spot that was supposed to feel warmer, alive. Instead, it was cold, dead. The crown of her head was the same. Nothing.

Fern placed her right hand on the child’s forehead, and rested her left palm up in her lap. She waited for the forces to course through her body, to discover the problem with Martha, and to correct it. She waited patiently for a long time. Nothing.

She stood up and walked around the room, loosening her back and legs. Then she sat down again, closer, and put her hand on the top of Martha’s head and concentrated, hard. Get inside, get inside the head and find out what’s wrong.