It wasnβt long before Robert and Bobby came in to find Bessie, apparently at her leisure, with Charles and Charley getting dinner on the table.Β βBessie, what in the worldβs goinβ on?Β Why is they cookinβ and youβ a settin?β Robert queried.Β βWhereβs Freddy?Β I see the truckβs back anβ left the door standinβ open.βΒ Robert wasnβt the type to like seeing his truck door hanging open.
βI got popped with grease frying chicken and Dr. Charles made me set anβ keep a cool rag on it?Β Itβs some better bit itβs still paininβ me pretty good.βΒ She answered.Β βI thought Freddy went after yβall.β
βNo, we ainβt seen him.Β Howdy, Dr. Charles.Β I sure hate Bessie had to put you fellers to work.Β Let me wash up anβ help you finish gittinβ dinner on the table.βΒ Robert was uncomfortable seeing Dr. Charles doing womenβs work.
βNo, just sit on down.Β Charley can pour the tea while I check Bessieβs arm and then we can eat.βΒ As he unwrapped the arm, Freddy came up the back steps with an elderly neighbor.Β Mr. Roscoe was well-known as a natural healer, frequently called in by neighbors to tend burns, stop bleeding, and cure headaches and snakebites.
βMama, I fetched Mr. Roscoe.Β Remember how he healed my foot when I stepped in them hot ashes?β
Robert and Bessie looked awkwardly between Dr. Charles and Mr. Roscoe, not wanting to offend either.Β Seeing the doctorβs open medical bag, the ancient gentleman set them all at their ease.Β βLooks like there ainβt no need, now.Β Iβll just get on back to my plowing.β
βOh no.Β Donβt leave.Β Thereβs more than one kind of healing.Β The Good Lord gave us all different gifts.Β It would be a sin not to use them.βΒ He unwrapped the blistered arm for Mr. Roscoeβs inspection.
Bessie sucked in a quick breath as the warm kitchen air hit it. βOoh!Β It still hurts purty bad.β
Mr. Roscoe gently cupped his wrinkled old hand over the burn and muttered a few words.Β When he removed his hand, the redness was gone, though the blister remained.Β βNow, you need to be sure to keep that wrapped in a clean cloth till that blister goes down.β
βIt donβt hurt no more!Β How did you do that?Β What did you say?β Bessie asked.
βJust a little prayer.Β The healing come from God.Β My daddy had the gift, too.βΒ Mr. Roscoe answered.Β βI guess I better git back to my plowing, now thatβs done.β
βNo, no! You gonna stay for dinner.Β We got to eat up this here fried chicken that tried to cook Bessie.βΒ Robert said.Β βFreddy, git him a plate and some ice tea while I git another chair.β
As soon as Robert said grace and were through passing the food around, Dr. Charles turned to Mr. Roscoe.Β βIβve always heard of faith healing, but never seen it.Β That burn just faded out and now she has no pain.Β How does that work?Β Did you feel something or touch it?β
βI donβt know how it works.Β I just know it does.Β I donβt touch it.Β I just pray over it and see it gittinβ better in my mind.Β God worked through my daddy, too.Β I got four brothers and two sisters and ainβt none of them been blessed with the gift.Β Daddy got it from his grandma.Β She got it from her mama.Β There ainβt no way to tell how it goes down.Β My mama had a headache one day when I was about thirteen.Β Daddy had tried but couldnβt help her, so he told me to try.Β Her headache was gone in a minute and never came back, though sheβd suffered for years.β Mr. Roscoe explained.Β βSometimes the healing donβt happen.Β It ainβt enough to just want to help.Β Iβve learned not to try to heal everβthing I am asked to.Β If I donβt feel βthe nudge,β it ainβt gonna do no good.Β A few times I have felt βthe nudgeβ and gone when I wasnβt asked. The first time, I woke up about four-thirty one morning and felt pushed to go to Homer Smithβs.Β Heβd just settled in with his family. Β I hadnβt met him but once after a camp meeting.Β I felt like a pure fool and didnβt want to go bustinβ in on nobody that time of morning, but I just couldnβt get no peace till I got up and headed over.Β I figured I could just wait around outside a little bit anβ maybe tell if they was a problem.Β Sure enough, when I got close, everβ light was on.Β I went up to speak to Homer when he come out to smoke just as Miz Presser, the midwife come out.Β I heared her telling him his Janie was bleeding real bad after the baby anβ they was nothinβ she could do.Β She said Pore Janie wasnβt gonna last long and that puny little baby probably ainβt gonna make it without no mama to nurse it.Β They was gonna need the preacher fast.Β Homer was crying like a baby, hisself.Β He went back to Janie and I asked Miz Presser if it would be alright to see if I could stop Janieβs bleeding.Β She asked Homer and he agreed, since they was nothinβ to lose.Β I prayed over her anβ the bleedinβ stopped right off.Β That boy is grown now with big olβ youngβuns of his own now.Β I learned then donβt never say no to βthe nudge.β
He paused before going on with his story.Β βThe hard thing is, I cainβt always help folks when things is bad.Β I always go pray for βem, but sometimes I know to just pray for peace and relief of pain.Β It sure is hard knowing everβbody cainβt be healed.Β Folks can be awful hurt over that.β
βI feel that, too, Mr. Roscoe.Β It sure hurts knowing you canβt do anything for a personβs body.Β All thatβs left is to hope youβve been some comfort to them and the family.
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