The Shadow Wife

“Lisbeth was a much better swimmer than I was,” Carlynn said.

“The same thing happened to my sister and myself when we were kids,” Gabriel said. “We were sailing on this estuary in Oakland when we capsized. She was stuck underneath for a couple of minutes. I dived under and got her, and she wasn’t breathing when I brought her to shore.”

“What happened?” Lisbeth asked.

“Well, she was essentially dead,” Gabriel said. “But my great-grandmother was there. We were having a picnic, and all the aunts and everyone were with us. Granny grew up in the South, in Alabama, and she was a healer.”

Lisbeth and Carlynn exchanged quick glances.

“One of my aunts did mouth-to-mouth on her, but it didn’t work. Then Granny came over and held on to my sister’s shoulders, and said, ‘In the name of Jesus, child, breathe!’”

His voice rose, and when a few of the diners turned to look at him, he grimaced. “Sorry,” he said to his tablemates with a laugh. “I got carried away. Anyhow,” he continued in a softer tone, “my sister started breathing. In a few minutes, she was good as new.”

The three of them stared at him in silence.

Gabriel looked at Lisbeth. “Did I say something wrong?” he asked. “I’m sorry I shouted.”

Lisbeth touched the back of his hand. “That’s not it,” she said. “You didn’t say anything wrong.”

Carlynn was ready to explode with questions, but Alan beat her to it. He leaned forward in his chair. “Tell us more about your granny,” he said.

Gabriel didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at them suspiciously, and Carlynn wondered what they were giving away on their faces.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Please,” Carlynn said. “Just tell us about Granny.”

“Well, she had a reputation,” he said slowly, leaning back in his chair, still obviously confused by whatever strange hunger he saw in their eyes. “She always fixed me up when I was a kid.”

“Do you mean she cleaned your cuts and put Band-Aids on them?” Alan asked.

“Or did she use herbs or her own special poultice?” Carlynn added.

Gabriel shook his head. “No. If I had a cut or hurt myself she would hold me, or put her hand on the place that had been injured, and she’d go into a trance of some sort and talk about God and Jesus, and I’d be better. Everyone in the family turned to her when they were sick. Even the neighbors. Even the white neighbors. I remember wishing she was still alive when I lost my fingers, although I’m not sure she could have done much about that.” He smiled.

“What was the most remarkable healing she ever performed?” Lisbeth asked.

“I think bringing my sister back from the dead was pretty remarkable,” Gabriel said. “But she also cured a neighbor boy’s polio.”

“Was this polio diagnosed by a physician?” Alan asked.

“Yes. And it was very obvious that he had it. He needed to use an iron lung sometimes. But Granny actually moved into his house, into the same room he lived in, and she’d pray with him and…I don’t know what-all she did, but that kid was cured in a month’s time.”

Alan turned to look at Carlynn, and she could see the question in his eyes. Can we tell him? he was asking her. They couldn’t keep hounding Gabriel with their own questions without telling him why they were filled with curiosity. She liked Gabriel, but she’d only known him for slightly more than an hour. And he worked at SF General, and he also liked to talk a lot. Who might he tell?

Lisbeth caught her eye, giving her the slightest of nods.

“All right, I’m beginning to feel left out here.” Gabriel set down his spoon, but the frustration in his voice had a playful edge to it. “You three are communicating with each other wordlessly, back and forth across this table, and I would love to know what the secret is.”

Carlynn took in a breath. “Can you keep this quiet?” she asked him.

“Of course.”

“I seem to be able to heal people sometimes,” she said. “I don’t know exactly how it happens, but that’s why we’re asking you questions about your great-grandmother. We’re all very interested in the phenomenon.”

“My.” Gabriel looked a bit stunned. “I wasn’t expecting that. Tell me more. How do you do it? Who have you healed?”

The three of them started talking at once, and the conversation lasted into dessert. They speculated about everything. Could his great-grandmother have cured the neighbor of polio without living in his room with him? And what did invoking the name of Jesus have to do with her healing?

“I think it’s all the same thing,” Alan said finally. “Whatever your great-grandmother did and what Carlynn does is connected. It’s not the religiosity involved. But maybe it does have to do with faith. I just don’t know.”

Gabriel looked at Lisbeth. “You must have this ability, too,” he said. “After all, you have the same genetic makeup as your sister. Have you ever tried?”

The color rose to Lisbeth’s cheeks. “I don’t have it,” she said with certainty. “There must be something more than genes at play.”

Gabriel covered her hand with his. “I guess one healer in a family is enough,” he said.

By the time they left the restaurant, Carlynn had the feeling she’d known Gabriel for years instead of hours. He fit in well with the three of them, and his adoration and admiration of Lisbeth was clear.