The Unwanted Gift

Twelve-year-old Katie does not want to spend her life laying hands on sick people to heal them as her grandmother has done for years. She doesn’t want the responsibility. When Granny says, “Katie, someday you’ll have the gift,” Katie hopes she’s wrong.

When younger, she’d thought it was a good idea. Now she knows the ‘gift of healing’ is more like a curse. Granny’s life is always interrupted by others wanting help. Katie doesn’t want a life like that. Before she can explain her feelings, her grandmother gets sick. Minutes before dying, she passes the ‘gift of healing’ to Katie – without Katie’s knowledge.

With Granny gone, Katie must live with a great-uncle who doesn’t believe in healers. Over time, Katie discovers she has the gift. She doesn’t want it, but uses it when people are in pain. When her great-uncle catches her helping someone, he forbids her to do so again.

Now she’s torn. She has the gift, but doesn’t want to use it. Yet she doesn’t want her great-uncle telling her what she can or cannot do. Her life should be her own – so what should she do about the unwanted gift?