“Fear,” declaimed Mrs. Busby, rising out of reach of the suspended rocker, and taking the Morris chair deserted by Innes Hardin. “Fear is poison.” She watched the effect of her words, for a careful second. She had no intention of being entertained any more!
She answered the round question in Mrs. Parrish’s eyes.
“I’m only just beginning it—I see it as plain as prophecy, but it’s hard to explain. The fear of a thing gives you a thing itself. There is no such thing as pain.” A loud protest from Mrs. Parrish warned her into guarding her outposts. “There is no such thing as pain. It is only fear of the pain which gives it to you. It is so clear to me; I wish I could explain it. But I’ve some pamphlets; I’ll send them over by Sam, the next time he comes over to the Wistaria. This new canal ought to be helping you over here,” she hazarded.
“I heard as you were taking that up, the new thoughts,” Mrs. Parrish returned to the main issue. “Is that a part of it?”
“Fear? you mean. Have you never thought yourself into a toothache?”
Parrish toothache had been too recent to be imaginary. “It’s decay, usually, with me,” she faltered. “Decay, and then the nerves get exposed. Mine die easily. I just lie awake sometimes, all night, dreading as one of my nerves will die, and with no good dentist this side of Los Angeles.”
“Didn’t I tell you so?” Mrs. Busby thrilled over this unexpected ally. “Well, if you agree that you can think yourself into a pain, can’t you think yourself out of it? It must work both ways. That’s logic.”
“Not a toothache.” The black beady eyes, shut obstinately over their conviction. “That’s real. Perhaps you never had one?”
“Not since I’ve begun to study. And besides, they’re false. They’re not mine, the teeth, I mean. Didn’t you never guess it? Pretty good work, I tell Sam. They fool every one. He put in two large gold fillings in the front teeth, so as they’d look just like the ones I lost. There’s Sam coming now. I promised I’d not keep him waitin’. I’ll send you those leaflets. And I’ll come out and explain them some day. But I’m busy now, getting ready for the hot weather. Goin’ out this year?”
Mrs. Parrish thought not.