“Okay.” He stared down at the hot sidewalk as he spoke. “Something changed in me just recently. And now it’s like . . . like when I’m near an animal . . . dog, horse, steer, buck, whatever . . . when they feel something unusual—really big or really sudden—if they’re scared, or in pain, I feel it too. I don’t want it. I don’t want this to be happening to me, but it just is. I can’t help it. I can’t make it stop.”
