"

He was right in one thing. He had me over a barrel. I squeezed my
eyelids shut and did something I hadn't done since that day twenty years
before when I had run away from home. I opened my mind to my mother.

* * * * *

Unless you have had the experience, you can't imagine what it is like to
live with a telepath. It is disquieting in the extreme. One of the
concomitants of consciousness is that it is _private_ consciousness. And
when this isn't true, when someone, even a loved one, can creep into
your mind and know what you think, your insides writhe. Caterpillars
course around under your skin. And you resent. Sooner or later you will
hate. I ran away from home because I couldn't stand Mother in my mind,
and couldn't bear the thought of hating her.

But now I _had_ to know what I should do to her. I let her into my
thoughts. _Give me some sign_, I thought, as I waved a hand at Fred for
quiet. _Mother, tell me what to do!_

_Poor Joe_, she thought. _He loves me in spite of it all. He can't bear
to do what he has to do. Joe!_ her mind shrieked at me. _You read my
mind!_

I snapped upright in my chair and grabbed its arms until I could hear my
knuckles crack. My mind snapped shut with an almost audible crack. _I
was a damned snake!_

I could dimly hear Fred yammering at me. With a sick fear I slowly
opened my mind again. His thoughts surged into it. Well, Anita had been
right. And Anita!

_Yes_, Mother thought. _She does love you, Joe. A lovely girl. You lucky
man._

Fred had me by the shoulder, yelling at me, shaking me, trying to get me
to speak. He was almost slavering in his greed. I paid him no heed.
_All right_, I thought. _What's to be done, Mother?_

_Throw the book at me_, Mother thought.

"Shut up, Fred. And sit down." He kept his tight grip on my shoulder.
"Sit down!" I yelled at him. "Three strikes and out, Fred. This is the
third order you've resisted today!"

"Now hear this," I said. "Under the powers vested in me ..." I sentenced
Mother to indefinite detention in Oklahoma. I threatened her with
worse--face it, the only worse thing was death--if she were found in a
restricted area again.

"Take her out, Fred," I said. He hadn't counted on my being able to do
it, and it left him without a plan. "Four times?" I asked him.

"No. No, Gyp. On my way," he said, taking Mother by the arm.

Anita started to follow him. I stopped her and waited until the door had
cl