"Martin, I'd like you to meet my friend Don. He's the guy I told you about yesterday," Gus said.

"How ya doing," Martin said as he looked at Don. "Thank you for coming."

"Well, don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything," Don said as he looked at Martin with his big, wide, piercing eyes.

Martin didn't know what to expect.

"So which ankle is it?" Don asked.

"Right here," Martin said as he pointed to it.

"Ah yes," Don said as he put his hands on the ankle and looked up to the ceiling.

"What do you think?" Martin asked nervously.

"I think we can make it better."

"How?"

Don put his finger to his mouth as though to say shhhhsh.

Then he grabbed Martin's ankle in his hands and started to maneuver it.

"Aoooowwwww," Martin squealed uncomfortably.

"He's a loud one," Don said in a quite calm voice to Gus.

"Have you ever heard of acupuncture?" Don asked Martin, trying to calm him down.

Martin nodded in pain.

"Well, acupuncture is all about stimulating the energy, or chi, in the body, to create energy flow. The body is made of energy. Everyone knows that. It's in all the science books and everything. We look physical but at the core we're all energy. A healthy body is like a river that is flowing. An injured body is like a river that is dammed up. Injuries stop energy flow. I create energy flow so the body can heal more quickly. Acupuncture creates a trickle of energy flow. Me, I create the gush. I open up the dam."

"How do you do it?" Martin asked as he watched Don massage the back of his calf down to his Achilles' heel.

"Years of studying the anatomical structure of the body," he said. "Years of living in Asia. And years of practice. It's also a gift. I'm a conduit for the power. See this," Don said as squeezed Martin's calf. "This is your problem. Tightness here caused your ankle to weaken and buckle. Everything in the body is connected. You need to keep it healthy, aligned, and flowing."

Don continued squeezing and touching different parts of the ankle and calf as Martin winced in pain. "Don't worry, it hurts now but it will feel better later. And tomorrow you'll have a new and improved ankle," Don said as he closed his eyes and continued his work.

"What do you mean that you're a conduit for the power?" Martin asked, concerned that Don was a little off his rocker.

"The power that flows through everything," Don said, as if Martin should know this. "I don't do the healing. I'm just the conduit. That's my gift. I allow the power to flow through me."

"How?" Martin asked. He was now very curious.

"Philippians 4:13," Don said as he finished working on Martin's ankle. "Well, you're good to go. You're going to love the way you feel tomorrow," he said as he looked intensely into Martin's eyes, reached into his pocket, and handed him a bracelet that said "Heal Strong" on it. "Wear this and pray that your ankle will be stronger tomorrow than it was before the injury. Until next time," he said, acknowledging Gus, and then he walked out the door.

Martin and Gus looked at each other. "Like I said, strange but gifted," Gus whispered.

"You got that right," Martin responded as he put the bracelet on next to the one his mother had given him. He only hoped that Don in all his strangeness was right about him feeling great tomorrow.