As everyone does, they still broke things and they still fixed things, but never again with just a touch.
They found that everything the girl broke, the old woman could fix. In time, their curses seemed to fade, and eventually they disappeared completely.
The girl and the old woman headed down the mountain together. A butterfly landed on the girl’s shoulder, and its wings broke off. But with a touch, the old woman healed it, and it fluttered away on perfect wings.
The old woman gaped in surprise. “Well, I...” she started, but her excuse withered in her throat. She had hidden long enough.
The girl was touched by the old woman’s compassion. “I should head home. But why don’t you come with me? You don’t really want to spend the rest of your life in this cave, do you? We can figure this out together.”
“I was afraid of that,” she sighed. The old woman’s face softened. “You’re not giving up now, are you?” the old woman said. “You’ve come a long way.”
The girl felt unchanged. Her clothes were still torn, her backpack still spilling its guts. She plucked a mushroom growing on the damp cavern wall, and it shriveled in her hand. Nothing had changed.
A tingle passed through her fingers, up her arms, and made the hair on her neck stand up. A pop of light burst from between their hands, then the cave fell dark again. The two looked at each other, and looked at their hands.
The old woman, only half-convinced, stepped forward, and said, “alright.” She held out her hands, her palms up, and the girl stepped forward and placed her own hands on top.
“My family lives in a broken house, with broken cars, a broken table, and broken beds because of me. Even being turned into a newborn baby would be better than living like this. If I have to start my life all over I will, because I know it’ll be a whole life, not a broken one.”
“My problem,” the girl said, “is the opposite of yours. I’m cursed to break everything I touch. See my clothes? They were brand new this morning, but I put my feet in these boots and they immediately split, and I had my lunch in this backpack, but it burst open and spilled it all over the forest floor. When I stepped foot on the mountain, it caused an earthquake that broke the cliffs apart, and the rope bridge severed and fell into the ravine.”
“You don’t understand, the girl said, unmoved, “I have a problem to fix, and I think you can help me.”
The old woman scoffed, “What problem could you possibly have that my touch won’t make worse?”
“If I touch a butterfly, it becomes a tiny caterpillar. If I touch a person, they become a little baby. I once tried to eat a hamburger, and it became a cow and a handful of wheat. People have had to relive their entire lives because of me. I’ve turned entire towns back into forests. I can’t help you.”
“They may call me that, but I can’t fix things the way you want. I’m not just good at fixing things, I’m cursed to fix everything I touch. Oh sure, if you give me a broken vase I can make it whole, or a torn shirt I can mend it, but my touch doesn’t work that way for everything...”
The old woman stood and stared at her.
“Are you the fixer?” the girl asked.
She saw a cave and took shelter in it, and soon realized she wasn’t alone. Huddled in the corner was an old woman with her arms around herself.
