We all have hidden talents. Mine is mind-reading. Somehow I can discern—without any meaningful evidence—when people disapprove of, or disagree with, something I’m saying or doing. It’s an amazing skill. And what’s truly amazing is how many of my friends share this wonderful gift. In fact, the world seems to be a thriving hive of mind-readers.

We mind-readers could be a useful or dangerous bunch … if we were any good at our hidden talent. But usually when we decide what other people are thinking, we couldn’t be further from the truth. And if we act on our fanciful imaginings, we only wind up hurting ourselves … as blues legend B.B. King once discovered. In a 1997 interview with writer Kira Albin for Grand Times magazine, King shared how his mind-reading skill combined with his love for potato pies to create a painful childhood moment.

Riley B. King was born in the Mississippi Delta, the Deep South where feasts follow births, deaths, and all occasions in between. Just about the only thing little Riley loved more than food was his mama, Nora Ella. But he feared her, too. She was a mama to be minded.

As they left one day to pay a call on friends in mourning, she warned Riley not to get carried away gorging himself on the tasty treats being brought to their friends by other visiting ladies.

You know that look I give you?

Yes, ma’am, Riley told her.

When I give you that look, that means you stop eating?

Between a look and a hot place

Riley had every intention of minding his mother. But that food was mighty good. And he was enjoying eating his fill of it. And then he spotted the saucer-size potato pies. Ooo, Riley loved those potato pies. But just as he reached for the pie, Nora Ella glanced his way.

It’s the look! Riley thought. He couldn’t defy his mother—but he couldn’t pass up that potato pie, either. He grabbed it and shoved it into the pocket of his short pants.

When Nora Ella glanced back a few seconds later, her little boy implored her with tear-streaming eyes. Pulling Riley outside, she asked what was wrong. He pointed to his shorts. The potato pie had been so hot it had left a terrible burn on his leg. Nora Ella started crying, too, and said she hadn’t even given him that look yet. He’d felt guilty about his munching and had read into her look criticism that wasn’t there.

Nora Ella doctored young Riley’s burn and soothed his pain with a fresh potato pie. The incident stayed with him, providing the adult B.B. King a valuable life lesson about not reading more into a look than he should.