Age Verification

Dear Father,

I intended to return to the mines yesterday, but I'm afraid I got too distracted by the mill-folk. I really will have to speak with them sometime. I've sometimes seen Miss Gearbox around town running errands and may have an opportunity to converse with her yet.
However, the part of the city I would most often see her in has become inaccessible. (Either that or my poor sense of direction is kicking in, and it's actually another part of the city.) This morning, I made my way back in the direction of the urban area, and I was within sight of the places Miss Gearbox frequents when some horrible invisible thing knocked me back. I can't say for sure what it is. It doesn't seem to be solid like glass, but perhaps more similar to a pushy magnetic forcefield. I cannot run my hands along it, but my hands are repelled by it. Strangely enough, it doesn't do that to sticks. I can pick up a stick and run it through the barrier farther than my hands might go, but if the part of my hand that's holding the stick gets close enough, it'll bounce right back. I can throw pebbles quite a distance beyond it as well. I think it's only me the barrier wants to keep out. Maybe it's a living creature and it examines people's hearts or something. (In that case, I wonder if I should admit any of this to folks outside the family.) Or maybe it's an aetheric anomaly, but usually those are only temporary. It also could be some new technology of the Sparkpeople's, like a military experiment or something, but why put it in that particular spot? From my testing, it goes quite a long way and then bends sharply inward on itself at what seems to be a right angle, possibly surrounding a whole city district--but why? If it was put up intentionally, just what is it meant to protect from what?
In your extensive research, have you ever encountered anything like this?

Shaqad