Sara, Book 3 (11 page)

Then Annette excitedly pulled her foot from the loop and jumped onto the riverbank. “Sara, Sara!” Annette called from down
below. “I have an idea! Do you want to learn how to fly upside down?”

Sara felt a surge of enthusiasm move through her. “Yeah!” she replied enthusiastically.

“Okay, but you’ll have to come down here.”

“Down there?” Sara felt disappointed. “I want to fly from up here.”

“I know, and you will, but you have to start down here.”

Sara climbed down the ladder. Annette was rolling up her pant legs.

“What are you doing?” Sara asked.

“We’ll have to wade out into the river. Sara, I learned to hang on the rope in a gymnasium. You have to practice just hanging
first to get comfortable with the rope, before you can jump out of a tree and hang upside down. You have to learn the basics
first, Sara, and then you can fly from the tree.”

“Oh.” Sara was disappointed, but she was sure that Annette was right. “Annette, I don’t think it’s a good idea to wade out
into the river. Some places out there are a lot deeper than you think, and the current is stronger than it looks.”

Annette looked out into the river. “I guess you’re right, Sara.”

Sara liked it that Annette had trusted her opinion about the river, but now what would they do?

“So now what?” Annette whined. “It’s too dangerous to hang upside down up there, and it’s too dangerous to hang upside down,
down here.”

“Well, we know what we
don’t
want,” Annette said slowly, as if she were trying to replay what she had just learned from Solomon. “We don’t want you to
break your neck on your first rope trick, and we don’t want to wash downstream in the river. What we
do
want,” she said loudly, “is another rope. Sara, do you know of any other rope hanging around here anywhere?”

Sara squinted her eyes trying to think. “Yes,” Sara said happily. “There’s a rope hanging in my backyard. It has an old tire
hanging on it, but we could take that off.”

“Let’s go,” Annette said with a smile. “Let’s go see your rope.”

The girls gathered their things and nearly ran all the way to Sara’s backyard. “Well, here it is,” Sara said, out of breath,
as she dropped her things on the grass and right away began to tug on the knot that tied the tire. “What do you think? You
think we can get this tire off?”

“Oh, Sara, don’t bother with that. This rope isn’t big enough anyway. The rope has to be much bigger than this for you to
hang on it. This won’t do. We’ll have to find another.”

Sara felt such disappointment. She was ready to begin hanging upside down right now!

“I guess we could ask the gym teacher if we could hang a rope up in the gym at school. I think that’s where Seth got the ropes
he used in the tree house.”

“Yeah, right,” Annette said sarcastically. “And about a year from now, after your parents have filled out, like, a thousand
permission forms, and the school has purchased the proper insurance and nets and hired professional spotters, you’d have your
first fun time on the rope.”

“Well, it sure is easy to figure out what won’t work and what we don’t want. I guess we should try what Solomon was talking
about. I guess we should talk about our new desire.”

“We want a rope, and we want it now!” Annette said, laughing.

“We want a great big rope,” Sara added, playfully.

“We want a great big, silky, smooth rope,” Annette added.

“We want it to be hanging from a tree or . . .”

“Or from a bridge . . .”

“Or from the sky . . .”

The girls laughed.

“Yeah, that’s it. We need a giant hook in the sky,” Annette said.

“A giant hook!” Sara exclaimed. I know where there’s a giant hook. I know where there’s a giant hook with a giant rope hanging
from it. It’s in the barn. It’s in the Wilsenholms’ barn. I remember now! I saw it when I was getting the ladder to save Mrs.
Wilsenholm’s kitten!”

“Where is this barn, Sara? Let’s go!”

“This is great fun,” Sara said. “I mean, we’re doing just what Solomon said: First, we figured out what we
didn’t
want, like me falling from the rope and breaking my neck or washing downstream, which helped us to know more clearly what
we
did
want. And the more we thought about it, the clearer it got, until we even figured out where the perfect rope is to practice
on. Now, all we have to do is make sure we’re letting it in. Well, it feels like we’re letting it in, doesn’t it?” I mean,
I thought it was pretty amazing that you remembered the rope in the barn.”

“But when I think about going to the Wilsenholms’ barn without asking, that feels really uncomfortable. And when I think
about asking if we can go there, that feels uncomfortable, too.”

“So now what?”

“I think we might be taking action too soon. And it’s getting sort of late. Let’s meet at the tree house tomorrow. We’ll ask
Solomon.”

“Okay, see ya tomorrow.”

C
HAPTER
21

S
ara had been thinking all night about the rope hanging in the Wilsenholm barn, and she could hardly wait to begin hanging
upside down on it. At first, the only idea that really thrilled her was that of flying through the air, hanging upside-down
with her arms stretched out in front of her, like she’d seen Annette do, but Sara had left those thoughts behind. And now
she was fixated on the idea of getting into the Wilsenholms’ barn and learning all the tricks that Annette was ready to teach
her, “learning the basics,” as Annette had said.

The next day after school, Sara and Annette went to the tree house, and almost as soon as the girls sat down on the platform,
Solomon glided down to join them.
Well, hello, my little chickadees.
I see a fresh, clear desire has been hatched.

Sara and Annette laughed.

“Oh, Solomon, are we glad to see you!” Annette began. “We’ve hatched a new desire, but now we don’t know how to make it happen.”

Well, that’s not really your job, Annette. In fact, it seems to me that you have already completed your most important work: You have given birth to the new desire.

“But Solomon, we haven’t done anything! There’s still so much that needs to be done before—”

Well, Annette, I agree that there is much more that will unfold here, but the most important thing has already happened. You have given birth to a clearly focused desire. Now, all you have to do is allow it.

“Solomon, you make that all sound so easy. ‘Just allow it, just let it in’—but shouldn’t we
do
something?”

Once your desire has been hatched, then the most important thing that you could do is to allow your desire. And you know you are allowing your desire whenever thinking about it feels good to you. And of course, you can also allow something by not thinking about it at all. Actually, the only time you are not allowing good things to come to you is when you are feeling bad.

If I were standing in your physical shoes, I would do anything I could think of that makes me feel good when I’m doing it.

“So, you wouldn’t be running all over town trying to find a rope to hang from?”

Well, I might be doing that, if that were a fun thing to do. But if it wasn’t fun, I’d be doing something else. I’ve noticed that once your desire has been launched, if you are happy, the pieces just seem to fall into place. You practically trip right over them. The path continually unfolds before you. I seem to remember, Sara has witnessed that a time or two.

When Sara heard her name, she jumped a little. As Solomon had been talking, she had been deep in thought about the seemingly
miraculous things that had happened to her and Seth. So many happy endings, to what seemed like impossible situations, had
resulted from them looking for things to feel good about—and not trying so hard to make things happen. But those had been
much bigger problems than just trying to find a rope to hang upside down on.

“Solomon,” Sara asked, “does this all work better if it really matters a lot?”

Actually, Sara, it always works, whether your desire is big or small. But I have noticed that when your desire is greater, you do tend to work harder on feeling good. And the better you feel, the faster it works—because the better you feel, the more you are allowing your desire to be answered.

Thinking about what you want—and why you want it—is usually a good tool to get you in that place of allowing quickly.

Annette spoke very slowly, carefully choosing every word: “We want to find a strong, thick hanging rope—
because
I want to show Sara how to safely hang upside-down.”

Very good, Annette,
Solomon said, smiling.

“And I want to find a strong, thick, secure hanging rope—
because
I want to learn to hang upside-down,
because
I want to fly on the rope like Annette does,” Sara added, enthusiastically.

“And
because
there are so many really fun things to do on the rope that I haven’t done in a long time,” Annette added.

“And
because
I want to learn to do all of
those
fun things, and
because
I want to fly on the rope when Seth comes back,” Sara said, grinning.

Sara and Annette beamed, almost breathless from their little rampage of enthusiasm.

Solomon smiled.
Well, girls, you certainly have been practicing the Art of Allowing here. And did you notice how good it felt, just to think about what you want, and that you didn’t actually have to be doing it right now, in order to feel good?

“Yeah, Solomon, it was pretty much fun. And
doing
it will
really
be fun.”

It surely wil be fun, Sara. I surely do agree. And it is being fun. And now, I believe I will go enjoy the evening sky. I have enjoyed our chat, my fine featherless fiends.

“Did he say fiends?” Annette laughed, as Solomon lifted into the sky.

“Yes, he did.” Sara laughed. “He’s so funny.”

Sara and Annette each took a turn on the rope. Sara went first and landed perfectly on the riverbank below, and then she stood
back up against the tree to watch Annette’s flight, watching every detail of Annette’s perfect technique. For a moment, she
felt a little impatience rising within her. She could hardly wait for her turn at flying upside down.
Uh-oh,
she thought,
I’m not letting it in.
She could feel that this type of impatience didn’t feel very good. “Well, it won’t be long before I’m flying like that!” Sara
said, right out loud—and the uncomfortable feeling softened. “Look at how beautiful she is,” Sara said. “She is so nice to
be willing to teach all of this to me.” With those words, the uncomfortable feeling went away altogether. Sara felt wonderful!

Annette did her usual perfect dismount, and then the girls gathered their things and wound their way down the path. It was
really not very far from the tree house back to the paved street, but the path took all kinds of interesting turns, and it
always felt like a fun adventure. They happily walked and chatted their way along, knowing every log to jump over, and every
bush to duck under, along this densely wooded and very shaded path.

They popped out of the shadows onto the roadway, both squinting as their eyes adjusted to the bright light.

“Watch out!” Annette shouted, as both girls came to a screeching halt, barely avoiding a collision with someone crouching
down on the roadway, right at the entrance to their path.

“Mrs. Wilsenholm!” Sara shouted. “Are you all right?”

“Oh yes, Sara.” Mrs. Wilsenholm laughed. “I’m all right. It’s such a beautiful day, so I decided to walk to the market. But
I always buy more than I plan to, and the bottom just fell right out of my bag. Oh, dear, I seem to be scattered all over
the place.”

Sara and Annette gathered the scattered cans and bottles and oranges. It was no wonder the flimsy bag had broken.

“We can use our book bags,” Sara offered. “If we put some of your things in each bag, there should be enough room for all
of this.”

“That’s a great idea,” Annette agreed.

Mrs. Wilsenholm watched Sara and Annette carefully stash her scattered groceries into their book bags.

“Well, you girls have certainly saved me, today. Sara, it seems that you come to my rescue rather regularly. I don’t believe
I’ve met your friend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sara said. “Mrs. Wilsenholm, this is my friend, Annette. Annette, this is Mrs. Wilsenholm.”

Annette smiled politely, and looked at Sara. Both girls managed to outwardly appear poised and polite, while inwardly they
were turning cartwheels. Solomon had just told them that the pieces to the puzzle would just show up—that sometimes you seem
to just trip right over them—but this was too much!

The girls hiked the book bags up onto their backs, and the three of them walked down the country road together. Sara smiled
as she thought about what an odd threesome they would appear to anyone passing by, but no one did pass by.

“Your bags are wonderful,” Mrs. Wilsenholm said. “What a good invention. We didn’t have anything like that when I was a girl,
but then, we didn’t tote a cartload of books home either. My, my, your bags must be very heavy, though. I’m so sorry to have
troubled you.”

“Oh, no, ma’am, they aren’t too heavy. These backpacks are made to carry heavy things. We’re glad to help you.”

“What a beautiful place this is,” Annette said, as Mrs. Wilsenholm opened the gate, and the odd threesome made their way down
the entry path.

“This is so beautiful!” Annette said, again. “It’s like a park. This is
so
beautiful.” Annette didn’t realize how much she had missed the well-tended lawns and flower gardens of her former life in
the city. The people in Sara’s little mountain town were rather practical in their approach to life. Most managed to keep
the weeds down by occasionally mowing or turning goats or horses loose to graze, but a manicured lawn was a rare thing. And,
for the most part, the only flowers there were wild ones that grew randomly, with no care given by anyone. Annette’s eyes
passed over Mrs. Wilsenholm’s lovely grounds, eagerly devouring every detail. She felt as if she just couldn’t take it all
in fast enough.

Mrs. Wilsenholm beamed. She took great pride in her gardens and lawns, and it was wonderful to feel Annette’s genuine appreciation
for them. “Well, I’m glad you like my gardens, Annette. Most folks around here don’t seem to care much about them. But then,
I guess I didn’t really plant them for anybody else, anyway, did I now? Leave your bags on the porch here, and come and walk
with me. I’ll give you the grand tour.”

Sara smiled to herself.
Annette and Mrs. Wilsenholm are certainly hitting it off well,
she thought.

“Come around to the back, girls. I’ll show you my lily pond and my herb garden.”

Hmm,
Sara thought.
I didn’t know she had a lily pond or an herb garden.
Sara felt a little pang of sadness move through her as she realized she had not taken any great interest in Mrs. Wilsenholm’s
beautiful gardens. As she watched how happy Annette’s interest was making Mrs. Wilsenholm, Sara wished she had been more aware.

Annette walked, listened, pointed, and exclaimed at one beautiful thing after another. Sara followed along, feeling little
or no interest in the plants and such, but enjoying very much how much the two of them were enjoying all of it.

“What’s going in over there?” Annette asked, pointing off in the distance toward the back of the property. “Well, I’ve finally
convinced my husband to put in a swimming pool,” Mrs. Wilsenholm said. “I’ve wanted one for years. There’s just nothing as
good for a body as to relax and move in the water. Gravity takes its toll on tired old bones, you know. Well, I guess you
don’t know. But it does. In the water, you’re nearly weightless. I was quite a swimmer when I was your age.”

“Did you compete?” Annette asked eagerly.

“Oh my, yes,” Mrs. Wilsenholm answered.

“I love that. Do you have trophies?”

“I do. Quite a few, actually. I’m not sure just where they are these days, but I have a trunkload of them somewhere. Last
time I saw that trunk, it was in the barn loft. Are you a competitive swimmer, Annette?”

“No, ma’am, not swimming. Acrobatics. I’ve done it since I was little. But I’d love to compete in swimming!”

The barn!
Sara shouted in her mind.
Where is the barn?
While Annette and Mrs. Wilsenholm were politely chatting on and on about swimming, Sara was feeling sudden panic, as she realized
the barn was gone.

“Mrs. Wilsenholm!” Sara blurted. “What happened to the barn?”

“Oh, that old thing. Mr. Wilsenholm had it torn down, Sara. That’s where the swimming pool is going in.”

Sara and Annette looked at each other. They both felt as if a big door had just banged shut before them.

“Oh,” Sara said softly.

“Well, I guess we should go,” Annette said. “Thank you so much for the tour, Mrs. Wilsenholm. Everything is very beautiful.
I’ve loved seeing it all.”

“Well, you come back, anytime, Annette. You too, Sara. You are most welcome in my gardens.”

“Thank you,” Annette replied.

Sara smiled and nodded. She was so overwhelmed with disappointment that she didn’t say anything. The girls walked down the
path and out the big front gates.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Sara said.

“See ya at the tree house tomorrow?” Annette asked.

“Yeah, see ya.”