Free Sara, Book 1 by Esther And Jerry Hicks Page B

offered.
    “I’ll practice this. I hope it works,” Sara called back over her shoulder as she left Solomon’s thicket. It would certainly be nice to be able to feel good no matter what. That really is what I want.

C HAPTER 18
    S ara’s mother’s car was in the driveway. That’s strange, Sara thought. She’s not supposed to be home this early.
    “Hi, I’m home,” Sara called out, as she opened the front door, surprising herself with such an unusual announcement of her arrival. But no answer came back. Sara put her books down on the dining room table and called again, walking through the kitchen into the hallway leading to the bedrooms, “Anybody home?”
    “I’m in here, honey,” Sara heard her mother’s quiet voice. The drapes in her mother’s bedroom were closed, and Sara’s mom was lying on her bed with a pink rolled towel across her eyes and forehead.
    “What’s wrong, Mom?” Sara asked.
    “Oh, I just have a headache, honey. It’s been hurting all day, and finally I decided I couldn’t stay at work another minute, so I came home.”
    “Is it better now?”
    “It feels better to have my eyes closed. I’ll just lie here for a little while. I’ll be out later. Close the door for me, and when your brother comes home, tell him I’ll be out later. Maybe if I can sleep for a little while, I’ll feel better.”
    Sara tiptoed out of the room and gently closed the door. She stood in the dark hallway for a bit, trying to decide what to do next. She knew what chores should be tended to, as she had done those same chores every day for as long as she could remember, but everything felt different somehow.
    Sara couldn’t remember the last time her mother had stayed home from work, sick, and there was something very unsettling about all of this. Sara had a knot in her stomach and she felt disoriented. She hadn’t realized how her mother’s usual stability and good humor had such a stabilizing influence on her own day.
    “I don’t like this,” Sara said aloud. “I hope Mom feels better, fast.”
    Sara. Sara heard Solomon’s voice. Does your happiness depend on the conditions around you? This might be a good opportunity to practice.
    “Okay, Solomon. But how do I practice? What am I supposed to do?”
    Just open your valve, Sara. When you feel bad, your valve is closed. So try to think thoughts that feel better until you feel your-valve open up again.
    Sara went out into the kitchen, but her thoughts were still mostly about her mother lying in her bed in the next room. Her mother’s purse was on the kitchen table, so Sara couldn’t stop thinking about her.
    Make a decision to do something, Sara. Think about your chores, and decide to do them in record time tonight. Think about doing something extra, something beyond your normal chores.
    And with that idea, Sara was inspired to instant action. She moved quickly and certainly, picking up things from around the house that had been misplaced slowly, over many hours last evening before bedtime, by various members of the family. She gathered and stacked the newspapers that seemed to cover most of the living room floor, and then dusted the table tops in the living room. She cleaned the sink and the bathtub in the family’s only bathroom. She emptied the garbage cans from the kitchen and the bathroom. She tidied the papers strewn across her father’s great big oak desk, which was awkwardly crammed in the corner of the living room, being careful not to move anything too far from where her father had placed it.
    She was never certain if there was order to his disorder, but she didn’t want to cause any problems. Her father actually spent very little time at that desk, and Sara often wondered why such a big piece of the living room had to be devoted to it. But it seemed to give her father a place to think, and, more important, a place to stash things he didn’t want to think about right now.
    She was moving quickly, with strong, decisive purpose, and it