Sara, Book 3 (13 page)

C
HAPTER
24

A
nnette had let Sara know that she wouldn’t be coming to the tree house for a few days, as her family was going to the city
to visit her aunt, so Sara took her time walking home from school. She decided to stop at Pete’s Drugstore to get a candy
bar.

Sara paid for her candy bar, and as she opened the door of the drugstore to leave, Mrs. Wilsenholm walked in.

“Oh, hello, Sara,” Mrs. Wilsenholm said. “I’m so glad to run into you.”

Sara laughed, thinking about the last time they ran into each other, when she and Annette nearly ran right over Mrs. Wilsenholm
on the path. Mrs. Wilsenholm knew exactly what Sara was laughing about, and she laughed, too. “These are a little better circumstances
now, aren’t they, honey?”

“Yes,” Sara said, still smiling.

“Sara, I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t seem to be very happy about my new swimming pool. I want you to know that
you and your nice friends are more than welcome to swim in it as soon as it’s completed. Everyone in town won’t be coming
by, you understand? But I like you and that sweet girl. Annette? Is that right? And of course, your friend Seth. The three
of you are most welcome. Unless you don’t want to come, of course. You do like to swim, don’t you, Sara?”

“Oh yes, ma’am. That’s very nice of you. I’m happy that you’re building a swimming pool. I think it will be very nice for
you. I just—” Sara’s voice trailed off.

“What, dear?”

“I was just so surprised that the barn was gone.”

“Oh, that dilapidated old thing. That barn was as old as the hills. Nearly as old as I am.”

Sara laughed. Mrs. Wilsenholm was really a very funny lady.

“Sara, come in and sit with me and have a soda. I hate to sit alone. What would you like?” Mrs. Wilsenholm headed for a table
at the back of the drugstore, not waiting for an answer from Sara, but just assuming that Sara would follow right along.

Sara followed her, and they slipped into a big booth at the rear of the drugstore. Mrs. Wilsenholm ordered a root-beer float.
“Old Pete still makes the best float in the world,” Mrs. Wilsenholm said. “Would you like a float, Sara?”

“Yes, please,” Sara smiled. It was hard to pass by on anything reported to be the best in the world.

“Now, Sara, tell me, what was it about my old barn that was so important to you?”

Mrs. Wilsenholm was beginning to feel like an old friend. It felt nice to have an adult be so completely interested in Sara’s
interests.

“Well,” Sara began, “Annette can swing . . .” Sara stopped right in the middle of her sentence. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so
wise to tell the owner of the trees that they were swinging from that one of them was hanging by her knees upside down over
the river. What if this information made Mrs. Wilsenholm feel guarded? What if all of them were banished from the tree house?

“Go on, Sara. What is it that your friend Annette does?”

“Well,” Sara stalled, trying to decide how to approach this delicate subject, “Annette is a gymnast. She’s really very good
at it. She can . . . she said she would teach me some of the tricks she can do, but first we needed to find a large sturdy
rope. And I remembered seeing one in your barn. We thought we would ask you if we could practice there, sometimes, but the
barn isn’t there anymore, so I guess that’s that.”

“Well, now, Sara, that seems like a rather simple problem to solve. We don’t need a barn to hang a rope in, now, do we? Not
with all of these trees around here. I’ll tell you what, honey, I’ll ask Mr. Wilsenholm what became of that big old rope,
and we’ll just find a place to hang it. I’ll bet your friend Seth could find a place for you over by your tree house.”

Sara jumped as Mrs. Wilsenholm spoke. It felt strange to have anyone except Sara and Annette and Seth, talking about the tree
house. The waitress brought the root-beer floats. Sara immediately began sipping on her straw, trying to hide her uneasiness
about Mrs. Wilsenholm’s casual mention of the tree house.

“I walk there quite often,” Mrs. Wilsenholm continued. Sara could hardly believe what she was hearing. Mrs. Wilsenholm goes
to their private tree house?

Mrs. Wilsenholm noticed Sara’s uneasiness. “I usually go there while you kids are in school. There’s a large, flat rock at
the river’s edge that I particularly enjoy. It’s a good place to sit and be still. There’s nothing like the feel of water
moving by to lift one’s spirits. I never go there when I think you and your friends might be there, Sara. I know how important
it is to have a private place to be.”

Sara took a deep breath and then sucked on her straw again.

“Isn’t that a good root beer float?”

“Yes, it is,” Sara answered. “Thank you so much for inviting me.”

“I saw a very big owl in the tree house last week, Sara.” Mrs. Wilsenholm said, carefully studying Sara’s reaction as she
spoke. “Have you seen it?”

Sara choked as she drank. She put her napkin over her face as she tried to compose herself. She could not believe what she
was hearing.

“It’s really a beautiful thing. It flew out across the river and then right up into your tree house, and then it swooped right
down to the river, right past where I was sitting. It was as if it was looking me over. And then it flew right back up into
your tree house. Have you ever seen it, Sara?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sara said, trying to sound calm and not very interested. “I’ve seen it around.”

“Hmm.”

Sara held her breath.

“That’s what I love about the country, Sara. There are so many beautiful birds and animals that live all around us. They’re
wary of us humans, and well they should be. But it’s nice how we all get along. I like to think that this world is big enough
for all of us. I like sharing my trees with you and your friends, Sara, and with that owl, too.”

Sara sighed a sigh of relief.
That felt too close,
she thought
.
And then she thought,
I sure do like this lady.

Sara sucked the last drop of her delicious root-beer float from the bottom of her glass, making a very loud slurping sound.
Mrs. Wilsenholm did the same thing at the same time. They both laughed.

“I’ll ask Mr. Wilsenholm about the rope tonight, Sara. We’ll figure out how to get it up in the tree, once we find the rope.”

Sara wanted to find the words to somehow tell Mrs. Wilsenholm that she really didn’t want anyone going to the tree house to
hang the rope. But how could Sara tell Mrs. Wilsenholm that someone wasn’t welcome on her own property?

“On second thought,” Mrs. Wilsenholm added, “maybe it’s better if nobody else goes over there. No point in everyone in town
knowing about your secret place.”

Sara felt relief. And then surprise. Mrs. Wilsenholm seemed to be reading her mind.

“Well, we’ll figure something out, Sara. I’ll let you know, once we find the rope.”

“Okay, thanks,” Sara said. “And thank you for the best root beer float in the world.”

“You’re welcome, honey. I’ll see you later.”

C
HAPTER
25

“S
olomon, did you know that Mrs. Wilsenholm knows about you?”

Why does that surprise you so, Sara?

“Because, Solomon, you’re supposed to be a secret. I thought that Seth and now Annette were the only ones who knew about you
besides me.”

Mrs. Wilsenholm must have been about your age, Sara, when we first met.

“What!? You knew her when she was a girl?”

Her name is Madeline, you know. Everyone called her Maddie back then. She was quite a tomboy, Sara.
These trees weren’t quite as big back then as they are now, but still, she spent a great deal of time in the top branches of these old trees. Her father owned the sawmill and lumberyard, and before he died, he left it to Mrs.
Wilsenholm and her husband.

“Solomon, how did Mrs. Wilsenholm, I mean, Maddie, how did she meet you?”

I think it would be a good idea if you ask Maddie to tell you about that.

Sara felt disappointed. She really wanted to hear more about how Solomon had known Mrs. Wilsenholm when she was a young girl.
Sara had felt reluctant to admit her own relationship with Solomon to Mrs. Wilsenholm. Solomon had been such a well-guarded
secret for so long that it felt wrong to begin speaking openly about him to anyone else.

I’ll talk to you later, sweet girl,
Solomon said, stretching his wings, getting ready to fly away.

“Solomon, wait,” Sara said quickly.

Solomon folded his wings back against his body and looked lovingly at Sara.

“Solomon, how many other people in town know about you?”

Oh, I suppose there have been quite a few, over the years, Sara. But most of them no longer remember our encounter. Some of them never recognized me at all; others knew me and then, in time, forgot all about me.

“I’ll never forget you, Solomon!” Sara cried out. “How could anyone ever—”

Maddie is one of those rare ones, like you, Sara, with whom I have an eternal connection. She has an eternal connection to you, too. Have a wonderful evening, Sara.

Solomon flew up into the sky and out of view.

Sara sat on the floor of the tree house. Her head was spinning with all of this new information. She couldn’t decide what
to do next, or even how to feel. She wanted to find Seth and tell him everything that she had learned; this felt like such
big information, too big to keep all to herself.

I have an eternal connection to Mrs. Wilsenholm?
Sara thought.
That’s weird. I wonder what Solomon meant? Is that why Mrs. Wilsenholm keeps showing up just at the right time to help us?

“Sara! I’m so glad you’re still here. I thought maybe I’d miss you!”

“Seth! Seth! Am I glad to see you! What in the world are you doing here? I thought you weren’t supposed to be here! Won’t
you get in trouble? Oh, Seth, I’ve missed you! I have so much to tell you!”

Sara looked at Seth. It was so good to see him.

“Seth, you’re all better. I can’t even see where your cuts were. Seth, you didn’t get any scars!”

“Nah,” Seth answered nonchalantly. “I never get scars.”

Sara smiled. There was so much to talk about.

“When I got home from school today,” Seth continued, “my mother said that my dad had called and said that I should meet him
and Mr. Wilsenholm over at the stables, to do some sort of chore for them. So I went to the stables, and my dad gave me a
gigantic rope and said that I was to take it to Mrs. Wilsenholm. My dad said that he had offered to take it to her in the
ranch pickup, but that Mr. Wilsenholm made a very specific point that Mrs. Wilsenholm wanted
me
to bring it to her. So, my dad said, “She’s the boss. It’s not my job to question her.” So he told me to take her the rope
and do whatever she wanted me to do with it. Something about how she had a project for me that might take a few weeks after
school, if I was willing. And then my dad looked me right in the eye, and said, ‘And you are willing, aren’t you, son?’”

Sara began to laugh. In fact, she couldn’t stop laughing.

Seth grinned, enjoying Sara’s uncontrollable laughter. “Sara, Sara, what’s so funny? Tell me, Sara, what’s so funny?”

“Oh, boy, do I have a lot to tell you,” Sara said, still laughing, but trying to stop. “She’s one of us, Seth.”

“Who is? What do you mean?”

“Maddie. Mrs. Wilsenholm. She’s one of us. She knows about Solomon, Seth. She’s known about Solomon since she was our age.”

“Sara, what in the world?” Seth just couldn’t imagine what Sara was going on about.

“Seth, think about it. Think about how Mrs. Wilsenholm keeps popping up in our lives at just the right moment. Remember how
she saved our tree house and the trees?”

“Yes,” Seth said hesitantly.

“And remember how it was
her
idea that your dad be the ranch foreman?”

Seth nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

“And now, look at this. Not only did she manage to fix it so you’re allowed back in the tree house, she got your father to
order
you here. Oh, Seth, she is just the most amazing woman. And she’s one of us, Seth! She knows about Solomon.”

“Sara, how do you
know
all of this?”

“I keep bumping into her, literally. It seems like everywhere I go, she’s there. And she invited me to have a root beer float
with her, and she told me that she comes to the tree house really often, but not when us kids are here, because she knows
we like our privacy. And that she has been coming to this place in the woods for years. And she said that she saw a big owl
in our tree house—and she asked me if I had ever seen it.”

“Solomon?! She saw Solomon?” Seth asked.

“Yes, and when I told Solomon that she’d seen him, he didn’t blink an eye. He just calmly said, ‘Oh yes, Maddie and I have
been friends for years.’ He said lots of people in this town knew about him when they were kids like us, but most of them
don’t remember. But Mrs. Wilsenholm still remembers.”

“Sara! Seth! I am so glad you’re here!” Annette shouted breathlessly as she climbed up the ladder to the tree house.

“Annette, you’re back! This is so great! Did you have a good time? Oh, Annette, you’re not going to believe what’s happened.”

“Tell me. What’s going on? Seth, what are
you
doing here? Aren’t you going to get in trouble? Look at you. You’re all better. Seth, you look so good.”

Seth began to laugh. The girls were both talking so fast. It felt so nice for all three to be back together again. “Not only
will I not be in trouble,” Seth spoke slowly and deliberately. “I have, in fact, been
ordered
to be here.”

Sara nodded. “Oh, boy, Annette, do we have a lot to tell you!”

“Sara, you got the rope!” Annette said, excitedly. “How’d you know?” Sara asked.

“Because I saw it in the wheelbarrow down there!” Annette said, leaning over the edge of the railing and pointing down below.

Sara and Annette stood, leaning against the railing, looking down at the long-awaited rope—and beamed at each other. “We did
it!” they both said at the same time.

“Yeah, what’s with this
rope
anyway?” Seth asked.

“Where to start?” Sara said, shaking her head.

“It was Solomon’s idea,” Annette chimed in.

“Well, yeah, sort of,” Sara said. “We were in the tree house right after you got banished, and we were really missing you.
We weren’t having any fun without you here. And when we asked Solomon what to do, he said (you know what he always says) to
find a thought that feels better. But we couldn’t find anything about your not being here that felt good. Even when we tried
to think happy thoughts about you, it just reminded us that you weren’t here.

“So, Solomon said we should think about something else. So, we took turns swinging from the rope. And then Annette got the
idea that she could teach me how to fly upside down. And then she said that we needed to find a big thick rope so that I could
practice hanging upside down before I jumped out of the tree to try it. And then, we sort of forgot about how sad we were
that you weren’t here. And then it became our mission to find a big rope . . .”

Sara’s voice trailed off. She began to laugh.

Annette was laughing, too.

“What’s so funny?” Seth asked.

“Solomon is such a clever bird.” Sara said.

Solomon swooped down from high up in the tree.
Well, now, I see the gang’s all here.

“Solomon, it worked!”

“What worked?” Seth couldn’t figure out what they were all talking about.

Of course it worked, Sara. It always works.

“What always works?” Seth still didn’t understand.

Everything always works.
Solomon smiled.
Anything and everything that you ever could want always works out—if you’ll only let it.

Sara and Annette sat smiling and listening.

“It sure is easier to hear you say those words today, Solomon, than last month, when Seth was banished from this place.” Annette
said.

Solomon smiled.

“Solomon, did you know, all along, how this would all turn out?”

You will never be in a place where it has “all turned out,” because it is always in the process of becoming more.

“But you know what I mean. Did you know that Mrs. Wilsenholm was going to fix it so that Seth could come back to the tree
house?”

Well, Sara, I didn’t spend any time trying to figure out how it would come about. But I did know that it
would
come about, because I know that whatever you ask for is always answered. You see, whenever you ask for anything, it is always given. It’s your job to let it in.

“The Art of Allowing,” Sara added, smiling.

That’s right, Sara. There are three steps to achieving anything that you desire. Step One is: to ask for it. Step Two is: the answering. And Step Three is: you have to let it in.

“Sounds simple enough,” Seth said. “So what’s the catch?”

The catch?
Solomon asked.

“Yeah. It can’t be that simple, Solomon. I’ve asked for lots of things that I didn’t get. There are people all over the place
who want things and are asking for them, who aren’t getting them. So what’s the catch?”

Solomon smiled.
Well, Seth, the “catch” is that when you are asking for something that you do not have, you are usually so aware that you don’t have it that everything about you is pulsing and oozing the feeling of not having it. And when you are radiating signals about not having something—you can’t let it in.

You have to be radiating a signal that matches your own desire before you can let your own desire in.

Sara and Annette’s eyes flashed bright with new understanding. “Yeah, Seth, like, we wanted you to come back to the tree house
in the worst way.” Annette said.

Sara laughed. “In the worst way” sure did emphasize what Solomon had just said about oozing signals that are the opposite
of your own desire.

“We tried and tried to think happy thoughts about your being back in the tree house, but every time we tried, we just missed
you more. So Solomon suggested that we find something else to think about,” Annette explained to Seth.

“Yeah, so Annette got the idea that she could teach me how to swing upside down on the rope. And that really sounded fun to
me. And don’t take this the wrong way, Seth, but we sort of got so excited about getting a big rope and hanging it up someplace
that we sort of forgot how much we missed you.”

“Yeah, and then finding the rope didn’t turn out to be all that easy, so we had to really think about
that,
and then other things to think about just kept showing up. It isn’t that you weren’t important, Seth. We just got a little
distracted for a while.”

Solomon interrupted.
The most important thing to understand is that once you have asked, all kinds of things come into place to give you what you have asked for. You don’t have to continue to ask again and again.
It is best when you realize that once you have taken Step One (the asking) your work is to jump right to Step Three (the allowing).

“But, what about Step Two?” Seth asked.

Step Two is not your work.

“Well, whose work is Step Two?” Seth asked.

That is the work of the
Law of Attraction,
Creative Life Force, God Force, the fairies of the Universe. All manner of unseen forces of well-being converge to accommodate you in whatever you are asking for.

Sara, Seth, and Annette sat quietly. Solomon’s words felt so wonderful, so comforting—and so sure.

Step Three,
Solomon continued,
is what you are always working on. Putting yourself in the place of letting in what you have been asking for.

“And we do that by?” Seth still wanted more explanation from Solomon.

By not doing that thing that you do that doesn’t let it in.

Sara and Annette began to laugh. Seth laughed, too.

“That thing we do? What thing? Solomon, what do you mean?”

Well, actually, it is quite a few things. But you always know whenever you are doing it, because you are feeling negative emotion at the same time that you are doing it. You see, kids, whenever you are feeling any negative emotion like fear or anger or blame, you are, in that moment, focused on the exact opposite of something you want. So you cannot be in the mode of allowing what you do want if you are oozing the vibration of what you don’t want.

“So,” Sara said, excitedly, “when we were sad because Seth couldn’t come to the tree house, we were doing that thing. But
when we got interested in something else that didn’t make us feel bad, then we weren’t doing that thing, so . . .”

“We could let in what we
did
want,” Annette finished Sara’s sentence.

Well, kids, I think you’ve got it, Solomon said. It would require many hours of concentration just to be aware of how many remarkable things have come into place and how many intentions that you have launched over the past few weeks have come into being.

It seems like magic to some, like miracles to others, like good luck or good fortune to others, but what always has happened is, somehow, consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or indeliberately— you have to let it in!