Sara, Book 1 (6 page)
“I’ll have to ask Solomon about that.”
“S
olomon, are you a teacher?”
Yes, indeed, Sara.
“But you don’t talk about things that ‘real’ teachers, excuse me, ‘other’ teachers talk about. I mean, you talk about things that I’m interested in. You talk about neat stuff.”
Actually, Sara, I talk only about that which you talk about. Only when you ask a question is the information that I might offer of any value to you. All of those answers that are offered without a question having been asked are truly a waste of everyone’s time. Neither student nor teacher has much fun in that.
Sara thought about what Solomon had said, and she realized that unless Sara asked about it, Solomon didn’t talk much about anything. “But wait, Solomon. I remember something you said without my asking a question.”
And what was that, Sara?
“You said, ‘Have you forgotten that you cannot drown?’ It was the very first thing you said to me, Solomon. I didn’t say a word to you. I was lying there on the ice, but I wasn’t asking you a question.”
Ah, it seems that Solomon is not the only one around here who can talk without moving his lips.
“What do you mean?”
You were asking, Sara, but not with words. Questions are not always asked with words.
“That’s weird, Solomon. How can you ask something if you’re not talking?”
By thinking your question. Many beings and creatures communicate through thought. In fact, more communicate that way than with words. People are the only ones who use words. But even they do much more of their communicating with thoughts than with words. Think about it.
You see, Sara, I am a wiiiiiiiiise old teacher whooooooo learned long ago that giving a student information that he or she is not asking for is a waste of time.
Sara laughed at Solomon’s corny emphasis on
wise
and his owl-like exaggerated
whooooo. I love this crazy bird,
Sara thought.
I love you too, Sara,
Solomon replied.
Sara blushed, having forgotten already that Solomon could hear her thoughts.
And then, with no further words, Solomon lifted powerfully into the sky and was gone from Sara’s view.
“I
wish I could fly like you, Solomon.”
Why, Sara? Why would you like to fly?
“Oh, Solomon, it’s so boring to have to walk around down here on the ground all the time. It’s so slow. It just takes forever to get places, and you can’t see much either. Only stuff that’s down here on the ground with you. Boring stuff.”
Well, Sara, it seems like you haven’t really answered my question.
“Yes, I did, Solomon. I said I want to fly because . . .”
Because you don’t like to walk around down here on the boring ground. You see, Sara, you didn’t tell me why you want to fly. You told me why you don’t want
not
to fly.
“There’s a difference?”
Oh yes, Sara. A big difference. Try again.
A little surprised at Solomon’s new decision to nitpick, Sara began again. “Okay. I want to fly because walking isn’t much fun, and it takes so long to walk around down here on the ground.”
Sara, can you see that you’re still talking more about what you don’t want and why you don’t want it? Try again.
“Okay. I want to fly because . . . I don’t get this, Solomon. What do you want me to say?”
I want you to talk about what you
do
want, Sara.
“I want to fly!” Sara shouted, feeling annoyed at Solomon’s inability to understand her.
Now, Sara, tell me why you want to fly. What would that be like? How would it feel? Make it feel real to me, Sara. Describe to me, what does flying feel like? I don’t want you to tell me what it’s like down on the ground, or what it is like
not
to fly. I want you to tell me what it’s like to fly.
Sara closed her eyes, now catching the spirit of what Solomon was getting at, and began to speak. “Flying feels very free, Solomon. It’s like floating, but faster.”
Tell me, what would you see if you were flying?
“I would see the whole town down below. I would see Main Street and cars moving and people walking. I would see the river. I would see my school.”
How does flying feel, Sara? Describe what it feels like to fly.
Sara paused with her eyes closed and pretended that she was flying high above her town. “It would be so much fun, Solomon! Flying just has to be so much fun. I could soar as fast as the wind. It would feel so free. It feels so good, Solomon!” Sara continued, now completely absorbed in her imagined vision. And then, suddenly, with the same sense of power that Sara had felt in Solomon’s wings as she had seen him lift off his post day after day, Sara felt a whoosh within her that took her breath away. Her body felt, for a moment, as if it weighed 10,000 pounds, and then, instantly, she felt absolutely weightless. Sara was flying.
“Solomon,” Sara squealed with delight, “look at me, I’m flying!”
Solomon was flying right along with her, and together they soared high above Sara’s town, the town where Sara was born, the town that Sara had walked nearly every square inch of, the town that Sara was now discovering from a vantage point she had never dreamed possible.
“Wow! Solomon, this is great! Oh, Solomon, I love this!”
Solomon smiled and enjoyed Sara’s extraordinary enthusiasm.
“Where are we going, Solomon?”
You may go wherever you’d like to go.
“Oh, wow!” Sara blurted, looking down at her quiet little town. It had never looked so beautiful before.
Sara had seen her town from the air once when her uncle had taken Sara and her family up in his small airplane, but she hadn’t really been able to see much. The windows in the airplane were so high, and every time she got up on her knees to get her face closer to the window for a better view, her father had told her to sit back down and buckle her seat belt. She really didn’t have much fun that day.
But this was very different. She could see everything. She could see every street and building in her town. She could see the few tiny businesses sprawled out along Main Street . . . Hoyt’s Grocery Store and Pete’s Drug Store and the Post Office. . . . She could see her beautiful river wind- ing its way through the town. And a few cars were moving about, and a handful of people were walking here and there.
“Oh, Solomon,” Sara said breathlessly, “this is the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me. Let’s go to my school, Solomon. I’ll show you where I spend my da . . .” Sara’s voice trailed off as she sped off toward her school.
“The school looks so different from up here!” Sara was surprised at how large her school looked. The roof seemed like it went on forever. “Wow!” Sara exclaimed. “Can we go down closer, or do we have to stay way up here?”
You may go wherever you want to go, Sara.
Sara squealed once again and swooped down over the playground and slowly past her classroom window. “This is great! Look, Solomon! You can see my desk, and there’s Mr. Jorgensen.”
Sara and Solomon soared from one end of Sara’s town to the other, swooping down close to the ground and then soaring back up, almost touching the clouds. “Look, Solomon, there’s Jason and Billy.”
“Hey, Jason, look at me, I’m flying!” Sara shouted. But Jason didn’t hear. “Hey, Jason!” Sara shouted again, more loudly. “Look at me! I’m flying!”
Jason cannot hear you, Sara.
“But why not? I can hear him.”
It’s too soon for Jason, Sara. He’s not asking yet. But he will. In time.
Now Sara understood more clearly why Jason and Billy hadn’t spotted Solomon yet. “They can’t see you either, can they, Solomon?”
Sara was glad that Jason and Billy couldn’t see Solomon.
They would really get in the way, if they could,
she thought.
Sara couldn’t ever remember having a more wonderful time. She soared high into the sky, so high that the cars on Main Street looked like little ants moving about. And then, with what felt like no effort at all, she would swoop way down, very close to the ground, squealing as she felt the amazing speed of her flight. She swooped down right over the river with her face so close to the water that she could smell the sweet mossy scent, ducked right under the Main Street bridge, and then zoomed out the other side. Solomon kept perfect pace with her, as if they had practiced this flight hundreds of times.
They soared for what seemed like hours, and then, with the same powerful whoosh that sent Sara soaring upward, she was back in her body, and back on the ground.
Sara was so excited that she could barely catch her breath. This had truly been the most exceptional experience of her life. “Oh, Solomon, that was wonderful!” Sara squealed. It felt to her as if they had been flying for hours.
“What time is it?” Sara blurted, looking at her watch, certain that she would be in big trouble for being so tardy today, but her watch showed that only a few seconds had passed.
“Solomon, you live a very strange life, you know? Nothing is quite the way it’s supposed to be.”