An Adventure With Sarah

(I wrote this story a LONG time ago but I recently discovered it again and laughed over it…XD)

An Adventure With Sarah

I sat in the sukkah. Okay, it was really my own personal creation but it served my purpose well. I smiled proudly to myself. I really had done a great job this year. I had draped the bottom branches of our young pine tree with very thin blankets. I drew a picture of it so that you could see how grand my work really was.

This would be the third night I had spent in my own little sukkah. It was about 6 o’clock. Each night had been very eventful for me! The first night it had rained for eight hours before stopping. I was soaked and cold and very, very, very wet. The second night I was laying down on my bed when something landed on top of my pine tree. I was already scared that evening and when that something started making noises, I screamed. My dad heard and came over to check on me. (The rest of my family was staying in what my sister called “a proper sukkah.”) We found out that it was only an owl. But I couldn’t get to sleep for the rest of the night. So as I sat in my little sukkah on that 3^rd day, I started to wonder what could go wrong. My imagination went wild! Bears, lions and snakes seemed to come alive in my mind. I screamed when my sister poked her head under the blanket to tell me that it was time for dinner in the Big Sukkah.

“Why did you scream?” Sister Amanda asked.

I tried desperately to calm my racing heart. I took a couple deep breaths and said, “I was just thinking about some stuff.” I giggled nervously and hoped Amanda would forget about the whole thing. She didn’t. But since it was such a humiliating conversation, I won’t bother writing it down for you.

After eating a yummy (and very drawn out) meal with my parents and sister, I hurried back to my own dwellings. It was getting dark. I wanted to read a bit before I went to sleep. I got out my flashlight and book and leaned against the rough trunk of the pine tree. I was deeply engaged in my book when I heard footsteps outside. I didn’t really think anything of it. It was probably just Amanda getting up to use the bathroom. I went back to reading my book. But a moment later someone was pulling at my blanket (which was my wall.) I jumped up quickly and lifted the blanket enough so that the person could enter. If the person kept pulling at my blanket, my whole sukkah would fall down! I guessed that it was probably Amanda who had come in for a midnight talk. In the dim light, I couldn’t see who the person was. Boy, I was in for a surprise!

“What are you doing here, Amanda?” I asked, as I picked up the flashlight I had dropped in my haste. The light flashed upon my guest’s face and I immediately screamed. It wasn’t Amanda who was sitting in my tent! It was a very beautiful very old woman! She looked older than my grandma! I began to wonder why and how she had gotten into my sukkah.

“W-who are you?” I stammered.

“My name is Sarah. I am the wife of Abraham.” The woman replied quietly.

“What is your last name?” I wondered.

“What is a last name?” Sarah looked at me and blinked.

“Never mind, it’s not important.” I said out loud. In my mind I was thinking, “This lady must not be from around here…either that or she is so old that she’s forgotten who or where she is…” That made me nervous. Old ladies on TV were always trouble.

We sat in stressed silence. Suddenly, I heard a little cry. It was coming from something that Sarah held in her arms. I shone my flashlight on to it and was shocked to see a tiny baby!

“Is that your grandchild?” I asked, as I cooed at the baby.

“This is my son.” Sarah said, smiling at the sweet child.

I laughed in disbelief. “He can’t be your son! How old are you?”

“I am 90 years old.”

“Did you adopt him?” I asked, thinking that either I or Sarah had gone insane.

“No. I gave birth to him.”

“Okay, this just isn’t possible.” I sighed. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” I didn’t mean to be rude, but I was having a hard night. When I’m stressed, I get grumpy.

“I am Sarah. My husband is Abraham and this is my son Isaac.”

Suddenly pieces fell into place. I gasped and turned pale. “No, no, this isn’t possible! Maybe my grandma is playing a joke on me! No wait, Grandma and Grandpa are in Scotland right now…You can’t be Sarah, like the Sarah from the bible!”

“Yes, I am.”

I purposely knocked my head onto the pine tree trunk. Maybe that would clear it and bring me back to my senses. It didn’t. Sarah just looked at me curiously. I think she probably thought I was crazy. I was beginning to think so myself.

I took a deep breath. Somehow Sarah from the bible and little Isaac were here with me!!

This is kind of neat! I thought to myself when I had calmed down a little. I’ve always wanted to ask Sarah some questions!

I smiled at my visitor. “Would you like some food? I’m sure you’ve had a long journey…”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you!” Sarah answered.

“Wait right here.” I hurried into our real house and grabbed some leftovers from supper. I hoped Sarah liked chocolate chip pancakes and hot coco!

While Sarah ate, I asked her questions.

“So Sarah, what is it like being a mother when you are 90 years old?”

Sarah looked down fondly at her little boy. “It is wonderful. I was never able to have children. But God gave me a son in my old age.”

I tried to imagine my great-grandma being a mother for the first time. Somehow Sarah looked much younger and stronger than my frail great-grandma who slept all day.

Sarah took a sip of her hot coco. “This is a very strange drink.” She said. “What is it made of?”

I tried to remember all the ingredients that powered hot coco mix has in it. “Umm…I don’t really know. It has chocolate and sugar and…preservatives I think.”

“Do you have any wine?” Sarah asked.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. “Did you say…wine?” I cringed as I said the last word.

“Yes.” Sarah looked amused.

I straightened my shoulders and put on my best grown up look. “We don’t drink wine in this family. Wine is a great evil that will be avoided by me at all costs.” I spoke in a very superior voice.

A few minutes later, Sarah had totally humiliated me with her reasoning’s about the good parts of wine. I sighed and hoped that she wouldn’t talk any more about it.

“It is time for me to be on my way.” Sarah said, after a few moments of silence.

“Oh wait, wait!” I called. “There is one more thing I want to ask you! How did you get all the way from bible times to the year 2019?”

But Sarah was gone! I sighed and sat down with my back to the trunk of the tree. I fell into a quiet sleep. I awoke a few hours later when some twigs fell from my tree and landed on my head. (They were covered in pine sap and stuck to my hair.) I rubbed my eyes and looked down at my lap. My book lay half open and my flashlight was lying on the ground beside me. The light from it was very dim. It was like it had been on for hours. I rubbed my eyes again, trying to clear the sleepiness away from my head. Suddenly I remembered: Sarah and Isaac! They had been in my sukkah! I even had proof to show my family! The dishes that Sarah had been eating from! I looked to where they should have been, but they were gone as well…And at that moment, it all made sense! My whole adventure with Sarah had been a dream! I sighed with the relief of knowing that I was completely in my right mind. And so ends my little tale. Have a wonderful day, my friends!