by Dane Bagley
A few snowflakes had fallen the night before, but this day was beautiful. Warm, sunny, clear blue sky—a perfect late fall day. It was the day before Sarah Peningham’s sixteenth birthday. Sarah had not heard from John. She had not heard anything about John for they ran in completely separate circles and did not live nearby each other. Since their dance, she had anticipated her birthday more than she had ever anticipated anything before. With it nearly upon her, she felt the pang of disappointment arising. It had been a perfect night but it was so long ago. And he was John Bennett. So many girls longed to be with him—so many girls who were so much prettier and cleverer—more talented, more popular, more fit to be in his arms than was she. It was a beautiful dream but soon, she feared, it would be over. Not only would her heart be broken but her newfound social prominence would also disappear. She had never minded being Sarah Peningham before. But that was before—before she had had a taste of the affection of John, before she had experienced being visible, before she saw herself as worth as much as anyone else. She could never be comfortable and satisfied being invisible and forgettable again
These types of thoughts and feelings had washed over her many times that day. But they were often replaced with a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Maybe he would come and ask her out. Maybe he was also waiting with anticipation for this day. He had asked and re-asked her when her sixteenth birthday was. He had asked and re-asked her to dance. Every girl was there, at the dance. He could have danced with her once or twice and then asked the others to dance. Even if he was interested in her, he didn’t have to dance the night away with her. He wanted to be with her over every other girl. He couldn’t ask her out before she was sixteen. If he had wanted to go out with her he couldn’t have done anything up to this point, anyway. She remembered how he had looked at her and how he treated her. There was no question about how he had felt about her. In just one short day he could see her if he wanted to. She could see him. The excitement would build, until doubt set in again.
“I’ll bet John will bring you flowers on your birthday!” said Maryanne the day before. “He’s probably been planning everything out for weeks now.”
Sarah had left her birthday open. Everyone understood—her mother, Maryanne, Natalie, Kendra, and Bernice. Everyone, except for her father.
“But our little Sarah always likes to plan her birthday, and this is her sixteenth. What are we going to do all day? She seems to have a lot of nice friends these days. Why don’t we have everyone over?” Actually, Mr. Peningham knew much more than he was letting on.
Dinner was finished and the sun began to set. Sarah walked out onto her deck. She just wanted to be alone, but she didn’t want to be far from the house. The tall snow-topped mountain peaks glistened as the sun fell behind them. Sarah loved those peaks. She loved their majesty and their strength. They encircled her like a warm embrace from her father. She was protected, secured, and comforted by the mountains that surrounded her. Not only were they exquisitely beautiful as she gazed upon them, but they meant so much to her. Sarah understood their value and significance. She cherished them. Nearly everything about her life, and her way of life, was possible only because they were there.
The land where she lived, the land encircled by those majestic mountains, the land known as the promise land, was a land of peace and prosperity. It was void of much sickness and disease. The people there were good. Sarah knew that there existed an entirely different world on the other side of the mountains. Many people lived on the other side, many more than lived in the promise land. In the outer land the people lived in fear. She had heard the stories of fierce creatures that sought human flesh. There was sickness, disease, famine, pestilence, war, and sorrow. Sometimes she reflected upon those people. They were just like her and yet they did not live as she lived. There was nothing to be afraid of in the promise land. How could so many people live in fear and sorrow all the days of their lives?
There was a way to get into the promise land from the outside world. Yet, it was so rare that anyone came through. Sometimes people would explain that their father or grandmother had come from the world outside. Most people she knew went back generations of being in the promise land. If she lived in that world she would stop at nothing to get into the promise land. Why live in fear when there was a land that offered complete protection? She sorrowed for those whom she did not even know. The way in was underneath her special place, deep below the waterfall. There was a deep cavernous passage that linked the water in her pool to the water in that land. Though difficult the way it was possible to reach those waters. Though a person must be healthy, strong, and well, and must leave all behind, they could immerse themselves deeply in that water and swim the passage, allowing them to surface in the promise land. The very pool she swam in regularly was the entrance—the only way in. None of the fearful creatures would attempt to enter. Only a person who knew what she was doing would go this way. The people who came did so knowing what they would find. They were happy to be a part of this glorious world. They were accepted in and helped to become established there. It was so strange to Sarah that more did not come.
Stranger still, some within the promise land actually left. Through that same opening they would simply swim back out. Why someone would leave this land to go into the other was incomprehensible to her. She did not spend much time reflecting on it. It made her shudder.
This night she was not thinking about those who came and left. She was simply admiring those immense peaks that allowed her to live just as she desired. She felt empowered and free because of them. They protected her from every danger and allowed her to experience life peacefully and without fear.