sarah_ann_logan

231: Everything passes.

2008-05-18T21:21:07Z

"Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that's how we've got to live," quoted Grumpy the Devil. "Haruki Murakami."

"Showoff! I know that in the grand scheme of things I don't get to keep my body after I die, but what are you on about here?" asked Sarah. Trying to reason with a devil? And a Grumpy devil, at that.

"I'm just trying to help you understand your life better," replied Grumpy. His tail changed colour from its usual red to a deep purple.

"Your cover is blown! You are the only devil I know of with a tail that blushes when you are uncomfortable with what you said."

"Well, of course I am uncomfortable with what I said. I just told you I cared about you. Don't want that kind of thing getting around. I have a reputation to maintain. Have a cigar?" Grumpy produced a cigar from inside a hidden pocket.

"Did you just become a Daddy?" asked Sarah.

Grumpy's tail blushed again. "How did you know?"

"All new Daddies pass out cigars when the baby is born. What colour is your baby?"

"Blue of course. All devil babies are blue to start with. And you should see Charlene. She was pink all through the last few months, and now she's back to her usual red."

"You're kidding. You don't have a baby, you don't have a wife Charlene, and you just tried to give me a cigar because that was the only thing you had to pass to me."

"Busted!" agreed Grumpy. He lit the cigar and Sarah left for a more wholesome environment.

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character

No Fandom

#228 3am

2008-04-25T22:46:10Z

It's 3am. The wind is rattling the shutters, banging branches against the windows. No wonder I woke up.

Mom is asleep. Now I am going to sleep. Oh, look at the window. Spencer. No, Spencer, don't bang your horn on the window, it will break. Oh, unicorns, why in the name of greatness is he here at 3am?

The window is really difficult to open. Jammed shut, really. Oh Good. Spencer has disappeared. And now I hear banging downstairs at the front door. Do I let him in? How do I explain the muddy hooves over the nice clean kitchen floor? I don't. I go outside, that's what I do.

I need my coat. Fortunately, it's here in the closet, along with my boots.

"Spencer! What are you doing here?"

"What? No hot chocolate or tea? No dainty cucumber sandwiches?"

"That's okay. I'll see you in the morning."

"No, wait, Sarah. I need you."

"You need to let me continue having my good night's sleep so I don't stunt my growth. I'm a CHILD, remember?"

"Can I sleep in the garage?"

"Only if I don't have to do anything to make that happen. I am going back to bed. Good night."

"Okay, see you at 6am."

"What? No no no. I will talk to you at 8:30; I wake up early on weekends anyway, and 8:30 is early."

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character

No Fandom

#224 Mad.

2008-04-25T22:24:04Z

I am so Mad. The following conversation with my mother is a good clue. Adults are always holding out on me.

"What if we are magic, Mom?"

"It's not that we are magic, Sarah. We are strong energy channels. It's a talent, like musical ability or acting talent, or charisma. I was not going to let those clowns have any idea of my level of awareness."

"Why haven't you been training me in it? Magic and energy and all that?"

"I have. I have been training you to trust yourself, trust your feelings, act ethically even when you have nothing to gain by it, and take responsibility for your being in the world, and your actions. You have done a great job of taking that in, and may be ready to move to the more fun, technical stuff, working with the energy."

"You have proven yourself far more level-headed today than I would have given you credit for. You are ready to work doing childcare or whatever you can persuade anyone to let you take on. I will sign the permission slips, but you will have to approach people and ask."

"Spencer and Grumpy and Mr Tuxedo are your friends?"

"I hired them for the purpose of testing you. They are peers, acquaintances. We have professional alliances."

"You had money to hire them?"

"More like I called in a couple of favours owed to me."

"Why? And why now?"

"There is something going on now that I need to respond to, and no, I'm not telling you the details. If you know I'm involved with something that entails magic use, then I don't need to hide it from you, and I may not have time to cover my tracks. This way, I don't have to. And no, I am not giving you a crash course in magic so you can tag along on all the glamourous adventures. You, at least, will have a normal life while I work on setting things right."

"Where and how do I get this training?"

"You will begin training on your 13th birthday."

"So unfair."

"I know. I wanted to wait until then to let you know, so you would not have this waiting time. I will be able to show you some simple prep exercises, but you are hardly going to be satisfied with those. You want to do REAL magic, right?"

"Yes, that's what I want."

"Real magic starts on your 13th birthday. It started on mine. This tradition is set up this way for a reason. If I break from tradition and give you training early, I will also be breaking from my network. Unless I can show a convincing reason to train you early, and receive advance permission, which NEVER happens."

"Well, Sarah, I have to run. I'll be back later. And yes, it's for a meeting."

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character

No Fandom

223: "I swear I didn't put those..."

2008-04-08T04:03:26Z

So I'm wandering around the house, just looking for something. Still looking for something. My green sweater with an embroidered daisy. My black fuzzy socks. Oh. I see them, the socks are arranged neatly on the bannister. That means I left them on the floor, and mom picked them up for me. At least the socks are dry, and they don't feel dirty. The dining room has a table that is way too big for just the two of us, and I like that it's wood, probably maple because we're in Canada. And look, on one of the unused chairs, hangs my comfy green sweater. I really like that sweater. And underneath it is my stuffed turtle, and my other stuffed turtle. I swear I didn't put those toys here. They belong in my room, but right now, I will carry them around with me as I try to discover what else is wrong. Something is wrong. The windows are closed. I can see the hedges outside, and the sun is really bright. I better get a running start; I don't want to run into my Mom. She will force me to go outside right away. I can hear her in the kitchen. So I will slip into the living room, and very quietly climb the stairs...pad pad pad pad...

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character

no fandom

222: Sleeping on the Couch

2008-03-14T16:31:04Z

Sleeping on the couch. The couch is a big brown leather couch, long enough for three people. It was hard to get it into the house through the front hallway. It still has that rawhide smell, even though it's more than five years old. The throw pillows are very soft and yellow. When I feel lonely, I go to the couch. There's a pine green knit blanket that I wrap myself up in, and I can curl up with a Narnia book or maybe Little House. I just sit down on the couch and feel like falling asleep. I like sleeping on the couch, but it only happens when I am allowed to watch a late movie, leaning up agains Mom. So cushy. Lots of times I can't sleep on the couch. Mom is there first, sleeping, and it's too squished for me to fit. So I go to bed, on my own and in the morning the couch is empty.

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character (no fandom)

221: Never pray for justice because you might get some. Margaret Atwood.

2008-03-12T20:02:31Z

Never pray for justice because you might get some. That’s like “be careful what you ask for.”. And it ‘s because I would only ask for something because I don’t have it, and then when I have it, it changes me. Then the changed me might not need or want the thing I asked for.

And justice, that’s about being fair, but not just being fair to me, being fair to everybody. And if justice were given to me, but I had done something wrong and gotten away with it, like lied to a teacher or my Mom, or shoplifted something, or beaten up on a younger kid, then I might get punished for it even though the adults in my life didn’t know about the thing I did wrong. But if justice were given to me and a kid that was beating me up felt really sorry and stopped, how would I handle that? Would I be mean and go for revenge, not realizing that my prayer for justice had been answered? And then what? Where would the justice be in that.

Maybe I’m not grown up enough for justice. Maybe people in general aren’t.

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character

Original Character ( no fandom)

220: magic potion

2008-03-10T00:25:13Z

If I could buy a magic potion, first of all, I would have to have a lot of money. And I don't. My Mom has all the money. And she knows everything about everything and for her, magic potions are not something you buy. You go into the woods, catch butterflies, pick flowers, add some dirt and a couple of strange looking mushrooms, and put some of the ingredients in a pot with cinnamon. Then you boil them up for a couple of minutes. The rest of the ingredients you put in a little plastic bag. After the ingredients have boiled and your kitchen smells like cinnamon, you take a dropperful of the liquid and add it to the plastic bag with the other ingredients. That is your potion. What it does is a mystery, unless you had very clear thoughts while you were making the potion. In that case, the potion will do something that goes with the thoughts you had. This does not mean that you will know what the potion did. Usually they don't work, except to make the house smell like cinnamon.

But if I could buy a magic potion, I would buy a flying potion, if a potion would work and the money was not a problem. I would love to fly.

Sarah Ann Logan

Original Character (no fandom)