Sarah is Brought for Help

Spirit: Sarah.

Sitters: Hello Sarah.

Spirit: You live in a strange world.

Sitter (K): I think you used to live here once.

Spirit: It was different.

Sitter (J): Was it?

Spirit: About a hundred years ago.

Sitter (J): That’s quite a while.

Sitter (K): Do you want to tell us about it Sarah?

Spirit: It wasn’t a good time.

Sitter (K): Oh well, what else would you like to tell us about, or can we answer some questions for you, if we can?

Spirit: Where are all the horses?

Sitter (K): Well nowadays, we don’t have horses much because motorcars have taken their place. If people want to go from one place to another, they drive in a motorcar.

Spirit: Don’t know. I don’t think I ever saw one of those.

Sitter (K): No they’ve been invented since then. It’s a kind of a metal box with seats, runs on four wheels, and has an engine in the front, which is something to make the wheels go round. There are probably millions of them around the world now.

Sitter (J): Too many of them really.

Sitter (K): Yes because the smoke they give off is very bad for people and bad for the atmosphere.

Spirit: The horses used to make things dirty too.

Sitter (J): Yes they did.

Sitter (K): I think the difference is that you could use the horse manure to make things grow, whereas the fumes from motorcars can’t be used for anything.

Spirit: Hm. I slipped because of horse manure.

Sitter (J): Did you? Did you hurt yourself?

Spirit: Yes. I would have been fourteen or fifteen.

Sitter (J): Just a teenager.

Spirit: Is that what you call it?

Sitter (J): Yes.

Spirit: I couldn’t read or write. You have schools for everybody, is that right?

Sitters: Yes that’s right.

Sitter (K): What land did you live in Sarah, was it England?

Spirit: Yes.

Sitter (K): I thought it might have been.

Spirit: It wasn’t good.

Sitter (J): Wasn’t it?

Spirit: Not for the poor, if you didn’t have a job and you were my age, it was bad. I did some bad things, I stole; I stole to live.

Sitter (K): I guess that if you stole in order to live, it wasn’t really all that bad a thing you’ve done.

Sitter (J): No.

Spirit: I wouldn’t go with any man it wasn’t right, but I did steal.

Sitter (J): Well there was a reason for your stealing. I guess we would all do that if we were hungry.

Spirit: I guess.

Sitter (K): And how about your life now. Would you like to tell us a bit about that?

Spirit: Well that’s one of my problems. I’ve got to forgive myself for stealing, and I can’t; it was wrong, I know that.

Sitter (J): I think if I were hungry I would steal.

Sitter (K): I think most people would.

Sitter (J): Yes most people would, it’s a natural reaction if you are hungry. It’s not done with malice; you don’t mean harm to other people. You’re just so hungry.

Sitter (K): I’m told that when you are able to forgive yourself, then you can move on, so don’t look upon what you have done as being all that terrible, because it’s not really.

Sitter (J): It’s really not.

Sitter (K): Not at all.

Spirit: But I stole for self, not for someone else.

Sitter (J): Because you were hungry.

Spirit: I clung to life.

Sitter (J): Yes.

Sitter (K): As anybody would, so what you have done is no more than I would do, no more than anybody else around would do, we would all do the same thing so you don’t need to feel so bad.

Spirit: In a way that’s what killed me.

Sitter (J): How did that happen?

Spirit: I was running away and I slipped, and a carriage hit me.

Sitter (J): Ohh.

Spirit: And you know they didn’t even stop! I watched; I didn’t know I was dead and I watched.

Sitter (J): Then I think they committed a much greater sin.

Spirit: Nice of you to say so.

Sitter (J): I think if I stole under the same circumstances I would forgive myself, because it is was a natural thing to do.

Spirit You’re kind.

Sitter (J): No, just honest.(Mirth)

Spirit. Well I think I was in most things. I’d looked after myself since I was about ten.

Sitter (J): You poor little girl.

Spirit: You could get money for picking up things if people dropped them, and sometimes by sweeping the roads, it added a bit, and the rubbish, that helped. But when I came here I slept for a long time, and when I woke up I was all-better.

Sitter (J): Oh that was lovely.

Sitter (K): Now when you can forget about the fact that you took something, (which isn’t all that important to you really)… when you can let that go, your world is going to be wonderful for you.

Sitter (J): Yes.

Spirit: I’d like to think so. I’d like to know who my mother was you know.

Sitter (J): Of course you would.

Spirit: I just remember someone who was very sick, I never really knew her.

Sitter: That’s a pity.

Spirit: Couldn’t afford any medicines, or doctors or anything.

Sitter (J): It must have been very hard times.

Spirit: Not just me lady… for a lot of people.

Sitter (J): Yes I guess so.

Sitter (K): Did you live on a farm?

Spirit: No, I was in a city.

Sitter (K): Oh that would be worse.

Spirit: Yes because on a farm I’d guess I could have found some food.

Sitter (J): Yes, I guess you could.

Spirit: And the air would be nice. Do you get fog on a farm?

Sitter (J): You could, depending how low lying the farm was and the conditions.

Sitter (K): I don’t think you get fogs very often like the ones you get in London though. Yours are just so much thicker.

Spirit: I spent my time in London. I had nowhere else to go. I had no money. I could have walked but I didn’t know which way to go. But enough of my depressing story. I’ll heed what you said. I’ll try and forget. I’m so sorry that I did it.

Sitter (K): I think you need to feel, that you did nothing worse than anybody else would have done in the same circumstances.

Sitter (J): I would have done exactly the same thing.

Sitter (K): So you don’t need to feel so bad. If you talk to people around you who are there with you, I’m sure they’ll tell you the same thing.

Spirit: I didn’t believe them, that’s why they allowed me to come and talk with you.

Sitter (J): Well I’m glad they let you come.

Sitter (K): And I hope that you believe us because really it is true.

Sitter (J): Yes, put all your troubles and all your worries about it behind you, because there is nothing much to forgive.

Sitter (K): And you’ve got a new life to lead now and as I said earlier, from now on things are going to be just so much better.

Sitter (J): And if you look around over there you may well find your mother too.

Spirit: Thank you. I have to go now. I will remember what you said and there’s a man here, (I don’t know who he is, but he seems a bit important - he knows you), and he says that that’s all for tonight… if you know what he means.

Sitters: Yes we do. Thank you.

Sitter (K): And thank you very much for coming to us and talking to us.

Sitter (J): It’s been lovely talking to you and we send you our love.

Sitter (K): And we know that you are going to be a lot happier now.

Spirit: Thank you. That’s very kind of you. Thank you.

Sitter (K): Goodnight.

Spirit: Goodnight Sir.

Sitter (J): Goodnight.

Spirit: Goodnight Ma’m.