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Sarah Sues Santa – P.J. Leonard

Chapter Five: The Mountain Of Presents

As soon as the light surrounded her, it went out, like someone had flicked a switch. Sarah reached
out, and found something soft and squashy. It felt...familiar somehow. Was it a curtain? She
grabbed it and pulled.
Her bed duvet fell aside. She was back in bed, in her pyjamas. Morning light pushed through her
window.
"What..." She whispered to herself. "How...how did I..."
Had it all been a dream? It had felt so real. She looked over to her writing desk. The letter was gone.
Then she looked at her clock - and leapt out of bed so fast she nearly hit the ceiling. The little date
on the clock read December 25th.
Sarah looked from the clock to the window. It’s Christmas Day again? Had all of that been a dream
too?
"Sarah!" Her mother called from downstairs, "Are you up?"
"Y...Yes?" Sarah replied.
"This is very unlike you, dear," her Mum called again, "You're usually up before the sun is. Come
on downstairs, we're waiting."
Sarah slipped into her clothes, her mind spinning. Then she opened her door.
And instantly shut it again. What on earth was that? She opened her door again slowly. On the other
side was...not her house. Her bedroom door should’ve been right next to the stairs. Not now. Now it
was at the end of a long corridor of fancy wooden doors and a thick red carpet.
She slammed the door again, and looked around her bedroom. She nearly jumped out of her skin.
Her bedroom had changed, too. But...it had been her real bedroom a moment ago! Had it switched
behind her back? This new bedroom was huge: the bed was a big, old-fashioned bed, far too big for
a 7-year-old, and her little writing desk had been replaced by a fancy looking table with gold
handles on the drawers. And...was that a walk-in closet at the back? She walked across her vast
bedroom and swung the closet open. The rows of clothes and stacks of shoeboxes stretched further
than that corridor she'd just seen.
Sarah nodded to herself. Suddenly she knew what must have happened. She must have collapsed on
the street from the cold, and someone must've picked her up and took her in for the night. Some rich
but forgetful person whose clock was a day behind. That’s why she could hear her Mum's voice and
thought she could see the rooms changing around her: she was still a little bit sick from being out in
the cold. Yes, that was it!
"Sarah!" Mum yelled, "We haven't got all day!"
"Coming!" She called. At least it all makes sense now. She walked out of her bedroom and down
the corridor towards the stairs. Her parents must be worried sick. She'd have to come up with a
really good apology, and a thank you for whoever rescued her.
The stairs were wide and did that really fancy thing where they split into two sets of stairs halfway
down then met up again on the way down. A Greek-looking statue was in the gap in the middle.
Where was she? She didn't know there was house this big or fancy in the city. What was the owner
of this house doing on her street in the first place, let alone rescuing kids in the snow?
At the bottom of the stairs was an entry room nearly as big as Sarah's whole house. Sarah counted at
least six doors lining the walls, and she felt the sudden urge to explore.
"There she is!" Her Mum said, "Finally!"
Sarah spun around. An open door led into a huge living room, with a TV as big as the wall and lots
of big leather sofas. A Christmas tree at least five times taller than Sarah stood in the corner, decked
from top to toe in baubles as big as Sarah's head and tinsel so fine it looked like it was woven from

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