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Sarah Sues Santa – P.J. Leonard

Chapter One: The Night Before

It was the smell of the turkey. Yes, that was the reason why she couldn’t sleep. For some reason
Sarah could never understand, her parents always started cooking Christmas dinner a whole day
before Christmas.
“It’s a big ol’ bird!” her Dad had told her in the supermarket when she’d asked, “It takes a while to
heat up.”
“But it don’t look any bigger than a chicken!” Sarah had said, peering at the lumpy packaging
stacked in the shopping trolley.
Dad had looked uncomfortable when she’d said that for some reason, rubbing his head and looking
a little lost as he stared at the cheese section. Was it something I said?
Sarah pulled her duvet tighter over her head, and she felt a cold chill shoot up her legs as the warm
cover slid off of her feet. She pulled in her legs and shivered – not with cold, but with excitement.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day! Finally!
She twisted and turned, trying every position possible to force herself to sleep, but the smell of
turkey seeped through the covers and tickled her nose. At last, with a long sigh, she peeled back the
duvet. Weak moonlight danced on her curtains. I can’t sleep. It’s impossible. She drummed her
fingers on her pillow, then with a flick of a switch on her bedpost a lightbulb came on. She winced,
then as her eyes adjusted to the light she sat up and pulled a little diary from under her pillow.
Every single page was yellow and crinkly. It felt strange that she’d never have to use this diary
again. She had used it every single day since last New Year, after all. Just one more read…maybe
that will help me relax…
She flicked through the pages, reading her notes scrawled on every single page since January 1st.
Cleaned the windows…helped Mum with shopping…pulled out all the weeds in the garden…
cooked when Mum and Dad were both ill…on and on the list of chores went, every page packed
full of her good deeds big and small. She stopped and smiled on May 8th, which had only one
sentence but it was written in big blue letters: SOLD 103 COOKIES FOR CHARITY! That had
been a really good one.
Yes, this year, she’d been a good girl. That had been her mission all year. Sarah would be the first
to admit that last year had been very mixed. Some good stuff, sure, but there were still too many
tantrums and yelling. Christmas last year had been pretty disappointing as a result. All she’d wanted
was the Uberwoman action figure. She’d got a bunch of other toys that year and it had been a lot of
fun, but still…no Uberwoman.
And that’s when it had struck her, as they were sitting down for Christmas dinner and that old
Christmas song played from the radio:
He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…
She'd nearly dropped her fork. So that’s why. Of course. Santa had thought Sarah hadn’t been good
enough to get an Uberwoman. The thought had made Sarah so angry she nearly crushed a cracker in
her own hands, but before she could shout at her parents and complain about how unfair Santa was,
she stopped herself. How would that help? Santa might be building a report up for next year
already.
And that was the last time she’d come close to getting angry. The silly childish Sarah was gone, and
this year she’d become a proper grown up who didn’t sulk like a baby. True, there had been a
couple of tricky moments here and there – not getting her pocket money when Dad didn’t get the
pay he’d expected one month was tough, and there was the time Sarah did had go a whole month
with a ripped shoe because they couldn’t afford a new pair – but she’d done it. Even her parents
were suspicious, wondering what on earth had come over their little Sarah this year. But she knew

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