At dawn Sally had put upon her an endless list of chores. Punishment was a more fitting word, she thought. She had expected to get caught and subsequently disciplined. Still, she had no regrets as it had all been worth witnessing firsthand the thrilling interruption by Mr. Boggledin.

She had begun by raking the leaves not only in her own yard, but even next door in Mr. and Mrs. Shapp's. And since they were so old and couldn't get around so good, they had twice as many leaves in their yard. Most people raked their leaves a few times during autumn, so that they weren't all heaped up at the end when the snow came around, but the Shapps were like two human-sized turtles. Sally figured that if the Shapps and real turtles had a race, the turtles might actually win.

After she had made a bunch of piles, she scooped them into the leaf cart and wheeled them across Forever Road and dumped them in the Farmer's Lot. He used them in his compost pile, where they would rot and then provide nourishment for next year's crop.

As she was wheeling the last haul toward the Lot, Sally's mother called out to her. "Don't dawdle Sally. There's more work to be done!"

Great.

"I won't, mother!"

After dumping the last of the leaves, Sally sat on the overturned leaf cart and caught her breath. Thorn was not in the Lot, nor was Farmer James. She enjoyed the moment of solitude and simply allowed her mind to wander. Clearing the mind, as the farmer would say.

"That's how to begin to feel," said Sally, repeating what Farmer James had taught her. Of course, he wasn't talking about normal feeling, but rather, sensing. "Clear your mind and you will feel the energy around you."

Sally scanned the grounds around her and spotted a small green shoot of an elephant-ear plant. It was nestled deep within the center of the plant, between the giant-sized leaves that had grown throughout the summer. The leaves were nearly as big as Sally herself, but the shoot, which was curled up and yet-to-open, was only a few inches high.

Sally got up from the leaf cart and knelt beside the plant. She closed her eyes and attempted to clear her mind. When she was satisfied that it was as empty as it could be, she stared at the shoot.

For a good fifteen seconds she maintained eye contact with the plant and nothing happened. Then a breezed whistled past the surrounding shrubs and through Sally's hair. She sighed as she caught herself paying attention the darn breeze and not the shoot.

Geez, Sally! Concentrate!

She squeezed her eyes shut and then snapped them open, her gaze trained on the shoot. She stared. Feel it, Sally. Sense it.

She stared harder.

And stared.

And stared.

"Nuts! Nothing!"

She sat back on her bottom, then scooped up dirt and tossed it in disgust. Suddenly, the ground trembled and then gave way, causing the plant to lean precariously.

"Whoa!"

Sally crawled forward and studied the depression in the ground. She reached and caressed the tilted plant.

"Ho-ho!" Farmer James emerged from a trail between some corn stalks. "You're learning, young miss!"

"You saw it?"

The farmer nodded. "I did."

"What happened?"

"The plant and the ground responded to your anger."

"You mean it thought I was mad at it?"

Farmer James laughed. "No, Sally. It is a plant – it cannot tell if you are happy or sad. Rather, your anger was conveyed as an energy, projected outward from your body and into what you had been focused on."

"Oh yes, I remember that from our last lesson."

"Yes, your emotions can be very powerful, especially when focused correctly."

Sally frowned. "But why did the ground cave-in like that?"

Farmer James dropped to one knee next to Sally and the plant. "That was because your energy was unfocused."

"Because I was angry?"

"Partly, yes. You can be angry and focused, but often when we are angry we react instead of thinking something through."

"Like...we lash out?"

"Lash out...that's a good way to put it."

Sally smiled. "My mom likes to use that phrase."

"Hmm...I imagine she does. That was some scheme you put together last night."

Sally felt her cheeks burn. "Yes...I'm in a good bit of trouble now."

"You had to know you'd get caught...."

"I thought I might," Sally replied, nodding.

Farmer James studied his young apprentice. "Did it serve its purpose?"

Sally raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What?"

"The distraction?"

She couldn't help but smile. "It did! I heard the mayor discuss the darkness!"

The farmer laughed. "Just don't get caught next time."

"Nuts! That reminds me – my mom told me not to dawdle. Am I dawdling?"

Farmer James chuckled. "Not quite. But your mother might think so."

"I'd better go then."

"One more thing and you can go."

"Alright."

Farmer James patted the earth where the depression was. "Place your palm flat against the ground here." After Sally had placed her right hand just as he had told her to, Farmer James leaned against his rake and dropped his large hand atop Sally's. It covered hers completely. "I want you to really focus now," he said.

"Alright," she said, closing her eyes.

"Now...feel the earth with your fingertips. Feel the cool dirt."

"I do."

"Good. Now...feel beyond the dirt."

"Beyond it?"

"Yes. Reach out and feel with the same intensity you did when you were angry – but this time, focus."

Sally nodded. She scrunched her nose and pressed her eyelids together.

"Don't scrunch," said the farmer. "You're trying too hard. Relax and focus...let it happen."

Nodding again, Sally de-scrunched her nose and relaxed her eyelids and took a long, deep breath. And then the strangest thing happened...she had the sensation of her hand dropping through the dirt, through roots and stones, past earthworms and busy ants until she sensed a vacant spot.

"There, do you feel that?" asked Farmer James.

"Yes. There's...emptiness."

"That is why the ground fell inward. You moved earth deep beneath the surface, which created a void. The ground had nowhere to go but downward, to fill that void."

Sally opened her eyes. "Wow. I did that?"

The farmer removed his hand from Sally's. "You did. That's what happens when one such as you and I are unfocused. Imagine what might happen if that void was much larger...."

"Bad things."

"Yes, Sally. Bad things."

The girl pondered the possibilities. "Like an earthquake?"

"Maybe."

"I'll try to always remain very, very focused."

The farmer got to his feet and Sally did too. "That would be wise, young miss." He winked. "Now, scoot!"

Sally laughed. She grabbed her leaf cart and trotted across Forever Road, toward her cottage. When she was at her yard, she turned and waved and Farmer James waved back.

•

After Sally was in her yard, Farmer James returned to the sunken ground. He again knelt where he had with the child. He placed his palm against the ground and after a moment, began to pull the earth back from where it had slid into the recess far below the surface. When all was back in its proper place, he stood, brushed the dust from his knee and disappeared into the stalks.