Read Sage's Eyes for Free Online Page A

there was a rumbling in the floor. Maybe I imagined it, but I quickly put the strip of leather back and got up. I studied the cabinet drawer to see if it looked in any way different from what it looked like before I had delved into the files. I thought it was fine and hurried out of the office and into the living room. My mind was spinning with all sorts of questions and thoughts, and I felt a little dizzy. I sat quickly on the settee and closed my eyes.
    This could be what my mother meant when she told me that a little knowledge was a dangerous thing. Too many questions and too many answers could clog your brain, but what was worse, they could upset you and make you want to know more than you could or should. What did I gain from peeking into the forbidden cabinet? Only more questions, more secrets to be caught in spiderwebs.
    I knew that it was going to be very hard to keep what I had seen and done a secret. Both my parents were very good at looking at me and almost reading my thoughts. Was it because I was so revealing, no matter how hard I tried not to be, or was it becausethey were perceptive enough to read anyone’s dark thoughts and not just mine?
    Lying to them seemed impossible. I hated the thought of having to lie to anyone. Besides, my parents were already sensitive to anything wrong or even slightly defiant that I might do or say. A lie would simply reinforce all that. Maybe it was better to simply confess what I had done. Now I wished that filing cabinet had not been left unlocked. I could almost hear my mother, her face twisted with rage, shouting, “That drawer being opened is no excuse for what you did. Why did you go in there? Don’t you know that curiosity killed the cat?”
    If only this had never happened. If only my father had not left that cabinet drawer open. I sat there with my eyes still closed and wished and wished that when I had walked by the office and looked in, the filing cabinet had been closed and locked. I wouldn’t have entered the office. I wouldn’t be feeling so guilty and afraid right now. One thing I always found easy to do was create a vivid picture in my mind of anything I wanted to see, and that’s what I did now with all my might.
    Suddenly, I heard the slam of a filing-cabinet drawer. My eyes popped open. I listened carefully. Had my parents come home and one of them discovered that the drawer had been left open? I didn’t hear their voices or their footsteps in the hallway, so I rose slowly and peered out toward my father’s office. There was no one, no other sounds.
    Gingerly, I walked back to the office. The door was still open. I peeked in carefully and saw therewas no one there, but what shocked me was that the cabinet drawer I had searched was closed. How could that be? I had left it the way it had been, hadn’t I? I was sure of that. I listened again and then approached it and tried to open it, but it was locked, just the way it usually was. For a moment, I just stood there amazed. Could I have imagined I had left it open but really have closed it? After all, my dreams were usually so vivid that it was impossible sometimes to distinguish them from what was real. I was the first to admit that. This could be the most frightening instance of all, because it could mean that now I could not be sure of what I had or hadn’t done.
    I backed away and started to flee the office but then stopped in the doorway and looked back at the filing cabinet. No, there was no doubt. I was sure I hadn’t imagined leaving it open. After all, that was how I had found it. How could this be? Obviously, I couldn’t tell my parents anything about this. I couldn’t mention any of the things I had seen in the drawer.
    My heart was pounding with both fear and excitement. There was another possibility. When I pictured the drawer closed, had it closed? Had I really done that? Had I willed that cabinet closed? That was something Uncle Wade could do in his