Thursday Tell All – A Visit With Sara Alderson

by Sarah | Oct 23, 2013 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Thursday Tell All, Writing

Come on in and sit down for a visit with Sara Alderson, an ordinary woman with an extraordinary talent. I love how down to earth she is, and I think you will too.

*~*

What is your story?

Do you want the short version?  The weird talent that I don’t know why I have, and which I never asked for, keeps leading me into trouble, and sometimes it lands me in the hospital or nearly gets me killed.  But I’ve been able to use it to help people and save lives, so I guess I can’t complain too much about it.

Who are you? 

What time is it?  If it’s between eight AM and five PM, I’m a doctor.  At five, I become a chauffeur.  From seven until nine, I’m a mother.  From nine until bedtime, I’m a zombie.  For a half hour after we get to bed, I’m a wife.  When my brother Bob calls for advice on whatever their two-year-old is getting up to, I’m a sister.  When Beth has had a stressful week at her job and she needs a sympathetic ear, I’m a best friend.  When I’m at work and I haven’t had time to fix myself lunch and Mom brings me something to eat, I’m a daughter.

It sounds like I’ve got multiple-personality disorder, doesn’t it?  Still, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, and I guess ultimately that’s who I am: the woman who’s all of those things, and glad to be them.

Do you think the author portrayed you accurately?

I think so.  Even when I’m doing something that’s reckless or stupid, or I’m having a really bad day, he puts me in a pretty sympathetic light.  And while I wish he’d leave me alone when I’m – well, when I’m having “private time” with my husband, at least he has the decency to be very discreet in how he describes it.  I shudder to think how that “Shades of Gray” woman would write about me, so I guess I should be thankful for small favors.

Do you have any special strengths?

I think most people would say my talent for dreaming – for stepping into other people’s dreams.  But I’d say that it’s my compassion – I enjoy helping people, whether it’s patients coming to my office, or friends and family, or the people whose dreams I see.  Brian, my husband, says that’s why I have the dreams in the first place, because even when I’m sleeping, I can’t help looking for people who are hurting or in trouble and reaching out to them.

Do you have any special weaknesses?

I can be pretty slow to realize things, especially dealing with interpersonal relations.  I guess that comes from my childhood.  I was always more interested in my microscope and my chemistry set than in playing with friends, or chatting on the phone or any of that.  So sometimes I don’t notice things that are blindingly obvious to other people.

What are you afraid of?

Abusing my power, and hurting someone with it.  I used my dreaming talent to help my godmother last year, but I had to interfere in her dream to do it.  I was able to change her mind from the inside-out, and she had no idea that it was me.   That’s such a dangerous power, and even though I only had good intentions, I could still have done horrible damage to her.  I’m afraid I’ll find myself in a situation like that again, where I feel like I have to do it to help someone I love – and I’ll make things worse instead.

Who is your true love? 

My husband.  I knew it the first time I met him, too.  I know that’s a cliché, but it’s really true for me – for us.  Our eyes met, and that was it.  I was done for.

Do you have any hobbies?

I wish I had time for some!  Between my job, the kids and keeping up with everything, I barely have time to breathe most days.  When I do have free time, what I want to do most of all is just sit down and rest – or, maybe, if I’m really lucky, take a nice, long, completely undisturbed bubble bath.

Name five items in your purse, briefcase, or pockets.

A small bag of lollipops (I’m a pediatrician, and I’ve got four kids.  I’m NEVER without candy!); my stupid cell phone, which I really and truly hate having to carry around; the key to our safe-deposit box; a photo of my old dog, Lumpy (I know we’ve got a new dog, and I love her, too, but I still miss Lumpy and I always will); and a pocket calendar that I try to keep up to date (I know I should get some kind of electronic device to help me, but I really don’t like carrying around all those gadgets).

What is your most prized mundane possession?Why do you value it so much?

The emerald necklace Brian gave me for our first Christmas, only a few weeks after we met.  He took the money he was saving up to buy a used car, and spent it to buy this beautiful necklace for me.  It sets off my eyes perfectly, and that’s why he picked it out.  It’s just symbolic of the love he has for me, and there’s nothing that could be more valuable than that.

What was your family like?

Growing up, my family was the best.  My parents were so good to us, and good for us.  They trusted me, and my brother, and they gave us plenty of responsibility – and also freedom.  We’re really trying to do the same for our children.

I’ll admit that, as a kid, I didn’t get along all that well with my brother.  I’m four years older, and at first I wanted to trade him in for a dog.  But by the time we were both in college, either I matured, or he got less weird (maybe both) and we get along wonderfully now.

The only real regret I have about my family is that I only was able to know one of my grandparents.  Both of my grandfathers died before I was born, and my father’s mother passed away when I was a baby, so it was only my Mom’s mother, Grandma Lucy, that I ever knew.  My children are a lot luckier, they’ve got all four grandparents, and they ought to have them for a long time to come.

What is something you had to learn that you hated? 

That sometimes, no matter my training, no matter how much I want to, there are some people I can’t save, and some pains I can’t ease.  I learned that my first year of medical school, when my friend Janet’s mother passed away.  I stepped into Janet’s dreams, and that’s how I found out how sick her mother was.  And I had to carry that around, because I couldn’t very well tell Janet that I knew this secret she hadn’t told anyone.  And, even worse, there wasn’t a thing I could do to help her, really.  It was awful, but it was a lesson I had to learn.

What is more important – sex or intimacy? Why? 

Intimacy, obviously.  What’s the point of having sex without it, anyway?  How could it be any good, if you don’t love the person you’re making love to?

What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? What one act in your past are you most proud of? 

Ashamed of?  The time I broke into one of my teachers’ offices back in medical school.  I had a good reason – he was one of several people I suspected of trying to poison another teacher at the school.  I’m not so much ashamed of the act, though.  What I’m ashamed of is that I didn’t tell Brian before I did it.  I knew he’d try to talk me out of it, and I just didn’t want to hear that.

Proud of?  It’s not one single act, but I’d say it’s the way our kids have turned out so far.  I’ve really tried to be honest with them in every way possible, and to give them the same values I was raised with, and I think I – well, Brian and I together – have succeeded so far.

What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it?

Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Which is more valuable? Why do you feel this way? As a doctor, I have to say that, yes, prevention is definitely the way to go.  But it’s true in every part of life.  I’ve seen it with my kids.  Taking the time to tell them the truth, and to explain things to them rather than just saying “no” or “because I said so” has made such an impact on them.  We’ll see if that keeps up when they’re teenagers, though!

What one word best describes you?

Compassionate, I hope.  I think it’s true, anyway.

How do your friends see you?

As someone they can rely on, and who won’t judge them, no matter what’s happening.  And also as someone who’ll do whatever it takes to help them when they’re in need.  And finally, as someone who, sometimes, will call on them in turn, because I always seem to find myself in situations where I can’t solve the problem alone and I need a lot of help, sometimes in very strange ways.
How do your enemies see you? Enemies?  I hope I don’t have any!  But if I do, they ought to see me as someone who won’t let them get away with hurting the people I care about, no matter what it takes to stop them.

What, if anything, haunts you?

The night I spent in jail, after my (former) office manager stole my prescriptions pads and sold them, and I was arrested for it.  I was violated, and I don’t want to talk about it any more than that.  That memory still haunts me, and the feelings of total powerlessness haunt me, and the fact that I let myself give in to all of that haunts me most of all.  I threw away hope, and after only a couple of hours, I began to believe what they wanted me to believe – that I was worthless and deserved to be treated the way I was.

*~*~*~*

| [amazon_link id=”B00EPSIIAW” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |

“Oh, God! We can hurt each other. Whatever we do to each other in the dream, we’ll do it to ourselves for real…”

When her own dreams are visited by a mysterious woman in a red dress, Sara realizes she has something she never expected: a counterpart, someone outside her family who shares her talent to see other people’s dreams.

When the woman in red keeps showing up in other dreams as well, leaving ruined lives in her wake, Sara knows she has something she never imagined: a nemesis.

Now, Sara must track the woman in red down in the waking world, before she’s forced to fight for her life in her dreams…

“Waking Dream” is the exciting fifth novel in the “Dreams” series.

J.J. (James) DiBenedetto was born in Yonkers, New York. He attended Case Western Reserve University, where as his classmates can attest, he was a complete nerd. Very little has changed since then.

He currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with his beautiful wife and their cat (who has thoroughly trained them both). When he’s not writing, James works in the direct marketing field, enjoys the opera, photography and the New York Giants, among other interests.

The “Dreams” series is James’ first published work.

http://www.writingdreams.net

http://www.amazon.com/author/jjdibenedetto

excerpt:

As Sara watches her husband, her heart swells with pride as the Air Force delegation – including, Sara now notices, a General – enthusiastically follows along with him.  But in the midst of his success, Sara suddenly feels a chill, as though someone opened a window and let a draft of cold air into the room. 

But there is no window open, and even if there were, this is the middle of summer; any air that came in would be hot and stagnant.  Sara turns, and a glass door leading out into the hallway is closing, although she didn’t see or hear it open. 

Just for an instant, Sara thinks she sees someone just as they disappear down the hallway and around a corner – a woman, she’s sure.  But she didn’t get a good look; the only thing she can recall for sure is the color red.  Red shoes, and a red dress.

As she turns her attention back to Brian and his meeting, she wonders why he’s dreaming about a woman in a red dress, who has to run away the moment Sara notices her… 

***

Where’d she go?  There was someone, I wanted – needed – to know who she was, where she was going.

It was a dream.  Brian’s dream.  And there was a woman, a woman in a red dress.  He was dreaming about a woman.  A woman who isn’t me…

No, that’s not right.  That’s insane.  Brian has never, ever given me the slightest reason to be jealous, and he never will.  Except – I was there, in his dream, and he had to hide her from me.  Right?  I was watching him give his presentation, everyone in the room was completely focused on it, they were all sitting there, mesmerized.

And then the door to the meeting room opened.  Someone inside the room opened it.  That woman, with her red? – yes, definitely a red dress.  And red shoes, with at least two-inch heels.  Not Brian’s type at all – nobody is his type, except me.

But she wasn’t sitting at the table.  There were a bunch of his co-workers, all men, all wearing suits.  And there were a bunch of Air Force officers, and they were all wearing their uniforms.  Nobody in a dress at all.

Until there was.  And nobody else seemed to notice her.  Nobody even looked up for a second to see who was opening the door.

“Brian?”  I grab his shoulder, shake him awake.  It’s three-thirty in the morning, but I have to know.

“Wha?”

“You were dreaming.  Just now.”

“Let’s take a quick break,” he mutters.  He’s still mostly there.

“Brian!”

He turns to me, his eyes slowly focusing.  “Quick break,” he murmurs again, then he finally realizes he’s not at work.  “Sara?”  Fear suddenly spreads across his face.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say, too quickly.  Now he looks terrified.  “Just – you were dreaming.  Can you remember?”

He rolls over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.  “I was – uh, in a room, a big glass room.  Giving – I was doing my presentation.  You know, the one I’ve been working on.”

“I know.  I was there.”  Now the fear vanishes, and it’s replaced by puzzlement.  “Do you remember who was there?”

“Didn’t you see?  Sara, what’s going on?”

“Humor me,” I say softly, running a hand through his hair, trying to calm him – and myself.

“Uh – just my team.  Rick and Alex and Joe and Dave.  And there were four – no, five people from the Air Force.  General Kelley was there, and the rest of them were his aides.”  He sits up, and so do I.  He’s staring hard at me.  “Sara, I don’t understand.”

Neither do I – except that I think I do, and I’m afraid to say it.  It’s impossible – but it’s impossible for me, too, and I can still do it.  “There wasn’t anybody else?”

“No.  That was it, just who I said.”

I’m staring hard right back at him, holding his eyes.  “You’re sure?  Nobody else?  Not a woman in a dress, a red dress?”

He has no idea what I’m talking about; I can see it all in his eyes.  “No.  Why would you think…?”  His jaw drops.  “No.  You don’t mean what I think you mean?”

“I saw her, but you didn’t.  Nobody else in the room did, either.  The same way that you didn’t see me, and neither did anybody else.  The way nobody ever notices me.”

We’re both silent for a moment, then we speak the same words, exactly in unison: “Oh, my God…”