Interviewer
Sarah’s life is filled with so much concern and worry. Every day she has many things to think of and to check. Why? Because Sarah is obsessed with superstitions.
Sarah
I don’t regard them as superstitions at all. I think they are real. If I don’t pay attention to them, then I know something bad will happen
Interviewer
Can you give us an example?
Sarah
Well, take last week. It was Friday the 13th. I didn’t leave the house that day. I stayed at home and just read a book. I didn’t even turn on the news or answer the phone.
Interviewer
Isn’t that a little extreme?
Sarah
I just have to be on the safe side. Better to be safe than sorry.
Interviewer
Okay, fair enough. Tell us about some other superstitions — sorry, precautions, you take.
Sarah
I have a rabbit’s foot and every morning I wake up and stroke the rabbit’s foot. I mean that’s not so unusual. Everyone has a white rabbit’s foot.
Sarah
Maybe not everyone. But if they did, they would find their life would be much better. A rabbit’s foot is lucky.
Interviewer
Not for the rabbit… How about when you go outside?
Sarah
Oh, I have to be extra careful when I am outside,” she said. “There were some workers fixing something in the street the other day. They were using a ladder. I saw people just walking under the ladder like it was no problem. I could not believe it
Interviewer
So you didn’t do that?
Sarah
No, of course not! I crossed the road to avoid it. A car had to screech to a stop when I went over the road
Interviewer
And that is lucky?
Sarah
And another thing… Our neighbour has the audacity to have a black cat. How can he be so inconsiderate? Every time I see that nasty cat I have to shoo it away in case it crosses my path. And I don’t like the way it looks at me either.
Interviewer
This sounds like a full-time job. How did this all begin?
Sarah
I think you can blame my mother for that. When I was a child, she broke a mirror in our house. My grandmother was there, and she was very upset about it. She said: that’s seven years’ bad luck! And scolded my mum. My mum just brushed it off but from that day things have not been quite right
Sarah
And my house is decorated in the right way - a horseshoe, a picture of a four-leaf clover and a large number 3 painted on the kitchen wall
Interviewer
Does it work?
