Hi! My name is Left-foot Tennie. Usually my partner, Right-foot Tennie, and I sit in the closet all summer long. During the summer we are almost never used. So I was very glad when I heard my owner, Alison, say, “It’s September twentieth today!” I guess she was talking to her sister, Amy, who shares a bedroom with her. I thought, Good. Maybe Alison will use me today.
I didn’t have long to find out. A little while later Alison swung open the closet door and pick up Right-foot Tennie and me. In a few seconds her foot was in me. Whew! It feels good to be used and get some fresh air. Then as Alison ambulated towards the back door of the house I managed to whisper to my partner, “I wonder where we’re going?”
You might think that the humans would hear us when we talk, but we have a secret way of doing it. Whenever we want to talk we wait for our owner to start walking, and then we start talking. To our owners it sounds like squeaking.
Well, to get back to my story, Alison walked right out the door and down the driveway. There were also some other people, Alison’s sisters and her dad, and I recognized my friends, who were on my owner’s sister’s feet, and squeaked a hello. Well, soon Alison had reached the end of the driveway and turned into the street. After crossing the street, she started walking on the gravel that was on the other side of the street. Ouch! I like being used, but I do not like walking in gravel. It hurts! Well, I guess Alison finally got tired of walking in the gravel, and decided to walk on the paved road. That felt so much better.
Eventually we got to where we were going. Hurray! We were at the park! That is one of my favorite places to go. There is no gravel, only sand, grass, and concrete. Soon Alison began to run. I said to Right-foot Tennie, “I hope she runs in the grass.” She didn’t. But soon I saw Alison bend down and pick up a super ball. Back and forth we ran, while Alison bounced the ball. It looked like fun, and I almost wished I were a human so that I could do it, too.
Then the dad invented a game they called Super Baseball. I had never seen a baseball game before so this was exciting! Especially when Alison got a home run! “Way to go!” I cheered. Alison looked down at my partner and me. Whoops! I had squeaked when Alison wasn’t walking! Thankfully she didn’t say anything about it.
Finally the dad said that it was time to go home, so the girls got their stuff and started to slowly walk home. “Faster! Faster!” I said. I guess Alison understood because she started running.
When she got home, she took us off her feet and put us in the closet once again. But I didn’t mind too much because I was tired, and besides, I had stories to tell to all the other shoes in the closet. It had been a very fun day for me as a shoe.