A true story

 

Jamie was a farm boy.  The farm was an exciting place to live.  There were lots of things to do on the farm.

Every morning Jamie woke up with feelings of excitement and anticipation.  He'd dress and eat breakfast as fast as he could so that he could get started with the day's adventures as quickly as possible.

The worst part of the morning was putting on his shoes.  Jamie wasn't good at tying the laces.  It was a slow process, and wasted a lot of valuable minutes of his day.  Jamie was in a hurry to get outside.

One morning there just wasn't time to put on his shoes, so Jamie ran out the door in his bare feet.  He intended to put his shoes on later, but he ended up going barefoot all day.

The next morning the same thing happened.  From that time on Jamie forgot all about his shoes.  He spent the summer barefoot.  His feet became tough and calloused.  He got to where he could even run on gravel.

 

Margie was a town girl.  She lived seventeen miles away from Jamie.  Fifteen years later she and Jamie would get married, but this particular summer she didn't know Jamie, and Jamie didn't know her.

But they spent that summer doing the same thing.  Margie went barefoot, too.  Margie's problem was that she lost her shoes.  She was afraid to tell her mother, so she just went barefoot.

Margie's feet became hardened and calloused.  There were no girls her age living in the neighborhood, so Margie spent the summer playing with her brother who was three years older.  Her brother included her in all of his activities with his friends.  Margie even got to be in their secret boy clubs.

Margie's brother liked to show his friends how brave and athletic his little sister was.  He carefully coached her to do daring things, and then challenged his friends to do as well.

Margie could climb up on, and slide off of the big propane tank in the back yard better than anyone.

Her brother worked with her until she could make a fearless walk across the train trestle near their house.  When he challenged his friends to walk the trestle, they hesitated and were afraid of the height.

"Margie isn't afraid," he'd say, and send his little sister across.

One day Margie's brother challenged the fastest boy in the neighborhood to race his sister.  As Margie and the boy toed the starting line, Margie's brother pointed out that she was barefoot.  To make things fair, the boy should be barefoot, too.

The boy took off his shoes.  Margie's brother shouted, "Go!"  The boy's feet weren't tough like Margie's.  Margie won the race easily.

As summer drew to a close, the evenings became cold and damp.  Margie wanted to stay outside and play, but her feet got cold.  She had to come inside earlier and earlier.  Margie explained the problem of her lost shoes to her brother.

Margie's brother went to their mother and asked if she knew where Margie's shoes were.

"They're in my closet," she said.  "They've been there all summer."