I Can’t Find My Shoe!
Where the lost things go
“I can’t find my shoe!” Jason heard his mom’s exasperated sigh. The one that told him she was tired of this particular complaint.
“Did you look in the hallway?” Jason’s mother called out.
“Yes, I looked in the hallway. I looked in the bathroom. And in the closet. My cleat is just gone, mom!” Jason slid leaned his back against the wall and slid to the floor in frustration. “I’m going to be late for my game.”
“Check under your bed.” his mom called out. Her matter-of-fact tone was irritating. The coach wouldn’t let him play without his cleats.
“Okay, but it’s NOT going to be there. I left them right here. In the hallway.” Jason stood up and head for his room. “How would it get under my bed?” He stomped a little on the floor so his mom would know how mad he was. Jason pushed the door open, walked to his bed and knelt on the floor. He muttered to himself as he slid his hand along the length of the bed. His fingers hit something so he scooted back and lay on the floor so he could reach farther under the bed.
He pulled out his missing baseball cleat and held it up in disbelief. “No way.” he muttered. “Mom!” Jason yelled. “Guess what?” he stood up and headed back down the hall.
“Your shoe was under the bed?” his mom said as he came into the kitchen.
“Yep! I can’t believe it. It’s like it walks around when I’m sleeping or something. How could it have gotten from the hallway all the way under my bed like that?” Jason was shaking his head in disbelief as he put on his shoes and tied them.
“It’s always in the last place you look.” his mother said with a grin. She picked up her keys and purse and headed out the door. “Meet me in the car. Don’t forget your mitt.” Jason grabbed his mitt from the rack in the hall and headed out after his mom.
Meanwhile, in the hallway…
“Wow, Cleatus almost made it out!” Sandy, one of Jason’s black outback sandals was clearly in awe.
“I know. That was close.” responded Joules, the rain boot. “I think he only came back because he didn’t have the heart to leave without Chloe.”
“I know that’s right.” Sandy tapped her toe in agreement. “Those two are usually inseparable. If Chloe had made it to the portal before Jason started looking for them, I think they would have been gone for good this time!”
“I know. I’ve been trying to talk Jordy into going with me, but she’s scared. I was there once. Did I ever tell you about it?”
“No! What’s it like?” Sandy scooted closer to Joules.
“It’s even better than you can imagine. Everyone is free there. And happy. Really happy. There are no humans of course. The bars are full of single socks, looking for mates. Keys pop in and out. I had a set of keys pop through a portal right over my head. It was crazy! The remotes are on a timer so they’re trying to do everything at once. It can get wild sometimes. But I couldn’t stay without Jordy, so I came back.”
“I hear ya. I know the socks jump through the portal in the dryer without their better half all the time. But I can’t imagine going without Sam. We’ve always been together.” Sandy glanced lovingly at Sam who as if on cue, snorted in his sleep. She grinned. “See? even asleep he knows I’m talking about him!”
“Well as soon as I can talk Jordy into it, we’re making a break for it. Hopefully before the fall rains start. Jason will pay more attention to us then and it will be harder to break away.”
“I hear ya. Sam and I should make a break for it in winter probably. When mom puts us under the counter for the season. I know there’s a portal there, like the one under the bed, right?” Sandy looked to Joules for confirmation.
“Yep it’s there.” Joules tapped his toe. “Kind of hard to find, but it’s there. If you can manage to get away together, you won’t regret it.” he jumped a bit as a car door slammed outside.
“Dad’s home.” Sandy instinctively slid back over next to Sam and closed her eyes. Joules went still. Dad entered the house, set his briefcase on the rack and kicked off his loafers in the hall. About an hour later, Jason and his mom returned home. The family ate dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.
Early the next morning, Dad came down the hall freshly showered and dressed for work. He picked up his briefcase slipped on one loafer and then spun around searching….
“Honey?” he called out to his wife.
“Yes dear?” He heard his wife sigh as if she knew what he was going to say.
“I can’t find my shoe!”
Written by Meg Stewart, All Rights Reserved 2017
Meg Stewart is a full-time freelance writer who is passionate about helping others do the same. She founded the Freelance Filter to help writers get paid more and help solopreneurs do business better. She writes fiction and nonfiction, is the single parent of four, and proud “grammie” to 10 grandchildren. If you liked the above post, follow her @writewizard on Twitter, or follow her profile for more similar posts.
