Toddling Along: New Shoes
By
Gemsong

Have I mentioned how much I hate these freaking light up shoes? They flash for every step. Flash! Kid coming! Flash! Kid coming! Bright red. They could spot me walking around from the international space station. I hate these shoes. And they pinch my toes so I stumble like a drunken sailor. Kiss my dignity good bye.

I thought we were going to Wal-Mart but apparently Daniel had a different idea. I realized our destination when he pulled into a parking spot in front of one of those strip malls as I call them. A shoe store with nothing but shoes. We go to a lot of specialty stores lately. Probably has to do with the time we went grocery shopping in the Wal-Mart and I wandered over to the video game section. Why would he think I was in the toy section? Duh.

I anxiously wait for Daniel to get me out of this stupid car seat. Payless Shoes. Shoe heaven. I hear women send offerings and worship at the sign. Well that’s what I heard. Women? Shoes? Matching purses? Then again I miss lurking in Victoria’s Secret.

Yes, I’m wearing the shoes from hell. But they soon will be gone. Daniel carries me across the parking lot. Okay. I can deal. After all, his legs are longer now. He sets me down once we’re inside and I see the men’s section. I take off. And come to a bone jarring stop. He’s got that damn harness and leash on me again. What does he take me for? A dog?

I growl for all the good it does me. He pulls me away from the men’s aisle (sob) and straight to the kids section. It’s sooooo tempting. I could act my age and start tossing every shoe in reach in all directions. He sits me down on a stool.

“Hi, I’m Karen, can I help you with anything?” The female voice seemed to come out of nowhere. I jumped. I couldn’t help it.

Daniel smiled. “We need new shoes,” he said. “These are starting to pinch his toes.”

“Of course,” the saleslady said. “We have the light ups in a larger size…”

“NO!” I said.

“NO!” Daniel said.

Cool… stereo. And she jumped. I giggled.

“A well… lets see if we can find something that fits,” Karen said. She smiled at Daniel. I roll my eyes. Here we go again.

Off came the hated shoes. Karen measured my feet. I was officially a size 3. Okay, I got big feet. Not my fault. No wonder the hell shoes hurt. They were 2 ½. I think I’m growing. I’ll be so glad when they figure out how to make me big again.

Now I cringe. The selection process. Karen quickly found some ‘cute’ sneakers. I really hate that four-letter-word. Daniel, bless his rock focused heart shook his head at her choice. He shook his head at a lot of her choices. Remind me to place an offering at the temple of Daniel.

We tried on several livable pairs of sneakers. There were some really cool black ones, but not in my size. So off Karen went to the back to see if they had any size 3’s back there. While she was gone Daniel continued to look over the selections. He picked up a pair in brilliant neon green.

“What do you think?” he asked. “They have your size.”

“What do you think about wakin up wif you ankle chewed off?” I asked sweetly.

Daniel laughed and put them back just as Karen showed back up with a box of size 3 black sneakers. I put them on and walked around. Oh yeah. Silent and deadly. They’ll never know what hit them. I love them!

Daniel said I could buy them, but I also had to buy a couple other pairs of shoes. So a white pair of sneakers with a blue racing stripe. You gotta admit, black shoes and shorts look majorly dorky. And slippers for around the house.

I squirmed. I’d been eyeing a pair. But they were soooooo kiddie! I mean… they had puppy heads. I stared at the black sneakers now on my feet.

“Don’t cawe,” I mumbled.

“I like these,” Daniel said and picked up the fluffy puppies. Okay! I’ll admit it! They were cute. It’s not like we can have a dog right now.

Karen carried the boxes to the front and Daniel let me walk in my new shoes. Of course he didn’t take off the harness. Just attached the other end to his belt again. Sigh. It’s a shoe store. Where would I go?

We stood at the counter which is like ten feet over my head so I couldn’t see a thing and thanks to the freaking harness I couldn’t go anywhere. So all I could do was listen to Karen as she rang up the purchases.

“You want to check his feet periodically,” she was saying. “They grow fast.”

“I’ll do that, thank you,” Daniel replied. His voice was getting that polite tone. The one that means he’s slowly getting irritated.

“If you ever have any question, you can always call,” Karen was saying. I saw Daniel hand over his credit card. “You can just ask for me.”

“Mmmm hummm,” was the non-committal response.

“I’m a cancer, so I’m really easy to get along with,” she continued not getting the hint.

I saw Daniel stiffen, the frown reaching his face as he struggled for a way out of it.

“Dada?” I chirped brightly.

Daniel looked down at me surprised. “What, Jack?”

“Will mama wike my new thothes?” I asked leaning against his leg and giving him the puppy brown eyes for all I was worth. Karen had leaned over the counter and caught the act.

Daniel smiled at me looking relieved. “I’m sure she’ll love them,” he said. “You can show her when we get home.”

That’s my Daniel. Quick. With one hand he took the bag from Karen and took my hand with the other and turned to leave.

I skipped while holding his hand. I had new shoes! And Daniel owed me one.

Fini