Friday, April 3, 2009

New shoes for Easter

With seven kids my parents couldn’t afford more than one pair of shoes a year for each of us. They would buy them big so that we could get a year out of them. When we got our annual new pair the old ones would be for after school. I remember trying very hard to keep my new shoes new all year. That was quite a trick on a dirt farm but I loved getting new shoes.

One sunny spring day near Easter my dad took me to town to get new shoes. That was a big deal in itself. Getting Dad all to myself for the drive into town and back happened maybe four or five times in my whole life. So there I sat, in the front seat with Dad. I was probably eight or nine, skinny with buck teeth, wearing glasses and stringy hair. Looking down at my old shoes I could tell it was time for a change.

We went to the store on Main Street where if you bought twelve pair you would get the thirteen pair free. Cheaper by the dozen. My parents never shopped anywhere else for shoes. Netterfields. They had an x-ray machine which would show how the shoes would fit. Our bones looked greenish in the cancer producing light of the x-ray machine.

This was to be the thirteenth pair of shoes…I felt like I was winning the lottery. Dad was proud too. Since it was he who had taken me shopping I knew I didn’t have to be practical. Shopping with Mom was different. I chose a pair of brown oxford shoes with white on the top across my toes. They were beautiful. I remember walking all over the store in them while my dad talked to Mr. Netterfield. I put my foot into the x-ray machine every time I walked by.

Finally Dad sat me down and asked, did I really want those shoes? Yes, I really really did.

He even let me wear them out of the store. He held my hand as we walked towards the car. With new shoes and Dad I could almost see Homecoming Queen in my future.

As we walked past the bakery in the middle of the block he stopped.

“Don’t you think we should take mom home a donut or two?” He asked.

On a day like this would I turn down a donut? We went in. He left it up to me to decide which to get but the choices were too enormous for my little mind so Dad helped me out.

“Let’s just get two of each.”

Driving home wearing my new shoes I held the big white box of three dozen donuts on my lap. I felt like a million bucks. As I write this now it occurs to me that Dad had just blown a whole pair of shoes at the bakery. Lucky mine were free that day.

Jesse

1 comment:

CouponAlbum said...

Oh!! It's so nice and interesting post!! Kids really love to wear new shoes and dresses on Easter!!