Today I wore two shoes to school. I mean two different shoes. I mean shoes that didn’t match. And I’m not a student, I’m a teacher.1
The day hadn’t started out that great. My nineteen year old son had left his bedroom door open, and a light on. This was unheard of. I peaked in and he wasn’t there, and I realized he hadn’t come home the night before. Now Simon has his failings, but he has always been very good about communicating with me when he’s been going out, and calling if he was going to be in later than expected. So, as I showered, my mind was going to all the places he might be: in jail, in the hospital, in some alley somewhere, beaten up by rednecks who didn’t like his long hair. Or, more likely, at his girlfriend’s house. I called there and spoke to her. “Hi, K, S didn’t come home last night; I wonder if you know where he might be.”2
A long silence. “Yeah, he’s here.”3
“Okay, glad to know he’s safe.” Feeling relieved, but thinking I really ought to be feeling pissed off that he would put me through that.4
Then I put on my shoes. And John and I left for work. A few blocks away, John realized he’d forgotten something. A few more blocks, I realized I’d forgotten my students’ planners that I’d taken home to mark, with the promise I’d have them back today. Shit. But we were running a bit late, and there was no turning back.5
I don’t know how long I would have walked around in those mismatched shoes. At nine o’clock an eleven year old boy noticed. Eleven year old boys don’t notice anything! ”Hey,” he said, “Your shoes are different colours.”6
This was one of those moments when time slows down. Like when you’re dying, and your life flashes before your eyes, or so they say. First thought, “Oh, the dye job a bit off, perhaps.” And then I looked down. It was a moment of pure horror. They really were different colours. And different styles. An old shoe and a new shoe. Oh my god. And here I thought I was coping so well with a huge workload, lack of sleep, report cards, you know, all that stuff. But oh no, I’m losing it. Completely off my rocker.7
I shrieked, “Oh no!” and walked away from the class, as if I could hide or something. And I started laughing, hysterically. I don’t know if it was with humour or with embarrassment. The class laughed with me. I laughed and cried and tried to figure out how I was going to make it through the day. Could this be an emergency sick day? Surely I was sick, to put on shoes that didn’t match! I took off my shoes. Both of them. Taught in stocking feet for a couple of minutes. But that was worse. So I wore the different shoes.8
For the rest of the day, I did a dance of hiding the shoes. Stuck one foot behind the other. Crouched down a lot. Sat on my feet. When I’d go to keep the beat with a foot tap, I’d see kids’ eyes start to look down, and I’d stop right away. 9
The Grade Sevens noticed. A very nice girl: “Your shoes don’t match.”10
“I know, I’m so embarrassed.”11
Another very nice girl: “Ah, you’re just trying to start a trend.”12
“That’s right,” I said, “Next week you’ll all be wearing shoes that don’t match.”13
A not-so-nice boy: “Wanna bet?”14
In the staff room at lunch, I showed a colleague. “I think you should be worried about me; look at this.” There is no shortage of laughter in the staff room at the best of times, but this day was one to remember. My teaching partner enjoyed my humiliation so much, she ran off and dragged the vice principal in to check out my feet. 15
I think I ought to be getting sympathy flowers from the Sunshine Committee.16
I made it through the rest of the day. It was a lucky thing I teach mostly younger kids on Friday. They would probably think it was just a variation on normal, kinda like wearing socks that didn’t match, or peeing in your pants. No big deal.17
At three o’clock the last class of the day was lining up to go, and a little boy said, “You know what makes you wonderful?”18
“What makes me wonderful?” I asked, thinking it must be something to do with the gummy bear he was about to get from me.19
“It’s because you know everything, and you teach us.” He really said that! It was so sweet. 20
I guess he hadn’t noticed my shoes.21
Author notes
this is a true story
What did you think? Please comment!
Comments
1 - 19 of 19
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wonderful
I am way too tired right now to go over this story in any other way than pure enjoyment. I love the story and how the kids (and you) reacted to the situation. It is these "odd" moments that are beyond basic understanding that really show who we are.
a wonderful read.
thanks,
John -
Thanks, poeT. I appreciate the visit and the comment.
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This is almost Divine!
This is absolutely beautiful...the short story illustrates the materialism that so many children are exhibiting these days...but yet shows the courage and the initiative of a real teacher, someone that wants to help kids...and it gives us a brief view...quickly...of a child that will grow up to be full of humility and emotion...this is absolutely awesome and....it gave me cold chills...thank you. -
There's a new book out about punctuation that sounds like fun. Can't think of its title or author at the moment. Have you heard of it? (I'll try to look it up.)
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no problem. it was my pleasure.
I'm very curious about punctuation and what could be considered 'proper' punctuation these days. I read tons of books and see all kinds of punctuation used in published writing. I've seen it so heavy that I was seeing commas and semi-colons in my sleep. no punctuation is probably better because a regular reader can fill in the gaps and 'intuit' the voice and how it should sound. punctuation is just a helper for the readers voice.
I figured out what it is about the commas after the conjunctions: conjunctions denote a compound sentence and it breaks the original sentence from the secondary one to avoid confusion. I'd say a comma after conjunctions could be used or not unless... you have a compound sentence with more than two noun/verb combinations. that's just a guess on my part. I'd have to actually read the sentence to see what it sounded like. -
Yay! A punctuation freak!
Your comment tells me you may know more than I do about comma usage. I do think I probably overuse punctuation, but I've been led to believe that there is some leeway. Now I want to research it, lol.
Thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it. -
Today I wore two shoes to school. I mean two different shoes. I mean shoes that didn’t match. And I’m not a student, I’m a teacher.
I like the way you use this- the repeating. I've seen it before but in another format. maybe try this and see how you like it:
Today I wore two shoes to school.
I mean two different shoes.
I mean shoes that didn’t match.
And I’m not a student, I’m a teacher.
break it into seperate paragraphs. or, you can combine the two 'I mean" parts to make one but that's uniteresting as hell.
“Okay, glad to know he’s safe.” Feeling relieved, but thinking I really ought to be feeling pissed off that he would put me through that.
don't need that comma after relieved.
A few blocks away, John realized
or that one.
A few more blocks, I realized I’d forgotten my students’ planners that I’d taken home to mark, with the promise I’d have them back today.
replace the comma after blocks with an and and lose the other comma.
I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. that's not saying there are a lot of mistakes but that it would get boring if I pointed all of them out. as a general rule that I use myself, puncuation is great as long as it doesn't hinder the reader. commas are useful but, when they're placed too heavily, it bogs the story down for the reader. a comma should incite a pause in the readers inner voice. use this to edit your writings when you read them and it'll come out very close to what it should be. another thing I see you repeating is before 'buts' and 'ands' (I see this a lot in prose, not just yours) having commas. the comma should always come after a conjunction like but or and. but mostly it isn't even needed after them.
I would be interested in seeing how the english language has evolved and what impact that has had on punctuation in the past, say... 50 - 100 years. grammatically correct is a bit different than what it was back then, I bet. like that. the comma after then isn't needed but it's grammatically correct. -
yeah, that happens with me too. familiarity with it drops the longer you go without reading it. then, when you look again, you start to see the things that are wrong with it (even if you can't point them out) and it pales in comparison to it's former glory.
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It says it's critical on MY viewing page.... Sure I'd love a crit. I read this the other day, for the first time in months, and it seemed kind of weak to me, whereas when I was closer to it I was fairly satisfied. It was really written for colleagues, people who know me and the situation and would get a laugh. However, if you like....
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but I see on the title page that it IS critical... hmmm. why doesn't it say it in the viewing page?
oh well, if you want a critical, IM me and I'll be happy to give one
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I see you don't want this critically reviewed so I'll just say...
this is a very 'homey' story. yes, I spelled that right... lol. kinda like houses you go into and feel right at home even though you've never been there before. it's got a feel of suburbia USA all over it. I think with a little editing, this could be submitted to Laughter, the Best Medicine or something like that. very cute and silly
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This is a great story. Most of the brightest people have their 'off' days. It put a smile on my face.
God bless,
Absinthe
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I thought I'd commented on this one-- I guess not. This sounds just like something my sister would do-- she's brilliant, but prone to odd moments, somehow. I think if you brightened this up a bit, and gave more on the sweet ending, this would sellable to one of the "true story" type magazines.
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I love this one with your down to earth way of telling a story that is sheer delight. Kids are great. I also work at an elementary school and work with spec ed kids. I think he noticed the shoes, just didn't matter. It could have been backwards day. We have that a couple times a year, it's fun. I've worn different socks but might be interesting to hear what they have to say about different shoes. lol. Now about that 19 year old.........grrrrr. They seem to think they don't have to explain their whereabouts after 18 and like Ma always told me, the only thing you can do at 18 is vote and buy cigarettes and as long as you live in my house you have a curfew and if you are gonna be late or stay over somewhere ya better call and let me know or tomorrow you're keys will be taken away. I spent a lot of grounded time. Love this little peek into a day in your life.
Desiree
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Great story. As a teacher I can fully relate to this, however, luckily I have not worn any different shoes yet.
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good
Hi from Vancouver,
This was a great story. Sad to hear about your son, hope that worked out ok.
Your story was well written and had a pleasant closing. It would have been intersting if he still said the kind words even knowing your foot problem. Afterall what matter one off day against a year of hard work.
I look forward to more stories.
John -
Well, it worked for Punky Brewster.
This was delightful. The true stories make the best when they are written down because we have so many delicious details to include. I enjoyed your story. Let me know when you post more, so I can come and read. -
This had me in splits. Life offers such wonderful moments of inadvertent humour!!! Children can be so tactless too and with their bounding curiosity, they are apt to notice each and every thing!!! The ending is very cute. The compliment must have more than compensated the embarrassment of the day. Enjoyed the write.
Krishna -
Good story. I enjoyed reading it.
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