wearing socks

Jesse owned a pair of funny socks. Unlike most socks that were identical, his weren't! One side was blue with hot pink stripes and a tiny strip of orange just at the border of where the toes would be; and the other that was white with brilliant green flowers printed all over, and each flower had a tiny smiley face that grinned wider than the ocean. Now, Jesse loved those socks, loved how they made his toes feel nice about themselves and kept all ten of them warm from the winter cold. Sometimes, they even protected his feet from getting cuts and blisters; though there was one time, they caused him to slip on the cold, smooth surface at the bowling alley- and it was right in front of Susie, the girl he likes. Jesse loved his mismatched socks. He wore them all the time and even when people laughed at him, he kept on wearing them anyway.

Then one day, on his 5th birthday, Jesse received a parcel from his grandaunt Kelly, who lived in a town that took Jesse and his family 10 solid hours on the road to get to. Jesse remembered the trip very clearly for he had never felt so bored in his life- the only interesting thing that happened was his little sister Rebecca getting a popcorn kernel stuck in her left nostril. Mom had to use a small stick to get the kernel out. Mum didn't know it, but Rebecca secretly kept the errant kernel in her fairy lock box- for good luck, she says. Jesse thinks she's just being silly. Anyway, grandaunt Kelly had bought Jesse a new pari of socks! A matching wollen pair, more comfortable than any other socks he's ever worn! And so Jesse began to wear his new socks- the vivid yellow pokka dots stark against the orange background. And oh, how he loved them!

By and by, Jesse forgot about his older socks, the one with the stripes that protected him from the cold, and the one with the flowers that cushioned his heel against the rough shoe. And the two lay silent in Jesse's drawer. Silent as a church mouse- although its not really sure why church mice would want to stay so silent, or if there are even mice in church; one reckons the nuns and priests wouldn't be too pleased to have rodents scurrying about, really. Time passed and the two socks started to fade, started to lose their sparkle and their spirit.

Many months later, or maybe it was years, Jesse was told to clean out his drawer. And when he opened them, he saw his two old socks lying amidst the cobwebs and dirt. He gently brushed them off and tried to put them on. By that time, the threads were worn through, the elastic now static, and there were even several moth bitten holes. As Jesse was staring at that old pair of socks, remembering the fun times, Mum came in and in one fell swoop scooped the socks out of Jesse's hands and threw them out. The trash guy was just outside, rumbling along in his huge van, an old sir that had one tooth chipped off- Jesse always wondered what had happened, maybe the old sir had gotten into a bar fight, or a cat brawl. In Jesse's mind, the old sir was like a brave knight; acutally, old sir had simple woke up drunk one day and tripped and knocked himself on the side of the oven.

Now, old sir had lived in a trailed park, right next to a little girl named Linney: she had the prettiest brown hair framed with darling ringlets and a smile that could light up the galaxy. But little Linney's mum was very poor, a factory drone in the company with the big chimmneys and small pay checks. So when old sir cleared out Jesse's trash, he saw two mismatch socks, lying amongst yesterday's TV dinner and this morning's dirt rags. Gingerly her picked them up, dusted them off and looked at the pretty blue stripes and the smiling flowers.

That night, old sir went over the Linney's home and knocked on her door, in his hand a badly wrapped package with a grocery string that doubled up as a gift ribbon. Shuffling, the little girl opened the door. Old sir, with his funny chipped tooth, held out the small gift and said, "Happy Birthday." Linney took the box, opened it and fell in love with the socks that were threadbare, torn and faded through. She fingered the blue socks with the hot pink stripes, the one with the tiny orange strip of orange just where her toes would be, and the flower patterned other pair, the one with so very many smiley faces grinning silly at her.

"Thank you," she breathed, 'they are the most perfect socks in the world."