Wonderful Shoes

Tina came a little early from school today. She usually comes by bus,
but today she took a taxi. It is the end of the month and she is to
receive her pocket money tomorrow. She had some amount of money left
over from the current month. And her parents did not mind if she
indulged herself-just a little. It was also the end of the week and
Saturday and Sunday were both holidays. So she had some free time. She
had asked her mother for permission to explore the attic. Mummy had no
objection whatsoever as long as Tina cleaned up after the exploration
was over and done with. This was not the first time that Tina was
conducting a search of the attic. She had looked everywhere in the room
for a small box which once belonged to her grandfather. Her maternal
grandfather was an amateur magician in his young days. The box in
question belonged to the time when Tina's mother was an infant. Tina
had been told by her mother that her maternal grandfather had acquired
a pair of magic shoes from a wizard. If you put on these shoes and
wished about going somewhere, the shoes would take you there instantly.
No matter where you wanted to go, the shoes had the power to transport
you to that place. Tina had looked all over the attic for a box
containing the magic shoes. Though no one exactly knew where the magic
shoes' box was kept, Tina firmly believed that it was somewhere in
their attic. After her maternal grandfather's death all his things had
been stored in the attic. Tina had checked everything in the attic
except the elusive box. She had not found the box yet. She was going to
try very hard today to find it. She entered the room at five pm. She
first checked the walls. There were no niches in the walls that were
covered with thin plaster. So, the box was not in the wall. Next, Tina
began checking the floor. Her patience was soon rewarded. At the far
end of the room a floor tile came loose with some prodding. There was a
box contained in the small hole below the tile. It was shoe-box like
and indeed it did contain a pair of shoes. Immediately Tina knew this
was the coveted magic-shoe. Tina's friend Bella was in Darjeeling with
her grandparents. Of all the people in the world Tina loved Bella the
most. She took a good look at the shoes-they looked like ordinary
sneakers. Tina wore the shoes and tied the laces. Then she wished that
she should be with Bella. But she was disappointed. When she appeared
next to Bella in Darjeeling, Bella was crying. Both her grandparents
were sick and she was calling the local doctor. Tina used the shoes to
come back to Calcutta. She cleaned up the attic and kept the magic
shoes in her brother's room. In the evening her brother Jack came back
from Medical College where he was a student. He was very tired and did
not notice the magic shoes initially. When he did see them he began to
wear them. Unaware of the shoe's powers he wished that he should go to
his girlfriend's house. His girlfriend Gwen was very popular. Jack was
shocked when he found her in her drawing room chatting away with his
sworn enemy Jeremy. Angry, he wanted to go back home. He was surprised
when he found himself in his own house again. Not knowing what to do,
he kept the magic shoes outside his parents' room. Tina and Jack's
father was Dr. Smith who was a medical doctor himself. When he came
back from hospital he wondered what a pair of sneakers was doing
outside his room. He began wearing the shoes, just to try them out.
After he had tied the laces he remembered his native village. He
remembered the ramshackle house where he was born by a hill, the hard
times he had endured to become a successful doctor. He also remembered
the three goats that he had seen when he had last gone to his village.
Immediately Dr Smith was transported to his native village. Quite
carelessly he threw off his shoes, the magic ones. They landed next to
the shed where the three goats lived. He had to take the next plane out
of the nearby town the next day. The shoes, with their awesome magical
powers were never seen again. The charmed footwear served as a good
meal for the three goats who had been remembered with misty eyes by the
good Dr Smith.