A Pair of Shoes

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"Dad, me want a new pair of shoes".

"What's wrong with your shoes now, Claudia? And it is I want. Not me want".

"The fronts have torn open, dad. I can feel water coming through every time it is raining."

"I thought we just bought it a year ago, didn't we?"

"Dad, it's been three years. My friends always say something bad about my shoes. So does Miss Kathy. She said no wonder I am stupid because I can't even afford something proper under my feet. She said I might want to go to Mr. Lautner's shop and beg him to give me a new pair of shoes that no one wants to buy. Dad, am I stupid?"

"You're a perfectly brilliant girl, Claudia. And I am proud to be your father. Do you know that? No? Then I want you to know that. Don't listen to something bad that people say".

"Is being poor bad, dad? Because Kent keeps saying that to me in class. And his friends would laugh as well. Is being poor funny, dad? Are we really poor?"

"Now come here, Claudia. See, you have two sparkling blue eyes, just like your mum. You have long black hair, just like your mum. You're beautiful, more that your mum. See your smile? You are a beautiful girl, Claudia. Your mum would have been very proud of you. God has created you just as perfect. How can people say you're poor when you have everything just like other people do?".

"Then we are not poor, dad."

"We have never been poor, Claudia. Nobody's poor, little angel. God does not create anyone poor. He creates us all good and we shall be thankful and do good things in return. And good people will go to heaven."

God called daddy up to heaven the next day. I was walking barefoot down the road looking for daddy because he didn't come home as usual, when I saw him lying on the sidewalk, few blocks away from Mr. Lautner's shop. Daddy looked like he was sleeping, except that there were stains of blood all over daddy's old body.

And tightly clenched in daddy's right hand, was a pair of new shoes.

Daddy never woke up.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

sooo touching...
i agree!!!!

Aziz said...

Hehehe.
Thanks.

Just my two-cent piece of writing =)