“Should I walk up to the mall?” Anna asked herself.
She looked down at her knee length left sock that was torn on the right side. Being picked on at school was not a new experience for her but being chided by her mother for making a fuss about it was what she wanted to avoid that evening. After all, she would have to mention about the bullying for the sock even just to make her mother feel guilty.
But here were free knee length socks being given away at the children’s store in the mall. It said, “stocks are limited.”
“There would be people at the store”, she thought.
Her own thoughts scared her. She felt herself trembling without reason. Free socks or not, she would receive free stares that would make her regret having the courage to walk up to the store in the first place.
“If only mother would have gone to the store to get a free pair for me. I would have worn them with care”, Anna’s heart was about to burst.
As she covered her eyes to hide her tears, she felt cold liquid being poured on her left foot. She looked up to see in horror what it was that had added to her miseries. She lifted her head to find a five or six year old boy purposefully pouring orange juice all over her left shoe and sock.
Anna was dumbfounded. She started to reach for the handkerchief in her pocket when she saw a young woman emerge from the store, calling out for the boy who looked up as his name was being called.
“Tom! Tom!” the young woman yelled. She was exasperated.
When she reached next to Anna and the boy, and saw what he had done, she began apologizing.
“I am so sorry”, she said, “I am his nanny and he just walked out of the store as I was collecting a free pair of socks.”
Looking at Anna’s dirtied shoe and sock, she hesitantly extended her hand with a pair of socks she had got herself.
“Would you please accept this?” she asked.
Anna, in her state of bewilderment, found herself taking the pair from the woman’s hand.
“It is free size and should fit…”, her voice seemed to trail off as Anna just stood there speechless.
Her miserable wish had been granted. She did not have to walk up to the store. She did not have to have an argument with her mother that evening. She will not be picked on for at least one thing at school tomorrow.
With the pair in her hand, Anna slowly walked home.
stringsandperpectives 