One Shoe, Two Shoes
This sounded interesting. Somehow, they couldn’t imagine big, sensible Bracha ever being a toddler
Bracha was on the phone from Yerushalayim. The Morris children were always excited to hear from their married sister. They also wanted to hear about her little boy, Chananya. He was the world’s smartest toddler (at least according to his parents).
But this time, Bracha’s voice sounded strained.
Mrs. Morris took the phone.
“What’s up, Bracha?” she asked in concern. “Are you feeling alright?”
“I guess so,” replied Bracha. “But I was just about to leave the house for my dentist appointment. Then I realized Chananya had taken off his shoes again. I don’t know where he put them. Now I’m going to be late for my appointment. And I’ve got a loose tooth, and—”
“Hold it, Bracha! Wait!” cried Mommy. But Bracha was already worried about ending up in the hospital with an infection.
“Bracha!” Mommy repeated loudly.
Bracha paused. “Uh, sorry, did you say something?”
“Yes! I said, you did the same thing when you were small! Kids do put their shoes in all sorts of funny places.”
Moishy and Miriam’s ears perked up. This sounded interesting. Somehow, they couldn’t imagine big, sensible Bracha ever being a toddler.
“Let’s try and work out where the missing shoes could be,” said Mommy.
“Under da bed!” called out Miriam. Her shoes often ended there. They just seemed to walk on their own.
“In the toy box!” yelled Moishy. He remembered how Miriam’s missing slippers were found there one Erev Yom Kippur.
But Bracha said she’d already searched in all those places.
“I bet Jolly Solly could find Miriam’s shoes in a jiffy,” mused Moishy. “It’s a shame he lives so far from you.”
“Maybe they’re under Jolly Solly’s hat,” giggled Miriam. She loved the clown’s ability to pull all sorts of things from his clown hat.
Bracha merely sighed. There was a silence. The Morrises racked their brains for more ideas. Suddenly, there was a shriek from Bracha.
“Yikes! I found one of Chananya’s shoes!”
“Where?” yelled Moishy and Miriam.
“It was Miriam that gave me the idea, actually. She said maybe the shoes were under Jolly Solly’s hat. It made me think of other strange places they might be. I’d already looked in all the bedrooms, but—”
“Where was it?” demanded Moishy impatiently.
“In the bathtub!” said Bracha.
“Hope it got a good wash,” joked Mrs. Morris.
Bracha went to search for the other shoe. Mrs. Morris said they would call Bracha later on for an update.
Early in the evening, Mommy called Bracha. Moishy and Miriam listened in.
“Did you get to the dentist?” asked Mommy.
“And how’s your tooth?” asked Moishy.
“Oh, yes,” Bracha replied. “He was running late, so it all worked out fine.”
“What did you do about Chananya’s missing shoe?” asked Moishy.
“Did he hafta hop all the way?” asked Miriam.
Bracha laughed.
“No, he didn’t. I found a pair of his old sandals. They were good enough for a short trip.”
“Will he hafta wear old sandals every day?” asked Miriam.
“Oh, no,” replied Bracha. “We found his second shoe just before supper. You’ll never guess where it was!”
“Where?” yelled the children excitedly.
“Well, I was almost ready to give up. That would mean buying a new pair. As you can imagine, I wasn’t too pleased about that. I was thinking about it while cooking supper. Then I opened the pot cupboard to take out a soup pot. The pot felt heavier than usual. Guess what was inside?”
“The other shoe!” everyone shouted.
Hearing the laughter, Chananya guessed he must have done something good. He clapped his hands loudly.
“No more of your tricks, young man,” Bracha told him.
“Yeah, you don’t want shoe soup instead of vegetable soup,” said Moishy.
(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 874)
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