Holly's Magic Slippers

For Chantal

One morning, Holly woke up in bed and rubbed her eyes. She put on
her clothes – but not her school clothes – she didn’t
have to go to school today as it was Saturday. As everyone knows,
Saturday is a day for playing.
Holly looked around for her slippers. She couldn’t see them
anywhere. She looked in the cupboard – they were not there. She
looked under the bed – not there either. Holly looked all
around her bedroom but she couldn’t find her slippers anywhere.
Where could they possibly be?
Holly liked her slippers. They were green and had butterflies on
them. She had had them a long time. In fact they were very old and
very dirty – but Holly didn’t mind: they were Holly’s
slippers.
Holly decided to look outside for her slippers. She opened the door
to her bedroom and went downstairs. She still didn’t see her
slippers. So Holly opened the door to the garden. Holly’s house
had a very big garden and she often played outside on the grass. As
she opened the backdoor Holly saw a pair of slippers, but they were
not Holly’s slippers. Whose could they be?
Holly picked them up and looked closer. They were very beautiful
slippers. They were bright red and looked very new – not at all
old and dirty like her slippers. On each of the slippers was a
picture of a dragon.
Holly liked these slippers very much. She decided to try them on.
They fitted perfectly. She tried walking in them. They were very
comfortable.
Holly tried to run. She could run fast in these slippers. They felt
like they had been made just for her. Holly ran through the garden;
she ran faster and faster – until suddenly:
Whoosh!
Holly felt herself lift off the ground; she was going up in the air.
Holly was flying!
Holly flew higher and higher until she was looking down on her house
and her garden. “These must be magic slippers,” thought
Holly. Holly flew around looking down at the town where she lived.
She flew so high all the people and the cars below looked very small.
“I love these slippers,” said Holly. She had forgotten
all about her old slippers. Eventually she felt the slippers begin to
pull her down to the ground. She landed gently back into her garden
at home.
“These are the best slippers ever!”
said Holly, as she took the slippers off. Suddenly they vanished:
gone!
“Oh No,” said Holly. “What has happened to my
magic slippers? Where can they be?” Holly was very sad. She
went back into the house and up to her bedroom. She sat on her bed
and cried. She cried and cried until she couldn’t cry anymore.
The next morning Holly woke up and got out of bed. She was surprised
to see her old green slippers lying on the floor. But she didn’t
like these slippers anymore. She wanted the magic slippers. But she
put them on anyway and went out into the garden.
Then Holly had an idea: “Maybe if I run fast enough my old
slippers will turn into magic slippers,” she thought. Holly ran
and ran through the garden. She ran so fast and for so long that
Holly became tired, but her old slippers still didn’t turn into
magic slippers; so instead she played in the garden. The sun was
shining; it was a beautiful day. She played with her toys in the
long, green grass all day.
“Maybe I don’t need magic slippers after all,” she
thought when her mommy called her in for dinner, “My old
slippers will do just fine.”

Howard Kinsman 2007