Shoe Fly by Maha Mir Everyone has an imagination. Let it flow. It was a sunny afternoon as thirteen year old Taz walked home from school with her two best friends, Abby and Brooke. Abby and Brooke were identical twins. They both had light brown hair, green eyes the colour of summer leaves and braces the colour of the ocean. Taz was taller than the twins. She had red hair, sky blue eyes, and a big smile The three best friends were feeling discouraged, because their teacher, Mrs. Pearl, had yelled at them for talking in class. She had given extra homework only to them. Math homework. Hard fractions. They were distressed! However, they cheered up when they saw Magic Souvenirs, their favourite cozy little shop, which sold all sorts of interesting things, like earrings that made your ears look huge and tissue boxes which never stopped giving out more tissues. They decided to check out what was new in stock. The shop was deserted except for the three friends and the shop owner. They took their time looking around and were drawn to an old looking shoe that was dark red and looked just the right size for a thirteen year old foot. That s a magic flying shoe, said the shop owner. Abby rolled her eyes, she did not believe in such silly stuff. But Brooke and Taz were all ears. What happens when you wear it? asked Brooke. You wear the shoe and imagine a place you want to go. The farther you want to travel, the harder you need to imagine your destination. If you imagine the place well enough, you might just end up there smiled the shop owner. Abby was doubtful. Are you sure it will work? she asked. I guarantee it will work. It was mine before I decided to sell it. I just don t
have the energy to travel anymore. I used to travel all around the world with that shoe, said the shop owner. How much is it? asked Taz. Ten dollars. We will take it! said Brooke and Taz together. Abby just grumbled. At home, Taz inspected the shoe and said, You try first Brooke. I m too nervous. You discovered it in the shop anyway. Okay. Brooke said as she took the shoe from Taz. She tried it on and suddenly began to fly around the room! Even crabby Abby flew when she wore the shoe and used her imagination. Brooke wanted to fly to China, but Abby screamed her head off: NO! We can t be late for dinner! So, instead, the twins decided to give Taz her turn, but unfortunately, Taz just couldn t seem to make the magic shoe work. She just couldn t. Since the twins had to get going (they couldn t be late for dinner!) they all agreed that Taz should keep the shoe so she could keep trying to fly and because Abby and Brooke would probably spend the night fighting over the shoe. Taz tried the shoes on again before bed and still, nothing happened. Maybe the door to my imagination is locked. Maybe I don t even have an imagination! Taz thought sadly as she got ready for bed. That night, Taz dreamt a weird dream. Everyone in the world had flying shoes and they were all flying to different parts of the world, even to Australia! A fly came up to Taz and started 2
speaking to her in a teeny, tiny voice. It said everyone has an imagination. Let it flow. Just don t think too hard. Suddenly, the ground started shaking and someone started screaming. Taz woke up from all the commotion and realized, the screaming was her alarm clock. As Taz was getting ready for school, she put on the magic shoe one last time and did what the fly had told her to do. This time she flew! In fact, Taz had so much imagination; she flew to an entirely different world. When she finally landed, Taz had no idea where she was. But, she did know she was in a whole other world, because when she started to fly, she flew into this new world, through her mirror. Taz then saw a tiny town with, thankfully, ordinary houses, but no ordinary people. The people in the tiny town were potatoes with arms, legs, mouths and eyes. Every potato had a different shape, not one was the same as another. They were all unique. They were speaking in robot voices. Taz was brave, she knew, but how could she be brave when she saw potatoes walking and talking? But still, she had to be brave and get a good look around the place otherwise, she would die from curiosity. Taz worked up her courage and started walking towards the town. When she got there, she saw a sign that read: Potato Prairie. So that was the town name, Taz would never have guessed it. Taz saw that to the potato people, she was a giant. Once the potato people saw her, they began to scream and ran for their lives. A potato bigger than the rest came to Taz and started yelling, how dare you intrude my, I mean, our town! No one has ever dared to even set foot in Potato Prairie! You are in huge trouble. I m going to throw you into jail! Taz didn t know what to say. Listen potatoes, I don t even know who you guys are and I don t mean any trouble. But none of the potatoes were listening to her and the big potato just kept screaming, I m going to throw you into jail this instant! 3
Why are you screaming?! I can hear you big potato! Taz yelled. My name is NOT big potato, It s Hot Potato! Well, here she was, sitting behind uncooked potato bars. Even the jail is made of potatoes, Taz thought. Since the potatoes were uncooked, she could not even eat her way out. The potatoes were smart; but Taz knew she was smarter. Taz thought and thought all day, locked up in her potato cell about how to get home. She did not even notice when Hot potato yelled at her to eat her dinner, which was potato, obviously. Taz did not obey Hot Potato; she did not eat her dinner. She was too busy thinking about how to get home. There were potatoes guarding the jail, which Taz had not been expecting. She thought getting some sleep might help her think of a way to get out. So Taz closed her eyes and dreamed of a solution. She dreamt about the same fly. Except this time, instead of buzzing around, it was standing still with its eyes closed. Suddenly, it disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a note. The note said, Imagine. Wake up! Wake up or I will bang you with my potato stick! Yelled Hot Potato, as he clutched the very big potato stick in his tiny little hands. Taz woke up with a startle and all she remembered from her dream was the word Imagine. Taz wondered, What could the fly mean by imagine? As soon as she thought it, it dawned on her. She had to imagine her way home! It was so simple. Why hadn t she thought of it before?! 4
Taz was getting more nervous by the second. She had to know if her dream idea would work. Would she be able to imagine her way back? Or not? Taz looked for the right moment and suddenly found it. The potato guards were leaving to eat lunch (which was obviously not a smart idea) and this was her chance to get away. She waited until the guards were completely out of sight, closed her eyes and started to imagine. She imagined her world: planet earth and her parents, her friends, her two annoying older brothers, and of course, her loyal golden retriever, Raspberry. Taz opened one eye and was disappointed to see that she was still in Potato Prairie. But was not about to give up just yet. She closed eyes once more and imagined harder and also thought about how much she missed her world and how much she wanted to go back. And just like that, her feet lifted off the ground and she disappeared into thin air (just like the fly in her dream). Taz felt herself touch ground. She opened both her eyes this time and saw that she was back! She had never before been so glad to be home. After all, who would feel at home at Potato Prairie? At least on earth there were normal looking people and potatoes were just for eating. Home sweet home. The next day Taz told Abby and Brooke all about her crazy adventure to Potato Prairie. Crabby Abby said: you went to a potato land? That s how imaginative you are? Brooke and Taz just rolled their eyes at each other. Once Abby stopped being crabby, Brooke started babbling: that s so awesome! That s crazy! I want to go too! Let s plan another adventure! Friday night our place! Okay?! Taz nodded enthusiastically and Abby grumbled. But the plan was already made: Let the shoe travels begin! 5