Sticks and Stones

Children's story about the shallowness of vanity contrasted against the virtues of kindness and sincerity.

 

Sticks and Stones

 

            Kara and Janet looked at each other and smiled knowingly before turning their attention back to Allison.  It had taken them two classes to convince the girl to sit with them at lunch, something she’d never done before.  It wasn’t that she wouldn’t have done so at any other time it was because they’d never asked.  To tell the truth, up until that day neither one of them had ever said much of anything to Allison.  Well, that wasn’t exactly true.  They hadn’t said anything to her since second grade when everyone started saying Janet and Kara were “so pretty” and that Allison wasn’t. 

            Even that wasn’t exactly the truth.  No one had ever said Allison wasn’t pretty.  It was just something the other two girls had decided one day.  It had been at the Annual Second Grade Festival.  All of the girls had dressed up and put on their prettiest dresses.  Allison’s mother, who was a hair dresser had done all the girls hair and said how pretty they were.  At the time she’d been looking at Kara and Janet so it had been easy for them to feel she’d only been talking to them.  As they’d looked in the mirrors at themselves they’d both agreed with her; first to themselves and then to one another.

            From that moment on they’d begun to start including Allison in fewer and fewer games, sleepovers, parties and day-to-day activities until eventually, she’d been pretty much cut out of their lives.  Oh, they still had classes with her and when they saw her mother they’d say hello.  After all, she’d been the one who first noticed they were pretty.  At the festival they’d both been picked as the winners and all the boys asked them to dance without anyone asking Allison except fat Bobby Jefferson and he was a stinky-head so what did he know?  Neither of them could believe Allison had danced with him.

            That had been two years ago and they were little kids then.  Now here they were in the fourth grade.  Janet and Kara were the most popular girls in the entire grade and two of the most popular at Ellington Grammar School.  Everything was perfect just like they were.  That is until yesterday.  Monday had been the first day of school and Janet and Kara had shown up wearing their prettiest clothes.  Kara’s sister Kelli had given them both manicures and pedicures.  She was the prettiest girl in town and if she said pretty girls had to always keep their nails and hair done who were they to argue?

            They had been sure they were going to make everyone green with envy when they saw them and they had.  All the boys kept walking up and saying hello and the teachers remarked on how lady like they looked.  It had all been perfect until homeroom.  After everyone had taken their seats Mrs. Lupo had directed everyone’s attention to the front of the room and to…her. 

“Class,” Mrs. Lupo said smiling broadly, “I’d like to introduce you all to a new student who has come to us all the way from Brazil.”  Mrs. Lupo gestured to a little girl with black hair and flashing dark eyes. “Her name is Sophia Rey.”

Janet and Kara had stared at the girl bug eyed.  Neither of them had said a word.  They hadn’t had to.  Sophia was beautiful and from the way Mrs. Lupo was smiling she thought so too.  As a matter of fact, everyone in the room seemed to know it because everyone was smiling.

“Class” Mrs. Lupo said.  “Say hello to Sophia.”  Everyone except Kara and Janet gave her a friendly “hello”.  Sophia smiled and said, “Obrigada.  Hello.”

“In Sophia’s home country they speak Portuguese but Sophia speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish because her mother is American her father is Brazilian and she’s lived in Brazil and Argentina.  Her father is an engineer and her mother is a doctor.”

            As they’d listened Kara and Janet had gotten madder and madder.  Kara’s father managed a drug store and her mother was a teller at the bank.  Janet’s father owned a carpet cleaning business and her mother didn’t work because of her little brother.  Who did Sophia think she was having parents who had such cool jobs?  What made her so special that she could live in different places and speak different languages?  It had only taken a second for both girls to instantly dislike her.  They’d been the prettiest until now and now Sophia was going to ruin everything. 

            It wasn’t until she went to take her seat that they noticed that Sophia limped when she walked.  Not only did she limp but she wore a big ugly shoe on her right leg.  They looked at one another and smiled.  Miss Sophia wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought she was.  They watched as she and Allison started talking.  They trailed behind them in the hallways between classes and saw how they talked and laughed.  What was wrong with Allison?  Didn’t she notice Sophia’s ugly shoe?  Didn’t she get tired of having to wait for her because she walked so slowly? 

            That was when Kara had gotten an idea.  It was such a good idea she’d hardly been able to sit still.  When she’d told Janet and seen the grin on her face they both had nearly burst out laughing.  It was so perfect and so simple.  They’d have to get Allison to do it so she’d be the bad one and not them but that wouldn’t be hard.  That brought them to where they were today.

            “You want me to do what?”  Allison asked. 

            “Just ask her why she wears that ugly shoe” Kara said smiling.

            “Yeah” Janet echoed.  “Ask her what it’s for.”

            “But I already know what it’s for.”  Allison said.  “She said it’s for…

            “But we want you to ask her in front of the whole class” Kara said quickly.

            “Yeah” Janet said nodding her head.  “We want her to tell everyone.”

            “But…why?” Allison asked frowning.  “If they want to know why don’t they just

            ask her?  I know she’ll tell them if they ask.”

            “Don’t be silly” Kara said.  “Why would she tell them?”  She looked at Janet and shook head.  “I know if I wore an ugly shoe like that I wouldn’t want anyone to see it never mind having to tell them why I was wearing it.”

“Me either” Janet giggled.  “Who would want to talk about an ugly thing like that?”

“Then why do you want me to ask her to do it?”  Allison asked.  When neither

girl answered her Allison shook her head, stood up and walked off leaving them both at the table wondering why she looked so mad.  Allison walked over to where Sophia had been waiting for her.  She moved over to make room and Allison sat down. 

            “Are they your friends?”  Sophia asked looking over at Kara and Janet.  She smiled at Allison and waited for her to answer.

            “They were” Allison said, “but not anymore.”

            “Why not?” Sophia asked. “They are so pretty and look so nice.”

            “They used to be.”  Allison said thinking to herself.  “Hey, do you want to have some fun?”

 

            The next day in school Mrs. Lupo waited until everyone was in their seats then rang her bell to get their attention.  A woman who looked a lot like Sophia stood behind at the head of the class smiling pleasantly.    

            “Boys and girls we have a special guest here today.  Her name is Doctor Delores Rey and she is Sophia’s mother.”  Everyone gave Dr. Rey a big ‘hello’. 

            “Hi everyone” she said. “Like Mrs. Lupo said my name is Dr. Rey and I am what they call an orthopedic surgeon.  Does anyone know what that is?”  At first no one raised their hand and then Allison did.

            “Yes, Allison” Dr. Rey said.  “What kind of doctor is that?”

            “It’s one that fixes joints and arthritis and stuff?”

            “Very good.” Dr. Rey said.  “Yes, we treat joints, arthritis, injuries and other things that affect the body.”

            “Other things like what?” Allison asked.

            “Well,” Dr. Rey said.  “Things like deformities.”

            “What’s a deformity?”  Bobby asked.

            “A deformity is when something on your body doesn’t grow the way it’s supposed to like an arm or a foot.”

            Kara and Janet looked at one another and smiled.  This was even better than if Allison had asked Sophia.  They could ask her mother and she’d point out to everyone Sophia wore that ugly shoe and had a stinky foot.  This was too perfect. 

            “Sophia” Dr. Rey said.

            “Yes mama?”  Sophia answered.

            “Please come up here.  Sophia got up and walked over to her mother smiling.  Dr. Rey took Sophia’s hand and pointed to her foot.  “Sophia was born with what we call talipes equinovarus.”

            “Tappy what?”  Bobby said, making the entire class laugh.  Kara and Janet laughed the loudest until they saw that Sophia was laughing too.

            “A club foot” Dr. Rey said.  “People call it a club foot.  It’s when the foot is twisted down and the person is forced to walk on the outside of their foot or the ankle.  What we do is fix that problem through surgery, splints or casts.”  She patted Sophia on the arm.  “My Sophia was born with a club foot and as you can see she wears a shoe on that foot to fix it by making it stay in the right position.”

            Kara and Janet were confused.  No one was laughing and Sophia didn’t look embarrassed.  In fact, she was still smiling.

            “Is she going to have to wear it forever?” Allison asked.

            “No” Dr. Rey said smiling.  “As a matter of fact this is the last day she is going to wear it and that’s why I’m here today to give her a present.  You all are her new friends and classmates so I wanted to give it to her in front of you if that’s okay.  Is it?”

            “YES!”  The class said, except for Kara and Janet.

            Dr. Rey turned and took a large plastic bag off of Mrs. Lupo’s desk.  From it she pulled a shoe box.  She gave it to Sophia who opened it and pulled out a pair of white sneakers.  She hugged her mother and sat down and pulled off her left shoe and put on the new shoe then she unlaced her brown corrective boot, unhinged the brace from the outside and slid off the boot.  Everyone, including Kara and Janet leaned forward to look at her foot and it was…just like theirs.  Sophia slid on the new shoe, tied a nice bow hugged her mother and smiled knowingly at Allison.  She stood up and stuck her foot out to the class.

            “Do you like?” she asked.  Everyone clapped and laughed.  Mrs. Lupo came over smiling and clapping also.

            “Dr. Rey is my son Evan's doctor and will be operating on his feet next week.”

            “Really?”  Janet said.  She didn’t know Mrs. Lupo had a little boy.

            “Yes, Janet” Mrs. Lupo said.  “My son has two clubbed feet but with Dr. Rey’s

            help we hope to get them straightened out just like Sophia’s.”

            “What are you going to do with your old shoe Sophia?” Allison asked.

            “Keep it” Sophia said.  “It’s like you, a good friend that has helped me.”

“You don’t think it’s ugly?” Janet asked.  All the students looked at her and frowned.  “I mean, compared to your other shoe.”

“No” Sophia said smiling.  “My mother told me it would help me and it has so, no.  I don’t think it’s ugly at all.  To me it’s the most beautiful shoe in the world.”

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Bubo]

Lovely, well thought out story, researched well too...........working in a school I know how cruel children can be. You have caught the emotion and written with gusty tempo that kept me interested until the end, tying up with what is a positive story and a positive outcome.