The Missing Shoe

Written & Illustrated By: Sharon A. Layton-Pollock

They arrived at the edge of the woods. Sister Gail, was holding onto little sister Sherry's hand, and her other sister, Ellen, was holding onto her other hand. Friends Betty and Alice were standing close by. Worried, they gazed down across the field to the three little sister's home. What was their Mother going to say after they told her about their far too eventful day, a carefree day that had gone awry!

The three little sisters were planning a day of adventure in the woods with their friends Betty and Alice. School had just finished for the summer and the girls wanted to celebrate grading. Gail was going into grade 6, Ellen to grade 4 and Sherry into grade 2. The day was perfect, with skipping ropes in hand off they went as they smiled and waved goodbye to Mother,
"We're going to the stone quarry to play, see you later, bye Mum!"

The wooded area up behind their home had so many great places to explore and play. The particular place they were heading for that day was near the Niagara Escarpment, close to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Remains of abandoned old farm houses with cement courtyards made a great place for little girls to skip.

All the little girls, except Gail, tired of skipping and decided to cross over to the other side of the courtyard. Between them and the other side was an old cement house with only it's end walls still standing. An enormous tree had grown up through the middle of it. It's branches reached out through window holes like curtains blowing in the wind.

There was a shortcut. A ledge about twelve inches deep that stretched across the end wall, lots of room for little girls feet to cross. They headed for the ledge. Gail stopped skipping and looked down over the stone courtyard fence into a hole filled with black looking stagnate water. Perhaps it had been a cellar of an adjoining building long ago. This hole was below the ledge that the girls were about to cross. Gail cried out to the others,
"Be careful!"
Away they went, as they had done many times before.

Ellen went first. Her arms were outstretched, palms flat against the wall, sliding her feet slowly sideways, carefully, one after the other. Next Betty, Alice then Sherry. Ellen jumped off the ledge at the other side,
"I made it, come on let's go!"
Betty and Ann were close behind and soon jumped off too. Little Sherry was lagging behind, but nonetheless, steadily making her way across. What happened next was like a bad dream. Sherry heard Gail scream just as she felt a sharp pain in her side. She hit the rocks jutting out from the side of the wall as she was falling into the black hole.

There was a mighty splash, she disappeared into the water. She surfaced, sputtering and choking and gasping for air. She desperately looked for something to get ahold of, for she could not swim. Close by was an old log that had not yet become waterlogged, Sherry grabbed for it wrapping her little arms around it. She looked around, searching for a way to get out of the water, but the sides were straight up, impossible to climb. Just then, out of the corner of her eye she could see something moving in the water. It was a big snake swimming right toward her.

There were screams coming from all of the girls and Sherry kicked and paddled to get away from the snake. Then she heard a voice screaming at her,
"Grab my hand, grab my hand!"
Sherry reached up as far as she could, her fingers touched Betty's and Betty grabbed onto her little hand. Sherry looked up, and as though time had stopped she realized what was going on. Betty was holding onto her with one hand and her other hand was held tight in Alice's hand. Then Alice's other hand was firmly gripped in Ellen's free hand with her other arm wrapped around a fence post. She looked up into Ellen's eyes looking back into hers and then Sherry knew she was going to be O.K. She began scrambling as the girls pulled her to safety.

By now Gail, taking the long way around, had made it to the other side. The girls stood around Sherry as she shivered and shook, and wondered what they were to do. Just then Sherry looked down at her feet and started to cry.
"My shoe, my shoe, I lost my shoe!"
It was gone and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The girls decided that Sherry's clothes had to be dried before they could take her home. Betty took off her dress and then gave Sherry her slip to wear. She stayed with Sherry while the other girls went to near by houses to ask for matches. They explained to the first few people that they wanted to have a wiener roast and they all refused to give them matches. Finally one man agreed and gave them some.

The girls returned, made a fire and began fanning Sherry's dress over the heat of the fire. All the while they were drying her dress they couldn't help but notice a little black dog with only three legs. The little dog scampered in and around the girls and ran back to a man standing off in the distance watching them. It was the man who had given them the matches. Soon Sherry's dress was dry, they put out the fire, the man left and all the girls headed home.

As they stood at the edge of the woods the three sisters asked their friends to come in with them. Sherry's dress was dirty and she had lost her shoe, what was Mother going to say. Mother was waiting. She had seen them coming and seen Sherry limping and the worried look on the girls faces. She wanted an explanation. Gail started to tell the story, she began to sob and Ellen took over then they all began babbling what had happened. Mother listened very intently, giving each girl a chance to tell their story. When they finally finished, they all got a big hug from Mother, and she never even mentioned the missing shoe.