A Moment in Her Shoes

It sounded like bells in her head. Little Katelyn saw it as she walked towards the store. The magical white horse stood outside the entry doors as another little girl rocked back and forth, hands in the air, telling her mother to “Do it again!”

Whenever the clear automatic doors flung open, it chimed. As if giving her the signal to saddle the horse, and ride out into the wild, overcoming every moving obstacle. Farther and farther Katelyn went down into the aisle. She gripped her mothers firm hand as she gently inhaled the aroma of coffee beans and torn Betty Crocker packages. For a moment, she jumped in delight as her mother grabbed a chocolate chip cookie mix and carefully placed it into the child seat part of the cart, hoping it would not squish the bread.

Katelyn’s mind wandered as she spun and twirled with excitement down the aisle. Her hands swung freely throughout the air, feet kicking around like a ballerina in training. Suddenly, bags of flour and sugar collapsed into the floor. Clouds of powder surrounded and covered little Katelyn as she sat upon the floor, dumbfounded of the event that just occurred. Afraid to feel her mother’s pain from the chaos she created, Katelyn crawled outside the aisle and sat crying her eyes out as she leaned against an abandoned shopping cart. People stared and some stopped to ask little Katelyn why she was weeping and where her mother could be.

“Sniff, momma’s over ‘der. I don’t wanna go. Mommy’s mad at me.” Katelyn pouted to an old hunched-back lady.

Her hair was grey and flowed down her back. Her hand-me-down looking clothing hung over her body like an overly used towel on a rack. Her face was filled with wrinkles that could have looked like a crinkled paper ball. “Sweetheart, you have to go back to your mother some time. She must love you a lot. She’s your mother. Don’t be afraid of her, it’s going to be alright.” The old century woman reached down, grab Katelyn’s hand, and they walked down the aisle to find meet her mother. Katelyn saw and stepped in the white mess she has created earlier, leaving a trail of her footprints towards her mother. Katelyn’s mother took her daughter by the hand and thanked the woman for bringing her back to her. The old woman responded to the mother, patted Katelyn’s head, and hobbled away.

Tears streamed down Katelyn’s face in terror of what her mother might do to her and how mad she could get. To little Katelyn’s surprise, her mother gently picked her up and began to speak sweet words.

“Baby, it was an accident. Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you, so stop your crying. You know I hate it when you cry.”

Katelyn wrapped her little arms around her mothers' neck, lifting herself up to lightly kissed her upon the cheek. Her mother placed her daughter on the front of the cart where she was able to ride while she shopped.

Suddenly her mother watched and grabbed her daughters hands and screeched, “Careful sweetheart! Please don’t squish the bread.”