I need new shoes!” I had been telling my mother for the past week. But she claims the shoes she bought me last month are still good. I don’t know where she gets these ideas of using things for a long time. My “Cody Motto”, which I named after myself, is: “If you have the money and you’ve had the stuff, get new stuff!” Well, mom finally gave in and so she’s taking me to Walmart. But she is taking such a long time! I’ve been sitting for five whole minutes watching the crappy TV we have.
“Ok, let’s go. Are you ready?” Mom asks.
“Finally! Why do you take so long getting ready?!” I exclaim
“Sorry, but you don’t have to be so impatient!”
“Whatever, let’s just go,” I say as I’m walking toward the door. I hate it when Mom gives me these useless lectures about being a better person, or being polite. Dad always says to be the way I want to, and if other people don’t like me, it’s their problem. Mother disagrees but only corrects me when Dad’s not around. I guess she thinks I’ll listen to her if Dad’s not there to contradict her. Which I don’t; I barely listen to my father.
When we get there, I tell mom to wait at the cashier, that I’m old enough to pick my own shoes. That’s because I am. At the age of 13 I need to start being more independent. So here I am trying to find the coolest most expensive shoes. Ah, these are cool! I grab a pair of white gym shoes with silver stripes on the side that light up when you step. I look at the price: $55.99.
“Perfect! I hope mom brought enough money this time,” I say thinking of the time when she was about to get me a bicycle, bu the cashier lady said her card didn’t have any more money.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Spending the money you don’t have. And for something you don’t need. You are a bad little boy,” said a voice out of nowhere.
“Who said that?” I turn in surprise of the new voice. I must’ve looked stupid going around in circles trying to find the source of the voice, because it laughed and said, “thought you were alone huh? Well, sorry I scared you but I think what you said scared me more! Do your parents let you talk like that?”
“My dad doesn’t care what I say, and I don’t listen to my mom. Where are you?” I ask still looking around for the voice.
“Hmm, well that’s not good! Every child should-”
“Who and where are you?!” I yelled, now angry that this person was saying things that aren’t their business and not showing them selves.
“Ugh, you still haven’t found me? I’m right here!” And then I realized the shape I mistook for a plastic frog, was where the voice was coming from. Surprised, I jumped back and would’ve fallen if it wasn’t for the stool people use to put their shoes on.
“Oh,” was all I could say for it was quite the shock to find a frog talking to you in a store.
“Ha, ha,” it laughed again, “well now that you saw what I am I’ll tell you who I am and why I’m here. My name is Sam, and I’ve come to tell you that how you act is wrong. You should not be this way; it is bad and horrible,” he said, sounding a little irritated.
“Oh, well I’m Cody, and why do you care how I act or what I say? You’re not my mother!”
“And it’s a good thing I’m not, because by what you tell me, you don’t listen to her. And I care because I have been assigned to watch you and make sure you’re happy and nice to others. I would’ve talked to you weeks ago, but you weren’t ready. You still aren’t, but I couldn’t help myself. You have been horrible enough! Now if you don’t mind coming with me, I need to show you something.” He started to hop away down the isle but I didn’t go after him.
“I am not horrible, and I do mind following you! If you want to show me something, show me right here!” At that moment every thing went white, and next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of nothing. Correction: I was floating in the middle of nothing. Sam was just there as if he’s been there all his life, in the middle the gray cloud. Maybe he has I thought. But the thought left as soon as it came for we started falling. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I turned to look at Sam, and seemed like he was enjoying the fall. He just smiled and shook his head when he saw me trying to scream. Then we stopped.
“Here we are! The Land of Everything. Follow me and don’t touch anything or anyone. Ok?”
“Wow!” The Land of Everything was just that. Everywhere you looked, there was something and the farther you looked, there was every thing. It looked like a giant’s room, for it wasn’t organized in any particular way. I was still looking around, when I heard something fall. I turned around, and there were the shoes I had previously picked out.
“Ah, this way please,” Sam said when we came to a fork on the path, “and grab those shoes for me please.”
“Ok,” I said as I picked them up and followed Sam down the path, “what are you going to do with them?”
“I am going to show you that you don’t need them. Here we are,” Sam said as we stopped in front of a giant machine. It had buttons and levers and lights everywhere. And a little sign on the front that said, “Place here to know.” Then a big hole opened up and Sam signaled me to put the shoes in there.
“To know what?” I asked, uncertain if I should put the not-yet-paid-for shoes in there.
“To know where it came from. Now hurry up!” I threw the shoes in and the hole immediately disappeared. 2 seconds passed and a small plant in a polka dotted pot flew out of the machine. Then another two seconds and a big ball of see-through plastic flew out the same way the plant had done.
“Now throw in your shoes!” Sam ordered as soon as the big hole reappeared.
“What?! These are mine. I’m not putting them in there!” I exclaimed, terrified of the thought of going back to the store without their shoes and barefoot.
“Just do it. You’ll get them back. Really”
“Fine,” I said as I started to slip off my own shoes from my feet. I threw them in and the exact same thing happened as with the other pair. First, a plant came out, then the plastic.
“Good, now what did you notice?”
“The same thing happened when I put in both pairs of shoes. A plant and some plastic came out. But-”
“Exactly! Now what did I tell you this machine did?”
“To know where things came from? But how do shoes come from plants and plastic? And why are they both the same?”
“That’s right, and to understand the plants and plastics you must first know what shoes are made of. Do you know?”
“Um...cloth, plastic, and, uh...strings?” I wasn’t really sure, for I’ve never thought about it before. Could the materials used for making shoes really come from just a plant and ball of plastic?
“Well that’s the main idea. The “cloth” and “string” come directly or indirectly from plants. For example, the string is made from cotton, and cotton is a plant. And also the cloth could be leather, which comes from animals which either eat plants or eat animals that eat plants. And every thing else, like the sole, is made from plastic. So you see, every thing needed to make a shoe comes from these two items. And the same is true for the majority of shoes, so what is the difference between them?”
“Uh...” that is all I manage to say for all this information is so new I’m still trying to put it all together. So shoes come from plants and some kind of plastic. No matter what kind of shoe. So why are they all different prices? Does this mean that my old shoes are just as good as the new ones? And I don’t need to have new shoes...
“No Cody, all your greed is just making more and more plants get harvested and made into shoes. It’s not only you there’s a lot of people like that, but if you realize that it is wrong, a lot of plants will be saved and you will become a better person.” For some strange reason Sam knew what I was thinking. So I don’t need to talk for you to under stand me anymore? Why? Sam sais that because I changed, my heart and mind opened up. Ok, so then after this more plants will live? I think about that for a while. After this I’m a better person . . . after this my heart is open . . . after this so is my mind . . . All this thinking is making my head hurt. I put my hand on my forehead in pain. I still haven’t answered Sam’s question so he calls my name.
“Cody...Cody are you all right? Honey what’s wrong? Cody...” I look up and there is my mother standing over me. I notice that I am on the floor in my living room.
“Huh? What am I doing here? Mom?”
“I was upstairs getting ready so we could go get your shoes. Then, when I come down, you’re on the floor looking like you just hit your head on some thing. What happened? Did you fall from the couch?” As I look around I realize that I did fall. There’s now a bump where my head hit the floor. Was all this a dream then? We never went to Walmart? As I’m thinking about that, I get up and sit on the couch.
“I must’ve fallen asleep while you were upstairs. And I guess I rolled over and fell. Mom?”
“Yes sweetie?”
“I don’t need new shoes. My shoes are just as good as the one sat the store. And I don’t want you to spend a lot of money. I’m sorry mommy.” As soon as I say this mom starts crying so I hug her. This doesn’t make her stop but I don’t want it to. She’s crying because she’s happy. And because I’m different, I’m a better person. And it’s all because Sam took my shoes.

The End