Benji’s Boots with a Story
In the attic, Benji finds a pair of dusty old boots with a name inside.
On a rainy afternoon, Benji climbed the creaky ladder up to the attic. It smelled of dust and old books. Behind a wooden chest, he found a pair of boots, hard and brown and scuffed.
Inside one boot, a name was scribbled in faded ink: ‘Enzo’. ‘Coach Enzo!’ gasped Benji. Benji knew Enzo the elephant was the coach of the Red Rockets, but he didn’t know Enzo had ever played.
The very next day, Benji took the boots to training. Enzo went quiet when he saw them. Then a smile spread across Enzo’s face. ‘Come, sit,’ said Enzo. ‘I’ll tell you a story.’
‘When I was your age,’ said Enzo, ‘we had no pitch. We played on a farmyard full of hay. We had a ball made of rags. We played until the stars came out. These boots were the first I ever owned.’
Benji listened with wide eyes. He thought about how the boots had run and jumped, scored goals and missed goals. And now they were sitting in a cold dusty attic.
‘Would you like to try them?’ asked Enzo. Benji slipped them on. They were far too big, but Benji laced them up twice. Together, they walked out to the pitch.
Benji kicked the ball in the old boots. It flew in a perfect curve. Enzo laughed so hard he nearly fell over. ‘Just like the old days!’ he said, and jumped up to join in.
From that day, the old boots stayed on the shelf in the clubhouse, not the attic. And on cold, rainy afternoons, when the team came in, Enzo would tell them yet another story.
The little lesson
Old things carry stories, and listening to them is a gift to both of you.
Let’s talk about it
- Do you have something old that has a story?
- What did Benji learn from Coach Enzo?
Finish stories to collect Benji as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
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