Jess and the Dusty Boots
In the attic, Jess finds a pair of dusty old boots with a name inside.
On a rainy afternoon, Jess climbed the creaky ladder up to the attic. It smelled of dust and old books. Behind a wooden chest, she found a pair of boots, hard and brown and scuffed.
Inside one boot, a name was scribbled in faded ink: ‘Xena’. ‘Coach Xena!’ gasped Jess. Jess knew Xena the pony was the coach of the Sunny Rovers, but she didn’t know Xena had ever played.
The very next day, Jess took the boots to training. Xena went quiet when she saw them. Then a smile spread across Xena’s face. ‘Come, sit,’ said Xena. ‘I’ll tell you a story.’
‘When I was your age,’ said Xena, ‘we had no pitch. We played on a field with a goat on it. We had a ball made of rolled-up socks. We played until the stars came out. These boots were the first I ever owned.’
Jess listened with wide eyes. She 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 Xena. Jess slipped them on. They were far too big, but Jess laced them up twice. Together, they walked out to the pitch.
Jess kicked the ball in the old boots. It flew in a perfect curve. Xena laughed so hard she nearly fell over. ‘Just like the old days!’ she 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, Xena 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 Jess learn from Coach Xena?
Finish stories to collect Jess as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
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