Chapter 24 - The Cheap Store
One Saturday Winnie needed sneakers.
She was seven.
We went to a normal athletic store.
Not Bell & Finch.
She chose a pair.
$42.
Then saw another:
$89.
Sparkly.
“Can I have?”
“Which fits better?”
The cheaper pair.
She frowned.
“Sparkly prettier.”
“Do you want prettier or comfortable?”
“Both.”
No.
We negotiated.
She chose comfortable.
Not because Anna would approve.
Not because Genevieve was wrong.
Because she wanted to run.
At checkout she asked:
“Are these charity?”
“No.”
Then I stopped.
That answer was incomplete.
“Even if someone else helped pay, that wouldn’t make the shoes bad.”
She looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because charity means people helping people. Aunt Genevieve used the word like an insult. It isn’t.”
Winnie thought.
“First Step?”
She knew now in broad terms.
“Yes.”
“Kids get shoes?”
“Yes.”
“Good shoes?”
“Yes.”
“Fast?”
“Hopefully.”
She smiled.
That was reclamation.
The word charity stopped meaning:
less deserving.
Anna would have liked that.
Again:
I stopped there.
May you like
No need to speak for her.
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