The fable about shoes

Outside many front doors you can find pairs of shoes so that they don’t trudge dirt inside on the tiles or carpet. Inside it is OK to wear socks and the floor stays clean.  John thought it was a good idea when he visited his friend Hong and decided to adopt the same practice at his home.

His wife Gaynor was enthusiastic about it because there would be less dirt to vacuum up. She even printed a big sign to remind the children.

All went well until about two weeks into the new regime. Gay suddenly noticed little Pete had grown out of his shoes because when he went to put them on there were holes where his big toes were poking through. So it was a quick rush to Big W before school to buy new shoes.

Then Julie had stepped in dog poo, and Gay had to quickly wash the smelly shoes before school. She was beginning to think this new idea might have its drawbacks. She herself wore thongs or sandals most of the time and these were easy to throw off at the door.

John loved kicking off his working boots at the front door, but quite often his socks were full of sand, and this defeated the purpose of not tracking sand inside the house. So now there was a new rule. Take your shoes and socks off, and wash your feet, before coming inside. John tolerated this new rule, but the final straw was when he went to put his shoes on one morning and felt a burning stab of pain from the redback spider which had climbed into his shoe overnight. John yelped and cursed.

AND THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS DON’T LEAVE YOUR SHOES AT THE FRONT DOOR: