As part of the verbal slurs
entrenched in every day conversations, they took
to bestowing girly nicknames on each other.
“Mum!
Harriet (Hagar) took my basketball shoes to his mate's and I have training in ten minutes!”
“They’re my
thongs Tamara (Thaddeus) giv ‘em back!”
“You took
my thongs on the weekend and lost them Jacqueline (Jonah)!”
“I’ll punch
you in the head if you don’t giv ‘em back Patricia (Padraic).”
Shoes and
the rightful possession thereof, was the common theme underlying a large
percentage of the aggression. I’m
speculating that it was because they all had, more or less, similar sized feet.
Most of Lulu’s shoes were auspiciously pink so she escaped any of the footwear-
category altercations.
There was a
whopping great wicker basket outside our front door which housed all of their mud
splattered thongs, school shoes, runners, soccer and rugby boots, basketball
shoes and the occasional mystery sock. Every week day morning there would be a
panicked skirmish around the wicker basket. Shoes would be flying out in all
directions as the boys attempted to identify school shoes (which unfortunately
were all exactly the same black leather,
lace up type) while I sat in the four wheel drive watching the clock tick
towards another late arrival at school.
One morning
as my four wheel drive pulled up in the school drop off zone there was an
earsplitting scream behind me. All doors of the car opened at the same time
with five kids launching themselves out shrieking and shouting in obvious
terror. Propelling myself out of the car at high speed I ran around to the
collection of distraught and roaring children standing on the footpath to see
what was going on.
Apparently
a large cane toad had taken up residence in one of their shoes overnight and
had delivered a lovely squishy surprise when the owner attempted to insert his
foot. I shook the offending creature from the shoe and we watched it hop away
down into a gutter looking slightly traumatised.
The mums in
the cars lined up behind us probably had a good laugh.