As soon as Sam emerged out into the backyard, he regretted the shoes. He slipped and slid everywhere, the shoes threatening to come off at any moment. He eyed the mudhole at one end of the yard, a source of annoyance for his parents every time it rained. Mudhole was an exaggerated name for it most of the time, but the heavy rain had turned it into a veritable mudhole, to Sam’s eye.
Spying a ball on the other side of the yard, Sam crossed over to it, almost losing his balance a few times, but not having too difficult of a time. Even with the shoes tied as tightly as he could get them, his feet threatened to come out of them and he had to take careful steps. Grabbing the ball, he wondered if he should kick it around or what. How long did he have to stay out here before he could go back inside? He looked up at the sky. Maybe the rain would come back, he thought. He frowned as he saw that the clouds were clearly leaving. He sighed and kicked the ball around, which proved rather difficult with his shoes. Maybe he should go barefoot, he thought for a moment. He felt a rock under his foot and decided against it.
“Hi, Sammy!” He looked to the door to see Izzie and Sarah emerging from the house. Sarah had promised! “Thought it’d be fun to come out and bother you.”
“The game’s downloading.” Sarah explained. “Sorry.” Sammy looked at her in surprise. When was the last time she had apologized to him about anything?
“Whatcha playing out here, Sammy?” Izzie asked. The girl stood about a head taller than Sammy and Sarah, her auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail that allowed her confident face complete exposure to the late morning sun.
“Just kicking the ball around.” Sammy replied, adding under his breath that his name was Sam, not Sammy.
“It's no fun doing that alone. Let's play with him, Sarah.” With a noncommittal shrug, Sarah agreed.
“What shall we play?” Sarah asked. “We don’t really have fair teams.”
“We could do the two of you against me.” Izzie said with a chuckle. “Just kidding. I’m not that good!”
“We could just kick it around, I guess.” Sammy said. “Me to Sarah to Izzie.” Sarah smiled and nodded, tapping her cheek. Sammy blushed and looked away. Izzie noticed, but despite her curiosity, remained silent.
“I don’t want to just stand in a circle or triangle or whatever.” Izzie said, taking charge. “So, let’s run around the yard and do it.” Sammy immediately saw the disadvantage he would be at, given his overly large shoes. “Kick them off, if you want.” Izzie said.
“There’s rocks.” Sammy replied, realizing how pathetic that sounded.
“Up to you.” Izzie replied.
“C’mon, Sammy. Our game will be done downloading in like ten minutes. Can’t you just deal with it until then?” Sammy decided he could and the impromptu game began.
It took a couple of tries, but soon the three of them were running all around the backyard, kicking the ball from person to person, keeping count of how many consecutive successful passes they had as a group. Sammy took every opportunity where he did not have the ball to adjust his shoes, but he kept slipping, sliding, and almost losing them. The girls said it would only be about ten minutes, but Sammy was soon panting and breaking into a sweat from the exertion.
“Sammy!” He had been so distracted by his shoes, the ball rolled right past him.
“Got it!” He quickly chased after it, seeing nothing but his target, the ball.
“Look out!” Sarah and Izzie yelled at the same time, but it was too late. Sammy tried to stop, but the wet grass and his shoes conspired to send him flying face first into the mudhole, dramatically swollen by the heavy rain that morning. He sat up and wiped off his face as the girls ran over, deeply concerned.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asked. Both girls seemed like they wanted to help him up, but they also did not want to get dirty. Sammy was covered in mud from head to toe, looking like a boy made out of mud.
“What’s going on?” Sammy stood up as his mom came out of the house. “I heard yelling. Sammy!” She rushed over and tried to grab him, but he had already extracted himself from the mud. She looked him over.
“What happened?” She looked at Sarah and Izzie. “Why was Sammy this close to the mudhole?”
“We were playing and he slipped.”
“Slipped?” She turned to the mud-covered boy. “Sammy, I told you the grass is wet and slippery, why weren’t you more careful?” Nervous, the entire explanation flooded out of Sammy, from his shoes to his desire to catch the ball. His mom sighed. “Why on earth are you wearing your dad’s shoes?”
“I couldn’t find mine!”
“You should’ve looked harder or asked me or your sister for help. Dad’s shoes are too big for you.” Sammy tried to argue that he had tried to ask for help, but his mom was already on to the next step of fixing everything. “Girls, go inside. I just mopped the floors inside, so Sammy” she sighed. “I guess we’ll hose you off out here.” The girls giggled. “Hush, girls. I place some of the blame on you two. Sarah, didn’t your dad ask you to bring the sawhorses out of the garage to block off the mudhole?”
“No, he changed his mind. I had to take the trash out and Sammy was supposed to grab the sawhorses.” Sammy withered as his mom looked at him sternly.
“So this is your own fault then, hmm?” Sammy wisely remained silent as he followed his mom over to the patio and the garden hose. “Get undressed please.” His mom said.
“Out here?”
“Yep. You're filthy and I'm not letting you set one foot inside like this.” She noticed his apprehension. “Your sister and Izzie are nowhere near by. Come on.” With a resigned sigh, he pulled off his shirt, followed hesitantly by his shorts. “God, even your underwear got a dose.” She said. “Hand them here.” He tried his best to remove them while keeping a hand over his privates, but it took a bit longer than his mom would have liked.
There was something particularly embarrassing for Sammy to see his underwear, with its blue piping, beach balls, and all, out in the open and exposed like this in the backyard as his mom held them up to look at them. What if the girls came back? Sarah obviously knew about his embarrassing underwear, but there was a chance Izzie didn’t!
“I should be able to save them.” She muttered to herself, setting them aside, but still on top of his shirt and jeans. “Let's get you hosed off real fast.”
Sam tried to hold in his yelps as the cold water washed over him, knowing that the girls would hear every single one of them. Thankfully, his mom did not prolong it any more than she had to.
“Alright, you can go inside now. Head for the tub.”
“What?”
“You’re getting a bath, mister. There’s probably still quite a lot of dirt in your hair.”
“But”
“I’ll go first so that the girls cover their eyes.” She stepped inside and beckoned for him to follow. “Girls, cover your eyes. Sammy’s coming inside and he’s naked.” Sammy heard the giggles of the girls in the living room from the kitchen and, hands practically plastered over his crotch, he went as fast as he could past the entrance to the living room, hoping that they were not sneaking peeks at his pale bubble butt.
Topic: Boys Don't Wear Dresses (Read 57652 times)
