HIGH SCHOOL
Ms Liliana Gomez - IB DP Coordinator
The Shoes of Melita
A short story dedicated to all our students
In past years, when there were no paved streets nor sidewalks on the roads, but all of them were dirt roads, there was a 4-year-old girl called Melita. She lived near Buggiba with her grandmother, her father, her mother and her older brother Chris. They were a very happy family, living in the countryside, and they used to grow watermelons and cauliflowers. It was a typical loving peasant family.
For Melita's fifth birthday, her parents gave her some nice white shoes. Melita had seen them before in a shop window in Buggiba and had loved them. Melita wanted those shoes, and her very generous parents gave them to her. This made Melita very happy, and she hugged her shoes like a teddy bear. After singing Happy Birthday and eating the birthday cake, Melita tried on her shoes and knew they fitted perfectly. Melita took the opportunity to show them off with her favorite pink dress. The one that had beautiful embroidered flowers. Melita looked beautiful and paraded her beautiful white shoes in front of her family. Her smiling parents applauded the parade.
Suddenly, the girl stopped and asked her father “Dad, can I take my new shoes to school? Now, that I am five years old, and I can start going to school, can’t I?
Her father, a little saddened, said, “Melita… Of course you could take them, the problem is that the school is too far away; it is in Pembroke. It's almost 10 kilometers, and there is not a way to take you there. Besides, the road is in very bad shape, it's very broken.”
The girl looked at her father for five seconds and said, “Dad, why can Chris go then?"
“Melita… Chris is bigger, stronger; furthermore,… (The father continued without having a very clear answer) he has some boots to walk through the puddles to school, instead you have some beautiful new white shoes", the father answered.
“Dad, I am a big and strong, too. I am already five years old", Melita said.
“Yes, Melita, you are bigger now, but walking 10 kilometers to school and 10 kilometers back is very long, isn't it? Would you put up with it?” her father asked.
“I want to go to school, Dad, so I can do it" Melita said full of determination. “I want to learn to write my name and yours, add apples, and subtract cauliflowers. I want to learn to build things and learn about horses, have friends, and meet people from other places. And also, when I grow up, I want to be a Teacher”.
Chris interrupted and said “Dad, if Melita wants, she can come with me. I take her and come back with her every day, and if Melita gets tired I wait for her. I can accompany her.” “I DO!" Melita said emphatically.
Melita’s mother smiled and whispered to the father, “I think we already have a big girl ready to show how resilient she is. “What is resilient?” asked Chris, whose ears were like the ones of an owl. “Son, resilient is the capacity you have to overcome obstacles to achieve your dreams".