Silly Story – Where the Socks Go
Oh where is it? That dumb old green sock has to be here somewhere! First the striped one, then the blue one with polka dot toes, then the pink one, and now green? The week before that Keely was sure she had put more white socks in the hamper than what her mom put back in the drawer. Where are all my socks going? She looked down at her naked toes on her naked foot, and then over at the foot that had the one green sock on it.
“Mo-om! Have you seen my pink socks?”
Her mother laughed. “Are you missing ANOTHER pair of socks? If this becomes a habit, I’m going to make you buy your own socks out of your birthday money.”
Keely scowled. I’ll get to the bottom of this. Tuesday was sock laundry day at their house. She collected socks, and had so many of them, her mother made a special day to wash them all!
The next Tuesday, Keely volunteered to help her mother wash the socks. I’ve just got to find out where my socks are going!
She opened up the lid to the washer and watched as the socks tumbled in. The rainbow of cotton tumbled down into the suds. Oops, there goes another one, as a blue sock tumbled to the floor. “I’ll get it” she said to her mother as she bent down.
“Get what? asked mother. There were no socks on the floor.
“But.. but… I saw the blue sock fall out of the hamper!” said Keely.
“Sweetie, maybe it fell into the washer. I’m sure it will be there when we put them in the dryer.” said her mother.
But Keely knew better. Something weird was going on with her socks, and she was not going to sleep that night until she found out what it was.
Later that night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Keely climbed out of bed. Armed with her flashlight, she crept down the hall and into the laundry room. She aimed the flashlight under the washer. What was that?! Did something just move? Keely crouched down, and peered under the washer.
“Aaaaacccckkkkk!” A pair of green eyes were staring back at her.
“Aaaack!” screamed the furry thing with the beady green eyes.
Keely wiped her eyes, and stuck her head back under the washer. Her flashlight pointed at the beady eyes, squished back in the corner surrounded by what looked like a giant ball of green dust! “What are you doing? Who are you? And why are you stealing my socks???” growled Keely.
“Don’t hurt me!” said the giant ball of fur with beady eyes.
“Come out from under there. I won’t hurt you, I just want to find out where my socks are going!” said Keely.
The little eyes looked at her and blinked. Finally, he started to crawl out from under the washer. “My name is Alfred,” he said.
“Why, you’re a giant caterpillar! And WOW, that’s a lot of feet!” said Kelly as she watched Alfred inch out. Two feet, four feet, six feet, eight, ten…. twelve. And almost all of Alfred’s feet had a different colored sock on them!
“I’m sorry I’ve been taking your socks,” he said. “But my feet get cold in the winter and I can’t find any socks for my tiny feet. I live out in the garden, but I climb in through the vent on laundry day. I take one of your socks, and unravel it. Then I knit myself some new socks for all of my feet. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice just one sock per week.”
Keely looked down at the caterpillar, and at all the feet that still had no socks on them. She knew what had to be done. “Alfred, how many more socks do you think you’ll need for ALL of your feet?”
Alfred looked down shyly. “I don’t know… 4 or 5?”
Keely went back to her bedroom and picked out 4 more socks. A pink one, an orange one, a purple one, and a even of of her favorites, the green sock with the pink toes. Keely brought them back to Alfred and gave them to him as a gift. From then on, Keely never noticed how many socks she was missing, because she knew exactly where they were and how very much Alfred needed them.
So the next time your mom wants to know where your missing socks are, let her know she shouldn’t worry. Maybe you have your very own Alfred in your garden that needs YOUR socks to keep warm through the winter.
THE END
XXXOOO,
Mrs. Karen
Click here for the Alfred and Keely coloring page!
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