The Yellow Shoes

On adoption day, pale yellow shoes wait on the kitchen table where Nora left them, still too clean for a house where everything else shows wear.

Adoption day

The shoes waited on the kitchen table for three days.

They were small enough to fit in one of Daniel’s hands, pale yellow with narrow straps and silver buckles that caught the morning light. Nora had placed them beside the fruit bowl on Sunday evening, after checking the size twice and making Lily walk from the refrigerator to the back door and back again.

“Do they pinch?” she had asked.

Lily shook her head, though she always shook her head when she thought something had cost too much.

Now it was Wednesday, adoption day, and the shoes still looked too clean for anyone in their house. Everything else carried some mark of living: the table had a white ring from a hot saucepan, the fruit bowl had a hairline crack, and one kitchen chair bore a stripe of blue paint from the summer they moved in. Even the walls had fingerprints at Lily’s height.

Nora stood at the counter spreading peanut butter on toast. Outside, rain tapped against the window above the sink. The August sky was the color of dishwater, and the maple tree in the yard kept shaking its wet leaves as if trying to wake itself.

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Quick answers about The Yellow Shoes

What is The Yellow Shoes about?

On adoption day, pale yellow shoes wait on the kitchen table where Nora left them, still too clean for a house where everything else shows wear.

Is The Yellow Shoes free to read?

Yes. Every story on RapidTale is free to read in the browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install.

How long does it take to read?

This story runs 1 chapter — most readers finish in one sitting, and you can stop and return to any chapter using the contents list.

Who wrote it?

Nimra Khan — original fiction published on RapidTale.