What is the most dreaded thing that could happen to a Standard One kid at school? Yes, that's right - tertukar kasut sekolah!
A couple of days ago after the school bell rang, signalling the end of the school's morning session, I saw little B walked towards me and the first thing he told me (nonchalantly) was that his shoes got mixed up with someone's else. I asked him what happened and he said there was a dental check-up going on and they had to take off their shoes in the Bilik Kesihatan during check up and that's where the shoes got mixed up. Apparently he knew they weren't his shoes and he had no choice but to wear it. He felt uncomfortable wearing them coz the shoes were slightly bigger than his feet and a little worn out. He had no idea who took his shoes.
The next day after sending him off to his classroom, I took the arduous task of asking every one of his classmates if they had their shoes switched. As expected none of the kids confess. I wasn't sure if they understood what I was saying or they must have freaked out seeing me harassing everyone in the classroom with my repeated questions of "Ada tertukar kasut dengan B tak?" and whenever I see the same particular brand of my son's shoes I would take a closer inspection and stare at those kids' eyes and they just shook their heads off weakly without a single word murmured. Those poor kids must have thought that little B's mom is one annoying terrifying lady!
After some tedious interrogations, I finally realized that he is not getting his shoes back and he's stucked with them for the rest of the year. Even after politely requesting his class teacher to make announcement, none of his classmates ever going to own up. Maybe the kid who unwittingly or deliberately took his shoes must have liked them so much that he or she decided to keep them. Oh well so be it then.
Luckily, little B has another pair of shoes. So the first thing I did after this incident, I took a black marker pen and wrote his name with bold capital letters on the inner lining of his shoes and on the outer sides. I just hope that the markings won't fade so soon.
