teeny tale: worn

but what if i'm not ready to throw them out she said. you have to, they are all worn out and stinky. well what if i were to recycle them somehow. they are beyond recycling, i said, really there's no good parts left. it's better to reduce them at this point. but even if i used up all the good parts i needed, there may still be someone out there that could see something more in them, so shouldn't i at least try to reuse them. well, if they can't be recycled, i suppose reusing is better than reducing. so that night she put her old tennis shoes outside & placed them on top of the trash can. thanks for taking me this far, she whispered. & as she walked away she could only think of how happy it would make her to wake up & see that they were gone: either they had walked off in the night to begin their own journey or someone else was now wearing them & taking steps forward.