The Red and Gold Shoe
The Red and Gold Shoe part 3/7
Leaning back, Joseph looked high into the sky where flights of snowy white egrets winged their way toward the lakes set in the rolling hills of a national park. Or he watched giant jet planes zoom over.
"When I grow up, I shall fly," he always said, repeating it every day to make sure it would happen. Joseph planned to do everything that needed no legs. So he would fly like a jet plane, or an egret. Or he would drive a train. Engine drivers don't need legs, not with all those many wheels whirling so fast to carry them along.
Whenever a long-distance train thundered down the track, they watched it go, their hearts beating fast with excitement and a little fear. It made the ground heave and shake, and unable to contain themselves, Lata and Joseph yelled and shouted, waving madly at the startled laces of the passengers in the windows. As the train flew past, the invisible rush of its wings blew against their faces and lifted their hair. It was a thrilling moment but it never lasted long enough.
