Chapter 1

Karen, from her seat in the back of the classroom, could see every single one of her classmates. In the front of the room, three seats ahead of Karen, was her best friend, Dorothy. Dorothy was paying close attention to Mr. Dollaghan as he patiently demonstrated the proper way to add fractions together. Next to Dorothy was Matt, who had been Karen’s next-door neighbor for years. Matt was busy doodling in his notebook. Karen smiled, knowing he wasn’t paying any attention to what Mr. Dollaghan was saying! And next to Matt was Charlie. Karen sighed quietly while looking at him.
Charlie was the new kid in school. So far, everyone wanted to be his friend. He was smart, athletic, and he always wore the coolest clothes. While everyone else wore jeans to school, Charlie wore cargo shorts. He had at least ten pairs of them. He had dark blue, dark green, khaki, and camouflage. Charlie also wore really neat shirts that had pictures of state flags on them. He explained to the class that every time he traveled to a new state, he bought a t-shirt with that state’s flag on it. “So far,” Charlie would say, “I have thirty-four shirts!” Yes, Charlie seemed to be by far the coolest kid in school, and he was only in fourth grade!

Karen closed her eyes and thought of how great it would be if Charlie were her friend. They could hang out on the playground at recess, eat lunch together in the cafeteria, and she could even invite him to come over to her house next time she hung out with Dorothy and Matt. Being Charlie’s friend seemed like so much fun!
“Karen!” Karen’s eyes flew open at the sound of Mr. Dollaghan’s voice. “If you are unable to stay awake, I suggest that you pay a visit to the principal’s office. I am sure that he has a method for being alert in class!” Mr. Dollaghan looked at Karen crossly.
“I’m sorry. I can stay awake,” Karen said quietly, looking at her desk. Hushed laughter came from around the room. Karen glanced at Dorothy, who was shaking her head and smiling back at her best friend. Matt was still drawing in his notebook, but he was smiling, too. Then, Karen looked at Charlie. Charlie was smiling right at her. Karen smiled back, and Charlie gave her a little wave before he turned back around to face Mr. Dollaghan again.
“Alright class, let’s move onto some reading. Sit straightforward and take out your library books. We’re going to have thirty minutes of silent reading time.” Mr. Dollaghan put away his math book and erased the blackboard, then sat down at his desk.
Karen took out her library book and glanced up at Charlie again, who was concentrating on his own book. Karen smiled to herself, and then started to read, too.

Chapter 2

The next morning was Saturday. Karen woke up around nine o’clock, feeling very sore and achy. “Mom! I think I’m sick!” Karen called, rubbing at her knees. Karen’s mom came running into the room.
“You feel sick, Karen? Does your throat hurt?” Karen’s mom knelt in front of her and placed a hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. “Well, you don’t have a fever. Should I make an appointment with the doctor?”
“Mom, I don’t mean that kind of sick! I meant that my body really hurts. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, and my back hurts. Even my stomach feels cramped. I feel like I just ran ten miles!” Karen sat down on her bed and rubbed her arms.
“Oh! Karen, you aren’t sick! You're just having growing pains. I did notice that you’re getting taller. Why, your pants barely go down to your ankles anymore! And your feet have grown so much! Your heels hang over the backs of your sandals. I think that it’s time you and I did some clothes shopping. We’ll get you a few new pairs of pants and some new shirts, but what you are in serious need of is shoes!” her mom stood up and opened the shades over the window. Sunlight spilled into Karen’s room.
Karen glanced down at her feet. “They don’t look very big to me, Mom,” she said uncertainly.
“Nonsense, Karen. They’re much bigger than they used to be. You’ll grow into them soon enough!” She chuckled and smiled at her daughter. She laid out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for Karen to wear. “Now get dressed and come on down to breakfast. You and I have some shopping to do!” Karen’s mom said as she left the room.
Are they really that big? Have I grown that much? They don’t look any different from yesterday… Maybe my feet grew a lot while I was sleeping,

Karen thought to herself, as she got ready to go shopping.

When she and her mom got to the shoe store, Karen could hardly decide what shoes she wanted to get- there were blue sandals, and red boots, and yellow clogs. After trying on several different pairs, she chose some light pink tennis shoes. A salesman came over to help her find the right shoe size. He measured her foot, and then excused himself to go find the right size shoe at the back of the store. When he came back, he ordered Karen to sit down on a little bench so he could make sure the shoes fit properly. Karen glanced at his nametag as he stuffed her foot into a shoe. His name was Bob. Bob told Karen to stand up and he pressed down on her toe with his thumb.
“Hmm. It seems that we are going to have to go up another size! Why, your feet are longer than you are tall! Well, you’ll grow into them!” Bob laughed to himself as he went into the back room. He came out a minute later with another box.
“There,” he said, after he had jammed Karen’s foot into the shoe. “This is a much better fit. How do these feel, young lady?”
“Fine,” Karen mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t comment on the size of her feet again.
“It’s the craziest thing. Last night she went to bed with teeny little feet. This morning she woke up with skis!” Karen’s mom said, laughing.

Three hours later, Karen was back in her bedroom, sitting on her bed with the shoebox in her lap. Three other shopping bags filled with pants and shorts, shirts and sweaters, surrounded her.
Karen fidgeted. She tapped her fingers on the pale yellow of the box. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, glancing at her feet as she did so. They do kind of look like skis, she thought to herself. “Your feet have grown so much!”

her mother had said to her earlier. “Your feet are longer than you are tall!”

Bob had said.
“They are NOT that big!” Karen exclaimed out loud. She took her new pink tennis shoes out of their shoebox and put them on. “There! These shoes make them look smaller, if anything!” Karen proclaimed. She got up and set the shoebox on the floor beside her bed. “I’m going to go show mom just how small my feet look!” Karen started walking towards her door, and then, just as she was halfway across her bedroom floor, she tripped and landed flat on her stomach!
“Oh, no!” Karen said. “My feet really have grown! I can’t even walk without tripping anymore! I have an idea though- I’ll just slide and shuffle my feet so I don’t fall down.” Karen started shuffling towards her door, moving in such a way that she didn’t have to pick up her feet at all. She just slid them along until she got to the door, then she started out the hallway towards the stairs. Before she could make it to the stairs, her older sisters came out of their bedroom.
“Why are you walking like that?” Becca demanded, looking at her sister like she thought she was an alien.
“Duh, Becca, all the cool kids walk like that!” Diana exclaimed, turning circles around Karen. Becca and Diana laughed and started shuffling around the hallway.
“Hey, Diana, am I as awesome as Karen?” Becca shuffled down the hall and back.
“Definitely, Becca! The three of us are the most awesome people in the world! Hey, Karen, let’s slide on down to the kitchen and have a party! We’ll invite some other people who walk like we do!” Diana and Becca both started laughing at Karen, who stood in between them, not looking very happy.
“Stop it! Listen to me, okay? I can’t walk very well because my feet… my feet grew a lot the other day and now I trip over them really easily, because they’re so big.” Karen crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at her sisters.
“Right, Karen. And the fact that your shoelace is untied has nothing to do with tripping, right? Come on Becca, let’s go to the mall,” Diana said, slinging her purse over her shoulder and grabbing Becca’s arm.
“Are we driving or shuffling to the mall?” Becca said with a laugh. She and Diana disappeared down the stairs.

Karen leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting with her legs straight out in front of her. “No one understands me,” she moaned, glaring furiously at her feet.
“Why doesn’t anyone understand you?” Karen looked across the hall at the door in front of her. Her little sister, Kendall, was peeking out. Kendall's friend Allyson stood behind her. They’re playing dress-up,

Karen noticed as Kendall and Allyson opened the door all the way and stepped out. Kendall was dressed like a ballerina, all in pink, and Allyson was dressed like a clown, complete with a rainbow colored wig and huge red clown shoes.
“It’s not really important… It’s just that my feet are suddenly huge and I don’t have anyone to talk to about it.” Karen sighed and looked at the little five-year-olds in front of her.
“Well, talk to us!” Allyson said, looking at her with big blue eyes as she tossed the rainbow wig off, revealing her long blonde hair.
“Yes! We will listen to you!” Kendall sat down on the floor, smoothing out her ballerina skirt. Allyson walked slowly out of the room, being careful not to trip in her clown shoes.
“Okay… You see, my feet grew a lot and I had to buy new shoes. And I am afraid that the new boy at school won’t think I'm cool because of how big my feet are. So I need to think of a way to figure out how to hide my feet so he won’t realize how huge they are,” Karen inhaled deeply after explaining her dilemma in one breath.
“Fourth grade is a tough year,” Kendall said seriously, as if she had experienced it already.
“Yeah, it is,” Allyson agreed. “If it’s any help at all, Karen, my clown shoes might fit your big fat feet!”
Karen smiled feebly, trying to ignore the fact that a five-year-old had just insulted her. “Thanks for the offer, Allyson, but I guess my own shoes might work out okay.”
“Well, if your feet grow again, you can always call me and ask to borrow these shoes. They’re red. It’s this season’s color and they go with everything!” Allyson stood up and then waddled back into Kendall’s room.
“Karen, your feet don’t look that big to me. They really don’t.” Kendall smiled sweetly at her big sister.
“Thanks, Kendall. You look pretty in your ballerina dress,” Karen said. She stood up and then shuffled back into her room, leaving her little sister in the hallway.
Once in her bedroom, Karen laid down on her bed. She lay on her back and stuck her legs in the air so her feet were above her. I can hardly see past my feet they’re so big,

she thought. Then, all of a sudden, her feet started to grow! They doubled in size in less than ten seconds, and they were still growing!
“AAAAAAHH!! Mom! Help me! My feet won’t stop growing! Becca, Diana, Kendall! Come help me, quick!”
Karen’s mom appeared in the doorway. “What’s wrong, Karen?”
Karen’s feet were still growing. They were bigger than her bed now! Her mom screamed and dove out of the way as Karen’s feet rushed past her, growing out the door.
Karen heard her sisters scream and she looked out the window by her bed. She could see her family outside now, all pointing in terror at the house. From her view at the window, Karen saw her feet appear outside! Her feet had grown so big that they had gone out her room, through the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door! And they were still growing!
Something was touching her ankles- Karen looked towards her bedroom door and saw Charlie carefully crawling over her gigantic feet.
“Gosh, Karen. Your feet are huge. I don’t think I’ll ever be your friend. You’re just not cool enough. Bye, Karen. Please don’t talk to me when you see me at school…”
Karen jerked awake, nearly falling off her bed. “Oh my gosh! That was such an awful dream!” she exclaimed, flying off the bed and grabbing at her feet. “I knew my feet were huge... Charlie won’t want to be my friend when he sees me at school!”

Chapter 3

“Hey, Karen, wait up!” Karen turned around at the sound of Dorothy’s voice.
“Hi, Dorothy. Hi, Matt,” Karen said to her two friends as they caught up with her.
“Let’s walk to class together,” Dorothy said. “Hey, cool shoes, Karen!” My brother Gary’s girlfriend has a pair just like them, only hers are blue. And I think I saw them on one of the girls in the sixth grade, I think her name is Addy, but hers are yellow. I love yours though!” Dorothy smiled widely at Karen.
“Thank you, Dorothy,” Karen sighed. “Hey, can I ask you guys something?” Matt and Dorothy nodded. “Do my feet look bigger to you?”
Matt knelt on the ground and examined her feet, tapping her shoe with his finger and measuring with his hands. Dorothy squinted at the shoes from where she stood, and then slowly circled Karen, staring at her feet the whole time. Matt stood up.
“No,” he stated.
“What do you think, Dorothy?” Karen asked.
“I think that your feet are a lot bigger than mine. Shoot! I really wanted to borrow your new shoes!” Dorothy stamped her foot angrily.
Riiiiiing!

The school bell went off, causing all three to jump in surprise. “Come on- let’s race to class! Ready, set, go!” Matt said, and he and Dorothy took off running towards the classroom, but Karen walked slowly and cautiously behind them. She didn’t want to risk tripping over her feet, especially if Charlie happened to be around.
I wonder if Matt honestly didn’t notice how big my feet are. Maybe since Charlie is a boy too, he won’t notice that my feet are huge now. Or maybe Matt was just being polite, and he actually did see how much my feet have grown. I bet Charlie will notice, too…

Karen turned the corner into the classroom and walked to her desk. Charlie came up to her.
“Hi, Karen, how was your weekend?”
“Hi, Charlie. My weekend was fine. I, um, went shopping with my mother on Saturday.”
“What did you buy?” Charlie asked. He sat on Karen’s desk while she unpacked her backpack.
“Nothing much. Some pants, some shirts, and a new pair of shoes. My mom said I grew a lot, and my pants and shirts didn’t fit as well anymore. She said I was getting taller,” Karen said, slipping her jacket off and stuffing it into her backpack.
“It sounds like you had a pretty nice weekend! Are those your new shoes?” Charlie asked, pointing at Karen’s pink tennis shoes.
“Um… yes,” Karen said. She looked worriedly at Charlie’s expression. She expected him to look disgusted, as if he couldn’t imagine being friends with someone who had feet like a duck. But he just smiled at her.
“Those are really cool! I didn’t do very much this weekend, but my aunt sent me a t-shirt from Pennsylvania. I decided not to wear it until I actually get to go there, though,” Charlie said.
“Alright everyone, let’s start the morning with some reading. Take out your books!” Mr. Dollaghan said as he sat down at his teacher’s desk.
Charlie smiled at Karen again, and then moved over to his desk to read. Karen took out her book and opened it up, but didn’t focus on the words. He had to have noticed my feet! There’s no way he couldn’t have… My feet are just so big! I need a way to make them look smaller… I need to think…

Chapter 4

Later at recess, Karen grabbed Dorothy’s arm and led her into the bathroom.
“Okay, Dorothy, don’t think I’m weird for doing this, but give me your shoes,” Karen said as she began to untie her shoelaces.
“What do you need my shoes for?” Dorothy asked.
“You know how Charlie wears the coolest clothes, and all of his friends have really nice clothes, too? Well, my feet have grown a lot, and I think that he noticed how big they are. The only way I can be his friend is if I look normal, and since your feet are a lot smaller than mine, I thought we could trade shoes for a while. That way, Charlie won’t notice that my feet are gigantic, and he’ll want to be friends with me!” Karen thrust her shoes at Dorothy, who took them reluctantly.
“Karen, do you honestly think that’s the truth? That Charlie only cares about people who have great clothes?” Dorothy asked, raising her eyebrows at Karen skeptically.
“Yes,” Karen said simply.
Dorothy sighed, then knelt down to untie her shoes. She looked up at Karen. “The only reason I’m doing this is because you’re my best friend, and I’m dying to try on those cute tennis shoes, even if they are going to be too big on me.” Dorothy smiled and handed Karen her own shoes.
Five minutes later, the girls were walking back out onto the playground. Dorothy was walking very slowly as her tiny feet kept slipping out of Karen’s shoes. Karen was also walking slowly, trying to prevent her feet from getting blisters from the too-small shoes. She winced in pain as her toes were pinched together.
And then she saw Charlie. He was standing by the swings with Matt.
“There’s Charlie!” Karen exclaimed to Dorothy. “Come on, let’s go talk to him!”
The girls worked their way slowly across the playground. Karen smiled at Charlie as they neared him.
“Hi, Karen; hey, Dorothy,” Charlie said cheerfully.
“Hi, Charlie!” Karen said with a big grin.
“Hey, Charlie,” Dorothy responded as she bent over to pick out the pebbles that had spilled into Karen’s shoes.
Karen hobbled over to the swings and sat down. She crossed and uncrossed her legs a few times, trying to draw Charlie’s attention to her feet. Charlie just continued talking to Matt, so Karen desperately started pumping her legs, getting the swing to move. When her feet flew by Charlie’s shoulder, he finally turned to face her.
“Hey, watch it, Karen!” he teased. “You almost hit me with those big feet of yours!” Charlie laughed and turned back to Matt. Karen froze, then jumped off the swing and started to run back into the bathroom, feeling humiliated.
Oh, no! Oh, no! He noticed! He noticed how enormous they are, and I’m even in smaller shoes! He thinks I’m a freak! He won’t want to be friends with me! He’ll never-

“OW!” Karen tripped and landed on her stomach. She stuck out her hands to break her fall, but felt the sting of gravel immediately on her chest, knees, and hands. She pulled herself up, tears stinging her eyes, and started limping to the bathroom again.
“Karen! Are you okay!? Wait up!” Charlie ran to her side. “I saw you fall, that looked like it hurt really bad!” He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. “Your hand is all scratched up! Come on, I’ll help you clean it off in the sink.”
Charlie took Karen’s arm in his and led her into the school. Up near the cafeteria was a sink. Charlie turned the water on and checked its temperature. Then he took Karen’s hands and held them under the water. He helped her scrub soap on to clean the dirt off, and then he went to get a band-aid from the school nurse.
While Karen put the band-aid on, Charlie bent over to brush the dirt and dust from Karen’s pant legs. “There. All better. Now, let’s go get your own shoes back- I think Dorothy’s shoes may be too small for you,” Charlie said, giving Karen a friendly smile.
“Wait, Charlie…” Charlie stopped walking, and turned back to Karen.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, it’s just… Do you really still want to be my friend? My feet are so huge… Why would you want to be friends with me?”
Charlie’s eyes widened. “Karen! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. Even if your feet were three feet long, I would still be your friend,” he said sincerely, giving her a smile.
Karen felt a wave of relief wash over her. “Really? I guess I was just nervous that since I looked a little different, you wouldn’t want to be my friend.”
“You know how I was new to this school this year? When I got here, one of the first things I noticed was that everyone dressed the same- almost everyone here wears jeans and similar t-shirts everyday. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t make friends because I wear different clothes than everyone else. But I decided to just be myself, and to keep wearing my state flag shirts and cargo shorts, because I like wearing those. And then I became friends with you, Matt, and Dorothy, and I realized that it doesn’t matter what I wear, because my friends like me for who I am. You like me even though the cargo shorts I wear are different than the jeans Matt wears, right?”
“Of course I do!” Karen exclaimed, shocked to hear that Charlie had felt this way.
“Well, I like you even though your feet are a size or two bigger than Dorothy’s feet.” Charlie smiled and took Karen’s hand. “Let’s go get your shoes back, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Karen said to her friend.


Chapter 5

“So, everything worked out. I told Charlie all about how I was worried he would think I was weird because I have big feet, and he told me he likes me for who I am. Then, we ate lunch together and yesterday we played basketball together at recess. Charlie and I are really good friends now,” Karen said with a grin. She pulled her knees up to her chest and grabbed her toes. “And I decided my feet are the perfect size for me, so that’s okay now, too.”
Kendall and Allyson stared at Karen with wide eyes and big smiles. “I told you your feet looked fine!” Kendall said. She was dressed as a princess.
“I told her she could borrow my clown shoes. I didn’t bring them today, though,” Allyson said. She was dressed as a pirate.
“That’s alright, Allyson. I don’t need your shoes. I have my own pair. Anyway, you two have fun playing,” Karen said as she walked out of her sister’s bedroom and into the hall. Becca and Diana came out of their bedroom.
“What happened to sliding your feet around?” Becca asked.
“There’s this new thing that all the cool kids do,” Karen explained with a smile. “It’s called walking. You pick up your feet and try not to trip.”
“Whatever. We’re just glad you aren’t holding up traffic in the hall by moving so slow anymore. Come on, Becca, let’s go to the mall!” Diana said. She and Becca started walking down the hallway towards the stairs.
“Hey! Are you shuffling or driving to the mall?” Karen asked, smiling.
“Driving!” Becca and Diana said at the same time. But they smiled at their sister, too.
Karen walked into her bedroom and sat down on her bed. She peeked over her knees to look at her feet. While she looked at them, she thought of all the trouble she had put herself through, and how much frustration she had caused herself. Charlie doesn’t care about the size of my feet. He thinks I’m cool just because of who I am. I’m glad that I don’t care about my feet anymore!

Karen grinned, happy with herself for putting everything behind her. She lay down on her back and stretched her arms up in the air. While she was stretching, she looked at her hands. I never noticed how big my hands are,

Karen thought to herself.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 30.06.2011

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Widmung:
To my wonderful family, especially my Aunt Karen and Grandma Dorothy- thank you for everything!