If there was one thing that Dixie Cow loved, it was new shoes. Shoes were stored everywhere in her stall, because having four feet meant four shoes. It was a daunting chore keeping all those shoes clean, and keeping all the lefts and rights together. One would have thought Dixie Cow would have stopped acquiring shoes, but she only wanted more.

 When Robert Horse told Dixie Cow he was going to the mall for rubber boots, she was overjoyed. "Shoes!" she said with a gaze in her eyes. "I need shoes!"

 Never was there a more excited cow than Dixie Cow when on Monday morning they arrived at the mall. Letting Dixie Cow loose in the store Shoe More was like watching a bull in a china shop as she rushed from display to display.

 "Look at those!" she commented. "Aren't they darling!"

 Robert Horse, who was, after all, just going for a pair of rubber boots, couldn't see what all the fuss was about. When you've seen one pair of rubber boots, you've seen them all, he thought. He sat down to be fitted for a size 11 boot.

 "I want to try these on," gushed Dixie Cow to the owner, George Gecko.

 "But madame, they look too small," said the owner trying to get the shoes.

 A crunch sounded as the glass slippers on Dixie Cow's size eight feet couldn't withstand a size six. Dixie Cow looked down at her feet for a moment, slipped them off and rushed to the next display. The owner looked at the destroyed shoes.

 "These boots will do nicely," said Robert Horse. "My old ones were getting my feet wet because they had a hole in them. They also were lined and too hot for my feet."

 "These are our one-star boots," said the manager, who wished he could sell the five-star ones with neon felt liners.

 "I'll take them," said Robert Horse and he finally persuaded Dixie Cow to take two pairs of slingbacks that showed off her pretty toes.

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 "What's the big rush?" asked Dixie Cow, who was sure there were boxes of shoes in the back she hadn't seen.

 "Dixie Cow, you have more than enough shoes. You don't need any more," said Robert Horse.

 "But I can't help myself! I just love shoes," said Dixie Cow.

 Robert Horse finally got Dixie Cow out of the store and to Cow's Take Out for a sundae with a big cherry on top. Dixie Cow loved it and you guessed it, now she has shoes and Cow's ice cream containers in her stall.

 Winner: Evan Wambolt of Liverpool received a prize for sending in the answer.

 Question about the story: What happened to the first pair of shoes Dixie Cow tried on?

 Send answers to Storytime, c/o Verna Dunlop, PO Box 325, Sheet Harbour, NS B0J 3B0. A prize will be sent to those sending in the answer.

posted on 12/21/11