This chapter reveals a devastating disappointment in the eleventh Christmas of my  life.

Chapter Twelve  –  Toe Picks

My quivering fingers ripped part of the paper off my present. Yes! There were the white boots, but wait, they were shoe polish white! Tearing at the rest of the paper I uncovered the gleam of steel blades. But it was a steel wool gleam. My heart sank as the paper fell away from the rest of the skates– no toe picks.

The lump in my throat felt like a tennis ball. Choking back tears, I examined the skates a little closer. The insides of the boots were a dull, worn flannel. They were second-hand skates, somebody else’s has-been skates. Disappointment crushed me. They were not even figure skates……

A hope deferred makes the heart sick… Proverbs 13:12

Tomorrow  –  My First Job  –  A Lesson in Self-Reliance