“The soul is healed
by being with children.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

It was a short, simple afternoon excursion. When she finished her nap yesterday, I took Scarlett on her first bus ride — a 1.4 mile journey on the #25 VTA bus to the Starbucks store on Winchester Boulevard in San José. As I’d expected, she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The vehicle rumbled down Williams Road, stopped at two stoplights and one stop sign, and even hit a fairly large pothole, tossing riders slightly into the air and prompting Scarlett to shout out, “Pothole!” (She learned this from all the make-believe “bus rides” she and her sister, Penny, have taken on Papa’s lap.) Several of the passengers had a good laugh when they heard her comment.

When we arrived at the corner of Winchester and Magliocco, we disembarked the bus carefully. From there, I carried Scarlett across the street to the Starbucks store.

Once inside, I put her down and ordered two hot chocolates and two cake pops. We sat in the store enjoying our post-nap treat for quite a while before a customer looked down at Scarlett’s feet and mentioned to me, “Your little girl only has one shoe.”

I looked down. Indeed, Scarlett was wearing only one shoe. I looked under the table. It was not there. When we finished our snack, we backtracked to the bus stop at Magliocco. No shoe. Apparently, Scarlett had kicked the shoe off while we were on the bus, something (I learned after we returned home) she does quite regularly in the car. 

“Scarlett, your shoe is still on the bus. By now, it’s probably in East San José!” The news didn’t seem to faze her. She simply stated, “Shoe… bus ride.”

She understood that the shoe, one of her favorite Frozen-themed shoes (see matching shoe in the photo below), was gone, and most likely not coming back home. Still, she didn’t seem overly concerned.

When we returned home, Scarlett announced to her Uncle B, “Shoe… bus ride.” When Kathy came into the room, Scarlett proudly shared the news. “Shoe… bus ride.” And when her Dad and Mom returned home, she excitedly informed them, “Shoe… bus ride.”

Yes, the shoe is gone. I could probably call the VTA lost and found today to see if a random Frozen shoe was turned in at the end of the night. In fact, I probably will make that call, but I don’t expect to see it again.

I’m thinking that, perhaps, it might be time for me to write another children’s book. Scarlett’s Shoe Rides the Bus could be a bestseller in 2025. The shoe could tell readers about its exciting experience of riding the #25 bus from West San José to the Alum Rock Transit Center, and probably back again. It could describe the diversity of riders it encountered along the way, share some of the conversations it overheard, and maybe even tell readers a little something about those passengers who picked it up, looked at it, and put it back on the floor of the bus again. Who knows? Maybe the book would earn a Caldecott or Newbery Medal!!!  

My soul was most definitely healed by spending the afternoon with Scarlett yesterday.