Barefoot Benefits

It was a warm, summer afternoon. Sally Pisen was lying on the ground, soaking up the sun and napping.
As she slept, happy feelings filled her body as she felt the warmth of the sun and the breeze blowing against her entire body. What really filled her with delight though were these sensations on her bare feet.
As each gust of wind blew against them and in-between her toes, she couldn't help but wiggle her toes in delight and slowly sway her feet side to side.
"Aw… that feels nice," Sally thought to herself. "It's always nice to come out here and just relax in the sunshine."
As another gust of wind blew against her soles, she smiled even wider and once again wiggled her toes.
"You know," thought Sally, "It’s nice to hear that some people give earthing a try. Being barefoot is, after all, our natural state. Not only that, it's healthy. It allows a more natural and less stressful manner of walking by reducing stress on knees, ankles, and enhances flexibility of the feet as well as strengthening them. Not to mention, being barefoot is fun! The feeling of grass in-between your toes, the ground underneath your feet, the refreshing cool water on your soles, making footprints in the mud, and even the feeling of wind rushing against them."
Just as she finished that thought, another gust of wind blew between her toes, causing her to giggle.
The next minute was filled only the sounds of nature in the surroundings as Sally's mind paused for a minute before another thought entered her mind.
"Now that I think about it, there are some cultures, primarily in jungles, where most people spend their whole lives barefoot. I'm envious of them. They don’t have to worry about cold and can leave their shoes off all year long.”
After finishing this thought, she gave out a quiet yawn and slipped further into sleep.
It was about two minute later though that she felt a tickling sensation on her left sole.
Sally started to giggle and her toes twitched as the tickling continued and she slowly woke up.
After she sat up to see what was tickling her, she sat there in fascination at what she saw.
Sitting in front of her feet was a growlithe happily licking her feet.
"Aww, how cute! The little growlithe likes my feet," said Sally.
The growlithe continued licking away at her soles, causing Sally to giggle in delight.
"Hihihi, that tickles!" said Sally.
The growlithe continued licking her soles for another minute before moving to her toes.
"Aww, does the little growlithe like my tasty little toesies?" asked Sally playfully while wiggling them slightly.
The growlithe paused for a second to give Sally a happy reply before resuming.
Sally began to laugh a little as the growlithe continued its playful licking.
"Hahahahahaha! That reaheely tickles," laughed Sally.
An entire minute passed and the growlithe was still happily licking her toes.
All of a sudden, Sally and Growlithe heard footsteps in the grass off to the right.
They both looked toward the source of the sound and saw a lillipup. It was standing there frozen, as if startled by the attention it attracted and began to slowly step backwards.
"It's O.K., no need to be afraid," said Sally softly.
The lillipup slowly, but cautiously, crept its way forward until it was in front of Sally's right foot. It then sat down and just stared at it for a moment.
"It's alright, don't be shy. My feet won't bite," said Sally as she teasingly wiggled her toes.
The lillipup inched its head closer, stuck out its tongue, and began licking.
Just like with Growlithe, Sally giggled as the lillipup's tongue tickled the soles and toes of her feet.
After Lillipup finished with both feet, Growlithe joined back in, taking the left foot while Lillipup took the right.
Sally giggled even harder now as the teamwork of tongues tickled both of her feet simultaneously.
This continued on for about another two minutes, then the two pokémon stopped.
"That was a lot of fun, I guess you two had a good time as well?" asked Sally.
The two pokémon both replied happily.
Sally reached over to her backpack, removed a towel she had stored in it, and dried off her feet.
"Well guys, that was really fun, but I think I should head home soon. Before I go though, let me give you guys another reward," said Sally as she dried her feet and replaced the towel.
She raised both of her feet and began to pet the two pokémon with them.
As all three of them closed their eyes and smiled in delight, Sally began thinking to herself, "I guess I found another benefit to being barefoot. Some wild pokémon love tickling them."

The End