Barefoot Benefits 4

It was another hot day in summer. Sally was at the library, sitting on a futon with her legs stretched out in front of her and feet resting on her heels, and reading a book. Her eyes were glued closely to the pages as she happily read the newest book from one of her favorite authors.
"Wow! What an exciting story so far!" thought Sally. "The last book was great, but this one just exceeds expectations. I can't seem to put this one down."
Sally continued to excitedly read onward, until, a couple minutes later, she felt something tickling her feet, causing her to giggle.
She looked over the top of the book and saw a young boy and girl drawing on them with markers. Sally couldn't help giggling, not just because it tickled, but due to how adorable she found it.
"Well hello there, what are you two drawing?" asked Sally.
"A pretty flower," said the girl happily. "Almost done."
"I'm making a mankey," said the boy.
Sally continued to giggle for another few seconds as the two kids continued drawing until they lifted their markers away.
"O.K. all done now," said the girl.
"Neat! Let's take a look then, shall we?" said Sally.
She brought her right foot up to her lap and looked at the drawing the girl did on her sole.
"Awww, what a pretty flower," complimented Sally. "It almost looks like a Sunflora. Just add a smiley face, two leaves here and there and you've got a Sunflora."
The little girl smiled cutely in satisfaction.
"Alright, now let's see that mankey you drew," said Sally as she returned her right foot to the floor, brought her left foot up to her lap, and looked at the drawing on her sole.
"Wow, what a strong-looking mankey. He looks like he's ready for any challenge," said Sally.
"Yeah! This mankey is the strongest in the world! Nobody can beat it! Not even a champion!" shouted the boy.
"Is that so? Interesting," replied Sally as she put her foot back on the floor. "But there's no need to shout so loud. Remember, we're in a library, so we shouldn't be loud."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the boy.
"It's fine. Just remember to use your indoor voice, O.K?" said Sally.
The two kids nodded.
"So, what are your names?" asked Sally.
"I'm Sarah. This is my cousin, Freddy," said Sarah.
"Nice to meet you two, I'm Sally. So, who are you two here with?" replied Sally.
"Auntie Clara," replied Sarah. "She's taking nap though, so she can't play with us right now."
She pointed over to the kid's play area where they saw Sarah's aunt fast asleep on one of the nearby chairs.
"Ah, I see. She must have been really tired," said Sally.
"We were coloring pictures, but all the good ones are gone," said Freddy. We saw your feet and wanted to have fun making pictures on them."
"I see. Well, you two did quite a good job," said Sally, tilting her feet up so that the drawings were exposed.
"I'm curious, why you not wearing shoes?" asked Sarah.
"Because I prefer being barefoot and avoid wearing shoes whenever I can. It just feels more natural to me. Plus, there's no rules saying I have to wear shoes in the library," replied Sally.
She glanced down slightly and saw the type of shoes they were wearing. Freddy was wearing a pair of gray and black tennis shoes with ankle high socks and Sarah was wearing a pair of white sandals.
"Why not try it out yourselves? The carpeting in here feels pretty good against bare feet. You should try it," said Sally.
"O.K!" said the twosome simultaneously, nodding in happiness.
The two quickly took off the footwear they had on. Sally picked up their discarded shoes and socks and placed them at the leg of the futon.
"Wow, this does feel nice," said Freddy, shuffling his feet on the ground.
"Yeah, you're right. This carpet is cozy. Don't my feet look happy?" said Sarah.
"Looks like it to me," said Sally happily. "That nail polish you're wearing even compliments the carpet."
"Thanks!" replied Sarah. "My mommy picked it out for me. She said it makes my toes look even cuter. What's your favorite color?"
"Well, my favorite color is blue, but I don't wear nail polish. I prefer my toenails' natural look," replied Sally.
Sarah continued to lightly shuffle her feet on the carpet for about another 20 seconds, then looked back at Sally.
"Ms. Sally?" asked Sarah.
"Yes?" replied Sally.
"Are your feet ticklish too?" asked Sarah.
"Yeah, my feet are kinda ticklish as well," replied Sally, lightly swaying them side to side.
"Yay!" shouted Sarah as she ran over to Sally's feet and sat down in front of them.
"Tickle tickle," she said happily as she tickled Sally's soles.
Sally started out giggling, but soon broke out in light laughter.
"That looks like fun. Let me try," said Freddy as he sat down in front of Sally's feet and began tickling her as well.
"Hahahahahahahaha! You guys are good at thihihihihis!" laughed Sally.
They kept at this for about 25 seconds.
"Now, let's get her toes!" said Sarah.
"Yeah!" replied Freddy as they both grabbed on to Sally's toes and started tickling and wiggling them.
Sally's tried to keep the volume of her laughing down, but couldn't help laughing slightly louder than before.
"Yay! This is fun!" said Sarah happily. "Oh, I know, how about we play the toesie game?"
"The toesie game?" asked Sally.
"Yeah, my mommy plays it with me every night before bed. I think of a toe and you have to guess which it is. If you get it, I just tickle that one toe. If not, I get to tickle the toe I'm thinking of and the one you guessed," said Sarah.
"Sounds like fun. I'll give it a try," said Sally.
"Yay!" said Sarah happily before closing her eyes. "Which one is it?"
"Hmm… pinky toe," replied Sally.
"Nope! Tickle tickle!" said Sarah happily as she tickled Sally's pinky and ring toes.
"Ahahahahaha, loohoohooks like I guessed wrohahahong!" laughed Sally.
"Yeah, my turn!" said Freddy as Sarah stopped. "Guess which one."
"Hmm… I'll say big toe this time," said Sally.
"Aw man! You got it," said Freddy in disappointment.
"It's alright. It was just a lucky guess. If you want, you can still tickle two," said Sally.
"Really? Yay!" said Freddy before tickling Sally's big toe and index toe.
Again, Sally broke out in light laughter.
"Well now, what's all this?" came an adult women's voice.
The two kids turned around to see Sarah's aunt standing there.
"Oh, hi Auntie Clara. All done with your nap?" asked Sarah.
"Well, I still feel a little tired. Just woke up to check on you two. I was a little startled to see you two missing from the coloring table. But, here you two are. Not bothering this young lady, are you?" said Clara.
"Nah, they aren't bothering me. We're actually having a lot of fun together," replied Sally.
"Well, it's nice to see that you two are having fun. I guess it was wrong of me to doze off like that, but I've been working extra shifts and haven't gotten much sleep lately. But, I promised these two that I would take them to the library today," said Clara.
"If you need more sleep, I'll be more than happy to keep an eye on them for you. It's no problem," said Sally.
"That's awfully nice of you," replied Clara. "Alright then, make sure they don't get into any trouble, O.K?"
"No worries," replied Sally.
Clara walked back over to her chair and immediately fell back asleep.
"Yay! More time to play!" shouted Sarah with excitement.
Meanwhile, Freddy spotted the book sitting next to Sally, walked over to it and examined it.
"What's this book about?" he asked.
"Oh, this book?" replied Sally. "It's about this young hero who was on his way to start his pokémon journey and get his starter pokémon along with his best friend. However, when they got there, the lab was being overrun with rogue pokémon and the professor and his assistant were captured. The leader of this riot is an infernape who was trained by a harsh and unforgiving trainer. The infernape had somehow got his hands on a special headband that boosted his overall intelligence and decided to rally an army of pokémon, giving them all special headbands as well, to invade the professor's lab and use his newly created time machine to go back in time and change history in his scheme to get revenge on the humans. The young hero follows the rogue pokémon to different periods in history and has to try to catch them all before they alter the future."
The two kids stood there with eyes wide open in interest.
"Wow, that sounds like a great story," said Sarah.
"Yeah, because it's got a lot of pokémon in it. Pokémon are awesome," said Freddy.
"Ah, you guys are pokémon lovers too, huh?" said Sally.
"Yeah! We love pokémon," said Sarah. "When I grow up, I want a pokémon of my own."
"Me too," said Freddy. "You have any pokémon?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," replied Sally.
Sarah and Freddy's eyes grew big with excitement.
"You do! Oh please please please can we see them?" asked Freddy.
"No problem," said Sally as she reached into her pocket and pull out all six of her pokéballs.
"Come on out everyone," said Sally as Semipour, Treecko, Growlithe, Lillipup, Pidgeotto, and Espeon emerged from their pokéballs.
"Wow! They're so cool!" shouted Sarah with excitement.
"Oh sweet! Pokémon!" shouted one of the kids at the coloring table.
All the kids sitting at the coloring table rushed over toward the group of pokémon. Lillipup leapt up onto the mattress of the futon and then into Sally's arms.
"It's O.K Lillipup, don't be shy. They just want to play with you," said Sally calmly.
Lillipup barked happily and licked Sally's face before Sally set him down on the ground. The kids crowded around the group of pokémon and began petting them.
"Aww, they're so cute!" said a couple of the kids.
The pokémon stood or sat there, happily accepting the attention they were getting. Semipour even patted a couple of the kids on their heads.
"Now now everyone, be gentle with them," said Sally.
A couple seconds later, Sarah shouted, "Hey, let's tickle them!"
The entire group of kid's burst out in cheer as they crowded around all six pokémon and began tickling all over their bellies, feet, and paws. All six pokémon broke out in laughter. Sally just couldn't help laughing herself as she watched this.
About a minute afterward, Sally's mom got out from behind the checkout counter and walked over to the scene.
"Alright everyone, it's time to let them have a little rest," said Sally's mom.
The kids all let out sighs of sadness.
"I know, you kids want to play with the pokémon some more, but you're getting a little too loud," said Sally's mom. "Now, tell Sally 'thank you.'"
"Thank you!" said all the kids simultaneously before walking back to the coloring table. Sally's mom returned to the checkout desk. Sarah and Freddy remained with Sally though.
"Wow! Your pokémon are awesome! I can't wait until I'm old enough to have one myself," said Freddy.
"And I'm sure you'll become a great trainer someday as well," replied Sally.
"Yeah!" replied Freddy.
"So, what do you want to do now Ms. Sally?" asked Sarah.
"Hmmm… well, how about giving my toes smiley faces and pretending they're an exeggcute? We'll just pretend the sixth one is there already," said Sally, wiggling her toes happily.
"Yay!" shouted the two simultaneously before picking up their markers and drawing happy faces on each toe.
Sally began giggling as the two went down each row, toe by toe.
Sally's mom was watching this and couldn't help lightly laughing.
"That daughter of mine has a way with kids and pokémon. She should really consider running an all-purpose day care center that handles both," thought Sally's mom.

The End