Once there lived a very poor family. The family had an old, unemployed father and a mother who ran the house by working as housemaid at two of the town’s richest families. The couple had a beautiful eight-year-old daughter, who was very humble and intelligent. Her late grandma named her Amy when she was born.

The town used to hold an annual sports day. So every year, kids, teens and adult of the town and the surrounding areas participated in it. It was the most festive time of the year for the whole town, in which both the poor and the rich equally participated and enjoyed the activities. There were also rewards and prizes for those who won the different events.

That year, Amy eagerly waited for it to take place so that she could also participate in the flat race and prove herself to be the fittest kids by winning the prize and making her family proud.

But she had no or very little chance to actually claim and win the prize, as she had neither proper running shoes, nor the participation fee. Seeing her daughter sad, her mother arranged the participation fee and brought old, used shoes from one of the families she worked for. The shoes were one size larger than Amy’s size, but she had no option other than to wear them on the competition day.

On the day of the race, Amy, along with her family went, to the sports ground. Her parents went to find a seat while Amy went to register herself. Once she was done, Amy waited excitedly with many other participants of her age.

She saw many girls and boys having fun and talking; most of them were in nice athletic wear. She shook her head as there was no use thinking about them, she had to focus on herself. She had no experience and no training — all she had was her passion for the sport.

While waiting, a girl named Sarah, wearing beautiful shoes and athletic outfit, came towards Amy and greeted her. They talked about a lot of things and found that their interests and hobbies were similar. Sarah was very talkative, while Amy was a great listener. They enjoyed each others’ company.

Suddenly they heard announcement for the start of the racing. The participants were called so they could line up in their proper places. Sarah was close to Amy, and due to her talkative nature, she commented on the crowd, the ground, the judges and what not. Amy got irritated by Sarah’s constant talking and asked her to stop so that she could concentrate.

Sarah got offended and decided to show Amy that she was better than her. With an angry face Sarah decided that she would beat Amy, come what may.

During the race, everybody ran as fast as they could. Amy was wearing large shoes so she was having a bit of difficulty in gaining speed, but she kept trying and did not slow down.

Amy saw Sarah going real fast. She knew she could also go fast if she had comfortable shoes of her size. When the race ended, Sarah secured the first position and Amy got the second. Amy was happy because the second position was still good.

After the race, Sarah saw Amy’s parents in the crowd wearing ragged clothes and cheering for their daughter. Sarah realised why Amy was so desperate to get the prize. It was to help her family financially.

Days later, there was a knock at the door of Amy’s house. Amy ran and opened the door. She saw Sarah with a smiling face. First Sarah apologised for her behaviour on the competition day and then she gave Amy a present. Sarah also brought some house staples for the family.

The two girls became best friends, because they had the same hobbies and the same interests, so it was not easy for the girls to remain cross with each other for long.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 9th, 2021