Kageyama and the Magic Shoes Bashir Abdullahi

Kageyama had just lost a basketball game and scored zero points. He was so disappointed, and Chuck was not helping, “nice job, loser, ” he said.

“I'm sorry, okay,” said Kageyama. Chuck looked at him and said “regardless you cost us the game and that’s all on you, you contributed nothing to that game.”

Hinata said defensively, “it’s not his fault he had a bad game we all do, it’s normal.”

“That’s no excuse he made us lose the game!” Kageyama walked with his head down and went home.

On the way home he met an old man that he would describe as “odd, ” to say the least. He gave him a pair of shoes and said “here, take these shoes. They will guarantee you never lose again.”

“How does he know I lost?” Kageyama thought, confused. He checked out the shoes and decided to take them after the old man insisted many times for him to have them.

At home, he thought about the strange old man that gave him the shoes, but they did look really cool so he decided to use them in his next game.

“They work, they work!” Thought Kageyama as he jumped with joy. He had just won a game 50-25 and scored 20 points!

Oikawa, who is Chuck's best friend, scoffed “lucky game, loser.” Again, Kageyama said nothing and walked away.

On the way home, he saw the old man again in an alleyway and didn’t walk to him, but the man came to him.

“I love them, they were amazing!” said Kageyama.

“Thank you, take these new ones, they'll make you even better.” But in reality these shoes were not magic like the others. The first ones were just to boost his confidence. With this second pair, he will perform like they are magic.

After the game, he scored 35 points and carried his team to the win. Oikawa and Chuck said nothing this time and Kageyama again walked away.

This time, on the way home, Kageyama saw the old man and walked up to him and he said, “these shoes are even better than the last ones. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome young man, but these shoes were fake.”

“What?” said Kageyama.

“Well, you see…the first ones were really magic to boost your confidence, the second ones were fake so you could perform well while believing in the shoes, but really it was your true potential that carried you.”

Kageyama now understood that he should never let a bad game get him down.

The End.

Bashir Abdullahi, Grade 5 Meadowbrook Elementary School, Golden Valley Teaching Artist, Stephen Peters