Red Toe Recess

Who knew a bunch of 5 year olds would form a clique after one day of footprint paintings?

My kindergarten class was instructed to go to the craft table and choose our favorite paint color for our footprints. Next we were to take off our shoes, put them in our cube, and come to the center of the room.

I raised my hand almost immediately.

“Yes, Kari?”

“Hi, I do not go barefoot in public. In fact, I wear house shoes even at home. And my Mom vacuums every day.”

My teacher assured me that I would be okay, took my shoes off for me, and burst out laughing.  

“Why are you laughing at my feet?” I asked while frowning.

“Oh, honey. I’ve just never seen anyone your age with their toenails painted bright red before,” she replied while patting my foot.

“Red is a fun color. I like to have fun.”

“I know you do, Kari. I know.”

I looked over to see a small group of girls sitting in the corner staring at a pile of blocks.

“Look at that snooze fest. I’ll bet those girls over there don’t have their toenails painted at all.”

Some of the girls began to gather around and one asked to touch my toenails. 

“Wow! My mom would never let me do that! It’s like the girls on that soap opera she watches on the Spice channel.”

The next day I snuck my red nail polish into class by way of my Hello Kitty backpack. We sat under the slide at recess and painted their toenails red. We formed our own little play group. I am pretty sure I saw Allison on one of those soap operas many years later.