This story comes in handy when cutting toenails...

Once upon a time, in a city like this one lived a little boy called Nick. Now, let me tell you from the beginning, there was nothing extraordinary about Nick, whom like any other little boy was brave enough to climb trees and defend his sister from mischievous dogs. Like you and you and like you too… There was only one thing in this world that Nick was afraid of… and that was not monsters in his closet or dragons but getting his toenails cut. His mother had to develop a very complex ritual around cutting his toenails, even more complex than washing and brushing his sister's long hair.

But one summer, his parents were getting ready to move to another big city (for his father's career);  and Nick had to go live with his grandmother. His grandmother did not live anywhere near the city, but in a small township by the Allegheny National Forest. She had a small wooden cabin with a cozy fireplace, an eat-in kitchen and only two bedrooms –one for her and one for the grandkids. Other than that she was one of the most ordinary grandma's: like yours and yours and like your granny too… She baked cookies, played bingo and had some old, old eyeglasses. And she had no idea about "toenail cutting" rituals.  Because Nick's parents were  very busy, busy with their moving and job transfers,  so they forgot to mention it.  And Nick did not say a thing about it, of course, what big boy would admit to be afraid of having his toenails cut. And he made his sister promise she won't tell either…

After a few weeks Nick started complaining that his shoes got smaller and are hurting his feet. So his grandma' took him to the shoe store and they bought a new pair of shoes: size 8 [one size bigger]… But that solution was short term. And after a few more weeks she had to take him to the shoe store again, because he complained that his shoes were getting smaller and were hurting his feet again. This time she bought him a pair of size 9 shoes. And grandma' had to use the money she had saved to buy a new pair of glasses to pay for them. (This is what usually happens when grandchildren spend their summer with their grandmother's – the grandchildren get new shoes and the grandmothers get to keep their old glasses.)  But she was also worried. So would if your grandparents and yours and yours too, if their grandchildren's feet grew much faster than it is usual for ordinary boys and girls… this when Nick's grandma called the local pediatrician to make an appointment.

As we now, pediatricians in rural areas are only few and far in-between and they are very, very busy. Thus Nick had to wait for about a month in order to be seen by the doctor, since, as abnormal as foot overgrowth may seem it's no emergency when the child has no fever but plenty of appetite for home cooked meals and energy. Not long before the month had passed Nick started complaining about foot pain again, it seemed like his shoes were magically shrinking… Hence his grandma took him again to the small countryside department store and so it happened that they were out of shoes size 10 and up that week…They ordered more big size shoes and meantime Nick had to go home wearing some props that were used for advertizing…
On the way home, grandma and Nick stopped to visit a friend of hers' who used to work as a nurse. And he saw Nick's unusual shoes and asked grandma':

Friend: What is wrong with his feet?

Grandma: Well, since he came here his feet grew and grew until we ran out of fitting shoes. And I bought him bigger …

Friend: Let me have a look.

And when Nick took the prop shoes off, Grandma's Friend noticed the overgrown toe nails and realized that they were the cause of all that ado. So he went to his tool shack and grabbed a small axe he used for wood carving and "chomp, chomp" he cut the toenails like they were some overgrown branches. (And to be honest with you I do not believe that there were any scissors strong enough to cut those toenails, this is why an axe had to be used…)
Nick did not fear any scissors since and his grandma' agreed to keep this story a secret. Tho' his sister was not able to keep a secret and this is how I heard the story and now I am telling it to you…



In memoriam Ana B. (1949?-1992?)