"Have you seen my red sneakers?" called Tala as he frantically searched his wardrobe floor. "I can't find them."
"Are you sure they're still red?" Bryan asked. Tala had a favourite pair of sneakers that had changed colour half a dozen times. He would change the colour of the shoes to match his clothes.
"Umm... I think so," Tala called back. "I wore them with my red jean... you know... when I went to that nightclub with Kai, Spencer and Ray. About a month ago I think..." he trailed off.
"Where could they be?" he wailed. "I know I didn't throw them out.
Bryan stayed quiet. He had thought he was dong Tala a favour when he tossed them in the charity bag last week. He didn't thing Tala would be so upset. "Oh shit," he thought guiltily. "He probably wants to wear them again."
"I have to look some more tonight," said Tala. "I promise Ian I'll help him in his beyblading training again since Spencer is unavailable. Bryan, would you have a look around please?"
"I'll see what I can do," he anxiously replied. How on earth did he end up throwing those sneakers away? "Tala would yell at him and never forgive him. He was going to have to try to get them back!
After Tala left the room he shared with Bryan, Bryan opened the room door slowly to make sure nobody was around and quickly rushed to the abbey's garage. He started his motorbike's engine and rode straight down to the charity bin in the next block where he had dumped the bag. "LIFE LINE" the tatty said. Nothing else. No number and no address. Just a name. "Great!" he thought, "I'll have to go search it myself!" It was raining by the time he reached the store in town. Dripping and looking lost, he headed in. "May I help you?" a kind voice interrupted his thought. "Sneakers," he muttered. "Red sneakers." He followed the woman towards a rack of assorted sneakers, mostly worn and dirty, but they weren't there. He explained to the woman what had happened. The woman told him that they were definitely not here but that there was another store on the other side of town he could try.
It took him 45 minutes and a dozen red lights to reach the store... only to find out that they weren't there either. He was told to try the main warehouse, which was back on the other side of town.
Exasperated, wet and cold, he wearily drove back the way he had come. When he finally arrived at the warehouse, he banged loudly on the door. Finally the door opened a crack. "Sorry... this is the staff room, you'll have to go out to the back,'' a faceless voice said and shut the door. Out at the back, a young man smiled and asked if he could help him. After explaining his predicament, the young man took him through rows and rows of second-hand goods. He spotted the sneakers immediately! There they were! Thanking the young man profusely, he gave a donation for the sneakers, and then rode back to the abbey to place them in Tala's cupboard. He would tell him he had found them. It wasn't lying. He really did find them.
That evening, Bryan was sitting on the couch playing with his guitar while Tala was lying on the bed reading his book. Tala also seemed distracted and didn't ask about the sneakers. "Oh... By the way," Bryan said, as casually as he could summon. "I found you red sneakers today. They were just at the back of your wardrobe," he added.
Tala looked away from his book and turned to Bryan, "Oh! Great... Thanks Bryan. Now I can put them in that charity bag that came last week."
Bryan was dumbfounded and just let himself slumped down into the couch. "I wish I could just told him that I already put them in the charity bag," thought Bryan sarcastically toward himself.
I do not own beyblade!
Just got the idea randomly from my reading exam...