Milo's Missing Shoe

Milo could not find his shoe. He looked under his bed. He looked behind the door. He looked inside his toy box, but his shoe was not there.

"I can't find my shoe!" Milo said, stomping his one bare foot. His mom came into the room. "Did you look everywhere by yourself?" she asked. Milo nodded, feeling grumpy. "Let's look together," said his mom.

They checked the kitchen. They checked the hallway. Then Milo's little dog, Biscuit, trotted out from behind the couch — wearing Milo's shoe like a strange little hat on his back!

Milo laughed so hard he almost forgot he was grumpy at all. "Biscuit, that's not a hat, that's my shoe!" He gently took it back and gave Biscuit a pat on the head.

With both shoes on, Milo grabbed his backpack and smiled at his mom. "Thanks for helping me look," he said. "That's what families do," his mom said, smiling back.

Milo skipped out the door, ready for school, one funny dog-shoe story to tell his friends.

At school, Milo told everyone in his class about Biscuit and the shoe-hat. His friends laughed so hard that his teacher had to ask what was so funny, and soon the whole class was giggling too. Milo felt proud that his grumpy morning had turned into the best story of the day.

That night, when Milo lined his shoes up neatly by the door before bed, Biscuit sniffed them curiously but did not try them on again. "Good dog," Milo whispered, giving him one more pat before heading up to bed himself.

As Milo climbed into bed, he thought about how a missing shoe had turned into a pretty funny day after all. "Goodnight, Biscuit," he called down the stairs, and somewhere below, a happy little bark answered back.

The next morning, Milo lined up all his shoes extra neatly before breakfast, just to be safe, and even set out a special shoe for Biscuit — a soft old slipper that was too big for anyone else to wear. Biscuit sniffed the slipper, wagged his tail, and carried it proudly to his bed instead of anyone else's shoes, which made Milo laugh all over again.