Special Shoes

Once upon a time there was a little flea who grew up in a jam jar. Flea did what fleas do-jump. Flea learned to jump but was told only jump as high as the lid of the jar. One day the lid was taken off and Flea still only jumped as high as lid but could see the sky and space and moon and stars-freedom. Flea wanted to jump further everyone said, 'No, this can't be done.' They said 'You shouldn't' or 'you mustn't.' They even said 'You won't' They said 'For goodness sake, we're fleas; this is what we do. You can't do anything different.' Little Flea thought it might need special shoes.
Little Flea persisted and managed to jump out of the jam jar; not to sky but onto a mouse. Little Flea thought it was great at first, being small the mouse could get into many holes but unfortunately also got into trouble. Humans didn't seem to like Mouse, Flea could hear them talking about killing Mouse. Also Flea was getting bored with cheese and crumbs and packet pickings. Mouse always seemed to be hiding from something and tried not to let humans catch sight of it. One day Mouse got caught in a trap set by humans, in the trap was chocolate. Mouse loved chocolate and Flea thought it would be good too but.....snap went the trap.
Little Flea was homeless till it discovered the cat that had been brought in by humans to catch mouse. Flea thought it was great at first, in and out of the cat flap! Flea thought 'Aha, this is freedom!'. Out at night prowling and singing but always the same old routine; sometimes fighting, most times sleeping. Sometimes humans put their hands on Cat or kicked Cat. Flea thought it was wrong and it should defend Cat so it bit the humans even though they were much bigger than Flea. Cat got older, more battered, humans put flea collar on it. Flea became unwell and the smell of collar bothered it. Flea worried it was going to die before it could find freedom.
The humans also had a dog. Flea jumped from the cat to the dog to escape flea collar. Much better, still not freedom, sky and space, jumping to the moon and stars but it had more potential than cat. Dog got taken for walks on a lead, sometimes it was let off the lead and dog ran and ran, through cornfields, through woods, through water; Flea dug deeper into Dog's fur and hung on for its life. Part of Flea felt exhilarated, holding on to dog running and running, but most of it was frightened. What if it fell off, what if it fell over, what if it drowned. Although Flea saw many new sights there was always fear of danger.
Then one day quite by chance, the humans called the dog and the dog made a noise. Dog had been waiting to go out, sitting by the door, nose on paws. Dog barked.
Flea hadn't known dog could talk, all sorts of possibilities opened up to Flea. Flea would ask Dog how to jump to freedom; the sky and space and moon and stars. The humans put a collar and lead on Dog. The humans threw a stick for Dog to chase and bring back, humans think this is very funny and dogs just put up with it. That's what they've been trained to do, rather like fleas not jumping higher than the lid of the jam jar without special shoes. Dog waits panting for humans to throw stick again and again, Dog chases it and brings it back. Flea asks Dog why he's doing it. Doesn't Dog get fed up with being taken advantage of, being told what to do all the time?. Dog says that many, many eons ago dogs ran wild. They knew freedom; sky and space and moon and stars. But somehow humans took away their instinct and used dogs for their own purposes; to fetch and retrieve and do as they're told to make people feel good. Now it's all they know. Dog seems resigned.
Flea feels sorry for Dog. Flea decides to go on journey to discover wild dogs. Flea says goodbye to dog but says it will be back with a new life for dog. It will do all it can to find the wild dogs who know the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars. It will find the dogs wild friends.
Flea sets off. The journey is long and hazardous, Flea nearly dies several times from nasty insecticide spray, mistaken jumps. It gets very badly injured, misses signposts on the road, falls down potholes. Flea travels far, far away. At one time it got a ride on a hedgehog, but didn't get far. Hedgehog likes to spend most of its time shuffling in the dark, and when it hears a human or other form of danger it turns in on itself, withdraws into a prickly ball. Flea not comfortable with this and eventually jumps on a mole. Mole spends most of its time underground digging a tunnel but never getting anywhere. Fleas bristly air sensors couldn't feel any air and knew this was the wrong direction. So Flea set off again and landed on a fox and thought it had found the wild dog. Flea thought it was home and dry because fox looked like a dog but with red shoes. Flea thought if only I had red shoes like fox I could jump and run as fast and maybe reach the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars. But fox ran so fast and jumped so much in his red shoes that fox jumped into trouble several times, he got caught in traps but managed to escape by biting himself free. Then his feet bled which made him limp and he wasn't fast enough to get out of trouble and even though fox had been hunted by humans before this time he was caught.
Flea saw a red squirrel high in the trees silhouetted against the sky and the red colour made him think of the fox and he thought this one has jumped to the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars. But although the squirrel had red shoes and could run helter skelter up and down trees, the nearest Flea got to the sky on the red squirrel was to the tops of the trees
Eventually, Flea landed on a bird who was resting. Bird jumped up into the sky and Flea thought this is it. This is it. Perhaps I don't need special shoes, I need wings like bird to jump to the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars.
Flea had to cling on even harder than on Dog, for the bird was flying through the air at an alarming rate. Flea thought; what if? what if? but then it saw below the world spread out. Flea saw many different landscapes, some looked more appealing to Flea than others, sometimes the bird landed for a rest and for food and water but Flea could sense by the hairs on his back that the birds journey wasn't over.
The wind howled, the days were dark and frightening, the journey seemed to go on for ever. Flea didn't like the freezing weather of the North, it was cold out there and scary. It became even more scary because in this inhospitable landscape Bird got trapped in the ice. Some humans threw sticks at the bird trying to hurt it because it was captive in the ice. But inadvertently the ice was damaged by the sticks and the bird thrashed about and with a sound like breaking glass broke free of the ice and soared up again.
Far up in the North, summer came after the ice and soon the bird landed in the most beautiful green forests; birds singing, trickling water, warm sunshine. Flea almost forgot what it had come for and was content to rest with the bird and enjoy the rich pickings on offer. Until one day, Flea heard a voice. A voice that made its bristly hairs stand on end.
Flea jumped off bird and set off in the direction of the sound. After more long journeying, for sound gets distorted in some conditions and although the voices seemed to keep moving, Flea found the sound of the wild dogs. Wolves.
Wolves that live in strong family groups and look after each other. Wolves that teach their young to play, to develop their souls and creative spirits and intuition, yet be instinctively watchful. Wolves that treasured and kept their young safe until they were ready to go out into the world and live. To run and to jump. Jump like the wind freely around the sky and space and moon and stars. Flea wanted to jump on the Wolf's back and jump to the sky and space and moon and stars but the wolf sensed Fleas yearning and spoke.
The Wolf knew how far Flea had travelled; knew the dangers it had faced in its path, knew the fear Flea had known. The Wolf knew about the Mouse that liked chocolate, the Cat who wore the flea collar and Dog who went for walks on a lead. Wolf knew about the Hedgehog in the dark and the Mole that dug deep in tunnels and the Fox with the red feet, the squirrel in the treetops and the bird that got stuck in the ice.
The Wolf knew what Flea wanted and said 'Flea you have journeyed far; travelled all this way, you have been guided by your senses and have not let what you know hinder you. You have aimed for the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars because you were not content to lay by the fire with the dog, even though you care for Dog enough to make this journey and will return to tell Dog of your travels and what you have discovered about the sky and space and moon and stars. You now know we all have our own choices to make, you knew that your instincts were telling you to search for the love and encouragement that weren't in the jam jar and to seek the freedom you aimed for outside the jam jar. Your intuition told you that you don't need special shoes to reach your instincts. Your own wings are your vision, imagination and determination which helped you jump higher and travel further than you ever thought possible.'
Flea had a strange feeling, it didn't recognise it at first and was a bit frightened, a force so strong it almost hurt, surged in to its heart and soul and spirit; joy. Flea realised it had no need to jump onto the wise Wolf's back to travel to the freedom of the sky and space and moon and stars. Flea could jump anywhere it wanted, at any time.