Leslie had five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. For each hand she had an arm, and for each foot she had a leg. She was a very lucky girl. And she had two lovely, long brown pigtails that reached all the way down to her waist.

When Mrs. Jewls asked a question, Leslie could raise one of her hands.

When Leslie was adding, she could count on her fingers.

When Paul pulled one of her pigtails, she could kick him with one foot while standing on the other.
71But Leslie had one problem. She didn\'t know what to do with her toes. She had ten adorable little toes and nothing to do with them. As far as she could tell, they served no useful purpose.
"Suck your toes. That\'s what I do," said Sharie.

But Leslie\'s foot wouldn\'t reach her mouth.

"Well, that\'s all toes are good for," said Sharie. She put her foot in her mouth and went to sleep.

"No," thought Leslie. "They must be good for something. They just have to be."

During recess, she asked Dana. "Dana, what do you do with your toes?"

"I scratch the back of my legs," said Dana. "First I scratch my left leg with my right foot. Then I scratch my right leg with my left foot."

"But my legs don\'t itch," said Leslie.

"That\'s good," said Dana. "In that case you can scratch my legs. With your help I can scratch both legs at the same time."

"No, never mind," said Leslie. She walked up behind Louis, the yard teacher, and hopped on his shoulders.

"Louis," said Leslie. "I don\'t know what to do with my toes."

Louis tugged her foot. "Yes, that is a serious problem," he said, "but I\'ll tell you what I\'ll do. I\'ll take them off your hands for you, or rather, your feet. Just cut them off and give them to me."

"What?" asked Leslie.

"You don\'t want them, so I\'ll take them," said Louis. "You won\'t have to worry about them ever again."
72"No," said Leslie.
"I\'ll give them to Miss Mush," said Louis. "She can make little hot dogs out of them." Miss Mush was the lunch teacher.

"No, I\'m not going to give my toes away," said Leslie.

"All right," said Louis. "I\'ll give you a nickel apiece for them."

"No, you can\'t have them," said Leslie.

"Why not?" Louis asked. "They\'re no good to you, anyhow. And think of all you can buy for fifty cents."

The bell rang.

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