Page 22 - Book one - Flipbook
P. 22

6


                                   Tennis Shoe Experiment


               JAXON GETS HIS jeans and a blue t-shirt from the dresser and looks around for his tennis shoes.
                   “I know I put my tennis shoes under my bed. Okay, what did you do with my tennis shoes?”

               he asks crossing his arms. He’s expecting someone this time.









































                   “Maybe there wouldn’t be any tennis shoes if it wasn’t for me,” states a young, good-looking
               man with wavy hair who materializes at the end of his bed.
                   “Folks wouldn’t have been able to make a lot of shoes at the same time, if it wasn’t for the
               machine I invented—the shoe lasting machine, that’s what I called it. Made it possible to put
               the top of the shoe and the sole together quicker,” he informs Jaxon.
                   “Who knows, making shoes by hand might’ve lasted forever, if it wasn’t for me. My name is

               Jan Matzeliger.”
                   “M-m-Matzeliger?” Jaxon stops and takes a breath. “That’s a funny name for a Black person.
               Where did you get that name?”
                   “From my father. He was Dutch and German, and my mother was from Africa,” he explains.
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