The Shoe Tree

Just off Highway 72, approximately halfway between Memphis and Huntsville, and precisely between mile marker 5 and 6, lives the fabled shoe tree. Once thought to be extinct, scientists are baffled by its sudden re-appearance in Northern Mississippi. "According to botanical recoreds, product-specific trees all withered in the plague of mass disillusionment of the late 1920's." says horticultural expert Dr. Smarty-plants. "Now we can hope that other species, such as the money-tree, book-tree, non-battery-operated-toy-tree, and comfy-bra-tree may still be in existence somewhere." Local residents of the town Iuka, self-appellated Iukeans, have their own theories. "It's just a buncha teenagers tossin' old shoes up in tha' tree. No good." Says the town skeptic. Others are more believing. "Every spring me and my family walk down to the shoe tree and pick us a couple new shoes for the year. We alway leave our old shoes by the roots for the shoe elves to mend." Elves or teens aside, there is no denying that this has been a good year for the shoe tree. There are matching sets and even a few buds of baby shoes dangling in the lower branches, a sure sign of a thriving legend.