Сарагийн гутал

It is June, and the school race is on Friday. Every evening Ben trains on the beach road, and Sara sits on the sea wall and watches. “I wish I were faster,” he says on Tuesday. “Everyone in my class is faster than me. I want to give up.”

“You can't give up now,” says Sara. “Four more days. I won't let you give in.” Ben looks down at his old trainers. They give off a terrible smell, and the left one is coming apart. “That shoe is going to give way before Friday,” says Sara. “I wish I had new ones,” says Ben, “but Mum can't buy them this month.”

That night Nina picks up the shoe in the kitchen. “Do you really wish you had new trainers?” she asks. “I wish I didn't need them,” says Ben. “And I wish the race wasn't on Friday.” Nina says nothing more, but she gets the glue from the drawer.

On Friday the field behind the school is full of people. Mr Owen gives out cups of water at a long table, and Nina helps him. Ben stands at the start in his old trainers. “Do you still wish you had given up?” Sara asks. “Ask me after the race,” he says.

Halfway round the field the left shoe gives way, and Ben falls onto the grass. Sara runs to him and pulls off her own trainers. “Quick — give over the old one and put these on,” she says. Ben gives it over, pushes his feet into her trainers and runs on. He finishes third, in Sara's shoes.

Mr Owen begins to give out the medals. “Third place — Ben,” he says, and hangs a small medal round his neck. “I wish I had run in my own shoes,” Ben says. He wants to give back the trainers and give away the medal. Sara takes the shoes but not the medal. “Give it to your mum,” she says. “She mended the shoe.” So now the medal hangs on a nail in Nina's kitchen, next to the glue.