Time-traveling shoes offer a twelve-year-old girl a world of adventures, but her first mishap-ridden journey warns her to seek some experienced advice before her next trip.
Twelve-year-old Aiyana Mitchell has her Bubblegum Taffy Hot Pink High Heels on. She loves to sit on the back porch in the suburbs of Philadelphia. With her time-traveling shoes, she can travel to the future and the past. The shoes are a special, secret gift from her Aunt Olivia, who used them to travel so many places it seems she is on a constant vacation. But Aiyana’s mom always says: "It’s better to stay in the present—forget about the past and wait for the future."
Despite her mother’s warning, Aiyana wants the adventure and mystery of the time-traveling shoes. She hides them under her bed and her mom never notices them. Now that she’s ready to use them, she thinks about traveling to the early 1900’s to a lake with a boat and a fancy parasol and swans. When she closes her eyes, she appears with a lace dress on, sitting in a boat on a lake. Aiyana grabs the side of the boat with her left hand. The parasol slips from her right hand.
Then the boat capsizes, and she falls into the lake. In all the commotion, Aiyana’s time-traveling shoes slip off and sink to the bottom. Fearing she’ll be stuck in the 1900’s forever, she pulls herself back up the side of the boat and cries: “Someone help me get my shoes back!” A proper gentleman in a full-body swimming suit, dives in her direction. Insisting she’s from the future she says she’d appreciate it so much if he would dive in and find her shoes, so she could return to 2018.
He makes a couple of dives then finally a hand arises with the Bubblegum Taffy Hot Pink High Heels and hands them to Aiyana. She pours out the sand and puts the shoes back on. Aiyana returns to the present on the back porch with her mother calling. As Aiyana walks into the kitchen, she creates a trail of footprints and a puddle of lake water. As her mom cleans up the mess, Aiyana runs upstairs before her mom can see her Bubblegum Taffy Hot Pink High Heels. Before she goes time-traveling again, she’ll ask her aunt for advice. It has to go better next time; she thinks to herself.