SG's stolen shoes

I took the kids to the pool for the first time this afternoon. We had a good time splashing and playing. JP, feeling empowered by the presence of a new life jacket, bravely "swam" where he couldn't touch. SG is still my water baby. She has no fear which, of course, scares the daylights out of me. All was good until we went to leave: SG's beloved shoes were gone.

SG loves shoes. The child could happily shoe shop (men's, women's, kids'- doesn't matter) all day. The shoes that were stolen were a darling pair of Carole Little Kids flip flops that I picked up at Marshall's a few months ago. They were pink with pink sequins and pink iridescent beads in the shapes of shells and fish over the top. SG calls them her fish shoes and she wears them every single day. She's even been known to insist on wearing the shoes to bed.

Of course I informed the manager (after looking and re-looking through our things and then asking the woman next to me if she would mind if I looked under her towels), left my name, tried to impress upon them how important these shoes are and carted a confused SG to the parking lot. "Where my feesh shoes, Mama?" She kept asking. "I need my feesh shoes." When we got home she searched all over for her shoes before bursting into tears, completely dismayed that her shoes were nowhere to be found.

Try as I might, I just don't understand why the hell someone stole a two-year olds shoes! I have tried to put myself in the position of not being able to afford shoes for my kid and still, I don't think I could steal from a child. My mother thinks this was some horrible child's idea of a joke. I keep hoping that maybe a little person (like SG) took the shoes and that their parent will turn them into the lost and found.

In the meantime, I'm trying to replace the shoes. SG and I went to three different stores this evening and came back empty handed (with the exception of a couple inexpensive pairs of flip flops from Old Navy which both JP and SG will wear to the pool from now on). I've looked online and found these shoes over at Zappos. They'd work, I think, but replacing a pair of $12 shoes with a pair of $80 shoes is a bitter pill to swallow. Worse still are the tantrum and tears that will come tomorrow when SG goes to get her shoes and remembers that they're gone.