Othello: Stubbed Toe

I loved to go barefooted.  And by going barefoot my feet were pretty tough.  One time I remember my brother Weldon being barefoot and struggling to walk I across some gravel.  I showed him how it was done by running across.  My mom had a hard time getting shoes on me.  I sure I would have gone to church barefooted if I could get away with it.
Even though I could run across gravel, I learned that freshly cut alfalfa was much worse.  My father took us with him to haul hay.  He suggested shoes but I declined.  I had walked on alfalfa before, of course when is was full and bushy.  This freshly cut stuff was a  different story.  It was like walking on pokey sticks.  I was at a lost, and I struggled to get to the edge of the field. 
The other drawback to running on rocks was the occasional stubbed toe.

This is not my toe, but shows a stubbed toe

I had my share, and they usually required my father to trim the nail with scissors, and then apply hydrogen peroxide. I thought that bubbly stuff would be the end of me.  I would blow on it, trying to over come the stinging.