The Lone Shoe

Does the Cinderella story really exist? That was my question today as I walked upon a lonely shoe lying in front of my building. It sat there, looking quite distressed, and I pondered how it managed to get there in the first place. I quickly ruled out the idea that, in the words I heard so often from my mother growing up, it "sprouted legs and walked there". Though it would be quite a story, I also doubt that an angel was flying quickly to the aid of another one of God's many children and dropped his stylish slip on. So what did happen to that shoe? It's a puzzling thing to me when there is something as important as a shoe left sitting alone by the side of the road. Does that mean that the other shoe is on someone's foot, brandishing them a limper for the rest of the day? This particular shoe looks as though it was adorning someone's foot this very day because the back of the shoe was flattened down onto the sole as though the person decided to make it into a make-shift slip on for ease. I'm guessing, like our dear fairytale friend Cinderelly, the person, in a rush to get to exam review, was walking at a brisk pace, and in the rush of the moment, walked right out of their shoe and couldn't spare a moment to walk back and retrieve it. They may have done so in hopes of finding a kindly prince who would size up their foot and return it with a kiss. This is the story that I choose to believe. The alternative of course is that the person is lazy or moronic and either didn't care enough to walk back to the shoe where they left it or is so out of touch with their own body that they didn't even realize they were walking around with a naked foot. These are also the kind of people, girls particularly, who sit in a chair with half their back exposed and never even know that they are making the entire world privy to their backside, something we don't necessarily desire the privilege of seeing. The only other explanation I can find is that someone was carrying a full bag of items, including a pair of shoes, and one slips out unbeknown to the carrier. Whatever solution we might find to this little mystery, I have to say that it must not have been a terrible loss. As far as I know, the person who lost it has no desire to find it again.

Peace