Chapter 22, Shoe Store Earrings
Tra la! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
That lovely month when ev'ryone goes
Blissfully astray.
In my Camelot a stranger entered.
It was the beginning of May, 1975, 5
months after hubby’s inebriated New Year’s Eve innuendo, 2 months after his fixing
to pursue it and a month after the swinger’s party deflation. It was on a
Saturday afternoon. The Valley’s Sycamore trees were adorned with new velvety
green leaves, its hills carpeted in spring’s green grass, the air fresh and
clean. In a men's shoe store at the Stanford Mall, we met.
Holding shoes I selected for hubby,
I felt his presence behind me. Turning, I saw him. He was admiring me with a
welcome gaze, not a leer. His eyes and warm smile appealing, suggesting kindred
recognition, the kind which and draws one closer.
I looked down then back up. He was still smiling. I smiled a returning invitation then blushed. He approached and asked.
"What do you think about this
shoe? Does it go with me?"
Setting down the shoes I held, I observed him top to bottom. He wore expensive casual attire. His tan polished cotton slacks creased and bent perfectly at the cuffs as they met his shoes. His linen cloth, light blue blazer matched the summer weather. Over six feet tall, clean shaven, deep water blue eyed, he had a square jaw. His smile was good natured, unthreatening with perfect teeth. Not handsome but pleasant looking, he appeared to be in in mid-twenties, of professional demeanor with hair combed straight back but you could tell he would eventually be bald.
I turned back to the displays, walked about as if disinterested and selected a tan colored oxford with darken trim instead of the one he asked my opinion about.
"Try this. See if it goes with
your pants".
He sat in a chair, gave the shoe I selected to a salesman who scurried to get a pair his 9-D size. I looked openly at him but said nothing while my new acquaintance removed his shoes. The salesman returned, slid the ones I selected on with his shoe horn and tied the laces. My new friend stood up and pranced around the showroom exclaiming.
"I like them! I would never
have selected them. They go with my slacks."
