ONE SHOE

*originally posted on FB on 4/6/10*

For the past couple days, one unaccompanied woman's size 9 shoe has been sitting on a mat by the back door, and periodically Mary - the elderly lady with whom I now live - has picked up the shoe to fuss about where it could have come from.

I suggested she keep it by the door in the event the owner might find it upon a return visit (we receive regular visits from various family members at the house), though neither of us could imagine how someone could walk out and not notice one shoe missing.

Last night, upon one more asking of "Who could this belong to? I can't imagine someone leaving just one shoe!," I teased her by saying "Well, Mary, it belongs to my invisible friend, Marge!" When Mary scoffed, I feigned insult and said, "Now don't make fun...Just cuz she only has one leg!!"

Mary paused for a moment like she couldn't quite tell if I was kidding, then burst out laughing and promptly chased me around the kitchen till she could swat my bottom with that self-same, lonely shoe!

...The act of which caused her to discover there was some tissue stuffed into the toe, and realizing that would make a size 9 more like an 8 1/2 (her size), she went to rummage in her closet where she (finally) found the other 1/2 of the pair and exclaimed that by golly it WAS her shoe after all!



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