My Other Shoe

On Saturday morning, I got my left shoe fixed. On Saturday afternoon, my right one broke. This is quite a story…

With my almost-new left shoe back on my foot and a smile on my face, I had gone to Ernakulam to do a bit of shopping. When I reached my destination, I got down from the bus and started walking toward the shops. After only a few steps, I felt one of the straps on my right shoe become loose. What a bummer! If it had happened only a short while sooner, I would have been able to get both shoes fixed together. But life isn't like that. And anyway, it was not a big deal. I could still walk in the shoe with no trouble at all, so I simply kept going.

I ended up walking quite a long way that day, and, in time, a second strap on my right shoe broke. This still was not a huge deal. The back strap and the two front straps were all still intact, so, although the shoe was flopping around a bit, I was still able to walk in it. So on I went. But with the added stress on the functioning straps, it did not take long for them to break as well. Soon enough, only one strap on one side of the shoe was in its place, and there was no way I could continue walking in it.

Not knowing what else I could do, I simply took the shoe off. I figured I’d be heading back to Aluva soon anyway, where I could find my trusty shoe repairman and go on with my life with a shoe on each foot. Before heading to my bus stop, though, I entered one last store to browse around. The clerk noticed my new one-shoe trend, and we had a laugh over my misfortune. At this point, despite the circumstances, I was still in pretty high spirits.

But as I was about to leave that store, it began to rain. I took out my umbrella, which, thankfully, has yet to break, and began my walk to the bus stop. I had a few blocks to go, and it was a trying few blocks. There I was, walking in the rain, through muddy puddles on a dirty, broken-up sidewalk, down the busiest street in Kerala’s biggest city, one shoe on my left foot and the other in my right hand. My right foot was throbbing, and my pants were drenched. Before those few blocks to the bus stop were up, so was my spirit.

I finally got there, and I was able to put my right shoe on the ground to give my foot a break from the hard cement while I waited for my bus. As the bus approached, I took the shoe back in my hand and climbed on up. There were no seats, so I stood there, dripping wet, with my one bare foot pressed hard against the cold floor, and I wanted to disappear. At that moment, I would have loved to console myself by saying that no one was looking at me and that no one would notice. But people here are always looking at me, and they always notice everything. I felt their eyes on me as I always do, and I watched out of the corner of my own eye as the people closest to me stared at my one bare foot. Perhaps I should have taken the other one off too, as that would have created less of a spectacle. But in my dejected state, I was more concerned about protecting my left foot than protecting my dignity. So I just stood there, one shoe on and one shoe off, letting people stare at me in wonder (although they really do that anyway, so I don’t know why I cared so much).

I finally got to sit down, where I could hide my poor, throbbing, bare right foot under a seat. But soon enough I had to get up again and brave the streets of Aluva, which had, by that time, been deserted by the trusty shoe repairman for the night. I had no choice but to go on home with my bare foot and my broken shoe. I was wet, I was tired, and I was miserable. I was also really, really hungry, but my foot was begging me for a rest from the random sharp pebbles and questioning eyes; so I took my bare foot and my broken shoe home and put them to bed without supper.

I fell asleep right away, and on Sunday morning, with my right foot and the rest of my body warm, rested, and mostly recovered from the events of the previous day, it all seemed rather funny. And on Monday morning, I found my trusty shoe repairman and got the right shoe fixed. So now I have two almost-new shoes and a few memories to go with them.