This just happened Sunday night, March 13, 2005, Unlucky 13 for my wife perhaps. Anyway, we had opted to go out and get some ice cream after she got off work and the nearest public parking lot is about a 1/2 mile from the shop in downtown Winter Park, Florida.
Anyway, I am also a rail fan, what you folks over in the U.K. call a rail spotter and so we drove to Winter Park for the treat of the early evening. It was about 7:45pm or so when we finally got to the public parking area without incident, my wife was wearing backless heels, about 1-1/2" in height, nylons, a black skirt and white blouse with lions on it.
We got out of the car and had to cross over a grass median, the train depot parking lot and 2 sets of railroad tracks. As we approached the depot, a horn sounded in the distance and we were halted for about 6-7 minutes to allow a North Bound Freight train to pass, no problem. Train passed and we make our way to the ice cream shop and order our delectable for the walk back and sit at the depot to watch some more trains pass by. I had a scanning radio and could hear when a train would be approaching within a few miles of where we were.
The scanner started chattering and so I asked my wife if she could bring my shake back with her as I wanted to get back to the tracks and get the train loco numbers and what type train it may be as well as the time of the trains passing through Winter Park.
Well I got back to the depot and was waiting for the next train to roll by, which came soon after I got there. It had my wife stopped on the other side, which is also a very nice public park that is open 24 hours a day/7days a week. It also has a nice Rose Garden we like to frequent as well as a couple of soothing water fountains in two other areas of the park.
Anyway, the train has passed and here comes my wife limping along with only her right 1-1/2: heel slide on and no left shoe, she had a drink in each hand, so she wasn't carrying it, nor did she have a purse or anything else to put it in. When she finally handed me my milkshake, she said, "Well I SUPPOSED you noticed I'm missing one shoe?" I looked at her and said in a chuckling tone, "Naw, of course not... Why would I have noticed that?"
She looked at me and said, "C'mon, you know you're loving every minute of this. "Okay, Okay, so where did you hide your shoe?" I asked her. "I didn't, I really lost it!", she said with a slight perturbance in her voice. "Okay, how did you lose it and where? Can we retrieve it?" I asked.
She said, "Nope, not this time, afraid my left shoe is gone for the rest of the evening! "Why?" I asked her. She said, " You know that drainage opening next to the road just before the railroad tracks?"
"yea, what about it?" I asked. "Well that's where my left shoe went and it's full of water draining to the lake. I watched my shoe just float into a pipe and disappear, the rushing water was too quick for me to even retrieve my shoe. By the time I saw it, it floated off into the pipe and went bye-bye forever."
"So what now?, You know we've got tickets to a movie and no time to go home or go somewhere to buy you another pair of shoes to wear." I said. "Well it looks like I'm going to have a night out in a single shoe at the theatre then doesn't it?" She said. The tickets were already purchased for the 9:30pm show and so we sat at the depot and finished our dairy treats and then headed off to the theatre about 15-20 minutes away.
We got to the theatre and the manager on duty did not want to let my wife in without her missing left shoe. So she said, well you can either allow me in wearing a single shoe or refund our money for the tickets.
She didn't want to refund the money and allowed my wife in wearing just her right shoe with the stipulation that she not take her shoe off while in the theatre. My wife agreed, and so off we went to watch the movie. The movie we saw was "Are We There Yet" and was pretty funny at that. But I must admit, it was hard trying to watch the movie with my wife sitting there with her nyloned foot swinging around in the air.
After the movie she wanted to stop and get something to eat, forgetting all about her being minus a left shoe. I said don't you want to go home first and.... her cutting me off short - No! I don't need to go home and get another pair of shoes, the one I have on is fine and it'll do, let's just go to Steak 'n' Shake and get some dinner.
"You're sure you don't......" - cut off again with a stern "NO! I'm enjoying myself and I'm not going to let a stupid missing shoe keep me from having a nice night out! So forget about my lost shoe and just go get some dinner. Okay, you da boss lady! So off we went to steak and shake, the waitress gave her a little bit of a stare at first, but then said, break a heel off honbey?
No, unfortunately for me I lost it in a gutter drain and no way to retrieve it, so I opted to just make the best of it and have a nice night out even if it meant going everywhere wearing just my right shoe. And you know something, I haven't missed that stupid shoe since I lost it either. I've had quite a nice evening out and one of the most comfortable. I may just go out like this more often, that is wearing just a single shoe. I've found it a lot of fun and instead of feeling stupid or something, I've rather enjoyed watching and overhearing the comments about why I am only wearing a single shoe.
So we ordered dinner, gave the waitress a nice tip and headed for home for the evening.
Syndely Whiplash
