This took place back in the late 1970s, in those days I had a workshop I used at the evenings and weekends, on this particular day I took a short cut through a housing estate and I found a single black mule laying on the side of the road, so I stopped and picked it up and I looked around hoping I might see the owner wearing the other one, but there was nobody in sight. I put the mule in the car and carried on to my workshop, I had a car to finish fitting up ready for collection the following morning.
After about three hours I had finished and was about to leave, but before I did I noticed I had four empty pop bottles and in those days the glass bottles had a deposit on them and four empties meant a free bottle of pop. I put the bottles in the car and locked up, on the way back into town I was wondering about the single mule I had found and was thinking of different ways she could have lost it.
I didn’t know at the time but I was about to find out, I stopped at the corner shop and took the empty bottles in and exchanged them for a full one, I was on my way out of the shop and as I came out the door a young woman in her late 30s with long blonde hair and a white blouse with black trousers came past and I heard her say to the teenage girl that was with her “ok so where is it, surly it must be here somewhere” I looked down to see what she had on her feet and she only had one mule.
It suddenly dawned on me that she was talking about her lost mule and I had it, but she didn’t know that. I watched as they went up the street and cross the road at the top, then walk back down on the other side of the street. So I got back in my car and watched her limp past me, then they stopped on the corner and she just stood there with her bare foot on tiptoes. I could hear her said “I couldn’t see it anywhere and I don’t want to go home wearing only one mule, people will think I’m mad or something”.
All I could think was this is great she looks so sexy in just one mule and she did have some really cute feet, I only wished I had a camera with me because I could have used up a couple of films on her, she was there for a good ten minutes, finally she started to walk up the road and then stopped and said something to the girl and then she slipped off her shoe and the woman took it and put it in her hand bag. They both limped up the street both wearing one shoe each, I watched them disappear round the corner and then I followed them in the car and passed them heading for the train station.
THE END
Story by Nigel Cadman.