Katie was a junior at North Carolina State University in 1981. She and some of her sorority friends went shopping one September evening after class for some new fall fashions. After buying a plaid skirt, a wool sweater and a new bead for her add-a-bead necklace, Katie and her friends moved over into the shoe department. One of her friends bought a new pair of Bass Weejuns and another bought a pair of Etienne Aigner flats. But something different caught Katie's eye.
"Hey Marilyn, look at these."
"Yeah, they're clogs, so what?"
"Aren't they cute? I've never owned any, but I think I'll try them on.
Soon, Katie had slipped out of her worn-out loafers and slipped her blue sock-clad feet into the dark blue suede clogs with a 1 1/2 inch rugged heel.
"These will look great with my long plaid skirt!" Katie exclaimed as she walked around the shoe department trying them out before finally purchasing them.
Katie loved the flexibility that her clogs lent. They were fashionable in the classroom, at her sorority chapter meetings and also to church - especially on cool mornings. About the only negative she noticed about them was when she was sitting down with her legs crossed. The clog on the somewhat relatively heavy sole easily slide down her sock-clad foot. It became a game of sorts to let one clog slide down almost falling off, then pull it back into place at the last moment. Occasionally, however, she was unable to stop the falling shoe before it came off and landed with a thud. But this slight inconvenience was well worth the fun they also provided while wearing them.
Next Spring, Katie and some of her hometown friends from back in Boone decided to take a day trip into nearby Gatlinburg, Tennessee to walk around the quaint little village nestled on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There was plenty to see and do and lots of little shops to explore.
Katie's friends and acquaintances on their trip were fellow class of '79 graduates Pamela, Susan, and Valerie who all happened to attend Appalachian State University in their hometown of Boone. Katie had grown up with Pamela and Susan since elementary school and they had been close friends ever since. Valerie had only moved to the area mid-way into high school and she was also a friend but she also happened to be a prankster and just a little bit jealous of Katie, who had beaten her out on a couple of occasions for boyfriends and other competitive endeavors while in high school. Katie was still glad that Valerie had come on their trip. She had hoped that being away at college for two years had changed her perspective as well as Valerie's and that their differences were a thing of the past.
However, Valerie was still jealous of Katie - this time for being able to go off to college away from home. Valerie had become better friends with Pamela and Susan by going to college together, hence the reason for her being a part of their trip.
Susan drove and Pamela sat in the front seat, leaving Valerie and Katie in the back. Valerie noticed Katie's pretty blue clogs and thought they were very nice. So much so, that she was envious.
Pretending to be nice, Valerie commented, "Oh, Katie those are really cute clogs. Are they suede?"
"Why thank you Valerie. Yes, they are suede. They were more comfortable than leather and good for walking across our large campus."
"Maybe I ought to try a pair sometime." Valerie wanted to say more. She wanted to ask if she bought them to be part of the cool crowd back in her sorority at NC State. She wondered if Katie wore them just to show off her big city fashion sense. Raleigh, where the university was located, was indeed the state capitol of North Carolina and the center of culture. Boone, tucked away on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains was quite remote and not as in tune with the culture of the 1980's.
The foursome parked downtown and began to walk around and window shop. After eating a nice lunch together, they went shopping more in earnest. They found a few things to buy and took them to the car so they would not have to walk around any more carrying their bags.
Susan then suggested, "Hey, let's take the Sky Lift up to the mountain."
Everyone looked off to the west to see the lift taking people up to the mountain. It looked like fun and a good way to catch a good view of the town. They agreed to do it and soon they were in line getting their tickets. As they made their way to the front of the line, the employee grabbed the next lift and Pamela and Susan jumped on and took off. Moments later, that left Katie to ride with Valerie. They were seated quickly and the operator pulled down the chest bar. As they began to rise off the ground, Katie looked down to place her feet on the foot rest. She quickly realized there was none! None of the chairs had one!
Katie became very nervous about her situation. If she had realized there was no foot rest she might have taken her clogs off and held them. Now it was too late to do anything about it except cross her feet at the ankle and hope she could hold on. The chair continued its trek toward the base of the mountain and Katie struggled to keep her feet flexed upward to hang onto her clogs. Suddenly the ride stopped - They could not see but an older couple was boarding and the operator had stopped the ride. Their chair swung forward then backwards and on the back swing, her right clog slipped about half way off. Katie gasped and Valerie happened to look down and discovered the problem. Katie tried desperately to keep her clog still on her foot - any movement was sure to send her clog down to the ground below. Then the ride stopped again and the swinging repeated and now her clog was down to the end of her toes.
Valerie decided to take advantage of the opportunity and get some revenge. She pretended to show something to Katie and turned a bit in her seat to point out something and in doing so, she ever so gently bumped into Katie's leg and her toes lost its grip on her clog sending it falling fast toward the ground.
"Oh no! My shoe!" Katie shrieked as she strained to look down and watch her clog land on the steep inaccessible mountainside below. Susan and Pamela looked back at their friends to see what was going on. They could see that Katie was only wearing one shoe.
"I'm so sorry, Katie. My bumping you may have caused your shoe to fall off."
Katie, trying to show her attitude toward Valerie had changed, was not passing blame, "No, it was about to fall off anyway. I wish I had known there was no foot rest, I might have taken them off and tried to hold them."
Minutes later, the ride circled around at the top of the mountain and returned to the starting point. Pamela and Susan waited on Katie and Valerie to get off. They discussed what to do about her missing clog. Katie immediately showed and told the operator what happened and asked what to do. His reply was not promising.
"Well, we do have a form to fill out for lost items. We mow the grass under the sky lift in season and sometimes we find stuff. Don't expect anything soon. You will be very lucky if we find your shoe. I'm sorry my news is not better."
Katie quickly filled out the form and afterwards the foursome walked out to the main street to decide what to do next.
Susan asked, "Do you want to find a shop and buy a new pair?"
"I really don't want to do that. Everything is so expensive here and we aren't going to be here but a couple more hours or so."
Valerie suggested, "Let's go through the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. I hear it's a lot of fun.
Everyone agreed and with Katie limping along a little lopsided and getting a few stares, they made their way to the museum and began the tour of this most unusual place. As expected a few others looked down and took notice that Katie was wearing one clog. One guy actually commented, "So what happened to your other shoe?"
"Believe it or not, I was riding on the Sky Lift and one fell off somewhere and landed on the side of the mountain."
Based on her reply, for a moment, the guy wondered briefly if she was part of the museum, but quickly he realized she was just a college girl who had carelessly lost a shoe. For a moment, Katie thought, 'I'm glad I was wearing socks instead of wearing the clogs barefoot.' Katie had ventured to wear her clogs that way on a few warmer days. Then she began to second guess her conclusion, 'I might have had enough friction to keep the shoe from coming of had I not been wearing slippery socks.'
Coming out of the museum, the girls realized it was time to leave this quaint little village. Katie was happy that her one-clog problem was about to be minimized a bit. They began their walk back to the parking garage and after waiting for a green light at the next intersection, Katie accidentally stepped in a muddy wet pot hole near the side of the street. The mud and water drenched her sock making it very sticky and wet.
"Yuck!" Katie exclaimed and once she reached the sidewalk, she stopped and stripped off the offending sock and hurled it out into oncoming traffic. "I'll never wear that sock again." Now Katie really looked strange with a completely bare foot and a sock-clad foot in a clog. She got more stares than before as she walked confidently on the cool sidewalk in downtown Gatlinburg on the way back to their car.
Soon the girls returned to their car and started the 4 hour trip back to Boone, arriving late in the evening. Katie had been in one shoe for 8 hours and had to eat, stop for gas and restroom breaks all wearing a single clog. She never did get her other shoe back and her single clog was turned into a flower vase. It was 15 years before Katie dared to buy another pair of backless shoes - a pair of woven mules.