A couple of Saturdays after getting back from the Olympics, Trisha's mother, Lisa came over for a Mother/Daughter Tea at the Sorority House. About 25 moms were able to make it - a few more than the year before. This was an opportunity for the moms to visit the sorority house and mingle with the other moms and meet some of their daughters’ sorority sisters. It was also a good excuse to dress up in tea-length dresses, sip on tea and punch in very small glasses and munch on finger sandwiches.
Lisa arrived about 9:30AM and Trisha introduced her around as was the other girls with their moms. Trisha was amused to see that her mom had chosen to wear a pair of tan Anne Klein mules with a 2-inch heel since she was wearing a blue pair of the exact same name and style. The only difference was that Trisha's pair was size 6 1/2 and Lisa's were size 7. They had even bought them together at Rich's back home. Lisa being from the 'old school,' as were most of the moms, wore hers with nude hose, whereas practically all the daughters went barelegged despite this being a supposedly formal event.
For the first hour, or so, the moms and daughters mingled and chatted about typical issues such as clothes, gardens and decorating. Amber's mom was telling everyone about her daughter singing in the AOPi Braves Chorus at the playoff game the Atlanta Braves were playing later that evening. Of course, she was only one of eight sisters from AOPi involved in that endeavor.
All around the room, shoes were being dipped and stepped out of to give their feet some relief for the heels that some were not used to wearing. Of course there were no men present to enjoy this activity.
Jayne Holliman from the local Ladies Garden Club of Athens (the first garden club organized in the country) was there to give a talk about their senior citizen volunteer program. The moms and daughters sat at round tables with long white tablecloths in the dining hall in five groups of ten to enjoy her talk and eat homemade peach pie and vanilla ice cream - served banquet style by the AOPi pledge class. No diets allowed this day.
Once seated, the ladies enjoyed their wonderful desserts and listened to Mrs. Holliman's presentation. Trisha was seated to her mom's right and she was sitting with her right leg crossed under the left. She had a good time playing with her blue mule at the end of her toes. She began by moving her toes around inside the shoe and slid the upper to where the edge was on the end of her toes. Then she flapped the sole of her shoe a few ties against her foot and wiggled her foot to get the shoe all the way back on. Trisha repeated this cycle several times without even realizing what she was doing.
At the same time, Lisa was a bit less obvious in her shoeplay. She sat with legs crossed on the floor at the ankle - right over left. She flexed her right foot back and forth causing her right tan mule to gradually come off on the floor in front of her under the table. After this occurred, one of Trisha's dangling cycles misfired and her blue mule fell to the floor under the table in front of her mom.
Soon the talk was over and the desserts were finished. Lisa uncrossed her feet and without looking stretched out her foot and grabbed the first shoe she came to under the table. It was a little tight but she did not make any effort to investigate. Trisha also reached with her foot without looking and grabbed the only shoe she felt. It seemed to be a little off to the left of where she thought it had landed, but this did not seem to faze her. Even when it felt a little loose she still did not seem to care.
Trisha and Lisa began to walk over to another table to meet some of the others they had not had a chance to meet yet. Shelley and her mom, who had flown in from Orlando on the red eye, came over to meet Trisha and Lisa. After a jovial introduction, Shelley looked down and commented; "I see you're really in the Mother/Daughter spirit today."
Trisha replied with a puzzled look on her face, "What do you mean?"
Shelley's mom then happened to look down and replied, "You're each wearing a blue shoe and a tan one."
At that moment, both Trisha and Lisa looked down and started to laugh. Then Shelley, her mom and a few other bystanders joined in. Lisa offered an explanation while kicking Trisha's blue mule off and reaching over with her toes to put on the tan mule that Trisha had already removed, "I guess we took out shoes off during Mrs. Holliman's talk and got them mixed up under the table."
Trisha added, "They're the same style - in fact, we bought them at the same time - so they did not feel strange."
Lisa noted, "They are, however 1/2 size different. Trisha's shoe was a little snug, but I just figured my feet had swelled after eating all that food and drinking that tea."
This also provoked some laughter in the crowd.
After a little more conversation, the moms gradually began to say goodbye to their daughters thus closing out another great annual mother/daughter tea.
(PART TWO)
Shortly afterwards, Amber, Jeannie and the rest of the AOPi chorus loaded into a rental van and left for Turner Field to sing the National Anthem at the Braves game. They were hosting the St Louis Cardinals in the first round of the National League Playoffs. The group was not going to stay for the game so Amber had not made plans to meet up with her family and friends (including Trisha) afterwards. The Chorus group instead had 8:30PM reservations at the Cheesecake Factory, a nice restaurant in Buckhead.
Trisha left soon afterwards to pick up Chuck to go see Amber sing. Of course Chuck loved the Braves anyway and Amber had gotten tickets for them from her dad who managed the Meat department at Publix. A pork supplier who was a Braves sponsor had given him several tickets so Ambers parents met Trisha and Chuck at the game.
A cold front moved through Georgia over the course of the day producing rain in both Athens and Atlanta around mid-afternoon - near the time that everyone left the AOPi Tea. Amber, Jeannie and the other girls in the chorus - Stacy, Amanda, Tiffany, Brittany, Bethany and Morgan - were dressed pretty matching red dresses trimmed in silver and black and matching red pumps. They arrived at Turner Field around 5PM. It was still raining, but the forecast was for skies to clear around 6:30 and the winds to shift to the north bringing colder conditions for the game.
Johnny, who was their usher that had been assigned to them, gave them instruction. "The stadium announcer will introduce you and I will escort you out of the tunnel and onto the field - no one stop or it could cause a collision. Four of you will step up to the back row of the podium then the last four of you will file in front of them on the bottom row."
Bethany asked, "Do we still sing if it doesn't stop raining."
The game won't start until it stops raining, so that's not really an issue," Johnny replied.
The AOPi chorus practiced their song inside the tunnel and the acoustics there were horrible as would be expected. At least they were staying dry.
Meanwhile, Trisha met up with Chuck and Doug back in Marietta as well as Amber's parents and younger sister, Heather. The six of them left for the game in the Dawson's van. This was the only the third time that Trisha had gotten to see Chuck since their date on Labor Day and the other two times were brief - saying goodbye and welcome home to and from Australia. This was the first opportunity that Trisha had gotten to spend time with Chuck in 5 weeks - an absence that was unexpected as the semester began. This time, however, they were certainly not alone.
On the way there, Chuck and Trisha were in their own little world and began to catch up on things. Chuck was quick to suggest, "Why don't we go out for a snack after the game so we can be alone and talk."
Trisha thought it was a nice suggestion - one that normally she would make, so she accepted, "Sure, sounds good. I wasn't planning on driving back to Athens tonight anyway. After that, Chuck and Trisha joined in with the conversation in the van about getting to see and hear Amber, Jeannie and the other girls sing the Star Spangled Banner.
When Trisha, Chuck, Doug and the Dawsons arrived at Turner field, the rain was still falling gently and the air was getting noticeably cooler. Back at the AOPi house, many of the sisters had gathered in the rec room with a table stacked high with Dominos pizza to watch the beginning of the baseball game coverage where their own AOPi chorus was leading the stadium and the nation in the Star Spangled Banner. Amber and the other girls, still in the tunnel were hoping that the rain would end soon.
About the time that Trisha's group was parked, the rain did indeed taper to a drizzle but that meant the walk into the stadium would be wet. Trisha had chosen to wear a pair of western-style black leather clogs with white socks to go along with her jeans and gray Braves sweatshirt that her dad gave her one Christmas. There were quite a few puddles along the way. One was a bit misleading; it was a pothole about 3 inches deep. In the twilight, Trisha stepped in the pothole with one foot and flooded the inside of one of her clogs and soaked her sock. With the weather getting cooler, she was not happy about this problem.
“Oh no, I stepped in that pothole. My sock is soaked.”
Chuck suggested, “Maybe you can go in the restroom and towel it dry.”
Doug had an even better idea, “Maybe you can take off your socks and get by without them.”
Trisha liked a combination of the two ideas so she went into the ladies room and grabbed some paper towels on the way to their seats in Section 420 that were also a little bit wet form the rain that had already fallen. Once seated, Trisha removed the dry sock from her foot and replaced her foot back into the clog. Then she took off the wet clog and dried it off well inside and out. She slowly removed the wet sock and dried off her wet foot, which as usual was very well manicured and had a fresh coat of red nail polish. Chuck and Doug, who were sitting on either side of Trisha, enjoyed the show. She replaced her now dry foot in the other clog and was now feeling much better albeit a little cooler.
After some other pre-game fanfare, the stadium lights dimmed and the public address announcer asked with a booming voice that silenced the crowd, "All please rise for the presentation of the colors and the singing of our Star Spangled Banner, which tonight will be sung by the Alpha Omicron Pi Chorus from the University of Georgia in Athens."
On that cue, Amber and the other seven girls began their walk out of the tunnel and onto the field in the area behind home plate. Third in line, Amber had a problem as she made her third step out of the tunnel. Her right heel caught for a slit second in the soggy turf and pulled her shoe downward enough for her foot to come out of the heel cup. While trying to not stop and stay in stride, Amber brought the shoe forward with her toes and pressed down with her heel. When she brought the shoe forward, however, her toes came out of the shoe about an inch so her heel squashed the back of her shoe and her heel stuck out about an inch behind the back of her shoe. She knew that she could not stop, but something had to be done.
Up in the stands, Doug, who had the only pair of binoculars in the group, noticed something was wrong, "Hey, Amber's walking funny. I think she'd having a problem with one of her shoes."
The others tried to focus on Amber a little more and her misstride was obvious but the grass made the shoe problem unnoticeable.
Amber took another step with the problem shoe and tried to force the toes farther into the shoe to get some traction. Instead, she came out another inch and her heel fell off the sole and onto the grass. Not wanting to stop, Amber quickly lifted her foot and tried to slap her toes into the shoe again, but this time she instead flung the shoe out to the side about 3 feet.
Doug noticed this and told the others, "Uh oh! Her shoe fell off and she's having to continue without it."
Everyone else wanted to see her shoe lying on the field so Doug passed the binoculars amongst the group.
Her sister Heather realized, "She's going to have to sing on national TV wearing one shoe."
Mortified, Amber limped along trying to make her uneven gait unnoticeable. Her bare nyloned foot was getting soggy from walking on the wet grass and in the cool weather this was not a good feeling. Amber was one of the ones on the back row so she had to step up on the podium with one shoe and do so without losing her balance.
The AOPi girls sang the National Anthem very well and Amber was hoping that their route down the podium would be to where she could try to get her shoe back. Then she remembered their earlier instruction that they would exit from the opposite side. She was going to have to walk across the field again without her shoe and once the girls finished their song, Amber was forced to do that.
Once Amber was off the field, she pleaded with Johnny, "My shoe fell off! Please get it back for me."
At first he did understand what she wanted, "What shoe?" Then looking down, he saw her standing with one red pump on her left foot and a nyloned right foot with her toes flexed and replied, "Oh your shoe came off." Johnny looked over his shoulder but did not see her shoe. Another usher, Ralph, who had not actually seen the accident occur, raced onto the field to get the shoe he just happened to see on the field - one he assumed was thrown from the stands in some sort of unpatriotic protest. He quickly exited into the tunnel from which Amber and the others had originally entered. Seconds after Ralph was out of sight, Johnny hurriedly ran onto the field and saw the shoe nowhere. He ran back and had to give Amber the bad news. "I didn't see it. Maybe someone else retrieved it already."
A near-panicked Amber asked, "Will they know how to find us? We're not staying for the game except long enough to go by the radio booth of WSB-750 to meet the Braves announcers."
"Once I get you up to the booth I'll go back down and see if I can locate the usher who has your shoe. If you get done before I return, just meet me in the concourse outside the booth"
Up in the stands, Trisha and the group were relieved to see Amber's shoe retrieved. They assumed her misfortune was about to end.
On the way to the radio booth, Amber limped with her one shoe and was embarrassed for so many people to see her. Jeannie, who was walking behind Amber noted, "This is more like something that would happen to Trisha, not you." Some of the other girls laughed but Amber continued to limp and sulk in her shoeless state as they approached the radio booth. Amber thought back to the summer and what had happened to Trisha here when she lost her Exercise sandal where it fell behind the home run fence. She wondered how long it would take Johnny to find her shoe.
Outside the booth, a producer told them they'd be on the air on 10 minutes. The girls waited outside and Johnny left.
Johnny began to consider getting Amber's shoe back his personal vendetta. He roamed around under the stadium in the passageways where only employees are allowed to tread while the theme music from Mission Impossible reverberated inside his head. He made it to the tunnel where he originally led the AOPi girls onto the field. The usher there knew nothing but suggested he try the maintenance crew. The maintenance crew knew nothing either. 'Just who was the mysterious usher who retrieved onto the field and disappeared. Was it an usher at all? Could it have been someone else who wanted a souvenir.' The thoughts began to race in his head, which was full of frustration. On the way back to the radio booth he passed one of the lead ushers, Lamar, who manned a walkie-talkie and knew who all of the ushers who were in the area.
"Have any of the ushers come to you carrying a red shoe they got off the field?"
"Yeah, Ralph came by here a few minutes ago. Said he saw a red shoe he figured must have been thrown from the stands at the girls singing the National Anthem."
"Do you know where he went?"
"He said something about trying to find the girl who threw it. Hey, do you know who threw it and are you trying to retrieve it for her?"
"No, actually it wasn't thrown onto the field. One of the girls in the group that sang the National Anthem lost it walking onto the field to sing."
"That's a shame. So she's sitting in the stands with one shoe as we speak?"
"It's even more critical than that. They're not staying for the game and they're waiting to be interviewed by WSB radio. Then they're leaving." (Pause) "Now to find Ralph. There's the field level, the terrace level, the club level and the upper level. Do you know which one he went to? And one other thing, what does he look like? I don't think I've ever met him."
"I'd start with field level and work my way up. Ralph's about 40 years old, light reddish hair, but he's usually wearing a Braves cap so that won't be obvious. He's also a little on the thin side."
"Thanks Lamar! You've helped a bunch."
"I'll send out a APB on Ralph to bring me the shoe. If I find it we'll put it in the Ushers Closet behind Section 215."
--
Ralph waltzed by Lamar mumbling something about finding the girl who threw the red shoe that he was holding onto the field. He got into the main concourse behind the terrace level seats and started to walk down to the field level seats. He stopped and looked at the shoe. It was a pretty bright red almost sparkly pump. Being a bachelor who dated very rarely, he had not held such a pretty feminine shoe in a long time. Ralph gently rubbed his index finger on the sole. It was surprisingly warm and soft.
Suddenly, he remembered his primary mission and began to enter the field level seats from where he supposed the shoe might have been thrown. A familiar shouting sound from behind him caught his attention. Turning around he saw a St Louis Cardinal fan wearing a cardinal beak hat trash-talking a foam tomahawk-bearing Atlanta Braves fan. The Cardinal fan shoved and the Braves fan took a swing. Ralph dropped the red pump in the aisle and ran to break up the fight. He subsequently led the two fans to what was called "Braves jail" where security guards scolded them before escorting them out of the stadium.
Paul, a 30-year-old single guy got up from his seat in the lower level where he was enjoying the game with a few friends from work. He left to take a quick restroom break. After taking care of business, when he reached the walkway that led to the concession area concourse he spotted a pretty red shoe on the floor. Being a hopeless romantic, Paul picked up the shoe and jogged a few steps in each direction of the concourse hoping to alert the pretty Cinderella (an assumption made by the shoe style and color) and be her prince. He then stepped back into the section of seats and looked around. Figuring that where he was sitting near the entrance, he might be able to spot a one shod girl, he carefully stuffed the shoe in his jacket pocked and climbed the few steps to return to his seat. He chose not to show his find to his friends and soon he was enthralled by the action on the field and forgot about the shoe.
--
Johnny ran all around the area and Ralph was nowhere to be found. About 15 minutes had passed but he was not ready to quit yet. Johnny started asking every usher he saw if they'd seen Ralph as he continued to maneuver up and down the stadium steps in each section of Turner field where Ralph was supposed to be stationed.
The WSB producer walked outside the radio booth and said. "We're ready to go! It's pretty crowded so try to squeeze in here the best you can behind the announcers."
Amber walked carefully trying not to get her bare foot stepped on, as the girls got crammed into the radio booth. She ended up in the middle of the group behind where the announcers Skip and Pete were covering the game. Soon there was a break in the action and Skip started the introductions, "Tonight we have some pretty young ladies in the booth with us." Pete continued, 'Right Skip, they're the Alpha Omicron Pi Chorus form the University of Georgia. They sang the National Anthem for us tonight." Skip added, "And they did a wonderful job, I might add."
Skip instructed the girls to pass the microphone around and briefly give their name and hometown for the radio audience, which they all did. Then Amber's greatest fear became a reality. Pete noted, "The field was pretty soggy and it appeared from here that one of you got your high heel stuck in the mud and had to sing wearing one shoe. I guess you got it back, huh?"
Stunned, Amber got the microphone and said, "No actually, our usher is trying to locate where it got carried off to as we speak."
Skip and Pete strained to look down in the crowded booth and they saw that indeed, Amber was still wearing one shoe. Skip made one last comment, "Well I wish you luck and maybe your prince will get it back to you before midnight."
The producer led the girls back out of the booth and Amber was even more embarrassed than before.
After taking the guys to Braves Jail, Ralph forgot about the shoe. He returned to his duty of helping late arriving fans find their seats and keeping poachers out of seats they did not have tickets for. Lamar saw Ralph and stopped him. "Hey Ralph, what did you do with that red shoe you had earlier."
He froze for a moment and said, "I'm not sure. I had it earlier and.. Oh yeah, I dropped it outside the entrance to the seats a couple of sections down to go and break up a fight. Does it matter? It only punishes the crazy girl who threw it on the field."
"You need to find it pronto! It wasn't thrown onto the field. One of the sorority girls who sang the National Anthem lost it and their group is leaving very soon. She's been almost a half-hour with only one shoe."
"I'll go right back there and return it to her. Where will she be?"
"She's one of eight girls in red dresses, all of them pretty. They'll probable be standing outside the WSB booth. You can't miss her. Besides, if you hold up the shoe she will surely see you."
Lamar returned to his post and Ralph ran off to get the shoe back. He went to where he dropped it and saw the shoe nowhere. 'Maybe this is the wrong entrance.' Ralph thought about the chance to return that red pump to that pretty sorority girl making him anxious to find the fallen shoe. He looked all around the area he dropped the shoe and finally decided. 'Someone must have taken with them. I'll probably never find it now.' Ralph returned to tell Lamar the bad news before returning to his usher post.
Lamar located Johnny and relayed the bad news about Amber's shoe. He gave him instructions about what to tell her and sent him on his way. Johnny came back to just outside the WSB booth to tell her news. "Amber, I found the usher that picked up your shoe and he misplaced it. No one knows where it is. I've been looking around and checked lost and found and it's just seemingly disappeared. I guess we'll have to put a note in lost and found describing your shoe and who to call when it's found."
A disappointed Amber thanks him for his efforts and said to the other girls, "I guess we can leave now, huh?"
Stacy asked, "Can we still go to the Cheesecake Factory? I've been looking forward to it all week."
Brittany chimed in, "Me too!"
Amber replied, "I've already been in one shoe this long and in front of all these people, what's a few people in the restaurant."
Soon afterwards, the girls left and walked across the parking lot to get to their rented van. Fortunately they were able to park close and Amber did not have to walk on the wet dirty parking lot over 100 yards. She still was careful to miss the deeper puddles and the trash that had already been tossed out of cars after tailgating, but was still getting her one nyloned foot very wet, dirty and shredded.
Around the fourth inning, Paul left to get a beer. After placing his order, he got the proper number of bills out of his wallet then he reached into his jacket pocket for some change to add to the total. He felt the red shoe once again and realized that he never had found the girl who it belonged to and needed to discard it. After getting his tall $7 beer, he dashed into the Men’s room and saw a large trash bin. Instead of throwing it away, he discreetly dropped Amber's shoe into the space that was formed where the round trash bin fit into the square corner of the restroom. That way, he figured that it would eventually found and turned into lost and found.
Back in Section 420, things were getting tense, the Cardinals grabbed a 7-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning and a win for them would clinch the best of 5 game series. Mr. Dawson, Doug and Chuck were as expected the most upset and had long ago changed seats to allow Trisha, Heather and Mrs. Dawson a chance to chit chat about anything but baseball. Unfortunately, another occasion for Chuck and Trisha to talk was falling through the crack, so to speak.
Heather, who was only 16 and a junior at Sprayberry High, was mesmerized by Trisha's shoeplay. She watched as Trisha crossed first the right leg, dangled the clog on her now bare foot to where it would almost fall off then in a single flick of the ankle recover the clog onto her foot - then repeat. This rhythm alternated between each foot a few times. A couple of times, Trisha did indeed lose control of the clog and with the cool air whipping through Turner Field, Trisha was more diligent about replacing the fallen clog on her foot.
Heather was a lot like her older sister by four years, Amber. She was not as much into the mule, slide and clog 'thing' as Trisha was and really preferred simple sneakers, which she chose to wear to the game. Seeing Trisha's shoeplay, however, led her to experiment with some sneaker shoeplay later on that night.
Amber and the rest of the girls arrived at the Cheesecake Factory and their valet parked their van as they entered the restaurant.
Amber sugested, "Let me stand sort of in the middle of you so my missing shoe is not as obvious."
Morgan interjected, "We've got a 15 minute wait for our table and it's pretty crowded as it is."
Brittany noticed a large group getting seated and suggested; "Hey let's sit over there in the waiting area where that group just left."
The girls were soon seated in a row with eight matching dresses and 15 matching shoes. Amber crossed her bare right foot behind her shod left and tucked them under the chair to try to be less noticeable.
In a few minutes, their alert beeper went off and Tiffany took it to the hostess to get them seated. Tiffany came over and said their table was upstairs and at the end meaning that they'd have to walk in front of practically everyone. Amber was leery of having so many in a nice restaurant see her ragged-looking unshod foot and said, "You mean I'm going to have to walk up those stairs and all the way across?"
In a brilliant moment, Morgan noted, Amber aren't you a size 8 1/2?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I'm an 8." Morgan slipped of her right shoe and nudged it toward Amber. "Wear my shoe up to our table and I'll stay here. It may be a little tight, but it ought to get you there."
Brittany volunteered, "And I can bring it back down here to you."
The plan was in place and executed well. Amber got a reprieve from walking on her bare foot and they had a good meal and delicious dessert. The shoe was not discussed during dinner and in the crowded restaurant, no one could tell that she was missing a shoe. The plan was reversed on the way out and executed without flaw. Around midnight, the chorus arrived back at the AOPi house to put a close to a busy day.
(PART THREE)
The Cardinals finished off the Braves around 10:30 and the Dawsons took Heather and Doug home shortly afterwards. Chuck and Trisha went to a popular spot up Peachtree Rd called Huey's - a place famous for New Orleans style Beignets. This was a popular hang out for the students at Georgia Tech and Chuck had been there on many of occasion. He had not taken Trisha there since they were in High School. As usual it was crowded and they were soon seated at a small elevated round table in a couple of stools with backs - the type where your feet can’t reach the floor. Trisha quickly assumed the position of resting one clog on the footrest and crossed her other leg and dangling the other clog. Their table was next to an open section partition and her crossed foot actually stuck out in to the walkway a few inches.
Trisha began asking Chuck about school, “So how are things going with classes this semester? What else is new with you?”
“Engineering school is tough, but I’m getting through it. It’s nice having Doug as a roommate again. We even have a class together so we can study together sometimes.” Chuck avoided the ‘what’s new’ question but Trisha did not really catch on. “So what about you Trisha, we haven’t really had much chance to talk since Labor Day. I’d like to hear more about your trip to Australia as well as about your classes this semester and of course, AOPi.”
“The Olympics were a lot of fun. Dad took us around to several events for which he had credentials. We got to see the sights around Sydney - the Opera House by the Harbour and the nearby bridge is one of the prettiest sights I’ve ever seen. It’s a pretty crowded city, really. I got to spend a couple of days with my friend Rochelle. Oh, and we went to the Taronza Zoo.”
“That’s right, she’s the girl that came and stayed with you for a couple of weeks back in ’96 during the Atlanta Olympics. My brother, Jason, had a bit of a crush on her when she was here. How’s she doing?”
“Pretty well. She’s now working for a computer company named Hardcourts up in Edenglassie City. She’s dating a guy named Mel. He’s quite an interesting character, but seems to treat Rochelle pretty well.”
Trisha started bouncing her crossed leg a little still a little bit out into the walkway that was pretty busy with wait staff passing through with trays of food and drinks. One of the servers came walking a little bit too close to the railing next to Trisha and Chuck’s table and caught the back of her clog and knocked it to the floor and forward several feet without really realizing it. In the cooler drier weather, Trisha’s foot, though bare, did not have enough moisture to create enough friction to keep it on as well as usual.
“Oh no, that waiter knocked my shoe off,” Trisha exclaimed as she uncrossed her leg and placed her bare foot on top of her other clog to keep it somewhat warm.”
Without pause, Chuck stood up and walked around and located the fallen clog and handed it to Trisha - not exactly like Prince Charming would have done it, but functional. Trisha continued to talk on and on about her sorority and in mid sentence, Chuck interrupted her, “Trisha. I can’t wait any longer. I have to tell you something.”
“Tell me what, Chuck?” Trisha hesitantly asked while crossing her feet at the ankle on the footrest and pointing her crossed foot toward the floor inside the stool and slowly flexing her ankle.
“Well, we really have not gotten to spend much time together this semester like I thought.”
Trisha quickly replied, ‘I know! It’s just been so busy with all going on. It ought to get better in a couple of weeks and I can come home for an entire weekend.” She continued to flex her ankle and her clog ever so slowly began to slide downward.
Chuck continued, “I know it’s been busy and I remember when we started college we thought that would happen so we decided to take a break.”
“And then you started dating Anita and we lost yet another year.”
“Right. And I was excited about getting back together this summer. We had a lot of fun.”
“Chuck, I don’t like what direction this conversation is taking. Just say what you came here to say.”
“Well, (pause and swallow lump in throat) I started seeing Anita again two weeks ago while you were in Australia.”
A stunned Trisha stared off to the side and tears formed in her eyes. “Are you breaking up with me? I thought we were having such a good time together.”
“Trisha, you’re a great girl, but I can’t date someone I rarely see. Anita is on campus with me and we see each other all the time.”
Trisha, now crying a bit more, replied, “Chuck, I was willing to try the long distance relationship because I thought you were worth the distance. I guess I’m not worth the distance.” On that, Trisha tried to get up from her stool and her feet got tangled up a bit causing her clog to fall to the floor inside the stool. Without stopping she ran outside one-shod and soon discovered a cold wet parking lot. Chuck quickly threw a $10 on the table and grabbed Trisha’s shoe and caught her outside in the parking lot leaning against his car and resting her bare foot on top of her remaining clog. Once outside and out to his car he handed her shoe back again and have her a hug saying, “I never meant to hurt you. You deserve better than me. I hope that some day you’ll forgive me.”
Trisha began to regain her composure and said, “Chuck, please just take me home. I need to be alone.”
On the way back up to Cobb County, neither Chuck nor Trisha said a word. It was October 7th and already Trisha’s hopes for a long distance relationship with Chuck had been dashed. The leaves on the trees were still green and the temperature was still in the summery mid-80’s just a few days before. That night was the coldest thus far since the spring - in more ways than one.
The next day, Trisha drove back to Athens in the afternoon and told Amber and her other closest friends the bad news about her and Chuck. The reverberations sent shockwaves throughout the UGA AOPi sorority house.
