Trisha did not have her golf clubs or shoes with her at school. The room she and Amber shared in the AOPi house was adequate but not roomy by any means - not enough to store her bulky set of clubs. Her dad was planning on bringing them with him on the way over.
The agenda was set. Dad would pick her up around 8:45AM. Registration and a traditional Southern breakfast were at 9:00 and tee off was at 10:30. It was a nine hole scramble on the back nine and registration had to be limited to 27 pairs of dads and daughters and that worked out just about right for the number of AOPi girls who knew enough about golf to play. There were going to be 3 pairs in each group with fathers and daughters hitting alternate shots and alternate tee offs.
Trisha and the other girls planned on wearing the clothes they planned to golf in to breakfast but no one wanted to wear their golf shoes to the social part of the morning. Actually only a few had their golf equipment with them and most were having their fathers bring theirs from home like Trisha.
By 8:30, Trisha was almost ready to go and Amber was finally up and in the shower - she was not participating in the golf touurney. She had her blue Nike logo golf shirt tucked into a pair of khaki Capri pants with a lightweight sweater to help her stay warm as the temperature struggled to rise above 50 degrees. She retrieved one cute little light tan loafer-style mule with a 2-inch heel from the depths of her closet and put it on. She fished around for the other one and it was not to be found. Trisha wanted to wear that particular pair of shoes because they matched her outfit perfectly. After a couple of minutes on her hands and knees rummaging through the closet she decided to finish getting ready and make finding her other shoe the last task.
While fixing her hair into a cute ponytail and adorning it with a blue ribbon she thought through her mind what could have happened to the other shoe. With one shod foot flat on the floor and the other foot flexed and resting on her perfect-looking toes with bright red polish, she finished applying the last touches to her makeup. Once finished, she walked clop-pause-clop-pause across the room and was about to look under her bed when there was a knock on the door.
One of Trisha's sorority sisters, Stacy had found Mr. Kendrick in the lobby and escorted him up to Trisha's room in the third floor. Upon his knock, Trisha stopped and looked at her watch - "8:39 - he's a little early. I've got to find that other shoe," Trisha thought as she opened the door and it was indeed her father.
"Hi Daddy! I'm so glad you were able to come over here today," She said while giving him a hug.
"Are you about ready?" Charles asked, noticing that his daughter was not completely dressed in the area of footwear. He wished he had a dollar for every time he was ready to leave to go somewhere and Trisha was scrambling around in her room looking for a stray shoe. He had built her two shoe caddies - one for home and one for school, but they were usually only filled with rarely worn pairs while the majority of her shoes lay in the floor of her closet and under the bed at any given time.
"Almost, just got to put on my other shoe." At that moment, she remembered using the missing shoe to kill a roach a week before. Trisha limped over to look under her bed and, after pulling out a few other shoes and other stuff; she pulled out the prized plum. Soon her second shoe was on her foot and she was walking downstairs with her father to leave for the course. Several of the girls and their fathers were leaving at about the same time and they formed a caravan to the golf course.
Once they arrived, the fathers and daughters began to mingle and get better acquainted. The fathers were all dressed to play - they were not slaves to fashion so wearing golf shoes to breakfast seemed very normal to them. On the other hand, Trisha and most of the other girls chose to wear very flattering footwear. Trisha and all her friends had on their cutest golf outfits - the type you buy to wear when you're not necessarily playing golf. But their shoes were the real fashion statement - lots of mules and slides and other dress shoes.
They enjoyed a great breakfast that was catered in by Cracker Barrel. The fathers, especially, enjoyed the biscuits, gravy, bacon, sausage and preserves. The girls pretended to not enjoy it as much as they bemoaned to lack of fresh fruit and bagels. Secretly, most of the girls enjoyed the break from their diets to enjoy some fine breakfast food.
After breakfast the fathers got the golf equipment for them and their daughters and in Trisha's case, as well as most others, their golf shoes. It took the girls a couple of minutes to slip out of the dress shoes and put on their less fashionable but functional golf shoes.
Trisha and her dad were placed in a group with Shelley, Bethany and their fathers. Shelley's dad, Mr. Sullivan, was a very competitive golfer and Shelley was pretty good herself and were rumored to be the favorites to win the tourney. Charles was a bogey golfer on his best day and Trisha had not broken 100 since she was 14 - back when her dad took her golfing pretty often one summer when she considered trying out for the Sprayberry High Golf team - before changing her mind and playing flute in the marching band. Each group had a caddy to carry the golf equipment on a cart. All six players in each group walked. This made the game take longer to complete but it increased the opportunities for the fathers and daughters to have fun together.
In the scramble, Trisha's group started on the 16th hole, which meant they would go through the 18th then start and play holes 10 thru 15 before returning to the clubhouse. The fathers teed off first so the girls only had to tee off on holes 17, 10, 12 and 14.
The time on the course gave the fathers and daughters a lot of time together, which was rare now that they were off at college. It also gave the fathers a chance to get to know a couple of the other fathers pretty well and also get to know a couple of their daughters sorority sisters and see what kind of friends they've made at school.
It did not take Charles long to figure out that Shelley was a bit competitive with Trisha. It also did not take long to discover where in the family tree she got that character trait. Charles discovered that Shelley's dad, Mr. Sullivan, was pretty wealthy and knew a lot of prominent people and did not like to lose at golf.
By the time that the group completed the 12th hole (a total of six) a surprising trend had developed. Shelley and her father were both having an off day - shooting 4-over par including an embarrassing double-bogey on the 18th. Bethany and her father were at 11-over but they were not regular golfers. Trisha and her dad were shooting some of their best golf ever. They had made an amazing birdie on the 17th and were sitting at 5-over, just one shot behind the Sullivans.
At the start of the 13th hole, the Sullivans were getting very frustrated. Shelley and her dad were losing focus - it was no longer a game - it was war. Much like Shelley always tried to one-up Trisha, she was intent on doing it on the golf course. And under normal circumstances, the game would probably be out of reach.
Charles' tee shot was perfect, right in the middle of the fairway about 200 yards, his best shot all day. Bethany's dad sliced his tee shot badly to the right and landed in the woods. Shelley's dad felt the pressure to out do Charles and try to keep the Kendricks from catching up with them. He took his best cut and, just like Bethany's dad, sliced the ball; but his rolled near the lake about a foot from the water.
Trisha took her shot, which made the green setting up her dad for another amazing birdie and a chance to grab first place in their group. Unbeknownst to them, Stacy and her dad (who lived in Athens and played at this course once a week) were 2 under par and had just about clinched the win.
Bethany took her shot and sliced the ball across into the woods across the fairway - not a good position. Shelley walked over to where her ball landed and began to walk into position. A yard away, she noticed the ground was a little soft. Bethany suggested, "You can take a one stroke penalty and move it into dry grass if you'd like."
Shelley quipped, "I'll play it here! Thank you very much!" With the ground slowly sinking beneath her, she lined up and took her best shot on the ball. Just as the ball completely left the club, her right plant foot hit an air pocket in the mud and her leg slipped in up to above her right knee. "Eeeeeeee!" Shelley shrieked and she was not even aware that her shot had been miraculous, landing 6 feet from the pin. She jerked on her leg and it was slow to rise out of the murky mud. Mr. Sullivan ran to her aid and pulled her out. Her right leg was black up to her thigh and all that remained on her foot was a saturated sock hanging half off at the end of her toes. After taking a few steps and regaining her composure she again shrieked, "I've lost my shoe!" The thought of reaching into the muck to fish for her shoe was disgusting. Her dad offered to reach in and try to pull her shoe out, but Shelley replied, "I could never wear it again anyway knowing where it had been."
On that note, she yanked off the remaining sock and threw it into the lake. Her dad suggested, "Why don't you at least walk over here where the footing looks better and try to wash your leg off in the lake."
"Okay dad." Shelley took a couple of minutes and with the aid of her dad's golf towel got most of the muck off of her leg. Now one leg was bare and the other had a clean sock and golf shoe. She looked like one of those football place-kickers who kick without a shoe on one foot.
Mr. Sullivan asked his group, "Do any of you have an extra pair of shoes Shelley could use?"
Everyone nodded "No" meaning that none of them had brought any spare shoes. He then asked his daughter. 'Shelley, do you want me to take the cart back to the clubhouse and buy you a new pair?"
Shelley, who had just realized just how good her awkward shot had been said, 'No, I think I'll just play the last 2 holes like this. Unless anyone has a problem."
So for the last two holes, Shelley played wearing one shoe. This seemed to be their good luck charm. At the end of the 15th hole, she and her dad had shot three birdies - including the 13th where the accident occurred to finish just 1-over, 37. After managing par on 13, Trisha and her dad bogeyed the last two holes to finish with a respectable 7-over par, 43. At the end Shelley said privately to her dad, "Maybe we ought to play with me in one shoe the entire game next time, huh?"
Shelley's boldness quickly faded as they regrouped at the clubhouse. She ripped off the other shoe and sock and tossed them into the first trash bin she saw and walked barefoot out to her dad's rental car to get her dress shoes before anyone else learned what happened. Trisha was silent, but Bethany was the tattletale that revealed to the whole sorority what happened to Shelley and how their score dramatically improved afterwards.
(Part Two)
Shortly after she got home, Trisha e-mailed Tim down in Ocala to say 'hello' and see how he was doing. They had been in touch sporadically all semester, but with she and Chuck having broken-up, she felt more free now to accept Tim's pursuit. Interestingly to Trisha, Tim's pursuit was actually a bit weak. She assumed he was very busy trying to keep things going at church. Trisha also remembered him being a little on the shy side. Her history with Tim had been odd. For 6 months, Chuck was not in her life and she had a crush on Tim. Then Tim finally discovered her not long before going home to Ocala. Then she got back with Chuck over the summer and then learned that Tim was staying home another semester. More than before, she looked forward to seeing Tim again in January.
To: ocalatim@uga.edu
From: cobbtrish@uga.edu
Re: Hello
Hey Tim…Howzit going? Hope things in Ocala are going well and that things are going good for you and your church. I just got back from playing the University Course with my dad. It was our sorority father/daughter tourney. We did okay, but Stacy and her dad won. Have you met Stacy, yet? Well, anyway, tonight I’m going to the Georgia football game with some friends. Let me know what’s you’ve been up to. Looking forward to seeing you soon. --Bye, Trisha
Later on that afternoon, Trisha drove up Milledge Ave. through heavy traffic and met Jay, Shawn and Donna at the Beta House to go to the Georgia football game, which was starting at 6:00 that evening. Trisha looked forward to getting together with Jay and his friends and also getting to know Donna a little better. She was a pledge in the Phi Mu sorority and they had only gotten to speak a little when they watched the Falcons game together earlier in the semester. She was not 'dating' Shawn just like she was not 'dating' Jay. It was just a foursome having fun at a football game. Of course, Jay and Shawn would have loved to be actually dating Trisha and Donna so to them it was bittersweet.
Jay's best friend Shawn was also a sophomore and he hailed from Dalton, the carpet capitol of the world - so they claim. He was an average-looking guy - maybe a few pounds overweight as were a lot of the guys whose eating habits were sloppy now that they lived on their own and pizza delivery was so easy. His friend Donna was a freshman from Dalton and had dated Shawn a little in High School but she wanted to be free meet and date other guys now that she too was at college. She actually had acquired a little crush on Jay - after spending some time with him and Shawn at the Beta house - but felt unable to proceed because of his and her friendships with Shawn. Donna was also a little intimidated by the sophisticated and two years older Trisha, knowing, from what Shawn had told her, that Jay had strong feelings for her.
Jay had never really considered Donna as a dating prospect anyway. Although she was a pretty and petite girl barely 5 feet tall with soft brown eyes and dark blonde hair, he saw her as 'Shawn's friend from back home who he really liked' and not as someone to date. Donna also was unlike most of her Phi Mu sorority pledges and future sisters. She was a bit more casual, being more comfortable in a pair of faded jeans and an oil-stained worn out pair of Birks that had molded to the shape of her feet than in a nice matching colorful outfit with cute marginally comfortable feminine-looking shoes. She was that opposite of Trisha in that regard.
When she needed to dress up for Phi Mu events - like Rush, socials and chapter meetings, she could put on a nice dress, fix her hair and add the makeup and look stunning, but most of the time, she used minimal makeup and often let her hair air dry after washing it then hardly brushed it out.
Trisha knew that temperatures were forecast to be cool for the football game but she still decided to wear a below-the-knee khaki skirt, a white turtleneck and a garnet red sweater. Her hair was tied with a red and black ribbon into a bouncy ponytail. She also kept wearing the light brown loafer mules she'd worn to the breakfast at the golf course, but to survive the cool weather, she added white hose to keep her legs warm.
Donna was dressed more like the guys with jeans and sweatshirts and her footwear of choice - Boston-style closed toed Birks with thick wool socks. When Trisha showed up at the Beta house to meet everyone, Donna privately snickered at how impractical Trisha outfit seemed, but she also felt like it was an outfit that Jay probably liked so she became a little envious.
Jay got things moving, "Everyone ready to walk over to Sanford Stadium?"
Donna chimed in a quick, 'Sure, lets go!"
Trisha interrupted, 'so we're going to walk, huh?" She had not really planned on walking the entire mile to the stadium. Her shoes were not really made for long walks.
Shawn added, "It's only 2 hours 'till kickoff. I don't think we could get much closer anyway."
Trisha couldn't argue with that logic and could only blame herself for the predicament she was not in. The first three-fourths of the route was pretty easy - staying on the sidewalk along Baxter Street walking past some of the multi-stories campus housing for much of the route.
From there, the road gave way to a maze of buildings including the massive Tate Student Center. Instead of going through the building, Shawn and Donna, who were leading the way, chose to take the outdoor route which included a few short but steep inclines. Trisha had a hard time making it up these with her slippery mules. Not only were her shoes almost frictionless in her white hose, but the soles of her shoes were pretty slippery as well near the top, she reached out for Jay to grab her hand to help her up which he did, but Jay did not know his own strength. He pulled too fast causing Trisha to kick back her left foot and sling her brown mule at the bottom of the hill about 20 feet away. Jay alerted Shawn and Donna to wait as he ran down himself and rescued Trisha's shoe. Trisha stood at the top of the little hill looking helpless as she held her empty nyloned foot a couple of inches off the grass waiting on Jay to return it for her. Donna thought that looking clumsy in front of Jay might eventually work to her advantage.
Soon, the foursome made it to the Student Gate at the north side of the stadium and presented their tickets for entry. It was very crowded and student section seats were de facto general admission even though all tickets had a specific seat location listed. The only seats enforced were blocks and most of those were fraternities and other social groups. Jay and Shawn had tickets in the Beta Theta Pi Block on the 30-yard line and were able to trade Trisha's and Donna's ticket for two additional ones in the block.
Even with a specific place to sit, getting there was a challenge. About 15 minutes after getting past the turnstiles and presenting their tickets, they had moved far enough to get to the main walkway that circled the stadium and everyone had to pass to go down or up to their seats. Trisha found walking incredibly slow in her slippery mules was almost as challenging as walking fast and up and down hills. A couple of times, the person behind her accidentally stepped into her space and kicked one of her mules a few inches forward. She'd have to thrust her foot forward to recover it. After this happened a few times, this got sort of old and her hose was getting crooked on her toes.
With Shawn and Jay leading the way, Trisha and then Donna followed behind en route to their seats. Their progress came to a standstill when they got fully on the walkway and up against the rail that kept the students from spilling over into the seats immediately below.
By now, her hose on her right foot - which had been the more frequent victim of having her shoe pushed off - was really uncomfortable. Since they were stopped and she could hold onto the rail, Trisha decide to try to straighten her hose a bit around her toes. She leaned down to the right and raised her foot about 6 inches off the ground reaching to adjust the hose around her toes. This took several seconds while her mule was empty and sitting on the edge of the walkway.
Donna had been looking for another opportunity to make Trisha look clumsy in front of Jay and here was her perfect chance. She noticed that the seats in front of them were getting filled but that there was a small gap in front of where she stood. While Trisha looked off to the side to say something to Jay, Donna carefully, so as to not kick off her own backless Birk, got in position to kick Trisha's mule into the seats in front of them. Her plan was for it to fall down right over the edge of the walkway and make her look a little silly for only a few moments.
However just as Donna began her swinging motion with her left leg, the pile moved a bit and her leg went forward with a lot more force than she had planned on. As it if had a mind of its own, Trisha's mule fell forward and landed three rows down. A group of guys were making their way across that same row as the shoe landed and without realizing it, the lead guy kicked her shoe about 8 feet to the right, landing underneath where someone was already sitting. It was sort of hidden behind his empty binoculars case.
Donna saw it land, but was unsure of the exact number of rows. She also failed to see the shoe get kicked across the row several feet. Mere seconds after the shoe was kicked Trisha finished adjusting her hose and put her foot down to where her empty mule was supposed to still lay. Instead her toes landed on the cold concrete causing Trisha to exclaim, "Where's my shoe?"
That quickly caught Jay's attention. He looked down to see Trisha's pretty nyloned foot barely touching the cold concrete by her barely visible nail polished toes. Jay, the best he could in the crowd, looked all around in all directions and said, "I'm looking but I don't see it. How 'bout you Shawn?"
"I don't see it either!" Shawn replied.
Donna attempting to be innocent and put them on the trail to success noted, "There was a big shove in my direction right before. Maybe it got kicked away into the seats below somehow."
Trisha added, "Yeah with all the crowd behind us I can't see my shoe going backwards; it had to be pushed off forward into the seats." She yelled down below, "Anyone down there see my shoe!"
A few people looked around and seeing nothing turned back and said, "Sorry, I don't see it." The person who actually was sitting near her shoe was not in earshot and did not even look.
Trisha's foot was getting cold and she began to complain a little, "I've just got to find my shoe."
Jay who really enjoyed seeing Trisha in a Cinderella-like state replied, "We'll find it. Don't worry." Jay took Trisha by the hand and helped her down the steps to where their seats were - down low on the aisle only 3 rows from the front. It was not easy for Trisha to walk in one mule it having a 2-inch heel. Once seated, Jay said, "I'll go up and get your shoe. You all just stay there and I'll go get her shoe back."
Donna realized her plan had failed to make Trisha look bad in Jay's eyes. In fact he seemed to actually thrive on playing the Prince Charming role. Not wanting this to continue any longer, Donna volunteered, "Hey, I'll come too. I'm a lot smaller than you and if I have to walk down the rows in between people that would be better."
Jay calmly agreed to Donna's help and the two of them walked all the way back up to the top and began to look for Trisha's missing shoe. Donna wanted to find that shoe ASAP and not allow Jay the opportunity to be her hero. Meanwhile, Trisha tried to keep her mind off her missing shoe. She asked Shawn if he minded if she crossed her leg and tucked her foot under his bent knee for warmth. Her intentions were totally thermal, but Shawn could not help but enjoy Jay's pretty friend sticking her foot under his knee.
Trisha took this opportunity to get to know Shawn a bit better. "So how long have you known Donna?"
"I met her back in the summer of '98 when we worked together at GCO, that's Georgia Carpet Outlet. She worked in the office and I helped in the warehouse."
"I thought you went to high school together."
"Actually, I went to Dalton High - the city school; and she went to Southeast Whitfield - one of the rural schools out in the county. We dated for a few months but we've really mostly just been good friends."
Trisha decided to probe a little, "Is it safe to assume you'd like there to be more?"
Shawn paused and replied, "I wouldn't mind if something worked out for us someday, but maybe it's better we not date now. This will give her a chance to find out what she wants and for me to make sure I know what I want, too."
Trisha couldn't help but wonder if Jay felt the same way about her. Their conversation continued..
Quite a few rows up in the stands, Jay and Donna asked people on the end of the first few rows on the end of each aisle either side of where Trisha's shoe fell into the seats. This proved to be only marginally successful, but their efforts failed to locate her shoe.
Donna had a general idea of where the shoe had landed but had to pretend not to know. She decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Excuse me! Pardon me! Sorry!" Donna repeated this mantra while trying to squeeze her small frame down a row of student fans anxious for the game to start. She knocked over a couple of drinks along the way and made no friends. She happened to look under the seat where her shoe lay and asked the man sitting there, "Can you hand me that shoe under your seat. My friend dropped it there."
The guy obliged and handed it to Donna who in turn held it up high in the air and yelled across to Jay, "I got it!"
"That's great, Donna! Meet you back at our seats!"
Donna and Jay returned triumphant and Trisha was happy to get her shoe back. Donna noticed how Trisha had her foot tucked under Shawn's leg when they returned and for some reason, that made her a little jealous. 'Sometimes you don't want someone but you don't want anyone else to have them either,' she thought.
Soon the game kicked off and Georgia found themselves behind by 17 points at the half - 24-7. Trisha had a good time sitting between Jay and Donna and getting to know both of them a bit better. Donna was nice to Trisha but she was a little envious that Jay gave her so much of his attention. They also were pretty close to the cheerleaders - which was led by AOPi's own Shelley Sullivan - and 'Uga' the live bulldog and 'Hairy' the human in a dog suit mascot. The marching band was sitting not too far away up and to their left.
Early in the third quarter, Georgia's starting quarterback was sacked and suffered a concussion. This meant that Beau, Shelley's boyfriend, was called into the game to take over. She was noticeably excited about Beau getting to play but she was certainly concerned that the other guy was okay and not injured seriously. Shelley’s excitement increased greatly when Beau led the Bulldogs to a touchdown and a subsequent 2-point conversion to make the score 24-15.
Donna still wondered how to steal some of the attention away from Trisha. She wanted to be original, but she decided to try something that seemed to catch Jay's attention - having a shoe come off and being called upon to retrieve it. Donna only needed a good opportunity. Almost as if it were on cue, Jay said he would go to the concession stand and get drinks for everyone. Donna quickly volunteered to help him carry them. While Jay and Donna walked up to get the drinks, Trisha and Shawn continued their conversation. This time Shawn took the lead.
“So Trisha, what do you ‘really’ think of Jay?”
“We’re becoming good friends. He’s a nice guy and I have fun with him. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, just curious. I know you’ve talked about this together but I just wanted to see your facial expression and hear your voice when you talked about it. The facts sometimes obscure true feelings.”
Wanting to silence Shawn on the subject, Trisha came back with, “I suppose I feel about Jay similarly to how Donna feels about you.”
The game got interesting again and the conversation subsided a bit. Jay and Donna started walking down the steps to their seats. A few rows up from their seats, Donna decided to execute her plan. She completely relaxed the muscles in her right foot and ankle and allowed her clog to slip off about an inch once coming off the step. This trend continued for a couple more steps until the clog was barely on. She intended for the clog to slip off an fall down 2 or 3 steps and see if Jay would retrieve it for her like he did for Trisha. However with the clog barely on, she started to lose her balance. Not wanting to spill the drinks she was carrying she lost control of what she was doing. With the toes of her right foot barely inside the clog, she raised her right leg quickly for balance. In doing so, she flipped her Birkenstock clog into the air several feet before landing on the grass a few feet from the end of the stands.
“Oh no! My shoe!” Donna exclaimed with a pitiful voice she hoped would incite Jay to action quickly.
Donna’s timing could not have been worse. Right before kicking off her shoe, Uga’s owner walked by pulling the dog on a long leash. Uga was several feet behind his owner who did not see the shoe fall behind him. Uga saw the shoe land right in front of him and, thinking he had a new toy, he grabbed Donna’s shoe in his mouth and continued on his merry way.
Donna raced down the steps in her single clog and looked out over the edge of the stands and could not see her shoe. After looking to the right and to the left she saw something sticking out of Uga’s mouth that appeared to be her shoe. She called out, “Hey! Uga’s handler! He’s got my shoe!”
It was too loud with the excitement on the field for the man to hear Donna’s cry. Jay, who was still standing in the aisle next to their row of seats where they were sitting asked, “Do you see it?”
Donna replied, “I think Uga walked off with it!”
Shawn felt called to action. He slipped past Trisha out to the aisle and then went down next to Donna and looked. “You’re right. Uga does have your shoe. We’ll have to go up and back down a couple of aisles over to tell them. Let’s go!”
Once Shawn reached Donna at the bottom of the steps. Jay returned to his seat next to Trisha. Shawn and Donna, who had much less trouble walking in her one shoe, as did Trisha, hurriedly raced up the steps. Jay told Trisha, “Can you believe that Uga grabbed Donna’s shoe? If news of that leaks out the newspaper will probably interview her.”
Trisha pondered the possibility of her getting interviewed for one of her lost shoes. The thought made her shudder. Back when Jay stole her shoe in the U of GA Library and the news got leaked to News of the Weird, she was too embarrassed to tell the library had she had found her shoe in fear that the newspaper might try to contact her for a statement or something.
About the time that Shawn and Donna reached the walkway to walk over to the second set of steps, a Georgia linebacker intercepted a pass near mid-field and all of a sudden, Beau and the Bulldogs were in position to close the gap to 2 points as the third quarter was about to come to an end. The interception caused a lot of excitement on the sidelines and the cheerleaders and Uga’s owner were fixated on the game and celebrating. No one saw or noticed when Uga placed his shoe prize inside his little white doghouse and walked back out without it in his mouth any longer.
Shawn led the way and Donna quickly followed and they eventually made it down to where Uga and his trainer stood. He yelled out, “Hey, Uga’s trainer! Uga’s trainer!”
The man looked around with a puzzled look and barked, “What!!”
“Uga had my friend’s shoe in his mouth. Did you find it?”
The owner walked closer and replied, “Haven’t seen it. What does it look like?”
Donna stood with her wool-sock-clad foot on the steps and raised her remaining shod foot up on the edge of the stands and showed him her other clog?
“Okay, it’s a old worn out Boston Birkenstock clog. If I find it what do you want me to do?”
“We’re sitting two sets of steps to your left (Shawn pointed in the direction). Just walk over and we’ll see you since we’re on the third row.”
I’ll do what I can, if I don’t find it, you might want to check with stadium lost and found or security.”
“Thanks a lot!”
Donna was highly disappointed not to get her shoe back. She and Shawn slowly climbed back up the steps and walked back down the steps to the seats in their section. Along the way, Donna lamented the possibility of never finding her shoe. “Those were my favorite pair of Birks - maybe my favorite pair of shoes all together. They’re so comfortable and familiar.”
Shawn tried to cheer her up, “You know what Donna, I’m sure they’re comfortable, but lets be realistic for a minute. You’re in college now. The old is passed away and the new is to come. That’s what you told me when you said you’d rather us not date in college. You wanted your time to meet and explore other possibilities.”
Donna sharply retorted, “Why are you trying to bring our relationship into my lost shoe problem?”
“Maybe this is God’s way of telling you that you need a new pair of Birks - a nicer looking pair that’s not oil-stained; that has a cork bed not worn down to the ground, that…”
Donna interrupted, “I get your point. I know they looked bad, but they were just so comfortable.”
“Sometimes the past is more comfortable, but now may be the time for the new. If you’d like, I’ll go with you to the mall tomorrow afternoon and help you pick out a new pair - even if you find the lost one. How does that sound?”
“Okay - it’s a date…but not that kind of a date, alright?”
Feeling much better, Donna and Shawn returned to their seats. Trisha noticed Donna was still missing her other shoe. “You mean they didn’t find your shoe?”
“No, it was nowhere to be found.”
Jay added, “Maybe the dog ate it just like my homework.” That got a laugh out of everyone.
Donna said, “Let’s just forget about it and enjoy the rest of the game. I needed a new pair anyway. They were about to fall apart. Shawn’s is going to drive me to the mall to get a new pair tomorrow.” Trisha and Jay were impressed at how good Donna was taking her situation.
Soon the game got very interesting. Beau threw a TD pass and after the extra point, Georgia closed in with a score of 24-22. Shelley was beside herself on the sideline cheering on her boyfriend who was poised to be the hero of the night.
The game was coming to an end and her shoe had still not been found or returned. It lay safe in Uga’s doghouse where it had stayed ever since Uga left it in there now 45 minutes ago. Donna’s right shoeless foot was getting cold but she did not want to ask Shawn to do for her what he did for Trisha. It would look too obvious. She was hoping he would volunteer but that never came to pass. She would have preferred that Jay suggest it, but he never did either. Donna made it the best she could by tucking her foot behind her own left knee for warmth.
With 10 seconds left to go in the game, Beau drove the Bulldogs to the 20-yard line and the field goal kicker came out to try to win the game by a point. Unfortunately, Beau bobbled the snap from center and could not get the ball down on the field fast enough for the kicker to hit it. He stood up and tried to be the hero by passing the ball to the kicker. His throw was ill advised and errant and a defender intercepted the pass and ran all he way the other direction for a touchdown. Georgia lost the game 31-22 and Shelley was not happy that her boyfriend had gone from the ‘hero’ to the ‘goat’ with one play. She threw down her pom-poms in disgust and led the rest of the cheering squad off the field in tears.
It was time to go and Donna realized that she’d have to walk home to Brumby Hall with only one shoe. The thought bothered her but she was getting excited about getting a new pair of Birks the next day. At least it was on the way to the Beta House and she’d not have to walk it alone.
On the way out of the stadium, people noticed Donna’s missing shoe but no one cared or dare to ask why. After awhile, she got used to the feel of walking in one shoe and almost forgot about it. Shawn walked her to the lobby of her dorm while Jay and Trisha waited outside. When she walked into the lobby in one shoe one of the girls in there noticed and asked, “Girl, you must have been partying your sorrows away.”
Jay and Shawn walked Trisha back to her car at the Beta house and all retired for the evening soon afterwards. The next day, Shawn did take Donna to get a brand new pair of Boston Birkenstocks and she was soon happily wearing them almost every day to break them in. A few days later, the campus newspaper came out with the following story. (The day after that, the same story ran on the Associated Press (AP) Wire. Numerous newspapers in the southeast US carried the story.)
Prince 'Uga' Looking For His Princess
Athens, GA - (AP)
This past Saturday night during a football game, a ladies shoe was found in the doghouse for the bulldog mascot of the University of Georgia, affectionately known as ‘Uga.’ The shoe was a worn-out Birkenstock clog sandal; Ladies size 6. Uga's owner who was handling Uga that night did report a girl, presumably a Univ. of Georgia student, asking him if he had found a shoe. She and a friend had seen UGA walking off with it in his mouth sometime in the third quarter. The shoe was not discovered until Sunday morning when Uga’s owner unloaded the doghouse off his trailer and took it out to clean. The girl who reported it lost, did not leave her name or a phone number. A mystery remains as to how the shoe got out onto the sidelines and carried away by UGA in the first place. If Cinderella is out there reading this article, you can claim your shoe back from Uga's owner by calling us here at the Newspaper office. Otherwise, Uga will have a new chew toy.
Shawn saw the article first and called Donna to let her know her shoe had been found. Donna's reply was unexpected, "You know what Shawn? I don't think I'm going to call.”
“Why not! They’re your favorite pair of shoes.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking and maybe it was time to let them go. I’ve worn my new Birks every day since we went to buy them and I really like them. If I did call, it will probably make the newspaper again and it will be embarrassing.”
Donna ignored the fact that her shoe was found and the matter was never publicly settled. As for Jay, she decided not to try anything weird again in trying to win his heart. She decided to get more serious about becoming a full member of Phi Mu sorority, which would open the door for many more dating prospects, anyway.
