(Part One)
Back in August 2000, Trisha's competitive AOPi sorority sister, Shelley Sullivan, began an internship with the Atlanta Fox-Network affiliate WAGA-Channel 5. Throughout the Fall Semester, she only appeared at the studio, 70 miles from campus, for a few hours each Friday from around 10AM until 3PM (Thursdays if the cheerleading squad had to travel on Friday to a football game.)
The first few weeks, Shelley performed mostly menial tasks. She edited copy, typed the closed-captioning for the noon news, served as a gopher to the highly paid on-air talent, and even made coffee and a daily donut run for the jovial sportscaster who was her immediate boss. She was allowed to dress casually since her face never made it on the air.
Around the end of September, Shelley and her backup quarterback boyfriend Beau Rodgers were talking about her job situation over a fudge cake they shared for dessert one evening at the local Shoney's restaurant.
"My job's so boring! I want to be on the air and report from down on the field like Lesley Visser, Melissa Stark and my hero, Jill Arrington."
"Shelley, I guess everyone has to start from the bottom and work their way up. I'm still the backup QB sitting on the bench most of the time. Last year I was just on the scout team and never got to practice with the starters. But next year, I ought to be the starter."
"I suppose you're right, but if I could just get a little taste for being on the air, I'd be much happier."
"Why don't you think of an idea and pitch it to your boss."
"Beau, you've got to be kidding. My boss has been doing sports in Atlanta since the mid-eighty's. He's not likely to listen to his college intern."
"Maybe you just need a good idea. Who does reports on the Georgia football team?"
"Well, no one specifically. Whoever gets the assignment gets the story."
"Shelley, you're a student at the prestigious University of Georgia, you're dating the backup quarterback on the football team and you're the head varsity cheerleader. Why you've got the inside scoop on what's happening all around. That ought to count for something."
"The inside scoop, huh? I guess you're right. (Both paused to share a piece of fudge cake. They dueled forks playfully like a couple of swashbuckling pirates.) Hey...the INSIDE SCOOP! That's it."
"What's it?"
"The INSIDE SCOOP! I could do a weekly story on something on campus - like the football team or even the cheerleading squad. I could write the stories, do the on-air reporting and everything. Maybe this could be my big break."
Beau enthusiastically supported Shelley on her brilliant idea. Over the next few days, Shelley worked hard to write up a sample story and make a presentation to show her boss. That Friday, Shelley spurned the casual dress for more appropriate business dress - a navy blue knee-length skirt, a matching navy coat and a nice dressy white blouse. She wore sheer nude pantyhose and a pair of new black pumps with a 2 1/2-inch heel, a decorative tie string bow, a pointed toe box and a little bit of toe cleavage.
After making her daily donut run, she lingered in her boss's office to make her pitch.
"Miss Sullivan, you're dressed quite s..martly today." (The 's-' word he really wanted to say was 'sexy,' but he feared the trouble that such a comment could cause him in this age of political correctness.) Anything special about today?"
"Actually sir, there is something I have been wanting to speak to you about." Shelley continued to make a lame attempt of humility and modesty and added some mumbo-jumbo about wanting to grow in her career; stuff that sounds good to your boss. Then she brought out her ammunition and pitched her idea for the 'Inside Scoop.' It did not hurt that she sat in a chair across from him and crossed her leg revealing a bit of thigh.
"Miss Sullivan, maybe we could try that for a few weeks and see how it goes."
Having seen Trisha do it a thousand times, she purposefully flexed the balls of her toes and released her foot from the heel of her pump and dangled it on the end of her toes. The inner one third of each toe was visible. Her boss quickly continued, "I'll send a crew to your campus next Thursday so you be ready to do your first story. If you get it ready in time, we'll run it on Friday night as part of our Bulldog Preview on the 10:15 Sports Report."
"Thank you sir, I appreciate the opportunity so much." Shelley said while standing and pressing her foot back into her shoe, taking care not to wrinkle the back of her shoe.
Shelley got the idea from Beau to do a story on the Scout team. Beau convinced her that the scout team is sometimes a good look at the varsity team a couple of years in the future.
Beau explained to her, "The scout team gets a lot of good experience since each week they have to try to mimic specific players on the team they plan next so the varsity can practice against them and prepare for their next opponent. These thankless no-names now could be the stars of tomorrow."
Shelley pieced together a good story using the theme - “Stars of Tomorrow” and it was a huge success.
As October arrived and the leaves began to change color, the Sports department began to see a new Shelley - one that some of them, particularly the other women, did not like very much. She became a bit arrogant as her "Inside Scoop" reports became very popular. Shelley was actually doing a good job with them but she increased her watchability by wearing sexy outfits and footwear - mostly pumps and slingbacks with nude sheer nylons. Her WAGA camera technician made sure to get a lot of leg and foot shots during her stories.
By Halloween, Shelley was receiving over 100 fan letters and dozens of email each week - almost as much as their attractive morning weather girl. Her most recent report on the bulldog mascot 'Uga' had been picked up by national Fox Sports and shown in a million households. Her end of report tag line "That's the Inside Scoop" was starting to compete with "You're the Weakest Link, Goodbye" for the 'catch phrase' of the day - at least in the Atlanta metro area where her reports were seen and loved by a mostly male following.
Once outwardly content to menial intern duties, Shelley became the most despised employee among the sports production staff at WAGA. What made things even worse was how the other Sports anchors, who were all males, thought the sun rose and set on her command. She could do no wrong in their eyes and the higher-paid producers who had no business doing such things as part of their job were again doing some of those ‘menial’ tasks she once performed.
Shelley had been rewarded with a small office in the bay where the rest of the production staff worked. Few interns in the past ever got their own desk. Her office was not enclosed and she faced the walkway where people passed frequently. It was not a very private office, but all she really needed was a computer and a phone to plan her upcoming "Inside Scoop" stories. Her desk had two sets of drawers on either side and was completely open in the front middle. Some of the ladies on the production staff noticed that Shelley liked to kick off her shoes while sitting at the desk. Many of them did the same thing, but Shelley's desk proximity made it obvious to all who passed by.
Brenda, one of the producers, was known as the office prankster. She would decorate employee's offices on their birthday; leave phony messages that celebrities had called - stuff like that. She had been at WAGA for seven years and nothing, and specifically no one she had seen, had caused more unrest amongst the Sports production team than Shelley.
Scheming with a couple other co-workers they concocted their plan. First, they planted a couple of hidden X-10 cameras: one in full view of Shelley's desk from an angle view and another to capture action under her desk. These cameras were connected to feed into a couple of video tape recorders. Next, about 1PM in the afternoon, Brenda passed Shelley's desk and saw that she had shed her red mules under the desk and was flexing her feet, presumably enjoying the freedom of shoelessness and unknowingly showing off her pretty painted red toenails to all the guys who happened to pass her way. She had worn a pretty red and white floral print dress to work that day that looked very nice and attractive. Her shoes that day were a pair of dark red mules with a 2 1/2-inch heel. The upper had a stitching design down each side giving them a professional contoured look.
Her cohorts in 'crime' sprung into action after Brenda started filming with the X-10s. First, Allison came over to Shelley's desk and showed some fake interest in her next story - a report on the Sanford Stadium Maintenance crew. While doing so, she shed one of her flats and probed under Shelley's desk and snagged the heel of one of her mules, pulling it out toward her then off to the right side behind Shelley's desk's file drawers. Next, Nancy came walking by and purposefully dropped a pencil that she was carrying which fell near where Shelley's moved shoe lay. Without stopping, Nancy was able to pick up her pencil, slyly grab her red mule and slip away unnoticed.
Allison wrapped up her conversation and left the scene. Shelley continued to sit in stocking feet and work on her story.
About 10 minutes later, her phone rang and it was Brenda. "Shelley, you have a surprise visitor. Dan Reeves (pause) Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons."
Interrupting, Shelley quickly replied, "I know who he is! He's here to see me?". She started blindly fumbling for her shoes and was able to eventually get her one remaining mule on the right foot while continuing to probe all around for the left one while still talking on the phone.
"Yeah, he want to talk to you about doing a story on the Falcons. And he's on a tight schedule, so you need to drop everything and meet us out in the lobby ASAP."
"I'll be right there!" Shelley continued to blindly fumble for her missing shoe for a few seconds and she became anxious, as she knew she needed to get out there immediately. Pushing her chair back, she bent her neck and scanned the area under her desk and no shoe was to be found.
'Oh no!' Shelley thought. 'Where could my shoe have gone!' Soon she was on her knees looking all around her small office and soon she was out in the walkway and her shoe was still gone. 'What could have happened to it, Shelley thought with a high level of frustration and anxiety?'
Her phone rang again and Shelley reached up to answer, she sounded noticeably frazzled.
"Shelley, where are you! I want to see you here in 30 seconds."
Shelley returned to looking for her shoe and after a minute she decided that she had no choice but to go out with one shoe and come up with some lie to cover herself. Walking with one shoe on and her nyloned foot with her toes flexed, she made her way out of the Sports Production bay and into the main lobby. She immediately noticed how cold the marble floor of the lobby was on her unshod foot. She had obviously never walked across the main WAGA lobby without both shoes before. Quite a few people saw her pass wearing only one shoe and wondered what was up with that.
As Shelley made hey way to meet Dan Reeves, Nancy returned her shoe under Shelley's desk in the exact location where she had taken it earlier - in front of her desk - and took a back way to the lobby as well where Allison and Brenda were waiting for Shelley to come out.
Once in the lobby, Brenda chided Shelley, "Where have you been? And where's your other shoe! Mr. Reeves said he couldn't wait any longer and so he left."
Shelley was getting really upset now, "Oh no! I'll try to stop him!" Shelley limped out the front door with her one shoe and went out into the parking lot to try to locate Coach Reeves who, of course, was not there. The hot sidewalk was a stark contract to the cold marble floor and it burned the bottom her foot. The girls laughed at how their prey had fallen victim to such a prank. Shelley soon returned with a dejected look on her face. "I missed him! Sorry for being late, but I just didn't want to meet such a famous person wearing only one shoe."
Brenda broke the news to Shelley. "Shelley, every new sports intern goes through an initiation process. (This was a lie but it made their prank sound more reasonable.) And I suppose you passed yours."
Shelley paused feeling a bit stunned by her words. She was at first angry, but quickly relieved that she had not actually missed Dan Reeves. "You mean Dan Reeves was never here? That's a relief. I thought I had lost an opportunity. (Pause) And did one of you take my shoe?"
Allison spoke up, "Why don't you see if it's where you first left it?"
(Part Two)
Rob the nerdy-looking mailroom guy, made his daily rounds in the Sports Production Room and passed Shelley's desk. No one was in sight, which was unusual for this time of the afternoon - everyone was in the lobby to witness Shelley's demise. Rob felt something catch on the wheel of his cart and, looking down, he saw the single pretty red high heel mule sticking out from under the right front wheel.
After first looking around and seeing no one, Rob backed up the cart stepped in front and reached down to pick up the shoe. He analyzed the shoe, making note of the shape, color and texture - even traced the end of his index finger down the stitching on one side of the upper. He wondered what it was doing sticking out from under the desk. He noted that this was Shelley's Friday desk - seeing her nameplate and a reference to the "Inside Scoop."
Rob thought about how he would say “Hello" to Shelley when he passed by, but her response was like someone who considered it beneath her status to utter a word to the mailroom grunt. A thought came to him, "That stuck-up b***h! I'll teach her a lesson." On that note, Rob buried the shoe in the bottom of the mail cart beneath a mound of tan and white envelopes, quickly finished his work and just made it out of the bay before Shelley led the way back to her desk with everyone else following.
Shelley, still walking lopsided with one shoe made it back to her desk and started to look around. Her shoe was again nowhere to be seen. She quickly dashed out to Allison's office.
"Allison, I can't find my shoe. Where did you say you laid it?"
"Out in front of the desk somewhere."
"It's not there!"
Allison seemed annoyed but she walked out of her office to show Shelley where her shoe was. "Well, it was right there."
"You're not still trying to pull a prank on me are you?"
"No, the prank's over. I don't know what happened to your shoe."
Shelley was really frustrated now. After posing the same question to Brenda and the others involved in the prank, she returned to her desk and wondered if she'd have to go home in 30 minutes without one shoe. She looked all around and it nowhere to be found.
After Shelley left, Brenda's remembered, 'Hey we've got the X-10 recording Shelley’s desk. Maybe I'll be able to see who stole it. Of course, I really don’t care if that arrogant prima-donna gets her shoe back or not. But maybe someday, I'll get curious enough to find out. Or maybe Nancy or Allison will remind me and want to take a look.’ Neither Nancy nor Allison thought about the X-10 as their day became very busy with High School Football coming up later that night.
Shelley sat down at her desk and slowly kicked off her remaining red mule, taking care to see where she placed it and looking as if she was pondering where it's mate could be. She tried with little success to refocus on writing the copy for story she wanted to do next week. She crossed her legs and flexed her foot up and down as she typed, almost as if she was trying to match the rhythm of the keys clanking on the keyboard of the out of date PC that she was using. Every few minutes, she glanced under the desk to reaffirm that her one mule was still there and hope that maybe the missing one would magically reappear out of thin air.
Soon it was 3PM, time for Shelley to leave. Tonight, she had to get back to the AOPi house early to get ready for a party. She slipped her right foot in her single mule and flexed the toes of her left foot for a moment pondering where to look one last time for her remaining shoe. Instead of walking straight out through the lobby, she decided to walk through her Sports Production bay and look around to see if her co-workers were indeed hiding her shoe somewhere. She limped around and looked in every corner and crevice where a shoe could be hidden and saw nothing. Shelley even looked in the trashcans along the way. Trisha had once told her that that had happened to her back in her high school library and that before the culprit confessed, the trash had been emptied into the large dumpster outside leaving her with only one shoe the rest of the day.
Almost in a daze of sorts, Shelley wandered by her Sports Director's office still sporting a single shoe and a nyloned foot. She decided to pass quickly so as to not call attention to herself. Just as she was waiting to pass, her boss came out of the office with George O'Leary, the Head Coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team. She was trapped.
"Miss Sullivan, hey stop for a moment I want to introduce you to somebody."
Shelley knew who the man was and the same feelings that were stirred up at the thought of meeting Dan Reeves wearing one shoe were realized as she stood face to face with George O'Leary and his outstretched hand. She tried to hide her foot by placing her bare foot behind her other foot, but this did not escape the eyes of her boss who was used to looking at her legs anyway.
"Very nice to meet you Coach O'Leary."
"The pleasure is all mine Miss Sullivan."
"You hurt your foot or something?" her boss just had to ask in front of the coach, who then looked and noticed her one shod state for the first time.
Instead of the broken heel line, she thought of a different lie more related to his guess, "Oh, these shoes are new and the left one rubbed a blister sometime after lunch."
Both men noticed that her purse was too small to hold the missing shoe and she had nowhere else to carry it. They wondered for a moment what she did with it. But Shelley's problem was diverted by her Sports Director's question to the coach. "Have you ever had a chance to see any of Shelley's Inside Scoop segments?"
"So you're the one," the coach replied looking directly at Shelley. "I've had several of my players mention you. They asked if we had anyone as pretty as you over at Tech to do reports on them."
Shelley was flattered, something she never could get enough of, as if dozens of boys and men of all ages e-mailing her each week were not enough. But this was one of the giants in the world of football in the state of Georgia, not just some face in the crowd.
Since she was running late, Shelley said her goodbyes and expressed her pleasure in meeting the coach and then continued to limp away from the men and out the back door to the parking lot to drive back to Athens. Several people notice her missing shoe along the way, but most just stared for a few seconds and said nothing.
Shelley got in the car and slipped off her remaining mule and dropped it in the seat behind her. She figured that trying to press the accelerator wearing a shoe and the clutch without a shoe would be a recipe for trouble. Being in her car seemed to be a safe haven for being in a one shod state. No one else on the road had to know about it. Before backing out of the parking spot, she looked on her steering wheel where she had attached the following sticky note to remind her of a chore she needed to run after work:
PICK UP BBQ IN LAWRENCEVILLE
Then she remembered that she had volunteered to go by the Spiced Right BBQ restaurant in Lawrenceville and pick up the BBQ Pork for the party at the AOPi house that night. It was too far to go to Athens first and get another pair of shoes; she'd have to go inside the restaurant in stocking feet since the place had no drive through. But there were also Health Department regulations and she might be asked to leave without wearing shoes. This created a dilemma for Shelley.
Traffic began to build on I-85 leaving the city on the east side. It was only 3:30, but being a Friday, it seemed that many were getting an early leap on the weekend. Driving and using the clutch without shoes was a new experience for Shelley. It was sort of liberating, but it was also unusual to actually feel the texture of the clutch, brake and accelerator under her nyloned toes. With traffic at a snail's pace, Shelley began to consider that just maybe she had a spare pair of shoes somewhere in her BMW. She remembered playing tennis with some of the girls on Tuesday, but she remembered carrying her gym bag up to her room the next day, Even her golf bag that contained a pair of golf shoes was not in her car at the moment. The only shoe that was in her car was the lone red mule that had been tossed so haphazardly into the back seat.
About half a mile from the next exit, which was in a busy area between Norcross and Duluth, she heard a dinging noise in her dashboard. Then Shelley remembered seeing her low fuel light on the way into work that morning. 'Oh no!' she thought. 'What if I have to hitchhike to a gas station without shoes or even in one shoe!’
The traffic continued to creep along and her dashboard continued to beep. The engine continued to purr, however. Soon she made it to the off ramp and the massive QT gas station, which had about 40 gas pumps, was in sight. A feeling of relief came over Shelley as she was able to make it to the nearest available gas pump. Her engine stalled after running out of fuel just as she reached her destination.
Shelley did not really want to walk on the dirty driveway of the gas station where cars had leaked oil and gas. Her first thought was to retrieve her one mule from the backseat and hop to the gas cap of her car near the trunk and stand like a stork on her one shod foot. That idea seemed odd and difficult, so she decided to step out onto the elevated island where the pumps were sitting and step over. The area she could step on was pretty narrow, so she had to step slowly using just her toes and lean against her car to keep her balance. It took Shelley about a minute to creep the distance and the man getting gas for his SUV at the pump in front of her could not help but notice and chuckle at this odd sight of a pretty blonde professionally dressed woman trying to tip toe along the elevated island toward the gas pump with her back sliding along the side of her BMW.
As she removed the credit card from her wallet and prepared to enter it into the slot, she noticed a paper sign taped onto the side of the gas pump:
CARD READER NOT OPERATING
PLEASE PAY INSIDE
Shelley realized she was out of gas and could not leave for a different station. She looked around to see the same sign taped to each pump. The man nearby figured out what Shelley was doing and he called over to her, "Miss all the card readers are broken. You'll have to go inside."
On that note, Shelley went ahead and filled her tank and once finished, she paused at the thought of not only having to walk on the dirty driveway, but also going inside and standing in line to pay with everyone staring at her feet. She decided that one shoe would remove half of the hazards so she removed her one mule from the back seat, put it on and started to walk toward the store to pay. Then she had second thoughts and decided to try it without shoes. So after taking a deep breath, she started walking carefully trying to miss all the spots of gas, oil and grease that created hazards along the way to the inside of the store.
The man at the SUV in front of Shelley saw her put on one shoe then remove it and this gave him even more evidence to wonder if she was goofy or some sort of a ditz. It did not occur to him until much later that maybe she had lost one shoe or maybe broken a heel or something.
Several other men noticed her walking so gingerly and wondered why she was walking without shoes and why she just didn’t put them back on or something. But they also were glad to get to see her pretty legs and feet, however.
Once inside she relaxed a little but was still self-conscious about being in her stocking feet. She felt the stares but tried to ignore them as she wished the line would move a little faster. She cursed the lottery, which slowed things down even more. Finally, Shelley was able to pay and once outside, she tried to get back to her car, as fast as possible, and in doing so was less careful where she walked. She placed one bare foot in a fresh patch of oil and she immediately realized her folly in disgust. She hopped toward her car and began to wipe her oiled foot on the edge of the concrete island, where she had just walked across earlier. She also grabbed some towels from above the windshield squeegee and wiped off as much of the oil as possible. Still a nasty black stain was not of the bottom of one of her nylons.
Shelley left the gas station and in about 20 minutes, she pulled up to the BBQ place and it was already crowded. She looked for a parking spot close to the door but after circling the lot several times she gave up and parked about 100 feet from the door. Again she pondered whether to go in with one shoe or none. Having to carry a 20-pound container of barbeque would be difficult while trying to walk lopsided with one 2 1/2-inch mule but she knew that being without shoes all together might get her kicked out for health code regulations.
Shelley decided to try to minimize both problems. She got her one mule from the back seat again and carried it into the restaurant, being careful where she walked but by now she had given up trying to keep her nylons clean. She was more concerned with the small rocks that were scattered across the old decaying parking lot of the popular restaurant.
The hazards didn't stop inside. This was a place where they served peanuts in the shell to guests waiting for tables and there were scattered broken peanut shells all over the concrete floor that she had to avoid on her way to pay for and pick up the BBQ. It was here she decided to put on the shoe she was carrying. As in the gas station, customers were puzzled to see such an otherwise well-dressed young lady walking around in nylons and in this case, one shoe. One guy who looked 16 but may have been 18 or so cane up to Shelley as she waited to pay for the BBQ and said, "Aren't you Shelley Sullivan from the 'Inside Scoop' on Channel 5?" There was another guy with him who looked to be a bit more skeptical, but curious.
Shelley hesitated and considered concealing her identity because of being without her shoe, but her vanity and love of being recognized in public took over so she replied, "Why yes, I'm her."
The guy continued, "I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your reports on the Bulldogs."
"Thank you very much. Are you a Georgia fan?"
Before the guy could answer his friend blurted out, "No, but he's a pretty blonde fan!"
On that, the first guy got very embarrassed and walked away and Shelley felt even more self-conscious as she finally got to pickup the BBQ, again take off her one mule and put it in her purse and leave the restaurant carrying the food.
Shelley was very happy to arrive back at the AOPi house where she carried the BBQ to the kitchen entrance and scurried away up to her room to get ready to set up for the social that night. She didn't tell any of her sisters about her missing shoe or what she had gone through because of it.
Brenda never did review the tapes to discover who stole Shelley's other shoe and in fact, she accidentally recorded over them. Rob was never discovered as the shoe thief and a single red mule now adorned the top of the dresser in his bedroom at home. After a couple of weeks passed, Shelley gave up any hope of finding her missing mule and tossed it in the trash dumpster outside the sorority house one night when no one was looking.
(Part Three)
After a spending couple of days in Orlando with her family following her trip to Hawaii (in Story 27), Shelley returned to Atlanta to begin a 2-week time of intense internship that continued until school resumed in early January. Awaiting her arrival was a tremendous surprise that came from her boss. She was called into his office and he gave her the exciting news, "Miss Sullivan, I got a call from the Sports Director over at the Fox Network affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina. They asked if they could borrow you for the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Hometown Carolina's playing Ohio State."
"You want me to go to Tampa to cover the Gamecocks? I'd love that, what do you need me to do?"
"WACH, channel 57, wants to have a reporter on the field to do some taped spots for the evening sportscast. Their sideline reporter is out on personal business and they have no one else to send down there. They'll pay for your trip there and back and also a nice fee for the day's work. They also said something about seeing your story on 'Uga' that made it on Fox Sports Net"
Shelley was about to burst with excitement. This was her big break. A chance to do ad-lib sideline reporting like she always wanted to do. Her plan devised back in September had succeeded. Shelley's boss worked out the details over the next 30 minutes: She would fly down to Tampa early on the morning of January 1st and fly back to Atlanta that evening. WACH had a few things they wanted her to look for and try to do while down on the field, including sideline interviews with coaches and players and anything else that came up during the game. The cameraman assigned to cover Shelley would be wired to WACH producers and give her direction as the game progressed. The WACH production crew would be responsible for piecing her work together into a report for that night's sportscast.
After the excitement wore off, just a little, Shelley realized she'd have some work to do to get ready. She had some nice outfits, but wanted to spice up her outfits a bit. She saw Jill Arrington wearing some beautiful mules on the sideline for the Florida/Florida State game, back in November and thought she'd like to look for some pretty new shoes to go with her outfit. An idea came to her - 'Why not ask Trisha to go shopping with her and get her help? She lives here and she always has pretty shoes.'
Shelley called Trisha with her idea and she was very enthusiastic to help her out.
Trisha added, "In fact, why don't you come over for dinner after work on Friday and we'll go out to Town Center Mall to see Bruce after that. I'll call him and set up an 8 o'clock appointment."
A puzzled Shelley asked, "Dinner sounds good but who's Bruce? And what's this about an appointment?"
"Oh, he's my shoe salesman at Parisian. He's wonderful. I met him in my class at Kennesaw State this past summer and I buy all my shoes from him when I'm at home. I've probably bought 10 or 11 pairs from him so far. Bruce will recommend styles and colors and if something's not in stock, he'll order it for me and have it mailed to my house in 48 hours. He gives me a 15% discount and a 10% discount to any friend I bring in with me."
Shelley thought it was absurd to have a shoe salesman you made an appointment with, but the personal attention and the 10% discount sounded good to her.
Shelley showed up at the Kendrick home and had a nice dinner with Trisha and her parents. Even though Charles and Lisa were well aware of how competitive Shelley was with their daughter and how she had a reputation for being a bit of a snob and other worse descriptions, they treated her as nice as they possibly could have. Shelley put on her absolute best nice and humble behavior in front of the Kendricks, however.
Trisha and Shelley were both dressed for the cold weather that had Georgia in its grip for the previous 4 weeks. Shelley was dressed with a pair of khaki slacks and a Christmas sweater and Trisha was in jeans and a nice sweater of her own. Shelley had been wearing a pair of pumps with hose at work that day, but while keeping on the hose for warmth and for trying on shoes, she added a pair of socks and a pair of brown clogs for going to the mall. Trisha also wore warm socks and a pair of black clogs.
A while before the girls arrived at the mall, Bruce and co-worker David were back in the storeroom getting shoes down for the customers they were helping.
"Bruce, you're in a good mood tonight. What's up?"
"Trisha's coming by in 15 minutes for an appointment."
"Oh, no wonder. She's your favorite customer. Has she ever figured out that making appointments is highly unusual, or that you cut into your own commission to give her that big discount."
"It's business. If I sell her two pairs instead of one I make a little bit more than if she buys one pair with no discount."
"Business-smisness, you just like getting to see her and being near her feet and watching her shoeplay. You've gone on and on telling me how her feet are the perfect size and shape and how they never smell bad or look unmanicured."
"Well, David, sometimes you get two good outcomes out of the same thing. And tonight, she’s even bringing a friend."
"Is it that Amber chick she comes in here with a lot? I thought you didn't really care much about her. You said she had only average feet and never bought pretty mules or slides like Trisha does."
"No, it's some girl named Shelley. Said she works for Channel 5."
David paused for a moment and added, "It wouldn't happen to be Shelley Sullivan who does the 'Inside Scoop' reports, would it?
"I don't know, maybe. Trisha said she's a sports reporter."
"It has to be her, Bruce. She's a real hot babe - a tall blonde with a pretty face and shapely legs. You're going to like her. I guess your Christmas came a few days late for you, huh?"
"I've never heard of her myself, but I'll take your word on it."
About 20 minutes later, Trisha and Shelley came into the shoe department and David saw them first. He thought Shelley looked even more beautiful in person that on TV. David had an obvious crush on her as did hundreds maybe thousands of male viewers of WAGA in and around Atlanta. Still he was only a jealous observer as Bruce approached them in the middle of the store.
"Hi Trisha," Bruce exclaimed with a slightly effeminate voice as he opened his arms to give her a big hug hello. "Introduce me to your friend."
"Sure, Bruce, this is my friend Shelley, she's also a sorority sister back at Georgia."
"So you're an AOPi?"
Shelley was amazed at how friendly and cozy Trisha was with her shoe salesman and was amazed that he knew what sorority they were in. "Yes, I'm an AOPi. It's a lot of fun and hard work."
"Trisha tells me you work for WAGA?"
"Yeah, I'm an intern for the Sports Department. I do weekly stories on the Georgia Bulldogs and that's sort of why I'm here. I've been 'loaned' so to speak, to the FOX affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina to cover the South Carolina Gamecocks (Also known as USC) during their Outback Bowl football game down in Tampa next week. I'm originally from Orlando so I have the right clothes, but I though a nice pair of dressy mules might be just the right touch for the outfit."
"Okay, sounds good. Now will you be on the football field? If so, you might want to consider a solid heel and we have some good ones over here."
Bruce led Shelley and Trisha followed over to some dressy mules with a square heel. Trisha admired a couple of pairs but she fought the urge to ask to try any on. Instead she picked up a couple of styles and recommended them to Shelley.
Looking the shoes over, all of them looked like something a 45-year-old professional would wear, not a 20-year-old sexy blonde coed. "Not really, but maybe I should at least try a pair on just in case."
Shelley waited for Bruce to return before she slipped off her clogs and began to peel off her socks revealing a fresh coat of red toenail polish under her nylons. She slipped on the mules and walked around the store and took a good look at them. She did not look too satisfied.
So these with the square heel don't do it for you, huh? Did you have anything else in mind?"
Actually, I saw Jill Arrington wear a pair of mules I liked a few weeks ago." Looking off to the right a couple of tables away, Shelley spotted a cute pair of red mules with a curved upper that tapered to a narrow toe box and included a decorative narrow buckle strap across the instep. The heels were 2 1/2 inches high and were maybe a 1/2-inch square at the bottom. "That's them! The ones that Jill wore!" Shelley said pointing over to the red mules with a low vamp and a thin buckle strap across the instep.
A doubtful Bruce asked, "Those over there with the small heel?" He was subtly trying to make her consider the problems that could occur wearing such a shoe style to a grass football field.
"Yes, they're the ones. Let me try them in a size 8."
While Bruce went back into the back room to find the pair she wanted, Shelley flexed her toes in her nylons as if to prepare them for trying on the cute pair of mules.
Trisha noted, "Shelley, what if it rains in Tampa or if the field is not very solid. Those heels might be hard to walk on the field with."
"I think they'll be fine. I'm planning on standing around most of the time and not walking all that much, anyway. If they fit, I'm going to get them."
Soon, Bruce returned with the shoes that Shelley requested and they fit good and looked even better. "I'll take these!"
Shelley and Trisha left Parisian and returned to the Kendricks. They visited with Trisha's parents for a few minutes, before Shelley had to go home to her motel room where WAGA had put her up during her short internship.
(Part Four)
A few days later it was January 1st and it was a new year, a new millennium and Shelley was getting her first sideline assignment in Tampa. Kevin the WACH photographer planned on meeting her at the gate in Tampa later that morning to drive her to the stadium. He had driven the WACH van with all the equipment from Columbia, South Carolina the day before. Shelley's flight was due to arrive just 90 minutes before kickoff, so they would have to hurry. Fortunately, since Shelley had no baggage except a carry-on bag full of makeup, hair products and a toothbrush, once she landed they had little to wait on before heading to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Shelley dressed for the game and did not bring a change of clothes to Tampa. She wore a pretty black skirt with a red jacket and dressy white blouse. Fortunately, South Carolina and Georgia have the same primary color scheme so she had an appropriate outfit to wear. She accented her wardrobe with the new pair of red mules she bought at Parisian with Trisha.
Shelley wore nude sheer nylons to give her legs a shapelier look for TV and to keep warm with temperatures expected to only be in the 60's.
Kevin picked Shelley up at the airport almost 30 minutes late. The flight was a bit delayed - a pretty normal occurrence on a holiday. Spurning the friendly introductions at first, Kevin suggested, "We'll have to hurry to make it to the stadium before the pre-game festivities." Noting her pretty outfit and delicate-looking shoes, he snickered under his breath at the thought of this blonde 'princess' running through the airport. He started a moderate jog and expected Shelley to follow as they passed the gates in the main corridor at Tampa International Airport.
"Hey slow down! I can't run that fast in these shoes." Shelley called out to Kevin as her mules were trying to slip off with every jarring step. Kevin reached the down escalator and Shelley reached it a few seconds later. As Shelley tried to slow down to plant her right foot on the first step of the escalator, she drug her left foot to a stop in a clumsy manner. In trying to get her left foot planted, she kicked her mule off and hit the back of Kevin's leg.
Kevin turned around and picked up Shelley's 'weapon'. He glanced up at her and tried to conceal a smile as he looked at the guilty party who was balancing her toes of the foot missing the shoe on the step of the escalator. At the bottom, Kevin handed her shoe back and conceded, "Ok, we can slow down a bit. We're almost there now."
Shelley relaxed a bit and walked out the rest of the way with Kevin side-by-side and began to get acquainted.
"I'm Kevin Sellers, WACH Photographer and junior Electrical Engineering major at USC."
"Hello, I'm Shelley Sullivan, intern at WAGA in Atlanta and junior Broadcast News major at The University of Georgia."
"It's nice to meet you Shelley, I saw your story on 'Uga' and you did a good job."
"Thanks Kevin. (Pause) So how far are we from the stadium; it's 10 o'clock and kickoff's at 11?"
"We're only a few miles but I hope we can get there by 10:30. It won't take long for us to get set up once we get there."
Kevin and Shelley were able to get to the stadium and get their equipment set up in plenty of time to film the kickoff. Shelley felt very satisfied standing on the sidelines and watching the game from the area near the South Carolina mascot, 'Cocky' and the rest of the cheerleading squad. Without being asked, she initiated some interviews with the cheerleaders and even got Cocky to do a chicken dance with her for the camera - this ended up being two-thirds of what got aired on the sportscast that night. Shelley also did some fan interviews from the sideline and got some good footage of a group of 10 guys who had shed their shirts and were sitting all in a row sporting the phrase 'GO CAROLINA.'
As halftime neared, Shelley was feeling very confident with herself and her performance. Kevin also seemed to be getting some good video coverage- unknowing to her, he had gotten a lot of nice shots of her legs and feet by choosing to use a narrow angle lens and film full body shots during her interviews.
As the first half clock counted down, Kevin relayed the request from the production staff back in Columbia to get a statement from Carolina coach, Lou Holtz as he walked off the field.
Shelley asked, "Where's he going to leave the field from?"
Kevin pointed to the corner of the stadium and said, "The Carolina locker room is over there."
"We better hurry if we're going to make it."
"The last seconds came off the clock without another play being run and Coach Holtz began to jog toward the corner of the stadium."
Kevin said, "Let's go!" And Shelley walked out in front as fast as she could as her nylon slippery mules tried to slip off her feet. With Kevin filming her run toward Coach Holtz, she did come out of one of her mules briefly, but Shelley was able to stop quickly, hop back and retrieve her shoe while only losing a few seconds. Shortly afterwards, Shelley was going straight down the sideline and was on a good line to catch the coach and get a statement from him. Then she had the misfortune to step onto a drain with a grid of narrow parallel slots and her right heel wedged into one of the slots. Shelley stopped with her foot missing a shoe up in the air to see her shoe wedged in the drain. She then looked up to see the Coach almost out of range. Thinking quickly, she kicked off her remaining mule and ran in stocking feet toward the coach and finally caught up to him. Kevin had gotten all of Shelley's folly on tape and was now in position to get her interview with the coach.
"Coach Holtz, you're only up three to nothing; what are you going to tell your team during halftime?"
After a typical witty and certainly usable comeback by Coach Holtz, Shelley returned back up the sidelines to retrieve her shoes. She retrieved the one mule she kicked off on her own then went to see just how stuck her other shoe was in the grate. She reached down and yanked on her shoe and the heel was wedged about an inch and a half into the slotted drain and did not want to budge.
"Kevin, can you help me?"
"Okay, I'll try." Kevin replied as he continued to subtly film all the action. He placed the running camera on the ground and aimed at the shoe in the grate and reached down to try to pull up her shoe. They noticed that the grate itself was bolted into PVC Piping. Then a stadium official came over and sternly alerted them to leave the field.
Shelley frantically replied, "I'm trying to get my shoe out of the drain."
"You'll have to get it later. The halftime show is getting set up and everyone has to leave the field," the official sternly replied.
Kevin took Shelley's forearm and led her off the field limping unbalanced without her other shoe which remained stuck in the drain. Instead of Cinderella, her stuck shoe was more like King Arthur's ‘Sword in the Stone.’
"Shelley, we'll pull it out when we get back on the field. We'll go to the press room and grab some lunch."
The thought of facing the other press corps missing one shoe was not very appealing, but there was little choice. She had to get off the field and she was hungry - that power bar she grabbed on the way out of her hotel room was beginning to give way to hunger pangs.
"Okay, I guess we can get some food. I am hungry."
The Outback bowl had arranged a nice buffet for the press corps and Kevin and Shelley stood in line for at least 5 minutes before getting to fill their plates. Shelley felt very self-conscious in her single red mule that stood out on her nyloned foot and under her above-the-knee length black skirt like Rudolph's nose on Christmas Eve.
While getting their food, another cameraman/reporter team came over to say hello. Kevin knew them and introduced them to Shelley and her to them. They were from the FOX affiliate in the neighboring Greenville/Spartanburg market; WHNS channel 21, whose Sports department had come in second last year to WACH for best in South Carolina.
The team from WHNS included veteran sports photographer, Russell and their pretty brunette sideline reporter, Julie who had been doing reports from the sidelines of Carolina games for three years. Instantly, Julie and Shelley began to compare themselves to the other in a competitive way. Julie had heard that Columbia was getting a reporter from Atlanta to handle the game and she was jealous that Shelley would get more attention than her on the sideline.
In an obvious effort to annoy Shelley, Julie asked, "So what happened to your other shoe?"
Feeling self-conscious about her condition, Shelley tried to hide her bare foot by crossing it behind the ankle of her shod foot but it was to no avail. "It got caught in a grate on the sideline and I did not have a chance to get it loose before the halftime show."
Julie added, "That's why I wear sturdier shoes with large heels like these." She pointed to her sturdy black pumps with a large square heel."
Russell and Kevin were amused at the catfight of words that was going on in front of their eyes. Shelley and Kevin grabbed their food and went off to munch it down before the end of halftime arrived.
Coming out onto the field in one shoe, Shelley felt even more self-conscious than before. She quickly hunted down the field maintenance crewmember she had met earlier and asked for his help in removing it.
"Can you get it out?"
"Wow it's really wedged in there. I may have to unbolt the drain, remove it entirely and use a hammer and knock the heel out from the other side."
Kevin made sure he got all of this on tape. The maintenance guy asked Shelley to go back to her post down the field, which was about 50 feet away, and allow them to work. She reluctantly walked through the grass slapping her single mule and looking a bit lopsided. It took about 15 minutes for him to get the drain off and another 10 to knock the heel loose. Meanwhile, Shelley had to do a couple of spots, including an interview with the USC quarterback’s mother, for the evening newscast still in one shoe. With every minute that passed she felt like more and more people were focused on her missing shoe.
"Miss, here's your shoe," the maintenance man said to Shelley as he handed it back to her. Shelley examined the heel and saw that the metal drain had cut into the heel on two sides and the heel looked really ragged. But she was just happy to get her shoe back and she quickly replaced it on her foot.
Shelley was happy again and she and Kevin finished their shots and left the stadium. Kevin thanked Shelley for helping out WACH TV and took her to the airport to catch her flight.
She noticed that when she walked the heel was slightly loose, but she was not surprised given the effort that was required to get it loose. She figured she'd have to take it to a cobbler to fix the heel not only for the visible damage but also structurally after being hammered out of the grate.
Kevin drove off after dropping Shelley at the Tampa International Airport. She carried her single carry-on bag and proceeded to check in at the airline desk. With each step, she felt the heel wobbling from side to side, but she hoped she would be okay until she could get home. Shelley walked up the escalator and down the ramp to the security area where she slid her bag through the X-ray machine and walked through the metal detector.
Shelley felt good about her work that day at the Outback Bowl and she hoped that this would lead to more similar assignments in the future. With her mind off her shoes for a minute, she walked confidently toward her gate and looked at one of the overhead screens to see that her flight was boarding. Fearing she might be late, she began to jog down the corridor to her gate and unknowingly putting a lot more strain on her weak shoe heel. She had gotten used to her mules being loose on her feet so they were not coming as close to falling off as they had done earlier in the day.
Just as she got to her gate, she made a sharp stop then a right turn toward the gate desk and when she did this, the shoe with the weak heel made a snapping noise and the heel folded underneath.
'Oh no!" Shelley thought as she looked down to see that her heel had buckled under. She figured that the heel had simply come apart from the sole. The gate airline worker came on the intercom and announced a 45 minute delay for her flight so Shelley relaxed, tossed her bag to the right, turned around and took a seat in the crowded gate area next to a well-dressed professional looking woman who seemed to be totally engrossed in conversation with a friend to her right. Shelley assumed they were business co-workers traveling together.
After taking a couple of minutes to relax after her jog to the gate, she kicked off the broken shoe, reached down and began to examine it. To her dismay, the heel was still perfectly attached to the sole. The sole itself was broken about 2 inches up from the heel.
She had never had a shoe break in that manner, but she wondered if it was repairable. Regardless it was certainly not wearable the rest of the trip. Any further wear would seem to jeopardize it being able to be fixed, she reasoned.
Shelley looked at the shoe and realized she might never be able to wear them again. She had wanted so much to wear them since seeing Jill Arrington wear them a couple of month’s prior. Now she'd probably have to replace them. While not paying close attention to what she was doing, she reached down to her right and placed her broken shoe in the carry-on bag. This happened to be the bag that belonged to the woman she was sitting next to and she was looking the other way at the time. The two bags were practically identical.
Shelley became self-conscious about her one-shoe state so she crossed her bare nyloned foot behind the ankle of her still mule-shod foot and tucked both under her seat. After staring at the monitor in front of her and watching the airplane arrivals and departures, she realized that she needed to make a trip to the restroom. Shelley considered getting her broken shoe and walking carefully, but she quickly spurned that idea. Her second thought was to kick off her one mule and go in nylons, but she decided on the third option, wearing one shoe only. Shelley got up and made her way to the ladies room and took care of business, trying to ignore the stares as she walked slap..pause..slap..pause across to the restroom and back.
While she was gone, several people left the seating area when their flight to Miami at the adjacent gate began to board. The two ladies next to Shelley left and one of them took away the bag, which contained Shelley's broken shoe.
Shelley returned to her seat and realized she had absent-mindedly left her carry on in the gate area. She figured she'd now have to lie if anyone asked if she had left her bag unattended at any point. She took the seat next to the one where she originally sat, remembering placing her shoe in the bag to the right of her seat she took the seat that was in that position to her actual bag, not the incorrect one that was now gone. Her shoe was now on the plane's overhead bin and headed to Miami.
With more wait obviously required before boarding, she opened her bag and pulled out of her bag the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and read a few articles. Again, she tried to camouflage her missing shoe as before. Eventually, though, her flight was ready to board and she grabbed her bag and walked with one shoe toward her gate. The ticket collector noticed her one shoe state and asked, "Miss, you forgetting something?"
Shelley quickly replied, "It's broken - I put it in here to keep since I can't wear it." She seemed to need to explain herself so as to not look so strange. She would have loved to say that over a megaphone if it were possible. Others nearby had their unspoken question answered, but others as she boarded the plane saw her and had no way to get their curiosity abated. By now, Shelley was almost getting used to walking in only one 2 1/2-inch heel. This was the most she had ever had to be in one shoe, she did not like it, but it was at least amongst strangers - unlike the day of the prank back at WAGA.
Once in the plane, Shelley placed her bag in the overhead bin and took her seat next to a gentleman in his mid-30's who saw she was missing a shoe and made every effort to be subtle about looking at her nyloned foot and tried to figure out if she was carrying it somewhere. When she sat down, Shelley happened to glance his way and they exchanged cordial smiles as if they were saying hello without words. She tucked her bare foot under her thigh and rested her other mule-shod foot on the footrest of the seat in front of her.
About 30 minutes into the flight, the man decided to try to strike up a conversation with the pretty young blonde who was sitting to his left. He knew he was too old for her, but he wanted to feed his ego by at least getting her to talk and be friendly to him. He also wanted to find out why this Cinderella was wearing only one shoe.
Taking a chance, the gentlemen who was beginning to gray on the sides and had a reclining hairline turned toward Shelley and used the oldest line in the book, "Hi, my name's Greg, what's yours?"
After a slight pause, Shelley decided to be friendly to this older but distinguished-looking man, "Hi, I'm Shelley." Shelley always loved the attention of men of any age.
"Nice to meet you Shelley."
Greg and Shelley started a conversation where Shelley talked about her sideline-reporting gig at the Outback Bowl. Greg talked about going to Charlotte to close a deal on a contract - Atlanta was just a place to change planes. He quickly realized by her reaction, though, that his best option was to talk about Shelley and her interests, so he did that.
About 20 minutes later, he got up the nerve to ask, "Shelley, I'm curious so I just have to ask. What happened to your other shoe?"
"Actually the sole cracked and the heel buckled under. I'm going to take it to a shoe repair place and see if it can be fixed. I'm not sure it can."
Greg liked well-dressed ladies and especially those in pretty heels. Mules were his favorite. The thought of examining her broken shoe was exciting. He decided to tell a small lie to try to see her other shoe. "You're in luck. Back when I was in college I worked part time at Hakky in the mall. I'm no expert, but I might be able to tell you if it can be fixed."
Showing a bit of naivety, Shelley took the bait. "Ok, Greg, let me get my bag down and get it for you."
Shelley kicked off her remaining mule so she would be more stable and she reached up and got down her bag. "I placed it in here sitting at the gate a while ago." Shelley unzipped the side compartment and no shoe was to be found. "Maybe it was in the other side." She unzipped the other side and again no shoe. Shelley got a bit nervous and then said; "Maybe I put it in the main compartment." She looked underneath her Cosmo magazine and still no shoe. Trying not to look as nervous as she really was, Shelley said, "I'll look again." She looked in each compartment sever times and could not locate her shoe. Greg was beginning to think she was somewhat of a ditz that had no idea what happened to her shoe.
"It's gone! Where could it have gone?" Shelley asked, as if Greg could be of any help.
"Where did you see it last?"
"I put it in this compartment right here. Wait a minute, it seemed a lot more full when I put it in." Shelley paused and closed her eyes to recreate the incident in her mind. Greg continued to enjoy the attention he was getting from this pretty blonde damsel in distress.
“Hey wait a minute, this is a different bag! I put my shoe in the wrong bag."
Greg asked, "Did the bag belong to someone on the plane, you think?"
"No, I think it was someone who left from an adjacent gate. They were gone 20 minutes before our flight boarded."
Greg continued to listen to Shelley fret over her, now hopelessly, lost shoe for a while longer. Soon, however, the long day began to catch up with Shelley and she leaned back in her seat, tucked both feet underneath her and sticking out in to the aisle a bit and took a well-deserved nap. Greg saw her single mule on the floor of the plane and, after making sure that she was asleep and no one was looking, he picked it up and examined it carefully. It was a pretty mule but now rendered useless without it's mate. He liked the red color, the tiny buckle strap, and the sleek design of the heel and of course he loved how backless shoes accented a lady's heel, ankle and calf. After a minute or two, he carefully placed Shelley's mule back on the floor.
Not long after he put her shoe back down, Shelley stretched and leaned on Greg's shoulder, which he certainly did not mind at all. It had been a long time since a pretty blonde had leaned on his shoulder. After enjoying this for a few minutes, he got a charitable idea. He pulled out his money clip and pulled off a crisp new $100 bill. With that, he attached the following note to the money and placed in the toe of her mule.
SHELLEY,
SORRY ABOUT YOUR MISFORTUNE WITH YOUR OTHER SHOE.
TAKE THIS AND BUY A
REPLACEMENT PAIR JUST LIKE THESE.
THANKS FOR THE NICE COMPANY YOU PROVIDED
FOR ME TODAY.
BYE,
GREG
After this, he took the rest of the flight to take a nap himself.
The flight attendant announced for everyone to sit up, buckle up and prepare for landing. Shelley awoke and uncrossed her legs before replacing her foot into the single mule that lay on the floor of the plane. Greg awoke as well and got one last good look at Shelley's legs and single mule before they landed, said their goodbyes, gathered their carry-on bags and unboarded the plane.
Greg made his way to the gate for his flight to Charlotte and Shelley walked one-shod through the concourse back to her car. After walking part of the way, she noticed some discomfort in her shoe so she kicked it off to look in side. She picked up the mule and looked inside and was surprised to find Greg's note and $100. He left no phone or email so she had no way to thank him. She did indeed use the money to replace the lost shoe as he requested.
The lady who ended up with Shelley's broken shoe got back to her home in Miami and was surprised to find a pretty but broken mule in her bag. She examined it and then simply tossed it in the trash and went on with her business.
