Mitchell, Paul and the G-III team had a full 2 weeks of work planned for the girls with the only break between noon Saturday and Sunday evening in the middle of the project. Again, the shoots were thematic with the girls working either alone, in pairs or all together, depending on what was necessary. They started by finishing up some loose ends for the Fall/Winter 2001 campaign, but most of their work was geared toward the upcoming Spring 2002 campaign. Trisha and the other girls were very happy that this trip would earn them $7000 each - before taxes, of course.
As in the previous shoots, the girls got to wear lots of beautiful shoes ranging from wintry knee-high boots to very revealing spring sandals. Trisha anticipated taking a few more nice pairs of shoes home with her to Georgia to wear to work, church and sorority chapter meetings.
After the end of the first week and the Saturday morning shoot - which had to be moved indoors because of rain, Mitchell gathered the 4 girls together near the lunch cart and looked very serious. He said, "Girls, I have something to talk with you about before you have a 30-hour break." Mitchell reached inside his blazer pocket and pulled out an official looking sealed envelope. Then he pulled out a monogrammed gold-tipped envelope opener and cut a jagged tear into the envelope. As he pulled out the contents, the girls' eyes were all fixed on the contents. "You've done a good job. A very good job in fact. So, Paul and I are going to take you to dinner at Sardi's and then to tonight's 8PM performance of The Producers." A collective "Gasp..." came from the 4 girls. "It's at the St. James Theatre only 7 blocks from here. There's just one catch; you have to wear Kenneth Cole evening wear and shoes."
Wearing new designer clothes was certainly not a chore for the girls. Brooke asked, "Will this be a photo-op?"
In reply, Mitchell said, "No, not at all. Well, there will be a group photo on the way out, but that's more for our scrapbook. Enjoy yourselves and have a good time tonight. Oh, by the way, you will find a selection of eveningwear and shoes for you in your bedroom to pick from and change into. I got one of our hairstylists to come by early and help you fix your hair for the evening. You need to meet me downstairs at 5:00 so we can make it to our dinner reservation on time. I rented a limo for us to use. Grab a sandwich for lunch and the rest of your afternoon is free."
That sounded great to the girls and they eagerly anticipated their upcoming fun-filled evening. They had 5 hours to do nothing before having to get ready for dinner, and after an initial bantering around of some fun ideas of how to spend the rainy afternoon, the idea of doing very little seemed to have the most appeal to the hard working shoe models.
Ilene the hairstylist came by around 4:30 to the girls’ rooms and helped them fix their hair nicely for the theatre. Brooke and Christine had their hair up, but Trisha and Cynthia had their hair left down but cutely styled. Trisha and her fellow models looked very elegant in their Kenneth Cole eveningwear and shoes.
Each girl had a dress in their size and chosen to accentuate their body type and personal style. These had become evident after so many photo shoots. They each also had a choice of two matching shoe styles from which each chose one. After making their decisions, Brooke chose a dressy pair of what looked like a pair of 3" black mules except that they had an ankle strap. Christine chose a pair of demi-boot style mules with a wooden 4-inch narrow heel. Cynthia chose a pair of 1.5-inch tan mules with stitching on the upper. And, Trisha chose a pair of classy-looking 3-inch black mules. Each girl also wore a pair of nude sheer thigh-high nylons from Hosiery Boutique. Trisha would have preferred going barelegged to the but she did appreciate that the hottest musical on Broadway deserved formally-dressed ladies in attendance.
The girls had a lot of fun getting to ride a limousine, eating in a nice restaurant and seeing a hot Broadway play. Things went pretty smoothly until the intermission break. The girls were seated in the mezzanine level and had gone up to the balcony level to use the restroom and get a soda. Christine and Cynthia were standing against the wall waiting on Brooke and Trisha to get out of the restroom. While standing there, Cynthia thought it might be a good time to take care of her nylons that seemed crooked on her toes. She lifted her right foot up behind her, leaned over and slipped it off with her right hand. She first tried sticking her shoe under her left arm and discreetly adjusting her nylons with her right hand. This proved to be not enough so the pulled her shoe out from under her arm and placed it on what looked like a small metal counter inset into the wall with some type of modern design.
Now less discreetly and with both hands, Cynthia adjusted her hose while Christine began to take notice of what she was doing. "You having problems over there?"
"Not really, my hose was a bit uncomfortable on my right foot so I thought I'd take this chance to fix it."
Cynthia reached over to the counter to grab her shoe and just as her hand brushed against it, the shoe slipped away out of touch. Spinning around and looking at the counter, her shoe was gone. "What in the world!...Its gone!"
Christine looked over and saw what was going on. "What happened?"
"My shoe was sitting on the counter and I touched it then it disappeared."
Christine reached over and touched the counter and showed Cynthia that is was actually indeed a trashcan. She demonstrated how the two halves split and went down when pressed so trash can be hidden from view.
"I just dropped my shoe in the trashcan, then." Thinking it was not that big a deal - except for the part where she might have to touch garbage - Cynthia balanced on one shoe and one nyloned foot and reached into the trashcan and felt nothing - she had practically her whole arm in there.
"That's odd, it doesn't look that deep but I can't feel anything. Slightly taller Christine tried also and did not feel anything either. Paul and Mitchell saw the girls dressed in fashion wear digging in the garbage can and were quite puzzled. They also saw Cynthia was missing one shoe.
"What's going on over here?"
Cynthia was too embarrassed to answer. And just as Brooke and Trisha returned and were back in earshot, Christine answered. "Cynthia laid her shoe up here and didn't know it was a trash can. Then she knocked it down into it. Now we can seem to find it."
Mitchell tried to take control. "Step aside. Step aside. Let me try." Mitchell reached in with his longer arm and noticed something strange."
"I can feel the bottom and it's slanted toward the wall. I can't feel anything either. Maybe we need to find help." Meanwhile the lights flickered to indicate the musical was about to resume and it was time to return to their seats.
Paul quickly located an usher and asked for his help. He saw what was happening and replied, "We have an automated trash reception system. Each of these trash bins (he pointed around the balcony lobby) feed garbage down into the basement where trash is collected and bagged for pickup at the end of the show. We may or may not be able to locate your shoe."
Cynthia now quite concerned asked, "Can you try?"
"I'll tell the guys in the basement to be on the lookout. Meet me here after the end of the musical and I'll have your shoe or give you a status on finding it."
A dejected Cynthia motioned to the others to go ahead and return to their seats. She limped along one shod down the steps back to the mezzanine section of the theatre. Along the way she was getting the attention of many whom she passed. They tried to be inconspicuous but their glances and puzzled looks proved that they wondered why such a pretty and well-dressed young lady was at the hottest musical on Broadway wearing one shoe. One of these was a guy named Phil, who was enthralled with the sight of Cynthia's one nyloned foot carefully stepping on each cool marble step. There was just something attractive about a girl in a nice sheer pair of nylons and missing one shoe. He had to take care so as to not call attention of his stares to his pretty date, Linda.
Once back in her seat, Cynthia enjoyed a time of seclusion - she was among friends who knew she was missing a shoe and they all knew why. She had trouble focusing on the show in the hopes that she would meet the usher afterwards holding her missing tan mule. Even in her protected state, she felt awkward having one foot warm and protected and one cool and exposed. She first sat with her unshod foot tucked under her other thigh but this caused her foot to get numb after a few minutes. She then tried sitting with her shod foot pushed under her seat and her unshod foot crossed on top of it. Then, she tried stretching her legs out in front - as far as they could go in the narrow aisle - with her feet again crossed at the ankle.
Trisha, who was sitting next to Cynthia, noticed the distress this was causing. She thought for a moment about times in the past she had been in a public place missing a shoe - as recent as 10 days ago actually at the miniature golf place back home. She felt somewhat like an expert - a dubious distinction. However, she realized that Cynthia was much less able to handle being in one shoe than she was.
Trisha remembered that all the shoes they modeled with were size 7 so that they could easily wear each other’s shoes. She looked down at her high heel black mules - a style she had 3 pairs of back home that were similar. On a whim she slipped her feet out of them and with one nyloned foot, scooted them on the floor of the theatre over to Cynthia. Trisha whispered to Cynthia, "Take these. I don't mind wearing one shoe in to the lobby or even back to the agency if I have to."
"Trisha, I can't let you do that," Cynthia whispered back. "I let the shoe fall into the trash and I should bear the consequences."
"Really. I don't mind, slip me your shoe and you put on mine."
On Trisha's insistence, Cynthia decided to accept her genuine and unexpected generosity and compassion. She slipped on the high-heeled black mules and they did look nice on her feet. Trisha slipped one foot into the remaining tan mule and both now resumed enjoying the musical.
At the end of the musical and the callbacks, Trisha, the other girls, Mitchell and Paul were spellbound after the excellent performance. They began to slip out of their seats and Trisha felt less embarrassed about her one shoe situation than she had ever remembered being before. She made her way into the lobby and Cynthia found the usher that said he would know about her shoe. She asked him, "So were you able to find my shoe?"
The usher was puzzled when he saw Trisha and not Cynthia wearing the one tan mule, but he said nothing regarding that. He did have bad news to report, "Sorry, we did the best we could but your shoe is in one of several dozen large bags buried under lots of garbage." Trisha and Cynthia were disappointed but Trisha did not complain. Cynthia offered to take back her one shoe again but Trisha refused, "No, in fact I have several pairs of mules like that already. You keep them for your trip back to Iowa."
Cynthia realized she had found a good friend in Trisha and all six of them laughed their way out of the theatre. Trisha walked in one shoe with as much grace as could be expected while only one of her nyloned feet had the pleasure of receiving a slap from a cute tan mule.
Phil and Linda made it downstairs and of course he looked for Cynthia. When he found her he was surprised to see her wearing a pair of high heel black mules and wondered if he had found the wrong girl. He then happened to notice Trisha standing next to Cynthia wearing the one shoe he had seen earlier. He took time to memorize it’s shape, heel height, color and stitching on the upper. This was very puzzling seeing the girls having swapped shoes but he decided to just enjoy the view. Phil, and unbeknowingly Linda too, followed Trisha out of the theatre watching her every step with interest and excitement.
When they got outside to wait on their limo to pick them up, they realized that it had come another thundershower while they were watching the musical. But now, it seemed to be clear and the temperature was very comfortable. Trisha dreaded having to walk out to the limo from under the protective canopy and onto the wet sidewalk, but she had made the commitment to Cynthia and she intended to go through with her plans. The limo soon arrived and it was about 50 feet from where they were standing. Trisha walked carefully with only her toes touching the cool wet concrete with a few shallow puddles. Still, when she arrived at the limo, her stocking was ruined wet and dirty and felt pretty disgusting. Phil was disappointed that his nylon and shoe show was over but he and Linda continued walking toward Broadway and turned south on their way to conclude a fun evening at a coffee house where they liked to frequent and listen to live Jazz.
When they got seated and started driving away, Mitchell located a brown box with KENNETH COLE on the side and opened it. "Cynthia, I asked our driver to go back to G-III and meet Tina there and bring back a duplicate pair of your tan mules."
"Trisha, you want me to take those and you have your black mules back or would you rather have the new pair of tan mules?"
"You keep the black mules if you want. I'll take the tan mules. Mitchell, I'm curious why you went to the trouble to get a replacement pair of shoes for the 7-block ride back to G-III."
While Brooke reached over and opened the sunroof, Mitchell aired a cheesy grin and replied, "Because we're not going straight back. We have another stop."
Fun loving, party-girl Brooke was excited, "Are we going to a dance club?"
Paul replied, "No, but it's a place we like to take all the models that serves great coffee and delicious dessert. There's a jazz guitarist and sometimes a vocalist. It's a nice fun place to relax and wind down after a busy day."
Everyone seemed excited to be doing something different and fun. Trisha looked down at her right foot and saw that her nylon was torn wet and dirty. Trisha was actually somewhat glad that she now had a good excuse to remove her thigh-high nylons that had limited her comfort all evening. She rolled down the bad nylon and Brooke helped her pull it the rest of the way off in the crowded limo. Christine helped her with the second one. Soon Trisha was wearing the new pair of mules barefoot - the way she preferred.
Brooke and Christine were still holding Trisha's nylons but as the limo gained speed after passing through a traffic light, Christine's nylon was sucked upward and out of her hand through the sunroof. Brooke allowed the nylon she was holding to do the same. In the rear window, everyone watched as Trisha's nylons floated around a bit bouncing up and down as the busy Manhattan traffic sped by.
Cynthia eyed the extra tan mule on the floorboard and asked Mitchell, "What will you do with the extra shoe?"
"I don't know. I hadn't planned to do anything with it, really."
On that 'green light' Cynthia tossed the extra shoe out of the sun roof toward the west side of Broadway and laughingly said, "You ever wonder why you sometimes find one shoe on the side of the road? Now you know!"
Phil and Linda continued walking south on Broadway and saw one of Trisha's nylons in the middle of the street as they crossed at a crosswalk. Linda did not comment on it and neither did Phil. However, being careful to not call attention to himself, Phil tried to get a good look from 10 feet away and wondered to whom it could have belonged. He could tell they were a pair of thigh-highs. After walking another block as they continued toward their destination, Phil saw the shoe that Cynthia had thrown out the window. From the looks of it, the shoe had been run over several times already. He was sure that it was the same type of shoe that the girls were wearing at the theatre. He wondered if it was the missing shoe or the surviving shoe that had simply been abandoned since she had no need for a single shoe. Phil and his date continued on their walk.
Everyone enjoyed the remainder of the evening at the coffee house. They relaxed and engaged in lots of shoeplay in a six-person booth in the corner drinking coffee, eating cheesecake and listening to some good music. Trisha spent much of the time with one shoe or the other dangled and fallen off onto the floor. Her new mules were very comfortable and fun to play with - especially barefoot. Having walked, Phil and Linda arrived at the coffee house just after the G-III group who had ridden in luxury in the limo and took a seat near the G-III group.
About 30 minutes after arriving, Phil walked to the restroom and to his surprise he saw the girl who was missing the shoe (both of them) and their friends sitting at a round table in the corner. He walked slowly and took a glimpse under the table as he walked by. He and he saw one shod foot on the floor and one bare foot crossed and pointing away from the edge of the table. He assumed she was still missing a shoe - the one he saw abandoned in the street - although her other shoe was safely on the floor. He also immediately realized she was no longer wearing nylons and wondered if it were possible that the nylon he saw in the street was indeed hers.
Phil took care of business and again took note of Trisha’s apparent one shoe state. As the evening wore on, Phil came up with an excuse every 10 or 15 minutes (going to the restroom, making a phone call, checking the menu, etc…) so he could walk by the table and see the girl missing a shoe. On none of his trips past their table did Phil see Trisha wearing both shoes nor did he notice a fallen shoe on the dark floor - making it seem that Trisha had come to the place missing a shoe and seemed to be enjoying herself anyway. Phil considered taking Linda home then going back to find her shoe off the street and return it to her, but he figured it was a lost cause given how many times it had been run over and smashed flatter than a pancake.
Phil and Linda did leave around 12:30AM. The evening's odd events made a great post for Phil on the legsandheels web site the next day. Around 1:00 AM, Trisha and the other girls returned to G-III for a restful night's sleep.
Jeannie's father met the taxi at their driveway and paid for Trisha's ride from Manhattan and offered a generous tip as well.
While carrying Trisha's luggage inside, Mr. Lorentz took a moment to talk to Trisha.
"Trisha, before we go in I wanted to let you know something." Trisha had no idea what he wanted to say. Maybe there was some house rule she needed to know about or something. "My wife and I wanted to thank you for how much you've helped Jeannie."
Trisha was surprised by his expression of gratitude. "Thanks for saying that, but Jeannie's a friend, one of my best friends. I'm not sure what I've done besides that."
"When Jeannie got this scholarship to the University of Georgia she was nervous. She was nervous about how she would fit in at a school in a part of the country so different than her home. But your sorority and you in particular have taken her in arms befriended her and made her one of your own."
Trisha replied, "But she was always one of our own. AOPi is about sisterhood and friendship and we all like Jeannie. In fact, some of the girls are jealous of how good a dancer she is and wish they could be half as good as her. She's a valuable part of our sorority and I'm proud to call her my friend. I've really gotten to know what a warm, sweet person she is after rooming together for a semester."
Soon they reached the front door and Jeannie came to meet Trisha at the door with a big sorority girl hug. Trisha got the home tour and got settled in her room in the basement. "So Jeannie, is your rehearsal dinner at the Holiday Inn where your dad works?"
"Yes it is. We're having a seafood buffet for everyone. Laura and her fiancé Dillon decided they wanted that instead of a big dinner after the wedding. We're having mostly appetizers and dessert for the reception."
After a few minutes to visit with the family, Trisha got ready and she and Jeannie helped her two younger sisters, Maria and Simonne get ready and pick out accessories. Most everyone else was local or staying at the hotel so that had worked out well for the Lorentz family.
Trisha wore a tan dress with white lace trim and the same tan mules she got the night of their limo ride to see the Producers. This time she wore them without hose from the start. Jeannie was nicely dressed in a green dress and black pumps. Trisha enjoyed wearing her new tan mules that if not for Cynthia's blunder, she would not have had available to wear. They were low-cut on the upper so that they slapped with each step and whenever she sat down and crossed her legs, she went into an almost immediate dangle with the shoe resting on the end of her toes. She took care to not allow one to fall off during the more serious moments during the actual wedding rehearsal, but other times she was not so careful.
The rehearsal and buffet dinner went well for everyone and pretty Trisha met a lot of Jeannie's family and also the groom, Dillon's family. She was quite popular with the 17 - 30 year-old unmarried men at the dinner and several of them made Trisha promise them a dance at the reception the next day. Undoubtedly her constant shoe dangling and playing with her shoes while standing around talking caused some of the attention but aside from that, Trisha looked especially pretty and her always-bright smile helped her to draw even more attention from the guys.
The day of the wedding Trisha helped Laura and her attendants - including Maid of Honor Jeannie and her two younger sisters. Trisha herself wore a simple black dress with narrow straps and a pair of Ralph Lauren 'Layla' slides with a single narrow strap just above her freshly red polished toes. She had originally packed this barely-there style of shoes to wear to the wedding since they looked so nice with her black dress, absentmindedly not considering there might be dancing. Now it appeared that she would be doing plenty of dancing at the reception.
Laura's wedding went well and soon there was a crowd of about 125 in the fellowship hall of the church. Everyone took their turn getting food and cake and talking to the newlywed couple. Several guys, including one of the Groomsmen, Keith, who made sure that Trisha was a very important guest by talking to her, getting her refills on punch, etc…. Trisha was attracting a lot of male attention with her ultra-feminine slides that seemed to defy gravity by staying on her foot with each step.
About 20 minutes into the reception, Laura and most of her attendants kicked off their shoes and slipped them under one of the side tables. They scooted at times on the slick floor in their nylons but none of them seemed to care since their shoes were not all that comfortable in the first place. The best man took advantage of this to play a little game and raise some money for the couple. He took command of the microphone and announced, "I have Laura's abandoned shoes and she will only get them back if you help them raise $500 to spend on their honeymoon in Maine by tossing some cash in one of her shoes when they come around." He then tossed each shoe into a different area of the hall and people began to donate and pass the shoes around like the collection plate at church.
Soon the dance floor opened up and Laura and Dillon had the first dance then each danced with each other's parent (Laura with her Dad and Dillon with his mom) then they danced with their spouse's parent. This drew a lot of photographs. Laura did not seem to mind having to do the dance in nylons. Besides, her dress was so long that her toes barely showed from the bottom of the dress.
Soon the dance floor was open to all and Keith quickly summoned Trisha to the dance floor. Trisha soon demonstrated that she was not the expert dancer that Jeannie was, but she was still quite good and she was very a popular dance partner. She did not have much trouble with her shoes during the slow dances, but on the fast dances, she had to flex her toes down to keep her shoe from flying off during some of the maneuvers.
Near the end of her 4th dance, her partner, Dillon’s older brother Luke, who had cut-in on Keith a couple of dances prior, led Trisha in a toss spin and when she planted her right foot and began to come back, her foot fell out of the shoe and only the end of her right three toes were inside the strap of the shoe. She then lost concentration and slung her right shoe ungracefully across the dance floor. Her shoe seemed to have eyes. It slid into a crowded area but it seemed to find its way in between everyone's feet before landing unceremoniously under the gift table, which was covered by a floor length tablecloth.
Trisha excused herself and began to make her way through the crowd looking lopsided - despite the fact that she was walking on her flexed toes on her one bare foot. She had not seen the shoe land so she started by looking down in between people's legs for her shoe. She asked a few people if they had seen her shoe and no one had. Finally, she made her way to the edge of the room and she leaned up against the gift table and began to scan the area between there and where she lost her shoe and she saw nothing. She could not understand where her shoe could have possibly gone. People were starting to stare and wonder what Trisha was doing and why she was missing a shoe. Luke made his way over, "Can I help?"
A little embarrassed, Trisha accepted his offer and the first thing he did was lift up the tablecloth of the gift table and there was her little black slide resting underneath. Trisha reached down and retrieved it. "Thanks a lot. Maybe I should try dancing without these."
"Sure, it matters not to me."
Trisha took off her remaining shoe and deposited both of them near where the attendants had done the same earlier in the evening. She came back and Luke asked a familiar question, "You wouldn't happen to know how to Salsa would you? You might have an easier time, now."
This question brought her back to 4 weeks ago in San Antonio when Jorge asked her the same question and they had a good time. "In fact, I do." This time Trisha was in practice so she immediately knew what to do. She and Luke tore up the dance floor and had other couples trying to learn and keep up. Meanwhile, Keith made his plans to cut back in and dance some more with Trisha - which he eventually did.
A little later, after Trisha had taught Keith the Salsa, the emcee announced that they had now collected over $400 in one of Laura’s shoes. In front of the crowd, he emptied the shoe’s contents into an envelope and tossed the one shoe back to Laura who just held it in her left hand with the intention of returning it to it’s safe haven under the table where she had left it before. “Laura, you need to put it on as a reminder to everyone to donate to your second shoe.”
Laura hesitated but with encouragement she obliged. For the next 20 minutes, Laura was forced to mingle with her guests and take candid pictures with them wearing only one shoe. It was not that obvious except when she was seated and more of her leg was exposed, such as when she did the garter and bouquet toss. She soon got used to the lopsidedness, but hoped that her other shoe would have enough money soon so she could get it back. Meanwhile, Trisha continued having fun on the dance floor while Jeannie mingled with family and friends.
Another announcement came soon after the garter and bouquet toss ceremonies. “Laura’s second shoe now has $300. That brings the total donated to $700. Congratulations and have fun in Maine.” The emcee tossed her second shoe back to Laura who instead of putting it back on, took the other one off and deposited them under the table like before. She enjoyed the rest of her reception in this manner.
Trisha slipped her shoes back on as the party began to wane. Soon, the couple and all the guests had left. She and Jeannie left themselves to go back to her house for a good night's rest before they all went to church the next morning as a family.
Jeannie, who was sitting at the table in the kitchen with Trisha and drinking coffee, asked, "So Trisha what would you like to do in Manhattan?"
"I would like to see the Statue of Liberty, maybe go by the Empire State Building; walk around Central Park, stuff like that. What about you, Jeannie?"
"All that sounds good to me, Trisha. But, I also would not mind doing a little shopping. I've been wanting to go shopping with a friend downtown in Manhattan but I haven't since high school."
"I love shopping too! In fact, you remember me telling you about Cynthia - the model from Iowa? She and I spent a few minutes in Bloomingdale's back in April and I'd love to go back. There was a pair of Kate Spade mules that I really wanted but I did not want to spend the money to buy them, then. But now, I might be convinced to do other wise. (Pause) Oh, and what about lunch, did you have any ideas?"
"No, I really don't care."
"Jeannie, we had food from this place called Sarge's Deli catered in to us several times it's great. Would you like to eat there?"
"Sure, sounds fine to me."
Trisha went back into her bedroom and put on her shoes, a pair of backless, multi-colored , plaid sneakers - to add to her outfit, she wore a pair of white Capri's and a green and white striped top. She grabbed her purse and a second pair of shoes, a pair of slide sandals with an upper that made the design of a 'K' and had a low heel. She came out to meet Jeannie in the kitchen and started stuffing her shoes in her large purse.
"Whatcha doing there Trisha?"
"I wanted to wear a pair of nicer shoes than this in Bloomingdale's and in the restaurant and they're not the best for walking all over downtown."
Teasingly, Jeannie replied, "Oh, I thought you might be packing a spare." Trisha laughed off her humor and was actually impressed by her quick wit. "Do you think I need a second pair?" Jeannie was wearing a pair of dressy white loafers barefoot with a pair of Khaki's cuffed above the ankle and a cream cotton sweater top.
"No, what you're wearing looks fine and if they're comfortable, then you're set."
After finalizing their plans, Jeannie and Trisha took the subway into Manhattan and they first took the boat tour to the Statue of Liberty. It was quite a patriotic moment for the girls; it made them very proud of their country. Next they traveled up to Central Park to walk around and people watch before going into Bloomingdale's.
Outside Bloomingdale's, Trisha stopped and reached inside her purse and pulled out her dress slides. As discreetly as possible she slid one foot at a time out of a sneaker mule and into a black slide. She stuffed the much more bulkier canvas mules into her purse, slowly but carefully closed the zipper. Trisha and Jeannie were now ready to shop in style.
Trisha liked the way this particular pair of slides felt on her feet. They were not the most comfortable for long distance walking, but the looked nice and displayed her polished toes and they only caused a moderate slap with each step - not enough to be annoying to fellow shoppers or diners as would occur later at lunch.
The girls marveled at all the pretty merchandise and after 45 minutes or so, after Jeannie found a pretty red blouse to buy, they made their way into Bloomingdale's impressive shoe department. After browsing several minutes Trisha excitedly noted, "They're still here!" Trisha picked up one of the gray Kate Spade mules that she saw back in April and observed the grain leather upper, the shape of the 3-inch heel and the square black adornment on the top center of the upper.
"They're nice shoes, Trisha. Are you going to buy a pair?"
"I don't know yet. Sir, (addressing a nearby sales clerk) can I try on a pair in a 6 1/2?"
"Sure, Miss. I'll be right back."
Jeannie continued to look over the pretty shoes but nothing stood out as a 'must buy.' Soon the sales clerk returned with the prettiest gray mules she'd ever seen. Trisha slipped out of her black strappy slides and put on the Kate Spade mules. They were so comfortable and they looked so stylish. After a couple of laps around the area she was sold on them. Trisha put her black slides back on and the salesclerk bagged her new mules.
Soon Jeannie and Trisha made their way outside and they started going toward the subway entrance. "So Trisha are you going to put your canvas mules back on between here and the restaurant?"
"No, since that's what we're doing next, I'll just tough it out in these. "Trisha slapped her slides down the steps into the depths of the subway system.
Passing Trisha and Jeannie on the subway steps was a man named Kevin Kessler. Kevin was recently divorced and had become a bit of a psychopath. His ex-wife, Shelia, loved to wear pretty feminine shoes and she was also big into collectables. One thing Shelia collected was miniature shoes - from the Just the Right Shoe collection. When Shelia and Kevin divorced at the end of 1999, he was devastated and went into a time of depression. He was fired from his job on Wall Street as a Financial Analyst and became chronically unemployed.
Not long after he was fired from his job, Kevin was sitting on the subway and saw a pretty lady sitting on the subway a few rows up from him. She was dangling her shoe off the end of her foot. Something inside him snapped and as the train was coming to a stop and the doors were about to open, he jumped up, grabbed her dangling shoe and ran out of the subway car, mixing into the crowd. Once home in his Manhattan studio apartment in the upper west side, he attached a picture hanger on the bottom of the sole underneath the toe area of the shoe and hung it on the wall of his bedroom.
Over the next several months, he collected about a dozen shoes in this manner. Only a few of the shoe stealing cases were reported to the police, who soon compiled a M.O. for Kevin and gave him the moniker "Subway Snatcher." All subway conductors and security agents were alerted to be on the lookout for a person trying to swipe dangling shoes off of women’s' feet.
This problem with ladies having shoes stolen on the subway made the news in New York so Kevin began to slow down his pace of stealing shoes. He did see one shoe style in a magazine he just had to have though, and soon, finding this particular shoe style became his obsession. It was a low-heeled slide with two narrow straps across the instep, which was connected by a strap in shape of the letter 'K' which matched his first and last name.
Every day when he got a chance, Kevin lurked around the subway tunnels of New York looking for a woman wearing this shoe. Finally on the morning of July 2nd, he was walking up the subway steps near the southeast entrance to Central Park when he happened to look down. 'Hey, she's wearing the shoes with the K strap!' Kevin excitedly noticed. He was thrilled and when he got to a break in the stair railing, he reversed his direction and began to follow Trisha down the steps.
Kevin tried to not be obvious in his trailing of Trisha. He went through the same subway turnstile and boarded the southbound train on the same car. Trisha and Jeannie took a seat near the right front of the car (Jeannie by the window) and Kevin took an aisle seat on the left side a few rows back. Much to his delight, soon Trisha had her right leg crossed with her foot out into the aisle and her coveted K-strap slide was beginning to dangle of her foot.
Thought of finally getting the centerpiece of his shoe collection consumed Kevin. He plotted his next move. Trisha continued to dangle the shoe and the subway made its approach to its next stop. Kevin stood by his seat and just before the doors opened, he made a dash and grabbed at Trisha's dangling shoe.
At the same exact moment, Jeannie made a motion for Trisha to look at a funny hairstyle she saw on some lady standing on the subway platform. Trisha uncrossed her foot at the last millisecond and turned to look out the window. Suddenly, a security officer, who had seen Kevin make a dash for Trisha's shoe yelled, "It's him! The Subway Snatcher!"
After that, Kevin continued running out the doors but following him was a security guard who with help, wrestled him to the ground and he was arrested.
Jeannie and Trisha saw this guy get arrested outside their subway car and Trisha asked, "I wonder what he did? They called him the subway snatcher"
Jeannie replied, "We'll probably never know. I'm just glad we were holding on to our purses well enough. Otherwise, we might have been involved." The girls continued their ride back down to the area near Sarge's Deli.
Once at the restaurant, Trisha and Jeannie were led past the deli counter of this classic New York Jewish deli which had a vertical glass face that displayed their meats and cheeses. Not only did they use them on their delicious sandwiches, but they also sold them by the pound. They found a nice seat in the middle of the restaurant and soon a friendly waitress took their order.
Trisha and Jeannie reflected on their fun day thus far and then began to guess what Jeannie's sister might be doing?
"Laura and Dillon are probably sipping a cup of clam chowder from their deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean."
"Have you even been to Maine, Jeannie? I've not been myself." Trisha began to allow her right shoe, which was dangling off the end of her crossed right leg, to slide down to the edge of her toes.
"I haven't been either. Laura had seen lots of pictures and stuff on the Travel Channel. She thought it was so beautiful that it would be a nice place for a honeymoon."
Across the aisle and two tables over, a guy named Frank was eating lunch with a couple of buddies from work, Larry and Dave. Larry commented while pointing subtly in Trisha and Jeannie's direction, "Hey, check out the two cute chicks at the table over there."
Frank turned to look with high expectations. Although the two girls were quite attractive, what caught his attention was Trisha's slide sandal just barely hanging on her foot. "Yeah, they are both cute." That is about as far as things got, though, at first. Their conversation focused again on the fortunes of the New York Mets and their current series with their hated rivals - the Atlanta Braves. After a few minutes, Frank dared to ask, “Do you guys think it’s attractive when a girl does that?”
Larry and Dave looked at the girls and were puzzled. “Do what?”
Frank hesitated then said, “You know, dangle one shoe off the end of her foot like that.”
Larry suggested, “I’d rather see a girl dangle a bra, but whatever floats your boat,”
Dave said nothing nut snickered as to agree with Larry.
Trisha put on a fantastic slide show and Frank did his best to catch as much of it as possible. Trisha seemed to get tired of dangling and she uncrossed her legs and brought both feet to floor and crossed them under her chair crossed at the ankles. Frank liked the view of Trisha dangling one of her shoes in an ankle dangle even better than the first one. After 20 minutes or so, Trisha and Jeannie finished their sandwiches and began to walk to the deli counter to pay. Frank was not ready for his show to end so he made up an excuse, "Hey guys, I need to cut out on you. I have a meeting in 15 minutes."
'Relax, sit, have another refill on your iced tea. That meeting can wait."
Jeannie asked, "Trisha, I'm going to stop by the restroom. Here's a ten (dollar bill). Could you pay mine for me?"
"Sure, Jeannie, go right ahead."
Frank looked to see that no one had gotten line behind Trisha. "No, I really have to go. See you later. Enjoyed having lunch with you guys." After that Frank hurriedly made his way to stand in the pay line next to the deli food display case right behind the cute brunette with the nice sandals, Trisha. Much to his enjoyment, Trisha played with one shoe then the other. She lifted her foot up and back and wiggled her shoe off then she flexed her toes, then she placed her toes on the top of the sole and made the shoe rock on the heel lifting the toe of the shoe off the floor.
Frank looked for an opportunity to play his favorite shoe game. His was fairly innocent one. Instead of outright stealing a shoe, he liked to subtly move an abandoned shoe just a little so that the female victim would have to search for it. He noticed that the deli counter was on short legs and not completely on the floor. Therefore, there was a gap underneath. It looked large enough for a shoe to slide under. This created a good shoe-moving scenario.
Trisha dangled her right shoe and dropped it onto the floor making a loud noise as it landed on its side. She took the opportunity to scratch her left calf with her big toenail. Instead of putting her foot back in her shoe, she instead crossed her bare foot crossed behind her other ankle and flexed her toes on the wood floor. Frank made his move. No one seemed to be looking, so he subtly used his foot to knock Trisha's shoe to the right. On the oil-stained hardwood floor, her shoe slid all the way under the deli counter and was out of view unless you got down on the floor and looked underneath.
Frank tried to look busy gazing at the cheese collection but was instead intently watching for Trisha's next few moves. She brought her foot down where she figured her shoe had fallen and felt nothing. This did not seem to bother Trisha at first. She simply began to slide her bare toes on the floor in a figure eight pattern trying to locate her shoe while she waited for the person in front of her to pay their bill.
The cash register became open and Trisha was ready to pay, but she did not want to move until she put her shoe back on. She quickly looked down expecting to find her shoe nearby. It was not in sight. Now, Trisha began to look frantically around the area, holding up the now long line to pay.
There was a shout from the back of the line, "Hey lady what's your problem!"
Trisha looked at Frank and suggested, "You can go in front if you like."
Frank hesitated as if he was planning to say 'yes' and miss the opportunity to milk the most out of the situation. Then he came to his senses and replied, "I see your shoe must have fallen away somewhere. I'll try to help you." Frank turned to the person behind him, "You can go ahead of us." On that, the people in the cashier line at Sarge's became much happier.
After ruling out all other options, Trisha suggested, "Maybe it slid under this meat counter." She got down on her hands and knees and Frank shortly followed. He thought she looked cute with her one bare foot's toes flexed on the floor and with her one shoe barely hanging on. Both slid their hand under the counter and Frank was successful in knocking the shoe even farther under the counter.
"I didn't feel it? Did you?"
Right before Frank had to decide whether or not to continue this game, one of the deli workers picked up Trisha's shoe that had slid out from under the counter onto their side and announced, "Hey! Did someone lose a shoe?"
Trisha stood quickly and said, "It's mine! Thanks!" And the deli worker returned the shoe to Trisha who promptly replaced her shoe on her foot and moved up to pay her bill. She turned back to Frank and said, "Thanks for helping me find my shoe. By the way, I'm Trisha. What's your name?"
"I'm Frank. It was a pleasure to be able to help you out."
"Nice to meet you too, Frank."
Jeannie returned from the restroom having seen or heard nothing that had happened while she was gone. "Wow that was a long line in there!" Are we finished here?"
"Yeah, we're done." Once outside, Trisha switched back into her plaid sneaker mules and put her K-strap slide sandals back in her purse. Jeannie and Trisha made their way over to the Empire State Building to look out from the Observation deck before getting back on the subway to return to Queens.
Trisha and Jeannie returned home on the subway after lunch and had a relaxing time the rest of the day. Jeannie was less relaxed, however, as she finalized her packing for her trip to go back to school. Jeannie's dad took everyone out for pizza that evening and they had a good time together.
Early the next morning, Trisha and all of Jeannie's family shared a large breakfast together. Mr. Lorentz read the morning New York Post and the lead story on page 1 caught his attention. He matter-of-factly directed a comment to Jeannie's mom, "They finally caught the Subway Snatcher. His name's Kevin Kessler"
Jeannie and Trisha's collective jaws hit the proverbial floor. Jeannie quickly replied, "So what does the article say?"
Her dad was surprised at his daughter's sudden and unexpected interest in local news. She had not even dared to pay attention when the story first broke in 1999. "Well, it says that he was caught on the F-train near Rockefeller Center yesterday."
Trisha replied, “We were there and saw him arrested outside our subway car."
Mr. Lorentz was surprised, "Really! The article says they interrogated him and he confessed to stealing about 20 single ladies shoes - mostly backless sandals - over the last 2 years. They searched his apartment and found them hung on the wall on picture hangers."
Jeannie noted, "Wow, that's pretty weird. Does it say how he got caught?"
"Let me see… Oh here it is. It says he was trying to steal a black sandal off a girl on the subway when a security guard spotted him. He said the shoe had his initial on it."
Trisha suddenly became ghost white and chilled. Jeannie made the same connection as Trisha spoke, "It was me! He was trying to steal my shoe with the K-Strap."
Simonne and Maria both started chanting, "Let me see it! Let me see it!"
Trisha ran back to her suitcases and found one of her shoes and showed to everyone. Mrs. Lorentz noted, "Trisha you should be proud. You can go back to Atlanta knowing you helped to solve a criminal case that's been going on for 2 years."
Jeannie tried to make humor out of the situation, "Remember if I asked yesterday if you were packing a spare. You might have needed it."
After everyone finished their breakfast and finished discussing this extraordinary turn of events, Jeannie loaded up her Honda Accord and she and Trisha began their trip back to Georgia. They talked halfway to Baltimore about how they had played a key role in lowering the crime level of New York City.
