Her new boss, senior Sportscaster, Tom Jenkins, went over her primary duties and got her acquainted with the production staff. She noticed that everything was a bit "small" compared to her time working for big-city station WAGA in Atlanta. After 2 weeks on the job, Shelley made her debut anchoring the 10PM sports on a Sunday night and she was rather pleased with how things turned out. She considered little WACH a good stopping-off place to launch her career as a sports journalist.
The third week of June was a very exciting sports week in the Palmetto State. Both major state universities - Clemson and South Carolina - were in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. They were two of the final eight teams in the nation.
Shelley normally got Monday and Tuesday off, so she was surprised to get a call from her boss on early Tuesday afternoon, "Shelley, it's Tom. Hey something big's happening and I want to send you to cover the story."
"Okay, what is it?"
"You know that Clemson and South Carolina are playing tomorrow and one of them is in position to play for the championship on Saturday. We'd like to do some live remotes from Omaha and get some player, coach and fan interviews, hobnob with the press corps, stuff like that."
"Sounds great, when's my flight?" to Shelley this seemed like a reasonable question since she had flown to Tampa to do virtually the same thing.
"No flight, Kevin and you are taking the Live Eye 57 Van."
Shelley did not want to sound in subordination to her boss but she asked, "How long a drive is that?"
"If you leave by 6PM tonight, you can be there in time to check into your Homewood Suite by noon and be at the stadium in time for some of the Clemson/Carolina game. I want a remote done after the game."
The idea of leaving in 5 hours for an 18-hour trip all night was a bit daunting, but it was also exciting to be given her first major remote assignment. She quickly began to pack and by the time Trisha got home she barely had time to give her the news and head out the door in her Khaki shorts, WACH golf shirt and a comfortable pair of floppy cream-colored Chinese Laundry shantung fabric slides.
Kevin briefly met Trisha and then helped Shelley with her bags down to the van and commented, "You packed like you're going on a two week cruise. What's in here?" Kevin immediately noticed Shelley's cute little flat slides with a narrow strap across the toes.
"I didn't know how long we'd be gone, or what weather we'd see or what kind of events we'd be attending so I packed a variety. Put that flowery one inside on the passenger side."
"It's heavy. What's in there?"
"That's my overnight bag. I did not get a chance to finish my makeup."
"Shelley, we're driving on the interstate at night. No one will know." Kevin studied the back of the van as he tried to place Shelley's bags. "I guess if we removed this satellite dish, we'd have enough room."
Shelley gave him a look of disgust and Kevin relented and stuffed her last bag next to the audio equipment. Soon the WACH remote team was on assignment and driving around 80 mph out Interstate 20 West toward Atlanta.
Kevin turned on the radio to his favorite Oldie's channel B106.7 and Shelley complained "There's a good rock station at 93.5 . He relented again and let her have her alternative rock as he suffered. He figured if he drove fast enough they'd be out of range in an hour.
Shelley tried to engage Kevin in some chit-chat to break the ice. Kevin told Shelley about his days as an Electrical Engineering student at South Carolina. Shelley knew for sure she was traveling with a real nerd. He wasn't in a fraternity and she found out that his favorite hobby was ham radio because he loved to play with antennas. "I once talked to a sheep herder in New Zealand on field day." That was Kevin's apparent claim to fame.
Kevin asked Shelley about being a sorority and she liked that, until Kevin asked, "So were you ever president? You seem to be the leader type."
After a sigh of disgust, Shelley answered and tried to save face, "No, I ran and came in second, but I worked real close with the president as her top Vice President. Actually, that was her you just met - my roommate Trisha."
Kevin shuddered at the thought of two sorority girls as high maintenance as Shelley living together. He continued trying to make conversation with another loser subject. "Maybe I shouldn't ask, but that Georgia football player you were dating when we met. What ever happened to him."
After another sigh of even larger disgust, Shelley responded, "What hole have you been living in? Beau Rodgers got drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and signed a 5 year, $25 million contract. If things had gone as I planned, I wouldn't be in a van with you driving all night to Nebraska."
Kevin was beginning to think he better keep his mouth shut or talk about something more generic. He apologized and changed the subject to their game plan for what they were going to do in Omaha when they arrived. Shelley decided to work on getting herself looking better. To her that was the main 'game plan' for Omaha. She got out her bright red nail polish, slipped out of her left shoe and raised her foot so that the heel rested on the seat and her toes were out in front, ready to be painted.
"You're going to do that now?"
"We're going to be in the dark soon and I don't want to have to do this when we arrive."
Kevin cracked his window to help alleviate the smell and he continued to explain their game plan for checking into the hotel, getting showered and changed into fresh clothes and going down to the stadium to catch the game and do a remote afterwards. He flashed the written agenda he had prepared, but Shelley was not all that interested in agendas, she was more of a take-it-as-they-come type of girl.
Shelley stretched out her left foot to dry and slipped off her right shoe and placed her right foot on the seat and finished painting her nails. Kevin found himself engrossed in all of this as he continued to talk. There was something sensual about her painting her nails and displaying her feet like that. Earlier he had noted how her slides slapped the bottom of her feet as she walked. This reminded him of the day they met in the Tampa airport and she wore high heel mules that slapped her feet then also.
"Since I'm going to let you drive once we get to Chattanooga, you probably need to sleep, if you can."
"You want me to drive this thing?" Shelley protested. This was a far cry from her sporty BMW.
"I don't think I can drive 18 hours alone. If you could take a couple of three to four hour shifts and let me sleep, I think I'll be okay."
Shelley agreed and soon she drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, Kevin pulled into a Waffle House just outside Chattanooga. "Shelley, we're in Chattanooga. I thought we should eat something and take a break before you drive." Shelley shuffled her feet back into her shoes and got out of the van to take a 30 minute break with Kevin who made sure she drank a couple of caffeinated cups of hot coffee along with their toast, bacon and eggs. Once in the van, Shelley studied the map then set out toward Nashville and ultimately the Kentucky Welcome center. Kevin cautioned her, "Please don't wake me unless there's an emergency."
Soon Kevin drifted off to sleep and left Shelley in control of the van. She soon noticed that unlike her BMW, the accelerator in the van was difficult to manuever with her backless shoes. She slipped off her right shoe and carefully reached down and picked it up, depositing it on the floorboard in between her seat and Kevin's. She soon relaxed but around Monteagle mountain, Shelley began to feel the affects of hot coffee. She wanted to make it to Kentucky without stopping but she felt that was now impossible. She saw a sign for a rest area ahead and she decided to stop, but wanted to make sure she was quiet and didn't wake her slumbering passenger.
Shelley stopped the car at the rest area and reached down to get her right shoe. After looking around the floorboard for a few seconds, she realized that her shoe had worked its way into the passenger floorboard and Kevin's foot was resting on it. She could not retrieve it without waking him - something he had told her not to do. She contemplated whether to go inside with one shoe or none. No one else seemed to be around, so she decided to go on wearing one, thinking logically that one foot would be clean. So Shelley walked confidently with one slapping shoe into the rest room without Kevin knowing she had stopped the car.
However, while Shelley was in the restroom, Kevin did awaken to the fact the van was stopped. He looked at his watch and realized they were not in Kentucky yet, although it was a rest area. He quickly deduced that Shelley had needed to stop and was nice enough not to wake him. While seeking a more comfortable sleeping position, he moved his left foot on the floorboard and felt something under it. Looking down, he saw it was Shelley's right shoe and picked it up. 'Must have gone in barefoot,' he thought to himself as he looked around on the driver's side seat and floorboard to see where she left her other shoe. He felt around inside of the shoe and it was very soft - he didn't know it was shantung fabric, but Kevin he knew he liked it. 'Could she have possibly gone in wearing only one shoe? I gotta see that.' About that time, he peered through the front window and saw Shelley walking back toward the car wearing just one shoe. 'Wow, she really took me seriously about not waking me. I'm impressed.' He was captivated by the sight of this beautiful blonde coming his way in a single shod state. It was similar to what he felt at the Tampa airport and during the halftime of the game when her shoe got stuck in the drainage grate. Kevin stuffed the shoe under the seat and pretended to sleep again.
Shelley got back in the car and drove out again, this time not stopping until they got to the Kentucky Welcome Center rest area on Interstate 24. It was now 3:00 AM and Shelley was ready to sleep some more. She woke Kevin and he dashed out of the car and started walking toward the restroom. Shelley looked for her other shoe in the passenger floorboard and did not see it. Next, she opened her door and stretched out on her stomach with her feet hanging out and began to look more intently. Kevin looked back to see what was taking Shelley so long to get out of the van. Just as he did Shelley's other shoe fell off her foot onto the parking lot. Kevin hurried over, picked up her shoe and asked, 'What's going on, here?"
"Looking for my other shoe."
"It's under my seat."
Shelley reached far under Kevin's seat and did find her shoe. She jumped out of the van and put on the found shoe then took the shoe Kevin had retrieved and put it on as well and together they walked inside the welcome center. On the way out they saw a similar van with the call letters WHNS on the side. Kevin was astonished, there's the channel 21 van from Greenville. I wonder if Russell and Julie are coming to Omaha."
"Who are they?" Shelley mumbled as she was getting pretty sleepy.
"Don't you remember, they're from the Fox affiliate upstate? We sort of have a friendly rivalry, remember? We have more of a South Carolina fan base and theirs is more a Clemson fan base. That's whose playing tomorrow."
"Oh yeah. Let's go, I'm ready to sleep for awhile."
Indeed, Russell and Julie slipped out of their van and started walking to the rest area. "Imagine meeting you here! You going to Omaha, I suppose?" Kevin addressed the familiar and also sleepy WHNS crew.
Julie replied, "Yeah, were here to see Clemson all the way to the championship."
"We're staying either way," Kevin quipped with a teasingly sly tone.
Russell shot back, "Same here, we're there to the end, either way. We're staying at the Homewood Suites. Where you staying?"
"We have a couple of rooms at the Sheraton."
"Sounds great, we'll see you in Omaha."
Once back in their respective vans, continuing their treks across America, Julie reminded Russell, "We're not authorized to stay unless Clemson wins. Do you think we'll change our manager's mind if Clemson loses."
"I don't know Julie, but I hope Clemson wins, otherwise WACH might just show us up."
A little before 7:00 AM, Kevin woke Shelley and pointed out they were passing the Gateway Arch and going through St. Louis. "We'll get a quick breakfast and let you drive to Kansas City, then stop for lunch there. I'll take us the rest of the way into Omaha. After lunch, while Kevin drove the rest of the way, the reality of this being her first real assignment struck Shelley. She began to pour over the South Carolina Gamecock and Clemson Tiger Media Guides for player/manager bios and player/team statistics preparing for her upcoming interviews. Around 2:00 PM, after flawlessly executing Kevin's plan, sleepy Kevin and Shelley arrived to check into their Homewood Suite.
"They want us to share a room?" Shelley quipped.
Kevin replied, "You can have the bedroom. You have your own bed, bathroom, TV and phone in there. I'll stay on the let-down couch and use the stuff out here."
"What if I want to get something from the kitchen?"
"Throw on a pair of shorts or something. I'll do the same while I'm walking around. It's no big deal."
Shelley was surprised that WACH did not spring the funds for separate rooms, but she did like the amenities the Homewood Suites offered; the free breakfast and the refrigerator were certainly nice. After a quick shower and change of clothes, Shelley and Kevin left for Rosenblatt Stadium in time for the 5th inning of the South Carolina/Clemson game. Shelley wore a different pair of shorts and a different colored WACH golf shirt with the same shantung fabric slides. She figured all the press would be casually dressed for the hot weather. Upon arrival, she found most of the press were dressed a bit nicer than her - including Julie from WHNS, who wore a casual dress and dress sandals with a wedge heel. Shelley vowed to herself, 'I will not be out-dressed again!'
At the end of the game, South Carolina had won and earned a rematch on Friday with the loser going home and the winner moving onto the championship game. Shelley got a few good interviews with the Gamecocks manager and a couple of their players that were beamed down to Columbia for air on the 10PM news that evening.
Kevin and Shelley arrived at their room after a quick dinner to find a phone message from the front desk, "You have mail to pick up at the front desk." Kevin went out to get their mail and it turned out to be an invitation to a luncheon at the Omaha Press Club the next day. All the media in town covering the College World Series were invited. After he read the invitation to Shelley, he noted, "Here's your first chance to really meet some of the other press." Shelley saw it as a chance to be noticed and maybe network for her eventual planned escape to a larger market once she paid her dues at small WACH-TV.
The next day, Shelley and Kevin got ready to attend the luncheon and Shelley was ready to make an impression. She wore a garnet red skirt, a white sleeveless sweater with black stripes and a pair of pretty high heeled thong slide sandals whose straps were adorned with a shiny metallic finish. She wore her hair in a pony tail and added a pretty clip to her hair she had borrowed from Trisha. She was certainly one of the most beautiful ladies at the luncheon.
The luncheon was a big success. Shelley got to meet a lot of other people who were there covering baseball. Early into the luncheon, Shelley made an effort to meet her hero and career role model, Jill Arrington who was there from CBS. Jill was getting more attention than anyone else at the luncheon, but Shelley got to talk with her for at least 45 seconds. Jill was wearing a stunning red dress and ironically, the same red mules that Shelley had seen her wear on TV and purchased herself to wear to the Outback Bowl. Shelley envisioned herself being as popular as Jill Arrington in a few years.
Another thing that caught her eye was a nice-looking young man who seemed to already know Julie from WHNS. Shelley leaned over to Kevin, who was sitting next to her and asked, "Who's that guy chatting with Julie?"
"I think he's from the Fox affiliate in Austin, Texas. Can't remember his name, though."
Shelley chose not to elaborate on why she asked the question. She hoped to have a chance to meet and talk to this nice looking man who seemed to have a flair or confidence surrounding him. Shelley made an effort to go over and introduce herself to this guy, but by the time she made her way over to where he was sitting, he had already left. After lunch, all the teams had batting practice and some of the press came out to watch that and try to generate a story. Kevin asked, "Do you want to go back to the hotel first and change?"
Shelley replied, "No, I want to wear this doing any interviews we get today."
At the stadium, Shelley and Kevin found a seat behind the third base dugout, The Texas Longhorns were finishing up their practice and South Carolina was getting ready to start theirs. Shelley sat on the second row of seats from the field and draped her legs across the seat back immediately in front of her and allowed the bright sun to work on getting her legs even more tanned. It was a warm and sunny day with a nice breeze. Kevin was a bit warm but Shelley did not mind the heat.
Soon Shelley found herself bouncing her shiny thong sandals and slipping them to the edge of her toes. Kevin noticed this and found himself spending just about as much time looking at her feet as he did the action on the baseball field. The metallic sheen on the straps caught the bright sunlight and created a flash as she bounced her feet.
The batter for the Longhorns was trying to concentrate on the pitcher and the ball coming across the plate, but he kept seeing this bright flash up in the stands in his field of vision. He called a time-out and walked up to the mound. Soon he was pointing and both were looking in Shelley and Kevin's direction. Soon they signaled the third baseman to come out to the pitcher's mound to see the distracting light. "Why don't you go check it out and fix the problem?"
The third baseman for Texas walked toward Shelley and Kevin and looked right at them. Shelley whispered to Kevin, "They're coming our way. I wonder what they want?" She did this while continuing to dangle and bounce her sandals in the sunlight.
"Excuse me, miss."
"Hello, I'm Shelley Sullivan, WACH-TV in Columbia, South Carolina."
"Nice to meet you Shelley, but I have a request."
Shelley now had no idea what he could have wanted. "Sure, whatever you need."
The young Texas baseball player, shy about talking to a beautiful and older sports reporter, nervously spoke to Shelley, "Your shoes..They're nice shoes...But, they seem to be catching the sunlight and making a flash. It's distracting our batters. Do you think you could keep your feet below the chair level?"
Shelley was surprised at what trouble she had caused. All she wanted to do was look nice.
"Okay, no problem." Shelley simply allowed her sandals to drop off onto the row in front of the seat on which she had her legs perched for maximum tanning. Kevin liked the sight of her bare feet and bright red toenails even better.
Soon Texas left the field then South Carolina came for an hour of practice. They stayed until Clemson finished their practice after yet another hour. Shelley kept her shoes off the entire time until time to get a few interviews with players and coaches from each team. The young players were clamoring to be interviewed by the pretty blonde reporter with the high heel thong sandals.
That evening, Texas defeated Stanford in their semi-final game to advance to the championship game on Saturday. Shelley and Kevin attended the game for the purpose of getting familiar with the team who would be facing one of their teams from South Carolina on Saturday.
What was once a slight inconvenience had proven to be beneficial since she woke up the next day with a strapless suntan on the top of her feet. Shelley and Kevin anticipated a great game between South Carolina and Clemson with the winner advancing to the national championship game. Shelley wore a sleeveless cream-colored dress with colorful accessories and a pair of flat heeled white thong sandals. These did not have a shiny finish like the ones the day before that got her in trouble.
At the game, Shelley and Kevin found themselves in the press entrance line behind Julie and Russell. While Russell and Kevin argued about whether Clemson or South Carolina would win the game, Shelley and Julie made small talk about each other's outfits. Julie sincerely did like Shelley's sandals, though. Shelley even told her where she bought them so she could buy a pair if she wanted them.
Once inside, Shelley and Kevin had good seats near the field along the third-base side - near the Carolina dugout. There was no one sitting in front of them, so Shelley, like the day before, sat with her legs out in front resting on the top of the seat below. Across the field, the WHNS team of Russell and Julie were sitting near the Clemson dugout on the first base side of the field. Julie's friend, whose name was Denny, whom Shelley had been keeping her eye on, was sitting with Julie. Apparently, they had become friends when they worked together for a short while in Amarillo.
The game was a lot of fun - mostly for South Carolina who had an easy time beating Clemson again. Both team's mascots, South Carolina's 'Cocky' and Clemson's 'Tiger' entertained the crowd in between innings. In the middle of the seventh inning, Cocky and Tiger came over to near Russell, Julie and Denny were sitting and did a little skit. While getting ready, they overheard Denny ask Julie, "Who's that pretty blonde from Columbia I've seen you talking to?"
"Her name's Shelley and she's new to the Fox affiliate in Columbia. Our station and theirs has this sort of friendly rivalry, but they're good people."
Denny replied, "I wouldn't mind meeting her. She seems nice."
Julie found herself feeling a little jealous, but she tried to hide it. Back in Amarillo, Denny wanted to date Julie but she refused - said it would hurt their professional relationship. Had they not been co-workers, she would have jumped at the chance. She felt a little weird 'helping' this guy she once wanted to date with someone from her 'rival' station.
Cocky remembered Shelley from the Outback bowl. They did a chicken dance on the field together. He thought she might be willing to do it again so before the bottom of the inning, he motioned to Tiger to follow him around to the third base side near where Shelley and Kevin were sitting. Cocky made a motion to Shelley to come out on the field. He did a little of the chicken dance. He even indicated by using the charades signal for 'movie' that Kevin should film it. Shelley knew that Denny was sitting across the way and she wanted to stay professional and dignified. She refused profusely and in the end cried out, "Leave me alone you stupid chicken!"
Cocky was angered. Not only did Shelley turn him down, but she called him, playing a 'male' gamecock a 'female' chicken. Shelley did not purposely intend to use gender to insult him. In retaliation, Cocky started pulling on her right leg and Tiger pulled on her left leg - both legs were still sticking straight out in easy reach. Shelley pulled both her legs inward toward her body but one of her sandals came off in Cocky's hand.
"Hey, you got my shoe!" Shelley cried as Cocky started running away with Tiger following him. They climbed into the stands and began to make their way out of sight. "I'm going to follow that chicken and get my shoe back!"
Kevin, who thought she looked cute sitting there in only one shoe tried to calm Shelley down. "Now, Shelley, you'll only antagonize him. He'll bring you your shoe back, or at least, he'll bring it to you at the press reception on the field right after the game."
"That means I might have to walk out there missing a shoe."
"Maybe, but if you antagonize him he may do something to you shoe so you don't ever get it back. These mascots can be moody and daring at times."
Shelley sulked and tried to concentrate on the game. Meanwhile, Cocky and Tiger returned to where Denny was sitting with the team from WHNS. Cocky went directly to Denny and handed him Shelley's shoe.
"What do you want me to do with this?"
Cocky had to stay in character who, like all mascots, was mute. So he got down on a knee and tried to mimic Prince Charming placing the slipper on Cinderella's foot. Denny was smart and caught on quickly, "So you want me to return this to the girl who lost it - or you stole it from?" Cocky shook his head in agreement.
Julie looked at what was going on and she saw the sandal and recognized it. "That's Shelley's. I saw her wearing them on the way into the game."
Denny asked, "You mean the same Shelley I asked you about earlier."
Feeling defeated, Julie conceded, "Yes, that's hers."
"I guess I ought to go over and take it back to her?"
Julie wanted to make things a bit more difficult for Shelley - especially since it appeared she was losing out to her with Denny. "You might as well wait until the game's over. We'll see her at the press tent after the game."
"But, won't she get embarrassed?"
Lying, Julie replied, "Oh no, she'd a country girl, likes to take her shoes off at every excuse. She'll probably show up completely barefoot with her one sandal in one hand. It's no big deal to her."
Russell overheard this huge lie and realized what Julie was doing and he just shook his head in disgust, but said nothing to blow her cover."
On the other side of the field, Shelley kept mumbling about finding that chicken and getting her shoe back. Kevin tried to keep her focused on the game, "Looks like Carolina's going to be playing Texas for the championship tomorrow afternoon."
Shelley thought that was neat, getting to cover a national championship game. It was going to be televised nationally on CBS, which was not their network, but she anticipated getting to do some good reports to send back to Columbia.
Soon, the game was over and Shelley still did not have her shoe. Looking toward the outfield where the stadium crew was bringing out the media tent, Shelley exclaimed, "Where's Cocky and the Clemson tiger. I've got to get my shoe back." Kevin looked around and he did not see them either. "You said they'd be out here!"
"Be patient, they probably needed to do something else."
"Or else, they're afraid of me confronting them."
At the same time, Russell, Julie and Denny made their way to the media tent. Denny put Shelley's shoe in the pocket of his blazer for safe keeping.
Knowing she was only prolonging the inevitable, Shelley led the way out of the stands and onto the field wearing only one shoe. She was mad at Cocky the mascot and she was determined to get her shoe back. As she walked though, she noticed how soft, nice and cool the grass felt on her bare foot. The outfield grass was cut about 3 inches high and it felt like a nice carpet. About half was toward the tent, Shelley stopped briefly and took off her remaining sandal and told Kevin, "The grass feels real nice. I think I'll enjoy it until I get my other shoe back." Shelley continued walking with her single sandal dangling from the strap between the first and second fingers of her left hand and swinging back and forth as she walked. Kevin enjoyed the sight of pretty Shelley walking on the grass barefoot and sporting her nice-looking cream-colored dress and her pretty red nail polish.
Once everyone reached the media tent, Denny immediately found Shelley. He noticed she was carrying one sandal in her hand and it was a perfect match for the sandal in his blazer pocket. He had indeed found his princess. Instead of just handing it to her, he decided to use it as an opportunity to flirt. "Hello there, my name's Denny. I'm from the FOX affiliate in Austin."
Shelley was at the same time glad to finally meet Denny but also embarrassed to be barefoot and carrying only one shoe. "Hi Denny, I'm Shelley Sullivan form the FOX affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina. I guess our team is playing yours tomorrow."
"Yeah, it ought to be a good one. (Pause) You like the feel of the cool grass, huh?"
Shelley was again embarrassed and replied, "It does feel nice."
Pressing the issue, Denny noticed her shoe and asked, "So why are you only carrying one shoe?"
Shelley lost part of her composure and exclaimed, that mascot, Cocky stole it from me when I refused to do a chicken dance with him during the seventh inning stretch. I haven't been able to find him to see about getting it back."
Denny was ready to wrap things up. "You know what happened to me? Cocky came over to me and handed me this." Denny pulled Shelley's sandal out of his pocket. "He told me to find the owner so I could give it back. I'm glad it's yours."
Shelley took the sandal from Denny and added it to the other sandal in between her fingers of her left hand. "Thanks! I was afraid I'd have to do my interviews barefoot."
"At least it was a nice warm day for it. Besides, I think you'd look fine doing your interviews that way.
Shelley was pleased with how things were going, but she wanted to change the subject to something besides her lost and found sandal. "So how bad do you think Carolina's going to beat the Longhorns tomorrow?"
Denny replied, "Are you kidding? Texas is going to dominate tomorrow."
Shelley decided to make her move, "So how about the loser buys the winner dinner after the game."
"Sounds good, Shelley, I'd love to try an Omaha steak at Omaha Prime."
"We'll go there when the Gamecocks win tomorrow."
Shortly afterwards, the rest of the media arrived and players and coaches from both Clemson and South Carolina and Clemson began to be hounded for interviews. Shelley put her sandals back on and it was almost a disappointment to not feel the nice grass on her toes anymore. Russell and Julie said their 'goodbyes'. The claimed that they were called back early for a new assignment rather than admit they really were not given the right to stay when local Clemson lost. Shelley got a few good interviews to be beamed by satellite down to Columbia that evening and soon she and Kevin returned to their room.
The next afternoon was the championship game between Carolina and Texas. Shelley and Kevin were given press box seats to cover the game. Unfortunately for them and the Carolina team, the Longhorns defeated the Gamecocks 12-6 and won the national championship. Shelley did get a few good interviews after the game that were carried on the WACH news that evening.
After the game, Shelley found Denny and they discussed the game. Then, Shelley was ready to hold up her end of the bet. "So what time should I come by to pick you up for dinner?"
Denny replied, "You don't have to take me to dinner if you don't want to. That bet was only in jest."
Shelley was a little disappointed, "So you don't want to have dinner with me?"
"I never said that. How about we let our per diem cover it - or at least part of it? And I'll come by to pick you up at 7:00 PM. You're at the Homewood Suites, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'll see you then."
Shelley was very excited about her 'date' with Denny. Kevin was almost as excited about touring the zoo with some of the other news media staying over one last night. She wore a nice lime green sleeveless dress and the same metallic thong sandals that had been banned from baseball practice earlier in the week. Denny picked Shelley up outside the lobby and he was impressed at how pretty she looked - not that it was a surprise, however. He loved her hair, her dress and those pretty thong sandals that sparkled in the light.
The restaurant was only about half full. It was well decorated and furnished and had a nice and quiet atmosphere. For dinner, Shelley and Denny decided to split a shrimp cocktail and a 14-oz ribeye with a large baked potato. This proved to be a large meal. Shelley slipped off her shoes and tucked one foot underneath her thigh and bounced her free leg up and down into the aisle, exposing her bare foot to Denny and anyone who happened to be looking her way.
Denny and Shelley enjoyed their dinner and getting better acquainted. After a particularly funny exchange, Denny shifted his legs under the table and knocked one of Shelley's sandals out into the aisle. "Oops, sorry about that," Denny said to Shelley, who did not seem to be concerned. But right after that, a waiter came walking by carrying tray of several drinks to another table. The waiter could not see Shelley's shoe and he stepped square on the toe part of the shoe catching inside the thong strap and slipped just enough to lose his balance.
CRASH!!!!
The noise reverberated throughout the restaurant. Drinks and shattered glass spilled all over the aisle. Shelley's shoe was sent airborne down the aisle landing underneath an unoccupied table 30 feet away. Fortunately, no one was hurt. However Shelley and Denny were highly embarrassed that they had caused such a disaster. It took a while for the staff to clean the mess. Meanwhile, Shelley uncrossed her legs and put on the shoe that remained under the table. She crossed the other leg over it and they continued to eat.
Shelley asked, "Did you see where my shoe went?"
"Not exactly. The waiter kicked it forward when he tripped but I didn't see it land. I'll go look for it. Obviously, you shouldn't walk on the floor since there might be some glass slivers somewhere. Shelley waited patiently while Denny went to look for her shoe. It took a couple of minutes before he saw her thong straps flashing in the subdued light from underneath one of the tables. He walked back to the table and met Shelley standing on one shoe and one foot hovering just over the floor.
"I needed to go to the restroom."
Denny knelt down and replaced her stray shoe back on her foot so she could leave for the restroom. "That's two straight days I've had to return your shoe. This is becoming a habit."
"It's a nice habit, but one I'd rather you not have to do."
Shelley returned a little later and they finished their meal before leaving. They parted for Austin and Columbia the next morning both feeling like they had met a good friend in a distant city - nothing more. But Shelley kept in contact with Denny, for networking purposes, as she sought to make a move some day to a much larger market.
