| Road Trip Challenge: Part 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We sat down to eat at Café Angeli’s on the corner of Decatur and Gov. Nichols. If things were as I remembered, they were about to have the best Italian food in the city. I ordered the shrimp fettuccini alfredo like I always did and the rest of them feasted on a variety of specialty pizzas and pastas. Once we were sufficiently stuffed I herded them across the street into Gargoyles for a bit of clothes shopping, where we found a few great T-shirts – I got one that had a cute little cartoon girl wearing a spider web dress on it that said “Everyday Is Halloween” – some new vinyl pants for the boys, and some barely-there, vinyl booty shorts for Cherry and myself. Much to the disappointment of the boys we refrained from wearing the booty shorts out of the store. Next on my list was Gargoyles Shoes, one door down Decatur. I used to buy all my shoes from Tommy… a 6’4” transvestite who had a fondness for stiletto heels and mini skirts. Tommy was a great guy… girl… well, whatever he was. He was also a very talented coffin maker. He made decorative wooden coffins for any purpose and had even sold several to the famous author Anne Rice who also lived in the city. Hmmm… made ya think. I ushered them all inside and then stood just inside the door remembering all the times I had been in here… practically haunted the place… eager for the new styles. “Giiiirrrrlll!” I heard from across the store and them clompity clomp clomp, here came Tommy in his stilettos. “Oh my God!!! Girl where have you BEEN? No calls, no visits! You promised to email when you left. Hmpf, would serve you right if I didn’t let you have anymore shoes!” And with that he gave a great big smile and enveloped me in a hug of monumental proportions. “It’s good to see you to,” I said when he finally let me go. I introduced him to everyone and then we sat down on the old church pew and I gave him the Reader’s Digest version of what happened to me in St. Louis. “… but when we left the hotel this morning it all came back to me… well, New Orleans at least. My childhood and growing up is still in a fog. But, my doctor had said that my memory would probably come back in bits and pieces if and when it did. So, now they get the grand tour instead of me wandering around like some tourist.” He laughed at the last part. New Orleaners always had a wisecrack comment about the tourists. ::THUNK:: A large shoebox landed on the ground in front of me. Before I had time to ask about it, Nathaniel had removed my rhinestone and velvet sandals, tossing them carelessly over his shoulder. He reverently removed the box lid and pulled out a pair of the most gorgeous boots I had ever laid my eyes on and started putting them on me and lacing them up… and lacing… and lacing. They were knee high patent leather with five-inch soles, and they laced from toe to knee. Then came the buckles… five buckles on each boot. Ten minutes later they were completely on. I stood up and precariously walked over to the full-length mirror. They were magnificent! I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Nathaniel crawling towards me in the most graceful crawl. No one crawls quite like him… so sensual. He came to me slowly, never taking his eyes from mine. When he was kneeling in front of me his gaze drifted down and fixed on the boots. I watched as his tongue slowly licked his top lip, the moisture glistening in the sunlight coming through the windows. His hands slowly raised and ever so gently caressed my calves encased in the leather. I knew he liked shoes… the bigger the better. But, I had never seen him have this kind of reaction before. It completely fascinated me. He ran his hands down the length of the boots and them came up the back. “Well, isn’t he a peach,” Tommy said. It was then that I realized we had the entire store’s attention, though there was only one other couple there other than us, Tommy, and the other associate. I watched as Nathaniel gently lifted my leg, holding it so that I wouldn’t fall and then lowered his head and licked a long line up the side of the boot. “Oh, Honey! You lick ‘em, you buy ‘em.” Tommy said. Nathaniel looked up at me and reached into his back pocket, extracted his wallet and handed it towards Tommy without ever taking his eyes from mine. “Sugar-Pie, did you even look at the price tag on these? They’re three hundred dollars.” He looked at me. “Transmutters (http://www.thestranger.co.uk/thestranger_uk/transmuters_womens.html) … straight from England.” “Mmm Hmm, whatever,” Nathaniel said as he waved Tommy off as he lowered my foot back to the floor. “Well, shall we box them up or do you want to wear them out?” Tommy asked me. “Wearing… definitely wearing,” Nathaniel said still looking in my eyes then returning his gaze hungrily to the boots. He was biting his lower lip and couldn’t seem to be still… this was not a good sign for the circumstances. “Honey, it looks like you got a good one here.” Tommy said to me. “Oh yeah!” I replied. “You better keep an eye on him or I might just have to steal him from you.” I laughed as Tommy went to ring up the boots. Jason meandered over to us and stood looking at me. “What, no smart-ass comment from the peanut gallery?” I teased. “Hell no! And if I wasn’t afraid he’d try to bit my arm off, I’d be down there too.” I rolled my eyes. Nathaniel looked up to me, a smile on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye. I looked around to see where Cherry and Zane were and found Zane removing Cherry’s long legs from a pair of black vinyl, thigh-high stilettos. He gave an evil laugh as he put the boots back into their box and headed towards the register. She smiled at me. ‘Looks like we’re in similar situations.” “What, nearly flat on your back with your legs in the air?” Jason quipped, earning menacing glares from both of us. He quickly retreated to his cohorts at the register. A few minutes later we had our bags and we were ready to go. I gave Tommy a hug good-bye and promised this time I would keep in touch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part 4 Index |