"And now I want to announce that Merck has approved each of its regional directors to allocate an additional 1% of our budget to charitable causes. We already sponsor drug studies and other programs to help those without means to pay for our products afford them. We now have the ability to supply medicine and other pharmaceutical supplies directly to the poor. Our first such endeavor will be this Thursday when one of you will be flying down to Durango and meeting with the Deputy Chief of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and delivering these supplies to one of their local schools which also has an adjacent as a health clinic for the children."
Jennifer listened a little closer. She thought the idea was nice, but had no idea what Frank was about to say next. "I'm going to ask one of our Assistant Directors, Jennifer Overton, to make the trip."
Suddenly, Jennifer firmly jammed her feet back in her mules and gave Frank her full attention. She was surprised at the selection but was honored as well. After the meeting, she and Frank talked more about the details of her trip. The plan was to fly out on the first commuter plane out of Denver early in the morning, land in Durango and take a rental car to Ignacio where the school/clinic was located, meet the deputy chief and some of the school and clinic stafff for a catered buffet lunch, then visit some of the children in the school and the clinic. Afterwards, she was slated to take the last commuter flight of the day back to Denver.
Early Thursday morning, Jennifer picked out a cute outfit - a sleeveless red top, a black print skirt and a pair of x-strap slides with a 3-inch heel - all from her favorite store, Ann Taylor. All she took with her was her purse and a wheel-around suitcase stuffed with supplies for the clinic and school. It was quite large and heavy but since it was on wheels, it was not much to handle. Fortunately, it was already in the back seat of her Jaguar and not something she'd have to carry downstairs from her Lo-Do townhouse into her garage.
Jennifer zipped down Interstate 70 toward the airport and noticed that her fuel level was quite low. Not wanting to have to fill up with gas on the way home and since she had plenty of time, she decided to stop at a convenient place not far from the exit to Pena Boulevard. She confidently stuck the hose in the gas tank and tried to get the brace to work so that she could perform hands-free fueling. It seemed that the owner had disabled this feature so she was forced to hold the gas pump trigger to insert the fuel. Finally, the automatic pump clicked off and Jennifer ignored that the nozzle had a special seal to keep fumes from leaking and also contained a warning not to top off the tank - a risk of hazardous contamination was noted. She proceeded to try to squeeze a few more tenths of a gallon into her tank effectually causing some fuel to spill over and land squarely on her left foot and shoe.
Jennifer let out an explicative as she quickly jerked her foot away, but the damage was done. She hurriedly replaced the pump on the rack, took away the credit card receipt and walked gingerly into the food mart to find the ladies' room. Once inside she slipped off her shoe and dropped it in the sink, crammed a paper towel in the sink's drain and added some soap. She first carefully cleaned her shoe then took some towels and used the water to wash off her foot. Afterwards, there was still a bit of a gasoline smell but at least she felt cleaner.
Jennifer replaced her shoe and walked fast to her car and proceeded to the airport. She made her way to the ticket counter to check her bag full of supplies and receive her boarding pass then walked to stand in the line for security checks. After a 20-minute wait, it was her turn. As she expected, they asked her to remove her shoes. (Of course the heel had a steel shaft.) After picking up her purse from the x-ray conveyor belt and reaching for her shoes, one of the guards asked her, "What's that smell?"
Jennifer quickly replied, "I spilled gas filling up my car."
The guard checked and noticed that her right shoe had no smell but her left smelled strong of gasoline he pointed over to the side while saying, "We'll have to check this out, have a seat over here."
Jennifer tried to argue, "But it's just spilled gas." Her reply fell on deaf ears while the guard took her shoe off to perform a manual inspection. Jennifer took her other shoe and placed it on her right foot before hobbling over to take a seat as asked. She sat there sulking with her shod foot planted firmly on the floor and her shoeless foot crossed at the knee and bouncing nervously. The security staff took her shoe off to the side and looked at it under infrared light then closely examined the heel shaft fot any drill holes. After 3 or 4 seemingly long minutes, the guard returned her shoe and said, "Sorry miss, the shoe was okay after all. Just some spilled fuel."
Jennifer stood while slipping the shoe back on her foot and proceeded to her gate. After a short wait, the airline desk attendant announced boarding for the small 30-seat plane. Entering the plane required everyone to walk down a flight of stairs outside to the tarmac. Then they had to walk up a steep narrow flight of steps into the plane itself. Following the line, Jennifer took her turn and started to walk up the steps. About halfway, she misstep and caused her left shoe to slide away from her toes and tumble loudly down the metal steps to the bottom. Embarrassed, she stopped to look down where the gentleman behind her in line had picked up the shoe. Jennifer removed her other shoe and started walking up into the cabin, where the man met up with her and returned the shoe. Now carrying both shoes, she proceeded to find her seat, drop her shoes on the floor and sit through the flight to Durango barefoot.
During the flight, Jennifer rested and thumbed through a magazine while mindlessly playing with her shoes on the floor and occasionally rubbing her feet on the soft carpet - the feeling was almost therapeutic. Comfort was a rare commodity for the well-heeled pharmaceutical sales representative. A gentleman in the seat diagonally behind Jennifer, who had been the one to 'rescue' her fallen shoe from the tarmac, thoroughly enjoyed the show. When the plane landed, remembering the treacherous steps, she picked up her shoes and her purse and walked out of the plane and down the steps to the concourse barefoot. At the bottom, after touching the hot sun-baked tarmac, she placed her shoes back on and proceeded on her way up the stairs and into the terminal to pick up her medical supplies and proceed to the rental car booth.
In a small airport like this, everything seemed easier. Luggage pickup and the car rental office were adjacent and within minutes, Jennifer found herself motoring down the highway toward Ignacio on schedule to meet with the Deputy Chief and the staff of the school and clinic for lunch. On the way, she enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the Los Pinos River that ran along the left side of the road. Not far out of Ignacio, a huge development with a hotel and a large parking lot caught her eye. The large sign next to the highway read, "Sky Ute Native American Indian Casino."
A thought raced through Jennifer's mind, 'Wow, I wish I was staying the night so I could go to the casino. It looks like a lot of fun.' Suddenly the sun reflected brightly in her right side mirror into her eyes, as if it were on cue to her thoughts. She turned her head quickly and the right front tire briefly left the road onto the shoulder causing a loud rumbling sound of loose gravel. Jennifer regained control and adjusted her mirror. Within minutes she was in Ignacio and pulling into the parking lot of the Ute Indian School-Clinic.
Jennifer got out and lifted the heavy suitcase out of the car and began to wheel across the parking lot. Her slides slapped against her feet with every step of the way. A young teenage boy was sent outside to help her carry the suitcase inside and Jennifer introduced herself to Deputy Chief Jakota, Principal Navarro and Lead Registered Nurse Blanche. the four of them walked into a nice conference room where a catered lunch, paid for by Merck, was set up. Everyone had an opportunity to get well acquainted and Jennifer was given a hand-knitted throw rug as a gift of appreciation to take back to the Merck office in Denver. All through out the lunch, Jennifer playfully dangled and played with her slides and on occasion lost one and had to fish around under the table to retrieve it.
As the group, minus Nurse Blanche who had to return to work into the clinic, made their way to the school portion of the building, it was quite noticeable that her shoes were the only ones making noise on the tile floor and echoing against the concrete walls. Principal Navarro suggested, "Miss Overton, there are Kindergarten and first grade students nearby taking their afternoon naps. Would you mind removing your shoes?"
Jennifer was surprised at this odd request, but obliged, "Sure. No problem." And she leaned over to each side and removed her shoes and carried them in her left hand as she followed the rest of the staff barefoot toward the library. The hard cool tile floor was not as comfortable as the soft carpet on the plane, but she felt like a schoolgirl walking barefoot down the hallway. Once inside the library, she laid her shoes, throw rug and purse on a nearby table before being led over to a corner of the room where a group of students were sitting quietly and obediently on the floor.
The principal noted, "This is a group of our 2nd graders. They are about to have their story time. They wanted to meet you."
Jennifer was touched, "I'd like to meet them too." She walked over to the group and every eye focused on this pretty blonde-haired lady they had never met before.
Principal Navarro told the kids, "This is Miss Overton. She brought new medical supplies to our school and clinic."
"HELLO MISS OVERTON," all the children said loudly, but respectfully and in unison.
Principal Navarro again interjected, "What do you want to say to Miss Overton?"
Again a united reply, "THANK YOU MISS OVERTON."
"You're very welcome."
Unscripted, one of the students, a shy little girl with long straight raven hair boldly asked, "Miss Overton, would you read us a story?"
Jennifer looked up at Principal Navarro who nodded her head in agreement. "Here's a good book."
Moments later, Jennifer found herself squatted down on the carpeted library floor extolling the praises of Dr. Seuss and Green Eggs and Ham to a happy group of attentive seven-year-olds. All the children were thrilled to have a guest reader and Jennifer felt a warm spot in her heart for the kids. Several hugged Jennifer as they said goodbye and parted company. Chief Jakota suggested, "Let me take you to the clinic, now."
Jennifer said goodbye to Principal Navarro who in turn thanked her for being kind enough to read to the children. Chief Navarro led Jennifer, who grabbed her purse on the way out, further down the hallway into the clinic where the donated supplies were already being unloaded and being put to use. Nurse Blanche rejoined them and led the tour. "Here is our waiting area. We see about 75 children a day with only 2 doctors." A room full of sick or injured children and mothers saddened Jennifer in contrast to the happy students she was able to read to. They walked back into the heart of the clinic to see the examination rooms, which were both occupied. One was a child who was being given a few stitches after falling on the playground. Another child was being treated for a bad cough. The clinic looked very plain and sterile. The supply closet looked sparse and seemed to mostly contain the supplies received that day.
Nurse Blanche introduced Jennifer to Dr. Ramu as he rushed out of an examination room to grab a new chart. He seemed very hurried and stressed, but he noted, "Thank you Miss Overton. We really needed the supplies. Your gift is a blessing to our kids." The doctor did not even notice that Jennifer was barefoot. He was used to that.
Nurse Blanche hugged Jennifer and they exchanged goodbyes. "Thank you very much for coming. It was very nice to meet you." Jennifer was similarly touched by her appreciation.
By now it was after 2PM and Jennifer was going to have to leave soon to catch her flight. Chief Jakota led Jennifer back through the school and to the front door.
"Miss Overton. It was very nice to meet you and a pleasure sharing lunch and giving you the tour of the place. We are extremely appreciative to Merck Pharmaceuticals for their generous gift."
"I had a great time. It was so nice meeting you, Principal Navarro and Nurse Blanche and all those great children."
Jennifer started to exit and Chief Navarro noted, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Embarrassed, Jennifer replied, "Yes, of course. Your generous gift." She started walking toward the library again and the Chief added, "You might need your shoes as well."
It took a moment for reality to set in, but Jennifer realized she had been walking around barefoot for quite a long time. One of the older students walked by and the Chief asked him to retrieve Jennifer's shoes and rug from the library and he obediently obliged. Jennifer slipped on her shoes and proudly carried the beautiful rug to the rental car, placing it in the trunk, then drove away.
It had been a very successful day. Jennifer felt like she had been able to participate in a worthy deed. The rest of the trip home to Denver was going to be anti-climatic. Suddenly, on the two-lane highway on the edge of town, a car coming in the opposite direction, for no apparent reason, swerved into Jennifer's lane. About to be hit head-on, Jennifer abruptly spun the steering wheel to the right and took the car off the road, down a small embankment and eventually scraping the whole right side of the car against a tree before coming to a stop only a few feet from the edge of the rapidly flowing Los Pinos River. Smoke from the busted radiator began to spew from the engine. Jennifer gathered her composure and realized she was not injured, then looked around for her purse to call the rental car company to send her a new car from nearby Durango to pick her up. Finding her purse then her cell Phone, she realized that she had a dead battery, uttering an explicative under her breath. Remembering that there were a few trailer homes she had just passed, she decided to see if she could make it to one and use their phone.
She slowly opened the car door and stepped out onto the soft sandy soil with her left foot. Closing the door, she took a step with her right foot and the ground was much softer; her foot sank up to her kneecap in a split second. Jennifer quickly pulled her foot out of the ground, bumping into the car door and tearing a rip in the right side of her skirt. The sand from the embankment rushed down to fill in the hole. Realizing her skirt was torn and her shoe had come off in the ground, Jennifer mumbled another, stronger explicative and knelt to the ground and began to dig through the soft sand, like a dog looking for a buried bone. Every time she was able to move some dirt out of the hole, more filled into its place. She next jammed her whole arm into the ground and began to feel around, but she was unknowingly 6 inches off target from her buried shoe and it might as well been 6 miles, given the conditions. After yelling a third and strongest explicative, she peeled off the remaining shoe and climbed up the embankment on her hands and knees and walked barefoot down the road around 50 yards before encountering one of the trailer homes she had passed. Before knocking on the front door of the small home, she took inventory of herself: only one shoe, which she replaced back on her foot, sand and dirt on her hands and legs and a torn skirt. Jennifer wiped the sweat off her brow with her left hand, leaving a streak of dirt, moved the hair out of her face then knocked on the door. The sounds of kids playing inside were soon silenced and a woman opened the main door and left the screen door closed and locked. "Can I help you?" the woman asked suspiciously while observing that this young blonde lady was in obvious trouble.
"Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I was driving north toward the airport and a car coming the other way swerved into my lane and ran me off the road. They did not stop and my rental car is wrecked. I tried to call for help with my cell phone but the battery was low. Could I possibly borrow your phone?"
"Sure, come on in." The lady opened the screen door and pointed to their telephone then watched Jennifer limp on her one shoe over to pick up the phone. She was obviously somewhat dirty and truthful about her plight. Jennifer first called her office then talked to the rental company and reported the problem. The agent replied, "Sorry about your accident. We will be out there in a hour with a new vehicle, but you will also need to fill out an accident report. We will call the highway patrol for you and have them call you back to confirm your location and when they will arrive."
Jennifer was frustrated at the complications that were arising and it was obvious she would miss her flight. After hanging up the phone, Jennifer was at a loss of what to do next. It would be awhile before she would need to meet the highway patrol and the rental car company at the accident scene and she found herself, dirty, torn and half-shod in a stranger's home. The silence was broken when the mother offered, "Would you like to clean up in the bathroom? It's down the hall on the right."
Jennifer's semi-trance was broken, "Thank you, I may just do that." The mother handed Jennifer a towel as she entered the bathroom. Once inside, she kicked off her shoe then washed her face, arms and legs of the dirt she had acquired crawling up the embankment. She combed her hair and lastly picked up her seemingly useless one shoe and walked out into the living room again.
"Have a seat, I made some cold lemonade and laid out some cookies."
Jennifer accepted the glass and did not care if it was only Crystal Light. Anything wet and cold was a treat. "Why thank you." She started to munch on an Oreo. The mother asked Jennifer what happened and she told her the step-by-step account of the wreck. Jennifer also explained how she lost her other shoe stepping into the soft sand outside her car. They engaged in light conversation. Jennifer discovered that the lady was a single mom and worked at the casino hotel in housekeeping. Jennifer stayed in the nice lady's living room a few more minutes, finished her lemonade, stuffed her shoe in her purse and walked outside in time to meet the highway patrol, rental car company and a wrecker. The kindness in the home she had just experienced was overwhelming and seemed quite ironic that on a day where she was the deliverer of something the community needed, in her own time of need, the community gave back.
After making her way back to the accident scene, she had to fill out the accident report and explain to everyone what happened. Just as the wrecker had the rental car began to pull out she remembered the hand-stitched rug in the trunk. 'Wait!" She called out to the wrecker operator. "I have something in the trunk."
The driver of the wrecker shook his head and mumbled something about a 'dumb blonde', but he stopped and climbed up onto the wrecker to enter the car and opened the trunk lid. He pulled out the rug and handed it to Jennifer. "Thanks! This rug was a gift to my company by the Indian School." She proceeded to rub the edge of the rug on her face in a futile effort to gain some comfort in the suddenly stressful day.
Moments later, Jennifer found herself driving in a new rental car. She had been told earlier to go ahead and forget the flight home, which she had already missed, and just take the first one in the morning. Jennifer convinced the Merck travel agent to book her a room at the Casino she had passed earlier in the day.
After parking the car and walking barefoot up to the door to the casino lobby, she wondered what type of impression it would make if a barefoot lady with no luggage checked into the hotel. She had no choice what to do about the luggage issue - 'Maybe they'll thing I left it in the car,' she thought. However being barefoot seemed a bit odd. Hedging her bets, she pulled her one shoe out of her purse and put it on. 'They'll probably think I broke a heel off the other one,' she considered as she limped toward the check-in desk. As expected nothing was said to her about being in one shoe, but they certainly noticed and wondered what the problem was.
Jennifer wasted no time. She kept on her one shoe because she was sure there was dress code in the casino as she waltzed by a decorative fountain in the lobby and over to the cash counter and exchanged a $10 bill for a roll of quarters. She found an empty quarter slot and sat on the stool for feeding time; just being in a casino felt exhilarating. She loved the colors, sounds and lights and the competitive atmosphere. Half-way through her roll nothing had happened, except for a few strange looks from people who noticed a pretty blonde wearing one shoe playing the slots.
Suddenly on Jennifer's 23rd quarter. Lights began to flash and bells and whistles began to sound. The screen on the slot machine flashed WINNER!! WINNER!! WINNER!! and her prize was deemed to be $327. A casino staff member hurried over and issued her the winnings in chips. Jennifer was amazed that she had turned $5.75 into $327 - just like that! It was no longer necessary to play around with small stakes, but hitting one of the main gaming tables would require her to be more public in her one shoe state. Throwing caution to the wind, she stopped at one of the craps tables where a small cadre of players had gathered. At first, all anyone else noticed was that their newest player was a very pretty blonde. Her one shod state was not noticed.
Jennifer laid down a $10 chip and took the dice. Before her turn was over, she was up another $890 and was starting to attract attention. A couple of other younger ladies, Heather and Julie joined the table and one happened to notice her one shod state. "I see you're wearing only one shoe. Is that your good luck charm?"
Jennifer was surprised at the comment, but was happy to have a good excuse for her embarrassing predicament. "Why yes, that's it. Worked pretty well thus far."
Heather slipped off her left pump and slid it under the table slightly to get it out of the way. Julie wiggled her toes out of her left high heel mule, but added; "I think the shoe has to be completely out of sight so I'm putting it in my purse."
Soon three attractive ladies were shooting craps with one shoe each - passersby thought it was peculiar but interesting sight. All began to increase their winnings. Jennifer crossed the $4000 mark and forgot all about her act of mercy from earlier in the day and began to think about all the fun stuff she could buy with the money- new clothes, new furniture, maybe. Suddenly her luck began to shift. Greed caused her to place half her winnings on a come bet with one errant roll of the dice, it was gone. Three more times, she bet half her chips on a come bet and lost each time. Even with $250, she was way ahead, but in a moment of frustration, she bet it all on a seemingly safe pass line bet but lost that as well.
Jennifer limped away from the table and off the casino floor. Heather and Julie watched their fallen hero limp away one shod.
"I wonder where her other shoe is?" Julie pondered as she looked under the table.
"Maybe she left it in her room," Heather replied. "Well, I'm not copying her good luck charm anymore." Julie then proceeded to get her other shoe out of her purse and put it back on. Heather fished around under the table with her toes to try to locate her shoe. She did not feel it. She then knelt down on the floor and looked under the table and saw it had been kicked under out of reach. "Excuse me; can I borrow the stick you use to retrieve the dice. My shoe got pushed too far under the table to reach."
Now crying, Jennifer walked out into the lobby and peeled of her remaining shoe and dropped it in the fountain and walked to the elevator and went to her room for the evening where she ordered a late room service dinner.
Jennifer took advantage of the room freebies and was able to take a shower even thought she had not prepared to spend the night on the trip. She used the express checkout and walked out to the rental car barefoot without causing too many heads to turn. She dreaded arriving at the airport barefooted, however. The Durango airport did not have places to shop like the airport in Denver.
Not too far past the casino, she pulled into a convenience store to get breakfast. After picking out a donut, a banana and a box of milk, she noticed a hanging display of all different colors of $1.50 flip-flops. At first the idea seemed absurd, then she thought a little more and laid her food aside and began to thumb through the shoes to see what they had in her size. The selection was not very good but she located a decent-looking yellow pair and took them to the counter with her food. "Do you happen to have a pair of scissors to break the tag on these?" Jennifer took the scissors from the cashier and proceeded to cut the tag before walking out in her $150 Ann Taylor outfit and her $1.50 flip-flops.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly for Jennifer. She fit right into the crowd. Women all over were wearing flip-flops or thing sandals it seemed - even some who were dressed up more than her. Her trip though security was a breeze - she did not have to remove her shoes to pass through. This time she removed her shoes before climbing the stairs into the plane and did not put them back on before descending the stairs in Denver. Soon, she was home safely where she tried to forget the problems that had otherwise marred a nice visit to the Indian Reservation the day before.
The next day was Saturday and Jennifer drove to a nearby shopping center and found herself in Old Navy. In the shoe department she noticed they had a sale on flip-flops, 2 for $5.00. Thinking about what happened the day before, she decided to purchase 4 for $10 - a black pair, a red pair, a blue pair and a white pair. Now she reasoned she'd have something to wear through airports and also something to keep in the car or her purse as an emergence backup - just in case.
