Pretty, University of Texas sophomore, Kara Talbot enjoyed spending time with her friends and most of her classes, but one thing she enjoyed most was being the lead majorette for the UT marching Band. Kara was very good at her skill and she should have been. Back home in Abilene, Kara had grown up taking dance and baton classes after school and during the summers. In addition to having a learned skill, Kara had natural beauty - shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair, light green eyes and a beautiful smile, perfected from 2 years of braces back in junior high. She kept herself in good condition by playing tennis with friends year-round and swimming as often as possible during the long warm season in sultry Texas.
Kara was always working on ways to perfect her skill as a majorette. She did special exercises and watched what she ate. This did not keep her from enjoying a juicy hamburger and a plate of onion rings on occasion, but she was careful to eat well most of the time. Kara took advantage of her good physique to display herself in a modest but pretty wardrobe that included a lot of short skirts and shorts and warm-weather sandals. Being a college student on a limited budget, she made the most with the money she had earned working as a waitress at Furr's Cafeteria back home.
In the early spring of 1968, Kara and her roommate Julie went shopping for summer clothes at a large department store near campus in downtown Austin. The two of them tried on a lot of clothes and shoes. It was fun, almost a game to see who could find the most interesting items to try on and model for each other. In the shoe department, after trying on a few pairs of flat strappy sandals, one interesting exhibit caught Kara's eye.
"Hey Julie, look at these, aren't they cute?"
"Hmmm, I don't know, Kara. The wood sole is interesting, but I don't know if I like the odd-looking buckle on the toe strap. They might be okay to wear to the pool - something you could easily kick off and get into the water."
"I agree, but look at what the display says - they exercise your calves as you walk. Isn't that neat? I could wear them after school walking to the cafeteria and kick around in them on the weekends and get a work out at the same time."
"I don't know if I like them. Looks like they'd be hard to keep on."
"Look again, Julie. See the little ridge on the sole. It serves as a toe grip and that's what gives your calves' exercise. I'm going to try them on." Kara found a salesclerk and tried on a size 7 in white and soon she was slapping all around the carpeted ladies' shoe department. "They're neat. And they're only $6.00!" Soon, Kara and Julie finished their purchases and Kara was most proud of her exercise sandals. She wondered if she'd be the first student at UT to wear them.
Kara fell in love with these simple but functional shoes. She wore them often - not to class or to church, but just about anything else was a fair opportunity to show off her pretty legs, ankles and feet. Her boyfriend, Brad liked them as well because of how they enhanced her already very pretty looks. He also liked the sound of her slapping around everywhere and how cute she looked when she crossed her legs and dangled one off the edge of her toes. Kara also liked the ability to slip them off and cool her feet and toes whenever she pleased.
By the time fall term came around, her sandals were well-worn but still looked nice because she took such good care of them, as she did all items in her wardrobe. She also was pleased on how well her calve muscles had developed over the summer. She gave much of the credit to wearing her exercise sandals every chance she got.
The second Saturday in October was the biggest football game of the year for the University of Texas. They played their annual game with the University of Oklahoma at a neutral site at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas.
As head majorette, Kara traveled up to Dallas with the marching band and performed an excellent routine. The game was a savory 26-20 victory for the Texas Longhorns so the day was a fun one. The Texas-Oklahoma football game always coincided with the Texas State Fair and the Cotton Bowl was actually on the grounds of the fair. Kara had made plans to go back home with Brad after taking some time that evening to enjoy the state fair. It was a 3-hour drive back to Austin, but getting home at 1AM was not going to be a problem for either of them - especially on a game day.
Kara met Brad outside the stadium, still wearing her majorette costume and carrying a small bag containing her change of clothes. It was a very warm day in Dallas so Kara had packed clothes accordingly - a pair of white shorts, an orange Texas t-shirt and her favorite white exercise sandals.
"Kara, you did great out there today - not a single drop!"
"Thanks, Brad. I've been working hard to cut back on mistakes. I was afraid that playing on television, I might me more nervous. (Pause) I'll change in the restroom here outside the stadium." When she came out, she had pulled her beautiful strawberry blonde hair into a cute ponytail and changed into her casual orange and white outfit. "Lets go!"
Brad and Kara were ready for a few hours of fun before having to head back to Austin. They first enjoyed some of the games of chance on the midway, then they went to look at some of the livestock, crafts and vegetables & fruits before heading over to the Swan Boats to ride around in the lagoon. It was a relaxing and peaceful feeling out on the water. The sounds of the fair seemed to stay huddled on the shore. When their ride was over, Brad got out first then lent a hand to help Kara out. As she exited, she caught the back of one of her sandals and it flipped off - fortunately just barely staying inside the boat rather than careening into the water. Kara offered a sigh of relief as she went back to retrieve her shoe. Next, they went over to the Texas Star, a lighted Ferris wheel for a romantic ride. After a long wait, finally Kara and Brad were seated on a car and soon their ride began.
Kara and Brad began to chat about their relationship and they expressed how much they enjoyed dating each other. Then Brad, looking intently into her green eyes, told her for the first time, "I love you." A small tear came into Kara's left eye. She had been hoping to hear that for a long time. As they neared the top of the wheel, they kissed. While kissing, Kara was not paying attention to what she was doing and she crossed her legs at the ankle. She did not realize that when she crossed her legs, that she knocked one of her exercise sandals loose, causing it to fall off her toes and land precariously on the lip of the footrest.
Then the Ferris wheel began to move again and, in a jerk, Kara's feet slipped and knocked her abandoned shoe over the edge of the footrest, knocking against several parts of the wheel before landing in the middle workings of the wheel. Kara regained her awareness and noticed that one of her feet felt bare. She quickly looked down and saw that she was missing one sandal and it was nowhere to be seen.
"Brad, I lost my shoe!"
"Oh no! How did you do that?"
"I don't know. I guess it slipped off somehow while we were stopped on the top and kissing."
"We'll look for it on the ground when we got off. It couldn't have gone too far. And certainly someone saw it land."
The romantic mood of the moment was broken and Kara could think of nothing else but getting off the Ferris wheel and looking for her sandal. Several minutes went by in relative silence. Kara looked all around toward the ground - a futile effort to see such a small item from so high - and at night. Kara nervously tucked her bare foot behind her remaining sandal-shod one, seemingly in an effort to hide her problem - as if that were possible. Finally, it was their time to get off the ride and Kara immediately found the operator and asked, "Did you see a shoe fall form top of the ride and land down here?"
The operator glanced down at Kara's feet and saw she was wearing only one white sandal. "No, sorry, I didn't see anything."
Kara frantically went around asking everyone if they'd seen her shoe and no one had. She and Brad walked around the vicinity gradually finding themselves too far to justify any possibility it could have landed that far away. Finally, Kara conceded, "I guess it's lost."
"So what do you want to do?" Brad asked expecting her to want to leave immediately.
"You know what? I'm not going to let this get me down. We're here to have fun and I intend to do just that." So with one shoe, Kara and Brad continued to walk around the state fair and have lots of fun. Brad even won her a stuffed bear shooting mechanical ducks. People certainly took notice as this pretty girl with one shoe walked by, but Kara was determined not to care. They even noticed some people looking around as if she had lost a shoe without realizing it and maybe they could be the one to find it.
Finally, it was time to leave and return to Austin. About a third of the way back, somewhat before passing through Waco, Brad pulled off at a roadside all-nite diner.
"Kara, I'm going to go inside and get some coffee, you want some?" Brad asked assuming Kara would be too embarrassed to go inside wearing one shoe. He intended to get coffee "to-go."
Kara thought for a moment and said, "Okay," and she got out of the car and began walking inside wearing her one sandal. Again, she drew the stares of the fellow diners, some of whom craned their necks trying to look under their booth for her shoe that certainly had to be under there somewhere.
After getting back into the car. Kara went to sleep almost immediately as Brad fought sleep to get back to campus safely. He kissed Kara goodnight as he dropped her off at her dorm carrying her one remaining exercise sandal. The next day, Kara went back to the same department store and bought a replacement pair and this time she wore them until the upper began to come separated from the sole and they looked too bad to wear any more. With this new pair, she never again tried to ride a Ferris wheel.