"We have a restaurant in town, actually it is a national chain, called the Outback Steakhouse. It's an Australian theme."

"Okay, sounds interesting. I'll be able to judge if they're accurate in their portrayal of my continent."

As time passed, the two girls continued to bond. Soon Jason and Chuck arrived and set up the ladder. Chuck scampered up the ladder quickly and was able to retrieve their shoes, just in time to call it an afternoon and return home.

The next day, Rochelle and Charles got into a conversation while in the car on the way to work. Charles secretly enjoyed Rochelle's knee-length skirts and her high heels were very attractive to him. But this was as far as the professionally- and morally-minded Charles ever got. Rochelle took the opportunity to find out more about Charles and Lisa.

"So Charles, did you grow up around here?"

"As a matter of fact I did. I was born in 1950 in Cobb County, a few miles south of our house today. Back then, it was more of a rural area before it became part of the suburbs."

"How did you come to work for Coca-Cola?"

"It was sort of a roundabout way. When I was in high-school, I worked summers and after school for Coca Cola in Marietta, that's the largest town in Cobb County. I then got drafted into the Vietnam War. I served in the Air Force as an Ammonitions Depot officer and I developed an interest in industrial operations. In 1973, I enrolled at Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. I went free on the GI Bill - something the US Government does to help veterans get their college degree. There I majored in Industrial Engineering. I graduated in 1977 and went to work for Coca Cola after that as an Industrial Engineer."

"That's great. So what about Lisa. Where is she from and how did you meet?"

"Lisa grew up more in the city part of Atlanta until she started high school. Her family moved northward into the suburbs in the city of Dunwoody looking for better schools and housing around 1967. After high school, she worked as a teller at a bank and took classes part time at Georgia State in Accounting. We met in 1976 through some mutual friends and got married in 1978. Trisha's our only child and she was born in 1980."

Later that morning, Mr. Greerson met with Rochelle and the other staff from the Australia/New Zealand region to discuss their assigmnments for Wednesday's International Luncheon (Olympic Athletes and their families would be there) to be held at Centennnial Olympic Park. Most were assigned food prep or other mundane duties. However Randy and Rochelle were handpicked for a special assignment. Randy, who looked like a young Paul Hogan, was asked to dress like Crocodile Dundee to entertain the kids who might pass through. Rochelle was asked to dress as the "Coca-Cola Girl" complete with a flared red dress with lace and petticoats, white hose and gloves and a red beret. Mr Greerson made a point to mention that her Coca Cola mules would go with the outfit very nicely - a subtle but not so subtle hint to wear them. She was instructed to smile and pass out various snacks to the passers by: vegemite and crackers and grilled kangaroo nuggets.

The following day, Rochelle and Randy served at the International Luncheon, as planned, and this ended up being a 3 hour task. After 2 1/2 hours of wearing the Coca-Cola mules, her feet were killing her. As she stood to greet the visitors, she did not realize she was dipping one foot then the other out of a mule to give her aching feet a rest. One dip dropped a mule completely off a couple of inches behind her and then she finally realized what she was doing. Quickly, so as to not be caught, Rochelle kicked her foot back to retrieve the mule but instead kicked it backwards with a pretty good force.

The shoe was on its side so it slid on the tile floor quite well and went under the curtain that was hanging behind her to divide the AUS/NZ bnooth from that of another country's booth behind them. She could not stop greeting the guests and passing out food long enough to find her shoe. Rochelle was not even aware her shoe had gone under the curtain. She tried to get Randy's attention, but he was down about 30 feet entertaining a few bright-eyed children with his frayed rope and long but safe fake knife. After about 15 minutes of standing on one mule, Randy returned to find her in a predicament.

"Randy, can you help me. I kicked my shoe behind me. Can you get it for me?"

"So Cinderella seeks her prince?"

"Just find my shoe - please!"

"Okay, okay. Just having a little fun. Where is it?"

"Right back there." Rochelle looked behind her quickly and did not see it. She continued to greet visitors during this entire conversation.

"It's not anywhere back there." Randy decided to lift up the curtain. "Hey here it is. It's under a large table form another country's display. I'll have to walk around to the other side to retrieve it."

"Thanks!"

Shortly after Randy left, Mr. Greerson came by to talk to Rochelle and she was embarrassed to be caught in only one mule. Rochelle deftly stood with her toes flexed on her bare foot and tried to not be obvious as Mr. Greerson chatted with her a bit.

On the other side of the curtain, Randy had located the booth. It was the Japanese exhibit and there was a language barrier to cross before he was granted permission to stoop under their table. In the nick of time, Randy pushed the mule out from behind the curtain and it hit Rochelle on the heel. She was able to just get the shoe back on before Mr Greerson came to greet her. He asked where Randy was and a few seconds later he came leaping from down the corridor waving his rope.

After this, Randy recounted, I've saved you twice from embarrassment. You owe me."

"I'm afraid I have to adree with you."

"Why don't we walk down to the Planet Hollywood for dessert afterwards?"

Rochelle paused in a state of hesitati0n but finally agreed. They chatted on the way and she began to warm up to him a very small bit. He was funny but very unsophisticated for her tastes. The contrast was obvious by their conversation.

As time went by, Rochelle noticed her mules becoming looser. After the second time that one shoe came off and slid a couple of feet in front of her, Randy had an idea. "Hold on a moment."

They were at that time passing a sub shop and Randy dashed inside and brought out some napkins.

"Step out of your shoes."

"Why." Rochelle complained but she did it anyway.

Randy placed a couple of napkins in each mule to make them tighter. This seemed to work and they continued to chat on their walk, during dessert and their walk back.

On the way back, a Atlanta Newspaper reporter saw them and took an amusing picture of Crocodile Dundee and the Coca Cola Girl. It was on the front page of Section E of the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper the next morning.

Later in the week, Rochelle and Trisha visited the University of Georgia for the Gymnastics finals. It was such a lovely campus and the people were so nice, that Trisha decided that she'd consider going to school there in 1998. The following evening, Rochelle and Jason and Trisha and Chuck had their double date at the local Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Rochelle was indeed amused at the Australian décor and the assorted menu items such as Alice Springs Chicken, Kookaberra Wings and Queensland Chicken and Shrimp. At the Outback, Rochelle was the center of attention and they all had a good discussion talking about Edenglassie versus Georgia culture.

Return to Story Menu

COOKOUT AT THE GREERSON'S

The next day was Saturday, the day before the Coke employees were due to end their Olympic work and fun by returning to Australia and New Zealand, Mr. Greerson held a catfish fry in their honor at his house in southern Cherokee County.

Trisha was excited about finally, after days of scheming and hoping, getting another chance to get Jake to notice her.  Rochelle was ready to help all she could in this endeavor. She found a pretty flower-print cotton dress in Trisha’s closet that seemed nice and ‘summery’ and Rochelle helped her accessorize it with one of her hair ribbons and one of her nice belts. Trisha chose a new pair of elegant tan leather X-strap slides, she had found at Parisian at a tremendous discount, to wear with the nice outfit.

On the way there, Trisha and Rochelle sat together in the back seat while Charles and Lisa manned the front seat of the LeSabre and led the way. The back-seat conversation centered around Jake and how nervous Trisha was to see him again. Rochelle, however had other concerns.

"What type of cookout is this, Trisha?"

"Catfish! Fried whole catfish. Do you like it?"

"I’ve seen it, but never tried it. Is it any good?"

"It's a Georgia favorite. You'll have to eat around the bones."

"Oh, that doesn't sound like much fun."

"You'll catch on."

Upon their arrival, they saw that everyone was huddled around the food preparation area where Mrs. Greerson and some of the other Coca-Cola ladies were getting the food ready. Mr. Greerson was a master at cooking fried catfish to just the right texture and flavor. He had seen one of those zillion-gallon deep fat fryers on Home Shopping Network at 1AM one night and decided to buy one. A few hundred gallons of fish fat grease later, he had become an expert.

Charles and Lisa went off to help with some of the preparations so Rochelle and Trisha, who had not eaten anything but a bowl of corn flakes all day, decided to make a move on the snack table. One of the wives had brought this excellent jalapeno cheese dip and everyone seemed to be trying it. Trisha spooned a glob onto her plate, but a portion of it missed and fell down toward the floor - catching her foot just above the toes.

She reached quickly for a napkin and wiggled her toes enough to dislodge the shoe - it tilted onto its side once freed. She lifted her foot up high enough to wipe the cheese off her foot. Then she bent over and took a swipe to get the cheese off her shoe. She was about to pick up the shoe and take it inside to wash it off in the sink, but she happened to look off to the left and Jake was coming up behind her in the snack line. She hurriedly, placed her foot back in the cheesy shoe. He greeted Trisha briefly, like you would an acquaintance, but immediately moved over to flirt with Rochelle. Randy tried to perpetrate his brief success with Rochelle after the International dinner. To help deflect Jake over to Trisha, she pretended to show at least a little interest back.

“Oh hello Randy, I was wondering if you’d show up.”

“Wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see you, mate. This is a nice set-up isn’t it?”

The conversation continued as a surprised Jake, used to having his way with just about everything, soon walked off to talk to a couple of the New Zealand Coke employees who were there - Mandy and Tracey.   (Randy had already tried to “hit” on these two cute Kiwi babes but was utterly and completely rejected. But Jake had already taken these two ladies out on the town one evening.) As soon as Jake walked off, Rochelle resumed her usual cold stature toward Randy.

“What’s wrong, Roche? All of a sudden you act like you don’t want to see me.”

“I guess I’m a lady who changes her mind quickly.”

Trisha came over to ‘rescue’ Rochelle and also to show her what her deflection had caused. “He’s flirting with those two now. Do you know them?”

“Actually, we met on the plane trip over here.   That tall auburn-haired girl with the khaki skirt is Mandy Drake from Auckland and the short blonde in the white shorts is Tracey Ashe from Christchurch - both of those are in New Zealand.”

“They’re both attractive…and well-dressed too!  If either of them goes for Jake, like they seemed to be doing at the Cycling Event last weekend, what chance do I have?”

Jake walked Mandy and Tracey over to the wet and freshly-cut lawn behind the food area and started pointing to the lawn and what was obviously, to Trisha at least, a croquet court.

“Rochelle, I think they’re about to play croquet - let’s join them.”

An over-hearing Randy adds, “I’d like to join you two if you don’t mind.”

Rochelle and Trisha figured the more the merrier and replied, “Sure, why not…come on! Both were hoping that Randy would have some success with the two girls who Jake was flirting with, but they had no idea that had already been tried and failed.”

Soon there were now a total of six observing the croquet court and Jake noted - this is perfect, there’s six of us and six pairs of mallets and balls.”

Just then, a young married couple came walking over to the croquet court. “Can we play?”

Tracey replied quickly, “Certainly! Oh, let me introduce you. “Everyone…this is Kim and Terry Norman - they’re my host family.  The others one by one extended a hand of introduction.

Trisha, when introducing herself added, “I’ve heard of you, but we’ve never met. Mr. Norman, don’t you work for my dad.”

“Oh yes, you must be Charles’ pretty teenage daughter, Trisha. I’ve seen your pictures in his office.” This compliment was appreciated by Trisha, and in front of Jake, it felt even better. However, the reminder that she was still a teenager could have been left out.

Jake took charge again, and suggested, “Well, there’s 8 of us now. Let’s play in 4 teams of two.”

The Normans were an automatic team and they chose the green ball and one mallet. “We’ll share a mallet so someone else won’t have to share.”

Randy grabbed the red ball and two mallets and pulled Rochelle’s hand. “We’ll represent ‘Team Australia’ in this little competition.”

Rochelle mumbled, “I’m from Edenglassie...remember?”

“Yeah, same continent, though, shelia.”

The only thing that Rochelle hated more than being called ‘Roche’ was being referred to as a ‘shelia’, but she decided to ignore this rogue ‘gentleman’ from Darwin. “At least he doesn’t know my embarrassing childhood nickname of Lucy,’ Rochelle thought.

I response to ‘Team Australia,’ Mandy grabbed the blue ball and two mallets and said, “Tracey and I will be ‘Team Kiwi.’  Both would have liked to been paired with Jake, but neither had the guts or the nerve to shut the other out that way.

This left an excited Trisha and an indifferent Jake with one mallet they would have to share and their choice of 3 balls.  Jake reached for the single mallet and scooped up the orange ball - leaving the yellow and black balls untouched.  Jake felt a bit left out since he was not getting to play with beautiful Rochelle or with either of the cute New Zealand girls he’d spent some time with.

Soon the 4 teams began their fierce game of croquet with Randy’s first smash of his mallet that sent their red ball streaking down the lawn. Mandy, Kim and Trisha followed suit and soon all four balls were within a few feet of each other. On the walk down the lawn to continue their turns, everyone began to notice that there were a few wet and soggy sections - in fact half of the playing field was teetering on being classified as a wetland.   All the girls were wearing pretty sandals or pumps but only Trisha’s had a spike heel and were backless.  Trisha’s heel dug into the turf and this pulled off her shoe.

She stopped and shrieked, “Oops!” Then, she reached back with her foot to reclaim the shoe whose heel was sunk about an inch in the mud. Jake did not really notice this first accident. He was too busy ogling the three older single ‘babes’ on the field - Rochelle, Mandy and Tracey. Then a few seconds later, it happened again. This time Jake looked and saw her shoe stuck in the mud and her pretty shaped foot with bright red toenails reaching back to retrieve it.

Jake commented, “You’re going to have a hard time with those shoes, aren’t you?”

“You’re right…maybe I’ll just kick them off.”

Trisha kicked from a distance toward the edge of the croquet court. One made it just to the edge and the other one (slippery because of the cheese dip) flew 3-4 feet past it, but she did not care.

Jake’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of her kicking those pretty shoes across his backyard. What was left were a couple of pretty feet that had caught his attention.   Unseen, the family Cocker Spaniel, Cuddles, sniffed out the cheesy shoe and took it to his doghouse to lick and get it very slobbery.

Rochelle had never played Croquet before and she thought it was actually the British game of Cricket they were playing. Over the years she’d heard some of the terminology of Cricket tossed about in conversation so she decided to show off her knowledge during the game.

"Wow, Mandy, you hit the nin-striker's end...Tracey, what a cover drive...Jake, excellent silly mid on." Rochelle was proud of herself, Mandy and tracey thought she was an idiot, but everyone else just went with the flow and began to use these terms themselves. The game began to get interesting and Jake began to warm up to Trisha a bit - much to her delight. Mandy and Tracey kept watching Jake to see if he would make a move on Trisha.

Trisha made an excellent drive with her mallet and her ball just nicked the edge of the Kiwi’s ball. She was excited to get her first hit of the game. She picked up the blue ball and placed it next to her orange one. She curled her right foot over the orange ball to hold it in place. This sight caught and kept Jake’s attention. With a mighty swing of the mallet, she sent the Kiwi blue ball reeling backwards and off to the back side of the court - in the middle of the wettest and muddiest area of the court.

Trisha was delighted with her excellent shot and Jake, in his excitement, hugged her in a spirit of glee. Tracey, whose turn was coming soon, walked over to where her ball had been knocked and had to step through some squishy mud. She was wearing strappy sandals and the mud oozed under the soles of her feet and in between her toes - much to her disgust.   This one incident further fueled the fire of competition into Team Kiwi that had already begun to simmer because of Rochelle getting to kiss Russ Jacobsen and with Trisha apparently stealing the affections of Jake away from them..

“So Trisha, what grade will you be in next year?”  Jake began to be interested in just who this fair maiden really was.

“Eleventh. I’m going to get to take a couple of college prep classes. One is computer applications in business and the other is a basic accounting class.”

“So you want to major in business?”

“Yeah, I’d like to major in Accounting or maybe Management Information Systems. Something like that.”

“Do you know where you’d like to go to college?”

“Actually, after my visit to Athens the other day, I think I’m going to try for the University of Georgia. Do you ever wish you stayed at home to attend school?”

“Sometimes, although I love Australia and want to live there. I fell in love with the place as a child. Sydney is so beautiful - maybe you’ll get to go there some day.”

“Maybe I will…What’s your major and is it the University of Sydney?”

“Yeah, it’s the U. of S. I’m majoring in political science and pre-law. I want to be an attorney.”

“That sounds nice…”

The conversation blossomed from there throughout the game. Trisha enjoyed the freedom from playing on the soft grass with bare feet and even the little bit of mud didn’t bother her. Jake enjoyed both getting to know Trisha and looking at her pretty legs and feet. Mandy and Tracey were getting even more jealous as they watched the attention that Jake was giving young Trisha. Finally and almost unnoticed, the game was over and Jake and Trisha were the winners. Rochelle and Randy were second and Team Kiwi was disgusted with their last place finish.

Just as Mandy finally hit their blue ball on the stick at the finish, with everyone looking onward, Mr. Greerson rang the dinner bell to announce that lunch was being served. Randy, the Normans, Mandy and Tracey walked immediately to the house. Rochelle lagged back to watch Trisha and see how things were going with her and Jake.

Jake noticed Trisha’s muddy feet and said, “Hey can I get you a towel for your feet?”

“That’s be great,” Trisha replied as she walked over to where she had kicked her shoes.

Jake ran to the shed nearby and pulled out a clean shop rag. He returned and Trisha reached out to take it. To her surprise, he leaned down and grabbed her ankle and began to wipe off the mud - making sure to get in between each toe. Then he grabbed the other ankle and did the same. As he finished, his mom called out for him to help her serve lunch.

“I guess I’d better go,” said Jake as tenderly touched her on the shoulder.

Trisha was in a state of awe and elation as she placed her foot into the one shoe that lay on the grass nearby. She paused for a moment and then she started looking around for the other one. It was not to be seen. She remembered that one shoe had traveled farther than the other one and this briefly relaxed her as she expanded her search area. By now, Rochelle caught up to Trisha and asked her what was wrong.

“Rochelle, I can only find one shoe - where could it have gone?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should get some more help.”

After a few minutes of futile searching, Trisha with one shoe walked along the side of Rochelle to the food line. Many noticed her predicament but no one asked why.   She sat on the deck with her legs crossed to hide her problem. Jake came over to sit with Trisha, but with her legs crossed and tucked underneath herself, he did not know about her missing shoe. They picked up their conversation where they had left off.  Rochelle tried to strike up a conversation with nearby Mandy and Tracey. Instead of making friends, an ill-advised comment about New Zealand lamb only further fueled the competition in Mandy and Tracey. Making them want a rematch against both Rochelle and Trisha**

Near the end of dinner, Mrs. Greerson came over to ask Jake to feed Cuddles for her. He went around to the side of the house into the basement and found Cuddles in his doghouse slurping on Trisha's shoe - trying to get every speck of cheese dip that remained. He was puzzled as to how he could have missed her wearing one shoe, but then he remembered how she had her legs crossed and tucked under her.

Jake reached for the shoe and found it soggy and slimy to touch from all of Cuddle's slobber. He found a bucket and some hand soap and filled up the bucket with water from the washbasin. He mixed in the soap and proceeded to clean Trisha's shoe sparkling clean. He then found a shop towel and dried it out. After all this was done, he finally fed the hungry Cuddles.

Meanwhile, Rochelle and Trisha finished dinner and went out into the lawn again to look for her other shoe. Jake saw them looking around, presumably for her shoe, so he called out to Trisha and motioned her to come over. He held her missing shoe behind his back.

“What’s you doing?”

“Somehow I lost my shoe during the croquet game.  I can’t imagine where it could have gone.”

“I think you’re wasting your time looking for it.”

“Why do you say that?

“Because I’ve got it right here!” Jake exclaims while pulling the missing slide from behind his back. He explained where he found it and Trisha was grateful and immediately replaced the shoe on her foot. The three of them walked back to where the rest of the crowd was finishing up their food and chatting casually.

There was going to be a special visit from one of the Olympic athletes, whose identity was a secret, in about 90 minutes, followed by a time of recognition of all the international Coke employees - so no one was in a hurry to leave. Everyone continued to mingle and chat. Some went over to the pool to sit and enjoy the sunny day by the wet bar - no one went for a swim, though. Mandy and Tracey, reeling from defeat and jealousy, cornered Rochelle and Trisha and challenged them to a rematch.

“We want to play another game of croquet.   Are you game?”

“Maybe, let me see what Jake and Randy..”

“Forget them. Lets just us girls play - us against you…two against two.”

“Well; I guess that’s okay,” said Trisha.

“And - let’s make things a bit more interestinng. The loser has to do something,” noted Mandy.

Tracey spoke without consulting Mandy and said, “How about the losers give up their shoes until after the end of the party?”

Tracey grew up in an environment where being barefooted was not that big a deal. However Mandy was petrified as the prospect. Similarly, Trisha was not all that concerned about being barefooted, but Rochelle was not too pleased with the idea - since if they lost, she’d be introduced to the group and be seen in that predicament. Trisha thought this choice of “bet” was ironic, given her recent short- term shoe loss, but Mandy and Tracey had not even realized what had happened to her.

Randy and Jake came over to see what was going on and when they heard, they were very excited at the prospect of watching this spectacle. Jake was torn between cheering for new friend Trisha and secretly hoping she lost so he’d get to admire her feet more. Randy wanted Rochelle to win, first of all because he considered her “his girl” but secondly because he was irritated at the aloof manner that Mandy and Tracey had treated him earlier that day.

“Let’s get started!” said Mandy with a note of anticipation.

Trisha chose the orange ball again and Tracey chose the blue again. Trisha slipped off her slides and Jake quickly volunteered to keep them for her in the front pockets of his blazer. He looked odd with two tan heels peeping from under each pocket flap.  

The game began at a fast pace - maybe because of the nervousness the “bet” was generating. Trisha made an errant hit and left her ball in clear striking distance for Tracey who in turn nicked her ball and set her self up in front of the next wicket. Tracey set up the balls and knocked the orange ball deep toward the ‘swamp’ the area that was the wettest part of the court.

Rochelle had to walk out into it and the mud seeped into her shoes and in between each of her toes. This was a disgusting outcome and in frustration, she had a misfire with the mallet and hit the soggy ground and send a clump of mud about 10 feet ahead - completely missing the ball.   Meanwhile Mandy had another good hit and Team Kiwi had a commanding lead.

Trisha also had to walk in the squishy mud and her hit was somewhat of a success, but they were still woefully behind.

Near the end of the game, Trisha made a good shot that set up Rochelle for the come from behind victory, but when it was her turn, she got overly anxious and misfired, sending the ball off to the right of the stick and 30-40 feet past - again into the ‘swamp’. Mandy made a great shot and won the game for Team Kiwi.

Tracey gave Mandy a high-five and immediately demanded payment on the bet. “We won! Hand them over.”

Trisha motioned over to Jake to hand her shoes to Mandy. Rochelle stood dumbfounded.

“You too Rochelle!”

Rochelle slowly unbuckled and slipped off her red retro strappy sandals and handed them to Tracey - making sure the mud that was caked on got all over her hands. Mandy and Tracey left immediately and took their booty out to the Norman’s car for safe keeping.

As the rest were walking off the croquet court, Randy put his arm around Rochelle and sang one verse from a song he had remembered from his childhood, “Put your shoes on, Lucy, Don't you know you're in the city?”

Rochelle broke free from the ill-timed attempt of Randy to make the situation more humorous and jogged away toward the house. Being called ‘Lucy’ made it even worse.

Jake quietly talked to Trisha and asked her if she wanted to walk over to the park. This park was affiliated with their neighborhood and was on an adjacent piece of property. There was a trail and a garden with a gazebo and a babbling brook that ran through it. She said, “Sure” and went to tell her mom, who was nearby, where she was going. Lisa reminded her to be back in an hour to see the Olympic athlete speak to the group. Jake took Trisha’s hand as they walked between the Croquet court and the fenced-in pool area and crossed a wooden bridge over a small muddy creek.

Randy watched Mandy and Tracey coming back from the car and plotted just how to get revenge on what they were putting ‘his’ Rochelle thorough. He saw fellow Coke employee Charlie Weatherbee from Perth enlisted his help. He had also found Mandy and Tracey to be a bit on the frosty side therefore was willing to help.

Meanwhile, Trisha and Jake took a leisurely walk into the park.

“This is beautiful, Jake, and you get to live next to this.”

“I suppose I take it for granted - it takes someone else to help me appreciate it. Let’s come over here and get you cleaned up.”

Jake walked Trisha over to the little brook that went through the park. “Stick your feet in - it’ll get rid of the mud.” Jake held Trisha’s hand as she alternated dipping each foot into the brook up to her ankle. They came pretty clean and for a few steps on the sidewalk, she left a perfectly shaped wet footprint soon to be evaporated by the sun.

Rochelle felt humiliated to be standing around wearing such a nice dress and hose without her pretty sandals on her feet. To keep from ruining her hose, she went around to the side of the house, where no one was looking and unbuckled her nylons from her garters and removed them. She eventually made it back to the edge of the crowd and tried to remain obscure.

Randy and Charlie came up with a good plan - they approached the girls and Randy did the talking.

“Hello ladies - I heard a rumor that the Olympic athlete’s going to be over at the pool in a few minutes to sign autographs. You want to go before they announce it and the whole crowd gets there.”

“Do you even know who this athlete’s going to be?”

Charlie added, “I heard it’s New Zealander Russ Jacobsen - the gold medalist in long-distance cycling.”

In unison, Mandy and Tracey gasped, “You’re kidding!” Mandy added, “ I used to have a picture of him in my dorm room at university.” Tracey echoed the sentiment, “And I’ve had a crush on him for years. Let’s go!” This was their chance to meet Russ - they felt an earlier chance was stolen from them the previous Saturday.

Mandy and Tracey excitedly followed behind Randy and Charlie toward the pool, where a dozen or so ‘uninformed’ people were standing or sitting around the pool, getting drinks from the wet bar, listening to music and just relaxing. The foursome began to chat and right as they passed by the deep end of the pool, Randy cleared his throat. This signaled to Charlie that the time was now! In unison, Charlie grabbed Tracey by the shoulders and Randy grabbed Mandy in similar fashion and tossed them into the pool - clothes, shoes and all.

“Eeeewwwwww!,” Mandy and Tracey screamed as they fell completely under water and drenching all of their clothes. Both popped up coughing and spitting water out of their mouth and nose and breathing very fast. In between breaths, a few random obscenities were directed at the guys who sent them to their watery fate. They kicked their feet to stay afloat and were quickly able to grab onto the side of the pool. Some of those in the area strained their neck to take a look at who the victims were, but no one seemed interested enough to help out or come to their defense.

Randy and Charlie backed away from the edge of the pool as the girls were able to pull themselves up out of the pool and make a bee-line for the bath house to clean up.

“I can’t believe those guys would do that!” screamed Mandy once they entered the bath house.

Tracey responded, “What did we ever do to them? You don’t think that Randy was taking up for Rochelle do you?”

“I can’t imagine it. She’s been cooler to Randy that we have, I thought.”

“I hope we’re not missing Russ Jacobsen!” noted a naïve Tracey.

“You silly south islander! There’s no autograph session by the pool! That was a trick!”

The girls grabbed some towels, which were conveniently stored in the closet, and began to dry off. It being such a warm day, they were drying fairly quickly.

“Hey Mandy, one of your sandals must have come off in the pool.” Tracey observed, looking at Mandy’s one remaining white 2-inch heel, strappy, slingback sandal.

“I guess the slingback slipped off my heel and my kicking forced it off. I was so upset, I hardly noticed until we got in here.”

A few minutes went by and the girls began to work on their hair - they happened across a blow dryer in the same closet and were very happy to use it.

Meanwhile, buy the pool Charlie walked over to the edge and picked up something out of the water. “Hey look here, Randy. One of them lost a shoe when they fell in.”

“Let me see it...(Randy took possession of the shoe)…yeah, that’s Mandy’s. I wonder what she’ll do to get it back.” Randy walked over to a nearby chair, sat down and placed the shoe behind his back. Charlie took the seat next to him.

A little while later, Mandy and Tracey came hobbling out of the bath house. Mandy was walking lopsided as they made their way over to where they fell into the pool. Leaning over the edge Mandy anxiously noted, “I don’t see it, Tracey. How about you?”

“I don’t either - I’ll walk around and see if it floated somewhere.”

“You think it sank?”

“I don’t know - probably not. Maybe we’re just overlooking it.”

Randy whispered over to Charlie, “I guess that’s enough.”…“HEY GIRLS…OVER HERE!”

Mandy and Tracey looked toward the guys and said, “This is your fault - the least you could do is help!”

“Okay, but come over here first.”

After some hesitation, the girls went over to where the guys were sitting and looked very mad.

“I think I know what happened to your shoe, Mandy.”

“Oh really, what’s your brilliant answer - ‘it’s somewhere in the pool.’ ”

“No, it’s not in the pool…I’ll tell you, though, for a kiss.”

Mandy made a face of disgust and replied, “No way, I’d rather go without it, first.” Mandy began to walk off and she heard a splash in the pool.

“Okay, Mandy - it’s somewhere in the pool.” Randy snapped with a definite note of sarcasm.

An angry Mandy ran over to Randy and grabbed his legs. Tracey grabbed his arms and together they dragged him into the pool. “Okay, smarty britches - go and get my shoe!” While Charlie sneaked away to the food area, Randy, sensing defeat swam over to retrieve Mandy’s shoe and toss it back to her.

While Randy slowly swam back to the edge of the pool, Mandy replaced her shoe and suddenly, there was a commotion on the far end of the pool area. The mystery Olympic athlete had arrived and was actually signing autographs. Instead of Russ Jacobsen, the girls soon realized it was cute gymnast from Sydney, Karen Gilroy, who had won the bronze medal a few days earlier. Mandy and Tracey were less excited than they would have been for Russ, but she was still worthy of an autograph. Randy was disgusted that he was sopping wet and was in no shape to meet cute little Karen he had his eye on at the reception at the Coke Museum.

Jake then led Trisha over to the gazebo and they took a seat next to each other. Trisha turned at an angle to talk to Jake and she pulled her legs up to her side and tucked her feet underneath. For thirty minutes, both shared their thoughts and dreams for the future and really began to like one another. It was soon going to be time to leave. “I have to leave for Sydney in the morning. I’m on the same flight as Rochelle. Will you come to see me leave?”

“You have to leave already..no! But of course, I’ll be there.”

“I’m afraid so. But we can write and keep in touch. I’ll be home again in December.”

Trisha began to cry a little. At that Jake, kissed her tear off her cheek then stood and took her hand. “We need to get back - the Olympic athlete will be speaking soon.”

Back at the main gathering area, Rochelle was still trying to keep a low profile. No one really cared if she had her shoes off, but she thought otherwise. It was a hot sunny day, but she felt very conspicuous about not being fully dressed. Carrie MacPherson, a young cute petite brunette with shoulder length hair from the Melbourne Coca-Cola branch came over and started a conversation with Rochelle.

“Hi, Rochelle - remember, we met on the plane - Carrie MacPherson.”

“Yeah, sure,” Rochelle replied while tepidly placing one bare foot on top of the other in a vain attempt to hide her lack of footwear.

“I think you’re pretty smart. I admire your willing to be comfortable.” At that comment, Carrie slipped off her white low-heeled mules and stood barefooted with Rochelle. She leaned over and picked up one with each hand and continued to engage in friendly conversation with Rochelle.

Rochelle was mildly relieved, but realized that unlike herself, Carrie could slip her shoes back on when introduced before the crowd in a few minutes.

Trisha and Jake came walking hand-in-hand toward where Rochelle and Carrie were talking. For a moment, Rochelle forgot about her shoeless state and was elated to see Trisha and Jake getting along so well.

Carrie dropped her mules and rhythmically replaced her small cute tanned feet with red toenails. This did not escape Jake’s attention.

Jake was quick to be social, “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Carrie. Where are you from?”

“I’m from Melbourne, but my job takes me to Sydney about 2 weeks out of the month.”

Naïve Trisha added, “Jake attends the University of Sydney. He lives here too.”

Unbeknownst to Trisha and even Rochelle, the wheels were turning in both heads. Jake was seeing another cute girl who seemed nice and had pretty legs that traveled to Sydney half the time. Carrie saw dollar signs and an upward career move in the eyes of the son of her Vice President.

Jake had the class to put Carrie on the back burner with Trisha in his presence. The four of them walked over to the food area where Jake’s father was ringing the dinner bell to get everyone’s attention. Soon, Mandy, Tracey, Charlie and a wet Randy were all standing nearby with all eyes on Mr. Greerson and the entourage that was around him on the deck that stood a few feet over the back yard where everyone stood.

Mr. Greerson asked his wife and Jake to join him on the platform. He then introduced Karen Gilroy to the crowd. Karen spoke for about 3 minutes and ended by thanking Coke for being such a good Olympic sponsor in the South Pacific.

Mr. Greerson then proceeded to introduce some of his local Atlanta staff to the group. When introduced each person went up the steps of the deck and shook Mr. Greerson’s hand before joining him on the deck. Both Charles and Terry Norman along with several others were soon on the deck. After a group round of applause, all returned to the lawn.

“And now we want to recognize our South Pacific employees who have made a long trip to Georgia USA these last two weeks. We’re very pleased with their work here and their contributions to Coca Cola back home.”

One by one, the employees were introduced. Randy was quite a sight, walking up on stage still dripping wet. When Carrie came up to greet everyone, she detected a distinct wink in the eye of Jake when he shook her hand.

Rochelle was soon the only employee not called ‘Maybe he forgot me...good, I won’t have to be seen in no shoes...no bad, maybe I’m getting fired.’ Rochelle’s mind began to ace like a runaway mine train.

Mr. Greerson continued, “I have one more employee to introduce. This person has gone beyond the call of duty to do a good job these last two weeks. I have a special plaque to hang in the lobby of the Edenglassie branch office recognizing her for Outstanding Service on the Coca Cola Olympics PR Campaign. Everyone give a big round of applause for Rochelle Heath. Rochelle, please come up here to get your award.”

Rochelle had streaks of horror rush past her. ‘I’m getting an award and meeting the Vice President without my shoes. Maybe he won’t notice or care.’

Mr. Greerson glanced downward when Rochelle ascended the steps to see what pretty shoes were adorning her nice feet. He was surprised, but pleased to see her pretty feet only. He shook her hand and presented the plaque. Mrs. Greerson took their picture, which eventually found its way into the 1996 Coca Cola Annual Report. The photo was far enough back to where you could obviously see that Rochelle was barefooted. This led to some ridicule later on from her co-workers.

Rochelle soon returned to the lawn with her award and Mr. Greerson closed the ceremonies. Everyone was beginning to make their way out. Trisha and Rochelle cornered Mandy and Tracey.

“Okay, let’s get our shoes back - we held up our end of the deal.”

“You’re right. I guess you’ve been through enough. Let’s come out here to the car.”

Mandy and Tracey promptly returned their shoes and Rochelle and Trisha immediately replaced them on their feet. Meanwhile, Jake cornered Carrie.

“Could I have your phone number? Maybe we can get together some time when you’re in Sydney?”

“Sure, Jake, I’d love to! “ And as simple as that, she gave Jake her phone number in Melbourne.

Carrie had to leave quickly after that since her host family was taking her out for dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House and they had reservations in an hour. By the time Rochelle and Trisha returned to the crowd, Jake was back to his old self. He grabbed Trisha’s hand and told her how much he enjoyed their afternoon. Trisha began to tear up again. Jake leaned over and gave her a short kiss on the lips and said goodbye - until tomorrow.

Charles and Lisa found Trisha and Rochelle and took them home to clean-up before spending a nice evening out together at Macaroni Grille in Kennesaw for dinner then dessert, afterwards, at the Cheesecake Factory in Buckhead.

The next day, the Kendricks saw Rochelle and Jake away to her flight in a tearful goodbye. Rochelle returned to Edenglassie with a bit more confidence in herself and a nice bonus and an American "little sister." Trisha returned home with the hope that Jake would stay in contact with her. It only took one date for Jake and Carrie get together and begin a relationship that led to their eventual marriage. The rest of the summer returned to normal for Trisha. She worked at Frankie's did fun things together with Amber, Chuck and Doug and soon it was time for Sprayberry High to come back into session for their junior years.

Between the end of this prequel and the beginning of the regular Trishtale series is a period of nearly 3 years. Over this period of time, Trisha continued to mature and move onto her college years at the University of Georgia.

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