"Hello!" she answered in a tone of anger and exhaustion while still prone in her comfortable and warm bed.
"Jen, it's me Frank. I've got a problem!" Frank Greggs always seemed to call Jennifer when he had a problem and unfortunately, this was the third time in a month a 'problem' occurred in the middle of the night. The previous two times the 'problem' was actually quite minor and could have waited 'till morning.
"Frank, can't it wait until work hours? I spent yesterday on the road hosting a Vioxx breakfast for the Rheumatology group in Colorado Springs. Then I did a Zocor luncheon for a group of internists in Pueblo then I had to make a few rounds here in Denver before taking a few doctors from University Hospital out to the Trail Dust Steakhouse for dinner. A couple of them got mad when the hostess cut their ties off and stapled them on the wall. They even made me go down the slide - in a dress.
"I'm sorry, Jen, but this is critical. I'm supposed to fly out to Atlanta today at 7:30AM for a technical briefing this afternoon and tomorrow in Atlanta and as my assistant Regional Director I need you to go in my place."
"All the way out to Georgia! You've got to be kidding! Why can't you go?"
Having actually forgotten about the trip until waking up in the middle of the night profusely sweating, Frank came up with a good story. "We've got a family emergency and I can't go anywhere. Don't worry about tickets, I'll have it changed and you'll be able to check in with no problem. It's a direct flight."
"What time did you say it was leaving?"
"7:30. You'll probably need to hurry."
"What! Four hours to shower, dress, pack and go to the airport out in the middle of nowhere, pack, go through security..."
Frank gave Jennifer a few more travel details then concluded, "I guess I need to go so you can start getting ready. Call me on my cell when you get to Atlanta if you want. You'll be fine. I know you'll represent the Colorado Region of Merck Pharmaceuticals quite nicely." Frank put down the phone and returned to sleep in preparation for a fun day hitting the slopes in Aspen.
After hanging up, suddenly Jennifer was awake but in a state of panic. She began to stumble around the bedroom of her LoDo loft apartment in downtown Denver, tripping over an unzipped boot she had kicked off before crashing in her bed. She hopped in the shower and began her morning routine a bit faster and earlier than usual. Once she was out, she located her carry-on luggage with the wheels and pull handle and started gathering toiletries, makeup and other travel items. She added a change of clothes then began to focus on her outfit for the trip. Jennifer worked quickly to style her pretty, strawberry-blonde, shoulder-length hair and apply makeup, including pretty, ruby-red lipstick.
Jennifer knew she needed to pack light and efficiently so she decided to wear the jacket and skirt of her favorite Ann Taylor suit, which happened to be peach in color, both days. In fact, this outfit was flexible in that with the jacket removed, it was a sleeveless dress. By 5AM, Jennifer was packed, dressed and ready to go except for slipping on her favorite pair of black Ann Taylor mules. Carrying her bag, she hurried downstairs - as fast as one could wearing mules and nylons - and got in her red Jaguar to drive to the airport.
Jennifer noticed that it has snowed a little overnight. The roads seemed okay so she didn't worry about it very much. Jennifer approached the on-ramp to Interstate 70 and accelerated quickly by pressing her left foot on the clutch, downshifting then pressing her right foot on the accelerator. She loved the Jaguar's power and enjoyed driving it in high heels. She liked the aggressive dominating feeling of pressing the accelerator to the floorboard.
A little before six AM, Jennifer arrived at the long-term parking deck and drove up to the booth to claim her ticket. The attendant stopped her, "Sorry miss, this lot's full, you'll have to go over to the next lot."
Jennifer flipped her hair our of her face with her left hand and quipped, "But that's an outdoor lot."
"Yes, it's an outdoor lot. Sorry, but you'll have to park there. It's so early that the early arrivals have not claimed their cars yet. There're no empty spaces in the deck."
Jennifer quickly shifted into reverse and stomped on the accelerator with her high-heel mule and executed a 180-degree turn before heading toward the next lot. After finding a parking place she grabbed her attaché and carry-on bag and began to walk toward the terminal. It was still pretty dark on the cold March morning. She could see that the parking area had been salted and it was quite slushy. There were piles of snow along the sides of the lot from a previous snow. Jennifer would have rather walked in snow than the salty slush that was certainly dirtying her pretty black Ann Taylor mules.
As Jennifer approached the terminal, she realized she would have to walk across a place where the snow was piled several inches deep or else walk a couple hundred feet out of the way to avoid it. Wanting to save time and effort she stepped into the snow. It was quite cold on her exposed nyloned heel and ankle. After taking her second step into the snow with her left foot, she stumbled a little and her right foot came out of the snow without her shoe. She was moving too fast to stop quickly and she put her nyloned foot into the pile of snow again, burying her foot and ankle. She reached her foot back into the hole where her shoe lay and she felt around for it. The shoe had filled up with snow and her toes would not go completely inside. Rebelliously she tried to force them in anyway and, in the process, kicked her shoe out of the snow sending it about ten feet in front of her onto the driveway that led into the terminal. She hurriedly skipped one-shod out to the edge of the road but had to stop abruptly when a yellow taxicab came driving in her direction.
In horror, Jennifer stood balanced on one shoe and watched the taxicab drive over her shoe. She limped out into the street and was pleased to see that the tires only ran over the heel leaving a few scratches and scuff marks, but the shoe was still wearable and otherwise apparently undamaged. As the taxi passed it sloshed a lot of salty water on the shoe as well, leaving it with a dingy gray color. She picked up the shoe, shook out the remaining snow then put it back on before hurrying into the terminal.
Once inside, Jennifer was anxious to dry and warm her foot and further evaluate the damage to her heel. But, time was of the essence, so, Jennifer braved the cool foot a while longer taking time to get her E-ticket and boarding pass from the kiosk before going over to pass through security. She flashed her Colorado driver's license and her boarding pass to the security screener and proceeded to the X-ray luggage scanner. Jennifer had an hint of arrogance and frustration with the wait at security and when her turn came, she quickly dropped her carry-on bag and attaché into one of the plastic trays and pushed it into the X-ray machine. She then proceeded to walk through the passenger scanner quickly, like she owned the place. The lights flashed and the buzzer buzzed, but Jennifer started to reach for her things anyway.
"Excuse me miss, you'll have to pass back through. Please remove your belt and any metal jewelry and place them in your shoes and pass them through the scanner."
In the old days, Jennifer might have offered a wisecrack, but in these times she knew better than to play games with the screeners. She slipped off her belt and shoes.
"Miss, you can place your watch and bracelet in the toe of one of your shoes."
Jennifer privately wondered how anyone could hide a bomb in a pair of mules but she was not about to point that out.
She walked again through the scanner and hurriedly attempted to put her shoes back on. Having forgotten about her watch and bracelet, she got her right foot only halfway back inside her shoe before crushing her toes against her forgotten items. Pulling her foot back out, her expandable watchband snagged a thread on her wet nylons, starting a small runner. Jennifer hurriedly emptied her shoe, put her watch and bracelet back on, then her shoes before grabbing her two bags in a huff and walked slap-slap toward the train that would speed her to her gate in Concourse C.
Once Jennifer sat down on the train, she slipped off her right mule and looked at the heel damage. It looked like something that shoe polish could mostly cover up. She tugged at the heel and it had only a slight wobble, not enough to be of much concern. Then she turned her attention to her nylons. She was glad she had worn thigh-highs instead of pantyhose. With her mule still off, she carefully slipped off the wet nylon and took note of the tear. She applied a little nail polish remover and stuffed it in her jacket pocket then slipped her bare foot into her mule just in time for the train to stop at Concourse C.
The other passengers on the train were surprised to see this pretty professional fussing with her shoe and nylon. The women thought it was in bad taste, but the men enjoyed every second of it. Jennifer, on the other hand, ignored everyone and focused only on herself and getting to her plane on time and looking great while doing so.
Jennifer grabbed her bags and walked out into the concourse now looking for a restroom. She looked odd wearing only one nylon on her left foot. Quickly, she found the ladies room and went inside to freshen up a bit then she started drying her wet nylon with the automatic hard dryer. After a few minutes, her nylon was not nearly as wet as before. She stuffed it in her pocket and walked out into the concourse and sat down in a chair at her gate. Again, she put on a leg show as she slipped the nylon back on her leg, shortly before the airline employee began to announce the first passenger boarding.
Jennifer soon made her way to the entrance and walked down the walkway toward the entrance to her plane. Jennifer was relaxed for the first time in over an hour. She confidently walked in her mules slapping them against her foot with each step. For Jennifer, it was almost exhilarating to wear mules and nylons with a business suit. She had always enjoyed watching Melrose Place and specifically Heather Lockleer's character who, as an attorney, often wore the same combination. The feeling that her shoe might come off with every step was thrilling for some reason that she did not fully understand.
Once on-board the large jet, Jennifer located her seat - the middle seat in the middle section. There were businessmen sitting in each aisle seat so after placing her bags in the overhead bin, she squeezed past one of them and sat down while a few others walked past. Jennifer was hoping that the guy would stand and let her by with more ease, but he did not seem to want to be bothered - even by a pretty, young, blonde business woman. Once comfortably seated, she immediately realized that one of her mules had fallen off during the maneuver so she gently asked the guy sitting next to her, "Excuse me sir, my shoe fell off when I walked by you, do you happen to see it?"
The man seemed annoyed but with a huff he looked down then back up, "Sorry, I don't see it."
"But it just came off.."
"Sorry, but it's not there!" the man replied and closed his eyes in an attempt to not be bothered again. Meanwhile the plane began to taxi toward the runway.
Jennifer realized she was going to get nowhere with this man so she looked all around for the nearest flight attendant. After locating one, she asked, "Excuse me miss, one of my shoes came off crawling into my seat, do you see it over there."
The attendant looked, "No, I don't see a shoe. Maybe it got kicked under a seat. I'll ask around."
The pilot interrupted with this announcement, "Flight attendants need to make their last minute checks and prepare for take off shortly."
The attendant turned back to Jennifer and replied, 'Sorry, we'll have to look for you shoe once we take off and reach a cruising altitude."
"But, I..." Jennifer realized she'd just have to wait. Crossing her feet at the ankles out in front of her she leaned back, closed her eyes and prepared for takeoff. Having gotten only 3 hours sleep the night before, Jennifer did more than close her eyes. The rumble of the plane rocked her to sleep like a baby. The flight attendant, as promised, asked around and located her missing shoe, but when she saw her sleeping, she laid the shoe in her lap and went on with her work.
Midway into the flight, Jennifer, in her sleep, turned in her seat and rested her forehead on the man sitting next to her who had not been very helpful. While turning, her shoe fell out of her lap and onto the floor next to her other mule that had slipped off while she was sleeping. This occurred about 3 hours into the flight. The man was not happy about Jennifer's head resting on his shoulder while he was trying to read. He moved his arm enough to wake her up. Jennifer rustled around a bit and realizing she was shoeless, without thinking found both shoes on the floor and stuck her feet in them. A few moments later, Jennifer remembered that one shoe was missing earlier and suddenly it was back on her foot. It seemed a bit strange and she began to wonder if losing her shoe earlier was a dream or something.
Jennifer dozed off and on the rest of the way into Atlanta and finally felt rested enough to face the day. She also was a bit hungry. Jennifer gathered her bags and deboarded the plane in Concourse E and realized she'd have to take the train all the way down to the terminal to catch the MARTA train into town. Her instructions on getting to the Regency Suite Hotel was to take the train to stop N4. That seemed simple enough. She had the impression that the train stop was very close to the hotel lobby. Jennifer again walked fast down the concourse to the middle to catch the train. Instead of continuing, she spotted a Pizza Hut, so she stopped for a quick lunch. This gave her some time to catch up and plan the rest of her day. She sat at a table in the restaurant and non-chalantly crossed her right leg over her left and dangled her mule quite a bit. She seemed to defy gravity by keeping it from falling off on several occasions. After downing a personal pan pizza and a side salad she felt much better.
Across from the restaurant, she saw a shoe shine/repair shop. Since she had an hour and a half before having to be to the hotel, she decided to stop and get her shoes returned to an immaculate condition. Jennifer loved pedicures and getting her shoe's professionally shined. She paid dearly for both, but she justified these perks by the fact that she was in the business of making sales to clients who could appreciate luxury. Soon the gentleman was shining her mules up very nice. It did not take very long since there was only about half as much leather to shine as in a regular pump. When he was about finished, Jennifer noted the problem with the right heel. "Excuse me, could you take a closer look at the right shoe. I got some scrapes and scuff marks and can you make sure the heel is okay?"
"Yes ma'am, no problem." The shoeshine man replied and then proceeded to slowly remove her right mule from her foot and observe the heel. Oh my, did this get run over by a car or something?" he was observant to see the rubber skid marks.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, but seemingly only the heel."
The heels a slight bit wobbly, would you like me to fix it? It will only take about 15 minutes."
"Yes, definitely. That's the main reason I'm here."
The man took Jennifer's shoe into the back room and applied some glue and a couple of reinforcement nails then placed the shoe in a clamp to help the glue set. When he returned he began to work on another customer in an adjacent chair. Jennifer felt odd sitting in the middle of the airport wearing one shoe as people hurried by to and from their planes. Her nervousness was evident watching her griping the footrest in various ways with her nylon-clad toes. About 20 minutes later, the man retrieved Jennifer's shoe and touched up the heel with some polish and buffed it out to make it as good as new. Jennifer gave the man a $20 and let him keep the change from a $15 dollar service.
Jennifer felt better and even more confident as she hurried to catch the train to the main terminal. Her brisk stride with the muffled slap-slap of her Ann Taylor mules was back. Jennifer relaxed as she took the short trip to the Terminal and found the MARTA station to continue her trip to Midtown Atlanta and the Regency Suites Hotel where the meeting was being held and where she'd be staying the night.
While on the train, Jennifer sat with her heels crossed underneath her seat. She dangled one of her mules almost completely off. Outside she noticed that the weather was cloudy and rainy. She heard a few claps of thunder along the way. Jennifer hoped that the train station was close to the hotel since she only had a small travel umbrella in her possession.
About 45 minutes later, Jennifer reached her intended stop and she deboarded the train. After making her way to the station exit, she saw that she'd have to cross a busy street and walk another block to the hotel. This was not a fun prospect in the rainy, stormy weather. Stepping outside, she lifted her small umbrella but the rain was coming down almost sideways, making her little umbrella almost useless. Jennifer walked east along 10th Street as fast as she could manage in her mules toward the intersection with W Peachtree Ave. She caught the traffic light on green so she caught a lucky break. She carefully maneuvered around the puddles and running water. Several people were walking behind her with seemingly the same destination in mind.
Once across the street, Jennifer began to make her way up a small incline to the hotel. The rain began to come down even harder, prompting an increase in walking speed. Shortly afterwards, she accidentally kicked her right shoe off and sent it tumbling on the wet sidewalk about 15 feet in front of her. Jennifer stumbled to s stop trying to rest only the tips of her nyloned toes on the wet sidewalk. Before she could gather her composure, a man from behind her, who was carrying a small piece of luggage and a large umbrella, sped around her on her left and collected the shoe. Jennifer was afraid the guy was going to steal her shoe but instead he stopped and turned around to walk in her direction. She watched as the nice handsome young man, although probably in his mid-30's, knelt an placed the shoe upright on the sidewalk for her to put her foot back inside then held his large umbrella over her.
"Thanks a lot, I was dreading stepping on the wet sidewalk in the rain to get it back."
"I see you're umbrella is not very good for this storm. Can I walk you somewhere?
She was initially afraid to let his stranger know where she was staying, but the situation led her to be a bit more trusting than usual. "I've got a meeting at the Regency Suites up ahead on the right." She reasoned that having a meeting somewhere implied that she might not be staying there - therefore, she felt safer about saying where she was going.
"So do I, I'll walk you there." Continuing while holding the umbrella over Jennifer and himself, "My name's Steve Thomas, I'm a pharmaceutical rep from Des Moines." Jennifer noticed the Steve was not wearing a wedding ring; he made the same observation about her.
"My name's Jennifer (purposefully omitting her last name) and I'm also a pharmaceutical rep, from Denver. Are you with Merck?" Jennifer was now walking more confidently in her mules again as she and Steve made their way under the protective overhang that extended over the entrance to the hotel lobby. Both withdrew their umbrellas and shook off the excess water. The two Merck reps got better acquainted as they stood together and checked into their rooms.
Steve looked at his watch; "Jennifer the meeting starts in 20 minutes, if you'd like we could go in together. Meet me at the entrance. The sign says the meeting's in Room 4."
"I'd like that, Steve. See you there."
Jennifer and Steve boarded the elevator and realized their rooms were both on the 9th floor. Jennifer was in Room 902 and Steve was on the other end of the hall in Room 909. Steve suggested, "Since we're on the same floor, why not meet outside the elevator on our floor and we can go down together?"
Jennifer agreed, "Sounds great! See you in a few minutes." They parted ways with a flirtatious look and retreated toward their rooms. Steve was happy to have made a friend with such a pretty colleague. 'How could someone so young be a Regional Manager?' he wondered. He hoped to spend more time with her over the time of their meeting. Jennifer was used to meeting men everywhere she went. She was well aware of the fact she was pretty and that men wanted to meet her. This was pretty much business as usual for her.
Steve was basically ready to go so all he had to do was open his bag, pull out his notebook and wait for time to meet Jennifer. On the other hand, Jennifer was running around like crazy trying to get ready. Once inside, she immediately kicked off her shoes and stripped off her nylons. The room had a microwave so that worked better than the hand dryer to get some of the dampness out of the nylons she incurred in the thunderstorm. She took a few moments to check out her shoes and she noticed that her right shoe, the one that came off walking to the hotel, incurred a few more scuff marks and scratches. It also had quite a bit of grit and mud from the street. She took an extra washcloth and wet it slightly and cleaned all the dirt off her shoes. She was reasonably pleased with the results. She took a few minutes to touch up her makeup and fix her hair.
After checking to make sure her clothes were presentable, she looked at her watch and saw it was 2 minutes after the time she said she'd meet Steve. She grabbed her nylons out of the microwave and put them on as fast as possible and therefore reintroducing the runner she had fixed earlier. Out again came the nail polish remover. She slipped her toes into her left mule, took a step and drug her right mule along the carpeted floor before finally securing it completely on her foot as she grabbed her attaché and scampered out the door. She saw Steve waiting patiently by the elevator.
Jennifer and Steve continued to get better acquainted as they proceeded downstairs and into the meeting room. Their meeting went for a couple of hours and this was followed by a catered dinner from the hotel kitchen. Jennifer spent much of the time playing with her shoes, something she seemed to do somewhat all the time, but especially when she was around a man to whom she was attracted. Sometimes she dangled one mule down to the end of her toes. A couple of times, one fell off and she had to retrieve it. Other times, she crossed her feet at the ankle and dangled her foot out of the shoe on top. Yet other times she stretched her feet straight out in front of her and bounced her heels against the carped floor, causing her toes to come most of the way out of her shoes. A few times, she took her toes and pressed down on the sole above the heel and rocked one shoe, then the other. Steve enjoyed his time spent talking with Jennifer and also liked catching a few glimpses of her cute shoe play. Toward the end of their meal, taking what he considered a risk, he asked, "So would you like to go out and do something afterwards? Do you like to dance? There's a club I heard about within walking distance called the Leopard Lounge.
"I love to dance! Sounds like fun!"
Dinner was cleared away and the last speaker of the day took the floor and began his talk. Steve could not believe how well things were going. He was set for a night out on the town with the hottest babe in the group. 'Now if that speaker would stop droning on and on about Zocor, the fun can begin,' Steve thought, mere minutes into the session. About 45 minutes later, the session was over and Steve walked Jennifer to the elevator and then to her room.
"Come by in about 15 minutes and I'll be ready to go, Steve."
Steve excitedly returned to his room and got a little more casual, removing his tie and adding a bit more gel to his already somewhat slicked-back black hair. Jennifer got ready by first removing her jacket, leaving only her sleeveless peach dress. Then she considered what to do about her shoes. These mules were not the best for dancing but she had not brought a pair to change into. She decided to remove her nylons and wear the mules barefoot. This was not her normal preference but she reasoned the added friction would help her get through the evening. She then took a moment to look at her fingernails. They were well trimmed but had not been polished in a few weeks. She decided that for a fun night out on the town she might want to have pretty nails. She then looked at her bare feet and saw they could use some polish as well. Even though she was wearing mules, Jennifer liked to wear polish on her toenail when not wearing nylons, It being the end of Winter, she reasoned that she'd be going without nylons more in the near future - even back home in Denver. Looking at her watch she knew she needed more time so she called Steve and asked for an additional 15 minutes. He did not mind the delay.
Steve figured that Jennifer's delay was typical. Actually, Jennifer had to hurry to get both her fingers and toes polished in the extra time. Around the time that Steve promised, he knocked on Jennifer's door. Jennifer slipped on her mules and slapped across the room to let him before both proceeded downstairs and outside to walk a few short blocks to the Leopard Lounge. It was about as far away from the hotel as the MARTA station, but in the opposite direction.
The rain had stopped so it was a nice evening for a walk. Jennifer tried to avoid most of the puddles of water but on a couple of times she was unsuccessful and ended up splashing Steve's pants a bit and getting her own feet wet. The water was not as troublesome this time because she was not wearing nylons. After a ten-minute walk they found the entrance to the Leopard Lounge. The music was loud but tolerable and the dance floor was very nice. There were couches and chairs scattered throughout.
At first, Jennifer and Steve picked out a small table and ordered a couple of drinks to relax and wind down after the long day both of them had had. Sipping on her Vodka Martini, Jennifer talked about living in Colorado and how nice it was to be near the mountains. She related her love for skiing, hiking and horseback riding. Steve lamented how there was nothing like that in Iowa. Jennifer became more comfortable and flirted with Steve under the table with her foot. She dangled her shoe part of the way off and used Steve's leg to press her shoe back on her foot each time.
The two of them hit the dance floor and the music was to where Jennifer had little trouble dancing in her mules. Steve was having a good time being out with such a pretty young lady. He hoped she was feeling the same about him - and she was.
After another round of drinks, Jennifer loosened up a bit more, talking more about her childhood and funny stories she might not have told if completely sober. Steve was loosening a bit more also but was able to keep more constraint. They hit the dance floor again for awhile, stopped for a third round of drinks and returned. By now Jennifer was really losing control to some extent. She began to struggle in her mules so during a fast song, she kicked them off in the general direction of their table. The right one went where it was intended, under their table. The left one sailed aimlessly off to the side and landed on a shelf underneath the touch screen menu monitor, where the barmaids rang up bills. On this shelf, was a bus pan sat to collect stray glasses and trash. Her shoe landed in the bottom of it and was unseen and waitresses as they continued to place glasses in the pan and spill alcoholic drinks on and inside her Ann Taylor mule.
Eventually, after seeing her lose coordination skills, Steve reasoned that Jennifer's petiteness must have led to her lack of alcohol tolerance. He decided they had had enough to drink and it would be best to call a taxi to take them the short distance back to the hotel and end their evening on the town. "Jennifer, I think we're been here long enough. I'm going to call a taxi and take us back to the hotel."
"But I'm still having fun." Jennifer and Steve paid no attention to when the dishwasher came from the kitchen to get the fully stuffed bus pan from the bottom of the stand.
"We have to get up for breakfast at 8:30AM." Steve asked their barmaid for their preferred cab company and he called them on his cell phone and asked them to come and get them. Fortunately, an available car was nearby and said they'd be there in 10 minutes. Steve paid their bill and he asked, "I'm going to walk you to the front so we can be ready when our ride arrives." He stood and took Jennifer's hand and helped her to her feet. She began to walk and Steve looked down and saw ten pretty polished toes. "Your shoes. You can't leave with out those."
"I guess not." Jennifer replied as she stuck her right foot in the black mule that lay right next to her chair. Now standing lopsided, she began to look around and Steve was puzzled about the delay.
"What's wrong?"
"I only found one shoe. Have you seen the other one?"
Steve looked around in the vicinity of the table. "No, I remember you kicking them off while we were dancing earlier." They searched all around the area of the club with no success. "Your shoe must have been taken or kicked off somewhere. I'll tell the manager to be on the lookout for it and to call the hotel if it's found. It's not going to be easy to walk wearing just one shoe. I'll carry the other one for you.
In an ironic reversal of his earlier Prince Charming imitation, Steve reached down and slipped off Jennifer's remaining mule and, after alerting the manager of her lost shoe, walked her outside to a waiting taxi. They were whisked away and dropped off at the hotel a couple of minutes later. Steve walked Jennifer to the elevator, then after reaching their floor, out of the elevator to her room. Once inside, he turned down the covers of her bed and helped her put of her dress and into bed before kissing her on the cheek and returning to his room to get a good night's sleep.
Meanwhile, the manager of the club alerted the barmaids about the lost shoe but said nothing to the dishwashers. None of the barmaids had ssen it. Eventually, the dishwashers unloaded the bus pan and found Jennifer's shoe. "Hey, look at this Vern! Someone put a shoe in the bus pan."
"How about that, Jimmy? You think someone may have done a champagne toast with it?" Vern replied while sniffing the shoe, which now reeked from liquor after sitting in the bus pan.
"Maybe so. But even if not, I'm sure that anything that smelled this bad they'd not want it back. See, the sole pad where it says ANN TAYLOR is even beginning to bubble up and come loose." Jimmy on that note tossed the shoe unceremoniously into the trash. At the end of the evening, Vern and Jimmy bagged up all the trash in the club and carried it out back into the dumpster. By 7AM in the morning, Jennifer's shoe was on its way to rot in the Atlanta landfill.
"Rinnng.." For the second straight night, Jennifer's beauty sleep was interrupted by a ringing telephone. This time it had been requested. After raising her night mask she answered the hotel phone, "Miss Overton, this is your 7:30AM Wake-up call. Good Morning."
Jennifer was not sure where she was, really. She remembered the conference and going out dancing but most of the evening was somewhere between a blur and a blank. She got in the shower first and began to get ready, much like the day before. By 8:35, she was only slightly late as she finished betting ready and placed her right foot in the shoe that lay in the middle of the floor. She looked all around its vicinity for its mate as she limped one-shod around the hotel room. Soon she was on hands and knees looking under the bed, under chairs, in the closet, even in the bathroom, but no shoe was to be found. She took a look in her bag and remembered that she has not brought a change in shoes. 'How strange! My shoe is gone,' Jennifer thought as she wondered what she was going to do. 'I have to get down to the meeting!'
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Jennifer yelled out, "I'm still here. No maid service yet, please."
She heard a voice on the other side, "Jennifer, it's me Steve. Our meeting's starting. Are you okay?"
Jennifer hobbled over to the door and let him in. "I'm dressed and ready to go and I can't find my other shoe!"
"Didn't you bring another pair with you?"
"No, I was in a hurry and I only packed the minimum necessities." Jennifer continued her frantic search. Now, her lopsidedness seemed even more exaggerated as she stepped around the room.
"So you don't remember what happened last night?"
"I remember we went out to a club and danced, but I don't remember coming home. We didn't.."
"No, of course not. You had one too many vodka martinis and while we were dancing you kicked off your shoes. When we decided to leave, we could only find one of them."
"Are you saying that I came back here wearing one shoe! Did we tell the club to look for it? Maybe we can call them."
"They don't open tonight 'till 6PM. I'm sure someone might be there an hour or more before that, but we're out of here at noon. You may have to give them your home mailing address so they can send it to you if they find it.
I can buy another pair of shoes just like them at Ann Taylor when I get home, but my problem is now. I have to walk into that breakfast meeting this morning in one shoe, walk a block to catch the MARTA train in one shoe, get off at the airport."
"If one of us had a car we could drive around and look for a Wal-Mart or something like that where we could find you something to wear. I know the airport has some shops."
"Yeah, but I'm not paying $150 so I can have a pair of shoes for the plane ride back to Denver. What I need to do is find my lost shoe at that club."
"I don't know how you're going to do that. We need to go down to the meeting."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go. Walk close to me and let's sit in the back so I won't be noticed as much. This is so embarrassing!"
Steve and Jennifer made their way to the meeting and sat on the back row as planned. A few people saw her predicament and came up with their own ideas of why she was only wearing one shoe. Some assumed she had an injury or medical problem. Others figured she had a broken heel. No one said anything, but she felt the looks, stares as well as the quick glances.
Jennifer slipped off her remaining shoe for the duration of the meeting and listened to the speakers wearing only nylons on her feet. Occasionally, she reached out with one of her feet and played with her single shoe, but she avoided putting it on because that would be a vivid reminder that one of her precious Ann Taylor mules was lost.
Near the end of the meeting, the emcee announced that there would be an awards ceremony. Jennifer did not give a second thought to the possibility of winning something. However about midway into the ceremony, the emcee announced: "Our next award goes to the region who showed the most improvement between 2001 and 2002. This award goes to the Colorado Region which is managed by Frank Greggs."
Jennifer's heart leapt into her throat at the thought of her Region winning, but quickly she realized she'd have to go up and accept the award. Steve leaned over and whispered, "Congratulations!"
Continuing, the emcee added, "Frank could not be here today, so this award will be accepted by the Assistant Director, Jennifer Overton."
Jennifer was happy that her division has won, but she was now going to be seen in her one shoe predicament. In an attempt to minimize being seen, she walked over to the side of the room to come up to get the award, rather than walking down the center aisle. She flexed the toes of her bare foot and tried to hide her lopsided limp. This was working pretty well until she climbed the steps of the platform. The heel that had been repaired in the airport gave way and collapsed underneath her shoe. Jennifer was no longer as lopsided, but now she had a wobbly heel dragging the floor as she walked to accept the award. Those few who could see her feet were shocked to see their colleague wearing only one shoe and that having a broken heel.
Once she returned to her seat, she reached down and snapped the heel completely off and placed the heel in her purse. Steve was afraid to say anything or even look at her. He could tell she was very embarrassed. In silence, they listened to the rest of the awards being presented. Finally, the meeting and awards ceremony was over and it was time to leave. Jennifer just sat there and Steve stayed with her.
"I'm going to let the others get out so I won't be noticed as much."
"I understand. Do you want to try to find another pair of shoes, now that your one shoe is in such bad shape? I did some investigating during the break and there is a mall called Underground Atlanta at one of the stops. They might have something inexpensive you could buy and then catch the next train."
"Okay, but only if you come with me."
"Sure, I was planning on doing that anyway."
After giving most of their colleagues time to leave, on their way out of the conference room, Jennifer ripped off her remaining shoe and tossed it in the trash bin next to the door. They both checked out of their rooms and walked outside toward the MARTA station. Jennifer was now just in her nylons and was certainly getting some funny looks and stares as they approached MARTA and boarded their train toward the south. Jennifer looked, and the bottoms of her nylons were dirty and ripped to shreds. She showed them to Steve and he could only shake his head. Jennifer decided to go ahead and peel them off and go completely barefoot as they stopped at the 5-Points station inside Underground Atlanta.
"So when's the last time you walked barefoot in the mall?"
"I may have been 3 years old. You see anything yet?"
"There's a Foot Locker ahead, a lot of professionally-dressed women wear sneakers when commuting to and from work. You'd fit right in."
Jennifer agreed and she first went and washed her feet in the restroom. Then she put on her other pair of knee-high nylons - the ones she wore the previous day - before going into the store to look at shoes. Jennifer did not stand out too much, because women commonly removed their shoes and browsed the shelves. After looking at styles and prices, she settled on a pair of white Nike mule sneakers. She kept them on while paying for them and the store employees were puzzled what she did with the shoes she must have worn on the way inside. The possibility that she entered without shoes never occurred to them.
Jennifer and Steve returned to the Marta station and arrived at the airport in just enough time to use the kiosk and get their boarding passes. Steve walked Jennifer to her gate and said goodbye with a quick kiss. They exchanged email addresses and with that, Jennifer boarded her plane for its flight to Denver.
Again, Jennifer slept most of the trip and was very happy to be back home. She walked outside toward where her car was parked and she noticed that the snow had melted. She took the same shortcut as before and this time, she encountered a different problem. Her pristine white sneaker mule sank 3 inches into the wet and damp mud and left her with a dirty shoe. She was so frustrated with her shoe situation that instead of walking away toward her car, she returned to the mud and jumped in with both feet until both shoes were completely covered in mud and she felt it sliming around her toes. Once she had had enough, she squished across the parking lot, got in her car and drove home. The first thing she did at home was fill up her tub, 6-inches deep in warm soapy water. Then she placed her feet and shoes in the water to clean her feet completely then get rid of as much mud off her shoes as possible. Jennifer discovered that the warm feeling of water squishing in and around her foot and her toes and the feel of the wet shoe that surronded them was almost euphoric. After finished cleaning her shoes and rinsing them off, she set them out to dry.
Back at the Leopard Lounge that night, Vern and Jimmy reported to work and were mopping the floor around the center of the bar when they overheard the manager of the club talking with the supervisor of the barmaids. "Did you ever find that lady's shoe that was lost here last night?"
"No never did. I wonder if she was so drunk that she lost it before ever getting here?"
"Who knows. Oh well, she never did call back. I guess there's nothing to worry about. I suppose she had no problems, without it."
Vern and Jimmy worked their way away from the conversation and then retreated back into the kitchen and hoped that they would never be questioned about the pretty black mule they had found and unceremoniously tossed into the trash.
