Do you ever become obsessed with one subject or object and you can’t stop thinking about it? Recently I’ve become obsessed with shoes. It all started when my feet began to hurt while shopping and that drew my attention to my shoes.
Why aren’t they more comfortable? Have my feet grown as well as the rest of me? Or have my shoes shrunk from being out in that rainstorm last week? Whatever, I must purchase some new shoes, which means another shopping expedition, this time to Payless.
Then my mind wandered to other shoes I have known. Shoes with special powers such as Dorothy’s ruby slippers that could carry her back to Kansas. (Who wants to go back to Kansas?)
And “The Red Shoes” that wouldn’t let Moira Shearer stop dancing.
And the shoes that St. Nicholas fills with toys in some countries at Christmastime. And who can forget the excitement of buying their first pair of school shoes at the Buster Brown store?
I had a hard decision when I received my first paycheck. Should I put it in my savings account or buy an exquisite pair of red high heels? The heels won.
And finally – the book called, “Italian Shoes,” by Henning Mankell. This book is a departure for Mankell from his usual crime novels. It is just a novel. But it is a haunting novel that tends to stay with you. I highly recommend it, even if you have no particular interest in shoes. The Italian shoes play a minor part in the story, although it is the title.
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…” I better quit before I go completely barmy.
Robin Hathaway
