LUCY BURDETTE: Yesterday you had glimpses into the artistic process of a few Key West luminaries. Today it's your turn! I am posting two photos, both found on the street. What stories might explain them? Random thoughts and ideas welcome. You can choose one or the other, or use them together... (No judges, no prizes, just brainstorming fun...)
Deana Dale was selected randomly as the winner of Sherry Harris's book THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND. You can contact her at sherryharrisauthor at gmail dot com!
Oh, what fun!
ReplyDeleteBlue shoe . . . A little girl leaves her sparkly shoe and anxiously watches, hoping to see the fairies dancing in the moonlight . . . .
White shoes . . . I simply cannot take another step . . .
I'm getting a Cinderella vibe for the first one. Maybe the girl who left her blue shoe behind grew up into a woman who goes barefoot. Which means her prince has an even harder time finding her since first he has to discover where she left her shoes.
ReplyDeleteI see a little girl who is going to be in big trouble with her mama. She took her blue shoes off and left them in the backyard. Her daddy picked up one of her shoes while he was mowing the lawn and set it on the stone. Meanwhile the family dog has a new chew toy and is happily chomping away on a shoe in the shade.
ReplyDeleteThe little girl loved her trips to the library just down the street from her house, and she always wanted to wear her pair of fancy shoes. After picking out her books to read for the week, she went outside and stopped by the fountain. It was one of those scorching Texas days, so her mother said she could take her shoes off and get her feet wet, but to be sure she put put her shoes in her library bag. Oh, the cold water felt so good on her feet, she started to daydream about going swimming later that day. When her mom said it was time to go, the girl grabbed up her library bag, but she didn't notice that one of her shoes slipped out. After she had started down the street barefoot, letting her feet dry off, another library patron saw the sparkly shoe and set it on a large rock, so the owner would come back and see it there.
ReplyDeleteThose white shoes that Jane's best friend insisted she needed to wear to the dance were nothing but torture. When Jane and her date went outside to get a breath of fresh air, she unstrapped the shoes and freed her poor aching feet. Jane became a believer in comfortable footwear that night.
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ReplyDeleteShe did it! Finally, after trying at so many Mardi Gras, caught one of the glittered and bedazzled shoes thrown by the Krewe of Muses.
ReplyDeleteWhen she met the man of her dreams he turned out to be so much shorter than she expected. Those shoes can go, baby!
Ginnie stared at Carla's shoes. It was fine for her sister to embrace her inner child - but wearing sparkly little Mary Janes out to the club? And what UP with the full-skirted dress and the ruffles?
ReplyDeleteAfter a few more drinks, Ginnie lost track of Carla. And as she wandered home in the mild Key West darkness, she left her own wedges by the side of the road. They never had been comfortable.
It wasn't until the afternoon when the police came to say they'd found Carla in the playground, strangled with the sash from her own party dress, wearing only one of those pretty Mary Janes.
It had been a perfect-weather day and the evening air was still soft and gentle. As she made her way towards the big house, the path was littered with shoes. Pairs of shoes. What was up with that? True, she held her own shoes in her hand, as she much preferred to go barefoot in this seaside town, but she wasn't going to abandon them like some litter. She had had to work too hard to afford them. Just as she was about to climb the steps, she heard a noise behind her and then felt a blow to the back of her head. Her shoes went flying as her body hit the ground.
ReplyDeleteLucy: What a fun Sunday post. Thank you!
Deletethanks for being such good sports!!
DeleteWearing these towering wedges had been a huge mistake. Wearing the slinky dress had been a mistake. The whole evening had been a mistake! Why did she think it was a good idea to go to that party? Why did it hurt so much to see him with HER? Susie hurried along the sidewalk towards home. Only five more blocks. "Well, forget about it...off with these shoes! If I never see them or HIM again...good-bye shoes!"
ReplyDeleteI love these--thanks so much for playing. I was afraid no one would tell a shoe story:)
ReplyDeleteXXOO
DeleteSpeaking of shoe stories, this is an artist friend's whole career:
Deletehttps://www.claudialynch.com/shoestories.html
And she is in the Krewe of Muses in NOLA.
that's a funny coincidence!!
DeleteKaren: Your friend's site was fun to visit. Nice cards!
DeleteYes, Karen, I need more time in the day to read all of those vignettes. Shoes! My mother used to say, "If your feet hurt, your face isn't pretty."
DeleteShe's very clever, isn't she?
DeleteOfficer Allen Goldstein looked down at the shoe. "Are you the one who called it in, Ma'm?"
ReplyDelete"Yes, officer. I was just going to step outside and tell that little nuisance to stay out of my garden when the van pulled up."
Goldstein's partner, Officer Gail Murphy was taking photos of the shoe with her phone.
" Mrs. Lee, can you describe what happened?"
"Like I said on the phone, a van pulled up and a guy got out, grabbed the girl and stuffed her in the back. Then it took off down the street. I called 911 immediately. The kid is a pain, always nosing around in my garden. Today I saw her jumping on the rocks. What is this, a park?
Anyway, I called police..."
From the photos, it looks like two people were at a party. Their feet hurt so they took off the shoes.
ReplyDeleteDiana
These are so great!
ReplyDeleteThe carnival was over. The cow pie bingo game was a huge success. Emily and Zelda, flushed from winning the Pie-Eyed Girls sing off, took off their fancy footwear to dance in the meadow. Too bad the stray goat, liked Em's shoe.
ReplyDeleteCoralee...LOL!
DeleteIt was some kind of wedding reception. The bridesmaids kicked off their shoes to dance in the moonlight and then stripped off their dresses to go skinny-dipping.
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ReplyDeleteI imagine a story about a woman who's dealing with her mother's recent death. Her mother had a shoe collection that rivaled Imelda Marcos, and loved costume jewelry. Our girl tries to give them away but she just can't. So she creates little altars around town, montages of her mother's shoes and costume jewelry. Little does she know, what she thought were rhinestone brooches...
ReplyDeleteOoh, I like that!
Deletegood one Hallie!
DeleteWonderful photos, Lucy!
ReplyDeleteMaryJane Elizabeth Luna tapped her heels three times and called out to the man in the moon to take her home. He gathered her up in his starlight arms leaving one shoe behind and a charm to explain her fate.
Green eyes sparkling in the setting sun, Mark walked backwards and crooked his finger at me. "Hurry if you want to come along. We only have minutes to reach the rendezvous." I looked down at my feet, hobbled in stylish but oh so impractical for running wedges and stripped them off. Free now I raced hand in hand with Mark. The pathway to the greenflash opened before us. The bright lime-colored light enveloped and lifted us. Wrapped in Mark's arms I gazed at the ground below. My shoes shown like a beacon in the fading light. The magic of Key West pulsed from the cork soles. I swore they performed a soft shoe shuffle of joy.
Lovely Kait!
DeleteI love this! I like to think they danced right out of their shoes…
ReplyDeleteShe was just going to keep walking. Yes, that was it. Walk away and don't look back. But first, these damned shoes. They hurt, they looked awful. Hateful shoes, reminding her what an idiot she'd been at the gala. Try to remember, Clementine, her inner voice jeered, you're just a lowly staff lackey. You shouldn't try to play with the big dogs. Rae's rolled eyes at those shoes, Marlene's snigger, Claudia's oh so accidental elbow bump that had sent Clemmie's glass of wine cascading down the front of her BUSTER'S BEST RENTAL GOWNS! NO ONE WILL GUESS! Damned shoes, she swore and kicked at them, hit the concrete instead, and swallowed a scream.
ReplyDeleteEyes on the ground to avoid the gravel in the driveway, Clemmie limped along. A pair of shoes appeared on the drive in front of her. Polished black shoes with, oh God! feet still in them. Her eyes traveled up and up and up until they met a pair of brown eyes.
"What a great idea! You don't mind if I join you, do you?" Henry stepped out of his shoes and tossed them over his shoulder. "Always hated those shoes. And socks," he added, grinning at her. The socks followed the shoes. She shook her head, limped around him, and kept going. Henry caught up with her. He kicked a shoe out of her way, aimed a kick at the other shoe and instead stubbed his bare toe on the drive. He grabbed his foot, hopped around, and gritted his teeth.
Clemmie couldn't help herself. A giggle escaped her, then another, then laughter bubbled over. Henry limped over to her, his arm through hers, and asked, "Where we going?"
so clever!
DeleteWhat glorious fun!
ReplyDeleteDamn! That little chihuahua stole her jeweled slipper. She had sat down to rub her blistered feet. What possessed her to wear these impossible shoes to a scavenger hunt? Nobody, absolutely nobody, was impressed. Now she has sores, and her calves are screaming expletives at her.
ReplyDeleteDamn! She needs that shoe. It was her find, and it was a hard one. Her sister, Alexandra had made it several years ago when she was into that kind of art. When it didn’t sell, she stuffed it into closet and forgot about it. When it showed up on the scavenger list, Alexandra couldn’t, or wouldn’t remember where it might be. But she had found the closet in Alexandra's workroom. She found lots of things in that closet and one of those things could get them both killed. She’d tucked it into the shoe until she could find Dennis. He might believe her or he might not, but without the shoe, there was no chance. Plus, she needed the million bucks from the scavenger hunt. How was she going to protect Alex and get her money?
Damn! Where did that obnoxious canine get to? Oh, shoot, he’s over there in the heavy grass, grinning like it’s Dia de los Muertos. Well, he might be right. Where’s the dog’s handler? Nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’s a stray and she can take him with her. Nothing to do but tiptoe barefoot into the grass and hope the little guy is cooperative. Now, wouldn’t that be unusual for a man?
Lucy, all I can say is your street scenes are much more interesting then mine! When I walk the dogs, the only out-of-place elements I spot are empty Millers Lite cans and the occasional tossed-out half eaten piece of pizza. The latter is HIGHLY exciting for the dogs, of course, who have a finely tuned taste for road food.
ReplyDeleteOh, the possibilities. Kait and Kathy so heartwarming . . . Edith's is horrifying.
ReplyDeleteHaven't we all had some shoes we'd like to just abandon?
I did find a woman's long-sleeved shirt in my yard, tied it to a utility pole so it wouldn't get mowed up, but no one claimed it. There could be a story in that as well. Bit by bit, we could accumulate a whole outfit and/or anthology. ;-)
I checked in earlier this morning, surprised and delighted that I was chosen to receive a copy of Sherry Harris' new book. Thank you. I couldn't comment then but I have time now.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first looked at the pictures, I was looking at a small picture, I hadn't enlarged anything, first impressions... small pictures.... Key West
She stopped on the trail, looked up and down the beach, seeing no one. She felt sorry for the girl who had to put a bandage on her shoe so the bow would stay on but where was she? It was covered with sand. Had the child just not wanted to admit that the shoe was broken so she left it behind, where was its mate? What really happened? She gave herself a little shake, had little chuckle, reminded herself to stop letting her imagination run wild. The next day picked up the shoe by the strap, twirling it and humming a little tune to herself, she put the shoe in the trash can while looking around to see if anyone was watching.