“You should play lotto, because today is truly your lucky day,” the salesperson at Tirone’s intoned as Bri tried on her new school shoes. For the past two years she has had to endure the freshmanâ„sophomore style, but now that she is entering her junior year, the shoe style as well as the skirt and pant style of uniform is different.
She desperately wanted the old shiny variety of shoe that had been the shoe of choice for the past several years, but this past spring the “Style Committee” picked a more modern type of shoe, nixing the previous style. The old clog is just as ugly but it’s shiny.
This new shoe, however, has not been well received by the entering juniors so the girls have swarmed to the store to snatch a pair of the old shiny ones. We, being the latecomers of the year, waited until the last minute to purchase the shoes, so all the way there she chanted, “Let the shiny shoes be there, let the shiny shoes be there.”
Being a firm believer of “If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck,” the likelihood of the store having the shiny shoes and in her size was about as promising as the longevity of a snow ball in hell. With trepidation we parked the car, went into the store, sat down and waited for the sales clerk to measure her and then go in search of the shiny shoes.
As the clerk emerged from the stock room, several nail−biting minutes later, there in her hands was the coveted box −− it was only one of the last three pairs of the old variety left in the store and in her size, too (well a little smaller), but they ran big.
Bri held her breath, gingerly putting first her right foot and then her left foot in the shoes and stood up. Miracle of miracles, they fit. She then danced around the store for a bit to make sure her feet were comfortable −− after all, these shoes have to last her for the next two years −− and then plopped down in the chair with a very satisfied sigh. Her luck had certainly changed; the shoes fit like a glove. Since we were there, we decided to purchase a new pair of the white sneakers as well as these new ones −− the “summer shoes” remained the same for all four years −− along with two pairs of tights, white for summer and navy for winter.
As we left the store, she started texting all her friends letting them know her good fortune. She had scored the coup of the year. The only thing left to purchase for the new year is the new skirt style and new summer pants. (They changed the color from tan to navy.)
Thinking to push her luck a little more, she asked permission to color her hair, just a few highlights here and there.
