It had been some time since I had failed those two exams and my first encounter with Lucas and the "shoeplay lady". A lot had happened in my life, both good and bad things. First of all, I was able to pass these two exams. My efforts didn't go wasted. I was finally able to catch some fresh air, enjoy my free time, meet with my friends. I was already convinced that everything would be fine. Of course, not everything went as I had presumed. That bastard, Lucas, had to get in my way. It just happened when I was waiting outside the store with my youngest cousin while her parents were shopping. That's how he just appeared. I was afraid for myself and for my young cousin. Lucas was not pleased that I had left him so quickly that day. Sure, at the beginning he asked me about my exams, my health. Interestingly he didn't ask about my little cousin. Nevertheless, it seemed to me to be a false concern. He promised me that we would meet again, and that it would make me "glad", whatever he meant by saying it. I don't know if he was joking, but he said to me "take care of your daughter". I didn't want to do anything with him anymore after that. It's good that my cousin's parents didn't see him. I felt a bit like someone had slapped me in the face. Luckily, it was the only time I saw him. I often looked around to make sure he wasn't following me.
I remember the three occasions where I had seen this woman (I'll call her "the shoeplay lady"). It was always accidental, but they weren't long "meetings". Once, while I was walking through the park, I saw a young girl running around a bench where "the shoeplay lady" was sitting with another woman. Immediately my eyes noticed her shiny black pumps, which I had first seen at KFC. I smiled when I saw those shoes. Unfortunately, that day I had to hurry, so I could no longer admire them. But one thing caught my attention: When I was still a bit far from them, the young girl was running around with small gravels in her hands. She jumped and threw them in the air so that the gravels flew in different directions: left, right, behind her, and even up. It was neither wise nor safe, especially as it could have hurt someone in the eye. But some of the gravels flew into "the shoeplay lady" shoes. The second woman grabbed the girl's hand, told her to sit down, and shouted something at her. A wise decision, of course. "The shoeplay lady" had to take off one shoe, which exposed it's red insole, but what surprised me is that she also removed it. If I saw correctly (I was in a hurry, so I couldn't look any longer), it had a gray insole inside. So those red insoles weren't originally in this pair of shoes. They were probably meant to make her shoes fit tighter. Well I knew pretty well that they failed the exam!
Another time I saw her in the street. She and two men were picking up apples from the ground. I don't know what had happened that caused her trouble. She was probably back from shopping and somehow those apples had fallen out from her bag. Maybe some kids were running around, maybe someone had pushed her, maybe someone had made a prank or she had just slipped? Who knows. I recognized her shoes and blonde hair. As she was kneeling down, both of her pumps had popped off her heels, and only her toes were still inside her shoes. I wanted to help her, but I was across the street and almost all the apples had been picked up already.
The third time I saw her in the evening. It was raining heavily. I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop. I saw her on the opposite sidewalk while she was carrying an umbrella and talking to someone on her cell phone. Then she put her phone back in her bag and quickly took shelter under a roof. She was wearing those worn ultra low cut black flats that were definitely all wet. I saw some water pouring out of them. After some time a car arrived. She quickly got in and the car left. I think she had called someone to come get her. Too bad she didn't want to go back barefoot on the wet ground. It would have been like in a book that I had read a long time ago.
Finally, my fourth encounter with the "shoeplay lady" happened when I decided to take a round trip with a ship across the Seine. It had been a long time since the last time I had sailed it, and as I had nothing else to do, I didn't want to stay at home all the time. I reserved a ticket and all I had to do was pick it up from a nearby small building. I received the ticket, sat on the bench and waited for the ship to arrive. I was a little ahead of schedule so I decided to check the latest news. Various headlines showed up on the screen: Some famous writer had died, some international scandal, euro currency stronger than ever... At first, I thought the international scandal could be something serious, but no. The whole text wasn't referring to the headline. "Another clickbait", I thought.
The ship finally came ashore. I got in line to board. It took a while since there was a lot of people, mostly adults. Most of the men were taller than me. Finally, I showed my ticket and went on board. I just waited for it to move. After a few minutes, we set off.
As I mentioned, there were a lot of people. Some were outside like me, others inside. I suspected that something could be bought to drink down there. Since it's was not the sea or the ocean, I doubted they would sell rhum, but who knows. Nevertheless, I did take care of my pants pockets in order to prevent being a target for pickpockets. You never know who might stand in your way or behind. When there was something interesting, I took photos and recorded short films. Finally, I saw in the sky the Eiffel Tower. I took pictures of it by the water. Suddenly someone touched me with his hand. I got scared and it almost caused my cell phone to fall into the water. Luckily it didn't, what a relief! I figured I'd better look inside.
As I suspected, there were quite a few wooden tables, a wooden bar with a bartender behind it. And of course, it was full of people with background music playing. I leaned against a beam and looked at everything. Everyone looked to be dressed nicely. I also heard the sounds of feet above me and in this place. Nothing unusual. But one of those noises was quite common and it was not far from me. I was searching the source and finally found it. In the distance, I could see a bare foot in the air. Given the red toenails, it had to be a woman, but I couldn't see her face as the wooden beam was hiding her body. When I looked again, her foot disappeared, but then her other foot showed up, encased in a white low cut flat pump that quickly slipped off her foot and fell to the ground. This woman stayed with her legs crossed at the knees for a little while and then she got her shoe back, but this situation repeated itself over and over again. I counted in my head that she had lost her shoe five times in one minute! I wondered if I had found the same person again. Like Lucas called her, "Cinderella before the ball starts". I wanted to get closer to see if I was right by walking towards the bar to look at the prices. And indeed I was - it was her. She was sitting with a man. I had never seen him before. He was smiling at her. Suddenly he looked at me. I was slowly looking away, but I felt strange. Nothing happened that made him look at me, of course, but he stopped smiling when he looked at me. I walked away from the bar and went back to where I was standing before. I was surprised to meet this woman so often. The only thing that annoyed me was that I couldn't take a photo of her or record it on my cell phone.
The trip was coming to an end. We had been informed that we would reach land soon. A lot of people gathered around me. The sun was slowly going down. I had my hands in my pockets. This could be the perfect opportunity for pickpockets so I had to be careful. If they wanted to rob people, I would certainly not be their victim.
People were slowly walking to leave the ship. Suddenly I noticed that the shoeplay lady, who was with this man, was now just in front of me. I saw her white dress, her white shoes, which were slipping off her feet with every step, just as much as her worn black shoes. I had a satanic idea. I took a deep breath and got even closer to her. We practically rubbed against each other. As she wanted to take a step, I stepped on her left shoe and I kicked it behind me into the crowd of people. I was walking without looking at her. I heard her groan. She jerked back in horror, letting go of the man's hand, and said something to him. I quickly left the ship and sat down on the bench that I had been sitting on before boarding. I was curious how long it would take the woman to get her shoe back and in what condition it would be. I knew what I had done was wrong, I deserved condemnation. But I didn't care about it that day.
It took a while for the man and woman to get off the ship. I saw that the woman was slightly limping (perhaps I hurt her a little), she was unhappy, and her left shoe looked a bit dirty, and visibly stained with something pink. It could have been from juice or water with juice, who knows. I smiled slightly. I took out my cell phone and took a quick photo of her shoes while the woman was looking for something in her purse, probably to clean up her expensive shoe. I considered that day a success. I got up and left quickly.
