The Red Shoes: A Love Story

It's a love triangle really. Three people and one pair of red shoes. Honestly though, the shoes are a character unto themselves, making it more of a love square.

Maya has an adorable little friend in her church nursery class. For the sake of this post we'll call her Elvira. Elvira is a stunning blond who not only has natural beauty and a winning personality, but also a shoe collection that makes Maya all drooly and envious. Look at gorgeous Elvira. Look closely and I think you'll see red shoes on her feet. The shoes that started it all. Three parts of the love square: Maya, Elvira, and the red shoes.

The fourth side of our love square is a boy from their nursery. We'll call him Fabio. Not only is he handsome, he's also an athlete. How could the girls not love him?

Now apparently Fabio wanted to marry Elvira, but at the time she was quite young, a baby really, and not yet talking. At least not to Fabio. This made Fabio wonder if Elvira was really his soul mate. Although other men may think differently, Fabio considered speech an important quality in a wife. Maya was lacking in the red shoe department, but being older than Elvira, could jabber with the best of them. She sweet-talked her way into Fabio's heart and became numero uno on his list of possible future wives.

But there was still the issue of the shoes. Maya really wanted those shoes. Of course Elvira didn't wear the red shoes to nursery every week. Only when, you know, she wore something red. She's classy like that. But on those lucky red Elvira Sundays, Maya would literally start to shake. She'd run to my side, pull my arm, and frantically whisper in my ear, "Elvira has those red shoes. The shoes that I love. Elvira's shoes. I want those shoes. The red shoes......"

I'd pry her off of me and she'd casually waltz on up to Elvira. "Wow. Those are some nice shoes, Elvira. I like those shoes. Red shoes."

Elvira could now talk. "Thank you," she'd say and then walk away from the slightly creepy shoe stalker. As any good stalker would do, Maya followed. "Can I try on those shoes, Elvira? I will wear them and then give them back. Elvira? Elvira?"

Elvira would go play, with the ever-present stalker close at hand--I mean close at foot. Nearby anyway, green with envy and wanting those shoes.

Maya was sometimes able to slide the shoes right off of Elvira's pretty feet, but evidently Elvira spoke to Glinda the Good Witch who told her, "Keep tight inside them. Their magic must very powerful or else she wouldn't want them so badly." Drat that Glinda. So Elvira started sitting Indian style, arranging her dress over the red shoes. Maya would give me the wide eyed, Can You Believe This look and point at the puffy dress covering the shoes. The girl owns red shoes and she's covering them up?! I would NEVER!

And then Elvira--Elvira of the big feet--grew out of the red shoes. Picture fireworks and choruses singing Hallelujah and brass bands playing. Her mother brought them one Sunday for Maya. I thought my daughter would cry from the sheer joy of it. It was perfectly right and fitting that the gift was given during church. Maya truly worships those shoes. She could care less if she's wearing red clothing or not. She puts them on first thing in the morning, has to have them forcibly removed so I can stuff her into the rain boots required by her school, changes into the red shoes the second she gets home, and wears them until she goes to bed at night. And when she gets into bed she orders me to put them on her windowsill so they'll be ready the next morning.

But back to our love square. So now Elvira talks and Maya has the red shoes. Fabio's current status on the issue of a future wife might be soley due to Elvira's gift of speech, but I don't think so. I think it's all about the transfer of the shoes. Fabio now says, "I will marry Elvira, but kiss Maya."

Which proves that even if you're a church-going gal, you throw on some red shoes, and suddenly you're that type of girl.

Truly there is some powerful magic in a pair of RED SHOES.