Dancing Shoes

Shad was leaving. She had no head and this was the last straw.

He arrived at the store raving mad. He had rehearsed his plan well. He knew it inside out, from start to finish. On cue, he paused at home and packed her things in a carton box. She had very few pieces of clothes left. Everything that he had bought her, was thrown down the drain.

Each time it was another scammer and she just never saw through them. When a mysterious African woman showed up with a ‘house burnt to the ground’ story, she gave away all of their clothes, food, and even sheets and pillows. He crashed a Bolivian China cup against the wall. It did not break. The stupid cup wasn’t made in China.

A few weeks ago, he lost everything to Mr. Rainy Day”. All the money that he had hoarded away below the Persian rug, just in case the government went bankrupt. She had sent him an urgent message:

‘Hey sweets, just turned over the funds to its lawful owner. Remember how you told me the money hidden beneath the rug was for Mr. Rainy Day? Well, you’ll never guess who just showed up! Yes, that was exactly him. And quite a handsome fella. Although he had no ID, I gave it to him anyway. How many people could go by that name.’

He was on his way to the divorce lawyer’s office when she called him again. Mr. Rainy Day just got arrested for drunk driving. Poor fella.

Shad rammed his fist into the wall. Concrete walls are usually tough, and he would have noticed the bruises under calmer conditions, but his pocket was hurting more.  Last week he was ready to kill her while she slept. She exchanged her car for a pair of dancing shoes. Later he discovered that the shoes were indeed a pair of ancient Gold Clip dancing shoes. He then placed it in the almost empty store. He forbade her to give away anything else, and it was working so far.

Yesterday he locked in on a bid for the shoes and was already dancing. A guy called Madge from an online trading forum offered to buy the shoes, paying the buy-it-now price. Maybe he could recover some of the value of the lost car.

Now this message. It was over. He kicked the table that once had four chairs. She had given them to the repair man who was on a door-to-door visit. She did not remember his name and never thought of jotting down his telephone number. It’s been six months now.

Thunder clapped in the distance, and he hurried down the stairs, remembering that he was in the rainy season.
He pushed the door open and threw the box on the counter. He did not even greet her. Sarah was busy with the computer and looked up at him, flashed him a smile and a wink.

‘Sarah, here’s your clothes.’ She opened the box, folded her arms, and looked at him.
‘Honey, someone tricked you, these are not new. Plus, I already have similar pieces at home.’
‘No Sarah, these are your clothes. It’s over. I am throwing you out. I am leaving you. ‘
‘Come on Mike. It will be just like the time when you wanted to leave me because I gave away your TV to a beggar who was bored to death at home with no TV. Remember, hon. We made love in the garage, and then I locked you in until you promised not to leave me?’

‘This time it’s different. We have nothing left for you to give away. I am done!’
‘Not again Mike. Those were your exact words when I burnt your grandpa by accident. But it wasn’t my fault. He was lying on his back in the hole that he was digging. The sign on the kettle said: for Live Black Back to Life Coffee. I didn’t even pour all of it on him when he was jumping like a stallion.’
‘Leave my grandpa out of this. He is dead now; you can’t hurt him anymore.’
‘Don’t be too upset. Remember that was the day we made love in your grandpa’s basement, and I handcuffed you to the bed until you promised not to leave me.’
‘I am not here for your stories, Sarah. Just giving you what’s yours. Best of luck.’ Shad turned on his heels.
‘Say, Mikey, I have an offer for you. You can’t refuse this one
“Will you stop calling me Mike!’
‘Don’t be so upset. No one else can rebound like Mike. Just you. You should feel honored.’
‘What is your offer..?’
‘Let’s make love one last time, in your car.’
Shad laughed. “Nice try, so you can lock me in again. No deal’
‘Okay, fine. What if I promised not to lock you in the car..?
‘No deal. It is over! Finished, I am leaving, gone. Goodbye.’
‘Mikey, why are you so upset about my deal with the dancing shoes? I can understand that you did not want to revive your grandpa, or that you were upset that Mr. Rainy got drunk, but what is wrong with my deal? Do you plan to go dancing in them?’

Shad suddenly got the urge again. Somehow, he wanted to kill her. Kill her until she was dead. Just once.

‘You really got the nerves, eh Sarah? Firstly, you traded a 75 K car for a 2 K dancing shoes, and then you traded the dancing shoes for a lottery ticket!’
‘Try to calm down Mikey. Firstly, you should add some more Kays to those numbers. They did say okay several times…’

Shad groaned and stamped his feet. He swore under his breath again and started looking around for a knife.

‘I always told you not to drink red-label wine. Now listen up. The lottery ticket is worth 170 cool million dollars. How many nights would you have to dance to earn the first quarter? Now, I know I will land it correctly one day. Just need some support from you, Shad.’

Shad wanted to walk away there and then, but something kept him grounded. He grew up next door to her, and he had seen the mess she made. She was always the dumb girl who did what was right. She was completely honest, but just too naïve to believe that people scammed others.

What was it about her that made leaving her so difficult? As often as he had tried, he had failed. Maybe he wanted them to fail. That one night before they got married when she almost gave their wedding rings to a drug addict, he had the right to stop there and then. Yet, they got married and it’s been four years.

Would she ever get smart? He spent his youth and the last four years hoping that she would, but she got worse every time. Why was it so hard to leave her? What more would he have to lose? She was obviously beautiful, so beautiful that everyone desired her. Sadly, what she had in beauty, she lacked in intelligence.

‘Shad, if you leave me now, who will show me my mistakes? Who else will believe in me? Every guy out there just wants me for my looks. You love me, Mikey. I know that. Deep inside you do not want to leave. Just,.. Just don’t give up on me yet.’

The rains came in ponding, torrential downpours, and Shad realized that he was trapped again with Sarah. This time she did not use a key. Did she prod him along until the rains started, knowing that he would not leave in the rain?

He moved closer to her, maybe to listen to what she was rambling about. He looked her in the eyes and saw the same innocence he admired since they first met. She has never lost that either. People were just so mean to her.
‘Why did you sell the dancing shoes, Sarah? Please tell me something else besides the lottery ticket.’
‘Okay fine, I will tell you. She was not an ordinary person. She was taller than the Chinese basketball player. But she seemed shorter. So when she told me that you just lost your job and that she had the perfect solution, I knew I had to help you.’
‘Was her name Madge …‘
‘Yeah! Madge Sinclair!’
‘Son of a bitch! Can I see the lottery ticket?’
‘Well, he said not to look at it until tomorrow.’
‘Just give me the darn ticket’ Shad snatched the ticket from her hand and held it up to the light. It expired the night before.
‘Oh, Sarah! Couldn’t you have looked at the ticket? Just for one second, check on the date, this is an old ticket. Killing me. Just killing ne.’
‘Calm down Mikey, should I tell you why I did not look at the ticket?’
‘Yeah, I know you froze out because she was so beautiful and tall!
‘No sweetie. I just asked her to read me the number, and she did. That was good enough for me. So. I gave her the shoes.’
‘What now, you are a math genius who knows every lottery number and its expiring date?
‘Actually no. Just one each day. And that one was from yesterday.’

Shad felt the rage coming on again. How could she be so calm? Like nothing in the world matters, except him.
’18-458-963-001-‘
‘What is that, Sarah? You finally took a phone number?’
‘Look at the ticket.’ Shad steered at her in admiration. She knew the lottery number. She repeated it and he smiled ear to ear. She was not so dumb after all.
‘Very, good, Sarah. I see that we deserve a better chance now. I never knew you were good at numbers. I am impressed.’ He reached over, hugged her, and kissed her hair, She hugged back and it felt so good.
‘So, you won’t be leaving. Anymore, anytime soon?’
‘Sounds crazy, but I am not going anywhere now. I think I know how we can work together.’
‘Well, Mikey, that number was the winning number from yesterday. I would be so alone with 170 million.’
‘Come on Sarah, why would a con artist give away all that money for a pair of shoes.’
‘I am not sure Mikey, but maybe she found it on the street and tried to outsmart me with it. But she did not know that she won the lottery yesterday.’

Shad pulled out his cellular and checked the numbers as Sarah read them to him. She was so right, the ticket had won, and only one of the two winners had claimed it so far. He reached over and hugged her again. She melted into his arms like always. Shad had no idea just how long they were hugging, and it didn’t seem to matter.

Finally, he whispered in her ear.
‘Sarah, is there a place where you wish to lock me away until the rain breaks?’
‘Gee Mikey, I thought you would never ask.’