BY GENTRY T. WILSON
When he woke up, he had an odd, unexpected, yet welcome hopefulness for the day. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the morning sunlight and start making his way to the side of his queen-size bed for one. He sat up slowly to avoid the dreaded morning brain swelling. He looked at his alarm clock and sighed as he realized that it was 7:58 AM. He thought to himself that the extra two minutes would have been great, but the morning was going so well he shrugged it off.
As he rose from the bed, careful not to trip on the clothes left bachelor style on the floor at his feet, he proceeded to the kitchen. A glass or orange juice, some pulp, was the first step of every day for this new morning soul.
"I should have seen that coming", he said as he glared at the empty cabinet that usually holds the glassware he drinks out of.
He makes his way to the dishwasher next, the next logical step for any bachelor looking for a clean dish. He opens it and realizes he forgot to turn it on last night. This made him wonder what else he forgot to turn on, or off.
He reaches into the refrigerator and pulls out the optimistically half full carton of O.J. and pours a generous amount into a twice rinsed glass that last held orange soda.
"What’s the difference?" he thought to himself as he justified the use of a dirty dish.
As he finishes the last sip, he puts the glass in the dishwasher and made his mother proud. He turned it on. As he walks back to his room, he stops in the hallway and gazes over some photos on the wall of times gone by with family and friends. There was a distinct lack of portraits, he didn’t believe in them. He thought that any photo worth keeping was of something real, something happening.
He stops for a moment and concentrates on one photo in particular. He lowers his head a bit as his face contorts into a frown disguised as a smile.
"Christmas is never gonna be the same." he thought as he walked toward his bedroom.
As he arrives, he immediately scouts his shoe rack for that perfect pair of shoes. Shoes can make or break a day after all. Wear the wrong wing tips in a big meeting and the client might be offended and take his business across town. This is the most important decision of his day. Everything else stems from this. The belt, the suit, the tie, the watch, and the ever so important socks are all dependent on this choice.
He reaches down and picks a pair of brown square front loafers. It is Friday after all. With that decided, the rest of the day should be a breeze.
He lays out his suit, belt, solid red power tie, shirt, and sox and proceeds toward his bathroom.
He first turns on his shaving cream warmer. He turns and goes to the shower that he turns on. The shower is his favorite part of the morning. As he waits for the water to warm up, he has his morning constitutional and then steps into the shower.
"DAMNIT!" he shrieked in the most masculine way possible.
He had forgotten the dishwasher was running while he stepped into a shower that could have been confused with snow.
He cranks up the hot water to compensate and carries on with his morning hygiene ritual. He towels off and heads to his bed where his couture for the day awaits him.
His shoes are laced, his tie is tied, and his hair has the appropriate amount of gel to hold through the business day but soften up for happy hour. He proceeds to his chest to make his last decision before leaving for the office. He selects the silver faced, brown leather banded watch and proceeds to the front door picking up his briefcase and umbrella en route.
The drive to the office was uneventful, save for the cute brunette whom he nearly ran himself off the road in order to stare at her. He makes it to his floor and is greeted by the receptionist who informs him…
"There is fresh coffee and juice in the lounge, sir. As well as bagels and some donuts."
As she made a joke about her not knowing what a donut tastes like because she has a figure to maintain, he chuckles a bit, wish her a good morning and heads to his office. His secretary greets him with the same information and starts apprising him of his schedule for the day.
"Mr.Tourek, Mr.Clay and Mr. Masters are waiting in the conference room for your nine-o’clock, sir."
He nods and smiles as he heads into his office to settle in and grab the proposal on his desk.
As he moves to the conference room, he grabs the other participants and goes in to greet the potential clients. There is a brief chat about the morning’s happenings, traffic and whatever major political dilemma faced the country on this day.
He goes through the motions and presents the proposal without flaw. The prospects are impressed as they get up to shake his hand and sing his praises just as Mr. Masters looks down to notice the footwear that his potential marketing manager was wearing. It didn’t take long for his two partners to notice as well.
He knew something was wrong as the prospects made for a hasty retreat. As they left the office with their casual goodbyes and their call you laters, he came to a realization that terrified him. Mr. Tourek, Clay and Masters are the owners of a high end men’s shoe company, and he was wearing their competitor’s shoe.
It is truly the most important decision of the day.
Review or comment on The Importance of Shoes –
Reviews:
How could the prospective clients’ representatives recognize the shoes from their exterior, and how were they visible anyway from the veil of the trousers? It is a very well written piece from all other angles. Congratulations.
– Siva Gopal Ojha 1/1/06
This piece was like reading an itinerary. You wrote every single detail of his morning life down. I think you should reword it. It was the opposite of captivating…….
– Jenny 2/27/08
It was ok, but there were too many details to appreciate the story. But other than that the story is very well written. Keep it up. – Tapde 3/9/09
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