Ruined Shoes

Hello, Favorite Friday Fiction Fans,

It's a chilly morning in May. Right now it is only 43ºF. And everything is wet from all the rain we've had this week. But the sun is supposed to shine at least some today. So hopefully that will help warm things up again. I'm not ready for summer, but I don't want to go back to cold either.

Let's see, what have I done this week?

On Saturday my mom, sis, and I headed home from my grandparents' and I tried to get some things done.

Sunday was a busy day. We had children's bell practice between Sunday school and church, and then played for church. My sister and I are in charge of setting all the food up for our fellowship meals, so we only got to hear part of the message at church before slipping out and down to set things up. We always have helpers, but this time our help wasn't enough because our visiting speaker ended 20 minutes early! Thankfully several other girls who are on the rotation to help set up, rushed down and help us finish. I got to hold and cuddle a sweet 10 month old baby and she fell asleep on me and slept until her family had to leave. *bliss* :) We had a baby shower after we finished eating, so it was after 2 before we got home.

On Monday I worked on getting this and that done. That evening we went to something my nieces and nephews were in. No writing that day.

Tuesday was more of getting things done. I did get a bit written, and mowed the yard (it needed it!), and talked to my best friend for 45 minutes.

Wednesday was a better writing day. I might have finished writing "By Paths Unknown." I can't promise I have, since I have to wait and see what my editor says, but maybe. ;) I also alpha read a story for someone.

Thursday I had a long list of things to do and work on. Several emails to send, and another book to alpha read. I also started writing a new short story. This one is based on a true story.

Today – Well, today hasn't been around very long. ;) But I have to clean house, but I'm hoping to get more written, and other things done.

This story was written about 8 years ago and started the "Travels of Tracy" series. I hope you enjoy it.

Ruined Shoes
by
Rebekah M.

For several minutes Tracy Linnet sat silently in her small, blue Road Runner, slowly twisting one of her tawny curls around her finger. “Now what?” she asked of no one, for besides her cat, she was alone in the car. “Here I am, in a small mountain valley with lush green grass, a small stream, which I’m sure is icy cold, a row of tall, green trees, an old looking barn and rugged mountain peaks; not a person or house in sight.” She sighed and, looking at the seat beside her where Madalyn, her only companion, was curled up, made a wry face before adding, “I guess this just isn’t my lucky day, huh, Lyn?”
Thus addressed, the cat, a sweet tempered, long-haired, yellow tabby, opened one eye, stretched her front paws and yawned. Her tail brushed the back of the seat lightly.
“Oh, you’re no help,” Tracy scolded softly, scooping up the cat and cuddling it tenderly. “You couldn’t even get the spare tire out let alone change the flat. Now could you?”
Lyn merely blinked.

The sun shone brightly out of a clear blue sky, and Tracy, never one to give way to utter despair, opened the car door and stepped out, glad to at least stretch her legs. “No doubt Tad will be waiting for me.” She put the cat down and straightened her belt and smoothed her skirt. “Of course,” she added to Lyn with another little sigh, “he won’t really miss me until after five o’clock. Since it is almost three now, it will be at least four and a half maybe even five more hours before he finds me. So much for getting back without any mishaps!”
She thought of her three friends whose company she had left only forty minutes ago after spending a five day holiday together. Now it was back to college, and here she was, stuck.

“Lyn,” Tracy wondered, “do you see a house over there behind those trees?”
Lynn continued washing her face and didn’t even look.
After shaking her head at her companion, Tracy shaded her eyes from the afternoon sun, trying to see through the screen of trees. “I’m sure it is a house. But, how do I get there? I guess we’ll have to cross the field and climb the fence, if there is one,” she added. “How nice of the road to cross this stream before turning away from the house. Come on, Lyn.” She picked up her cat, and set off with a sigh.

The long grass swayed, tickling her legs and grasshoppers jumped on her skirt.
“Oh,” Tracy shuddered, thinking of what her new neon tiger-striped keds would look like, for the ground was soft and squishy, as though still saturated from a rain. “This isn’t exactly the right kind of outfit to venture forth across country in, Lyn. Maybe I should have worn something else.”
Lyn gave a soft mew and set up a purr.
“I know, you’re exactly right. I wouldn’t have had time to change before Tad saw me. And who knew I would have a flat tire. I’m sure you didn’t even think of such a thing.”

At last the field was crossed and Tracy approached the barbed wire fence feeling almost like a trespasser. “What if they don’t like visitors?” she whispered to Lyn. But the cat had closed her eyes and Tracy didn’t think she was listening.

Just as Tracy placed one hand on the fence, a sudden thunderous barking frightened her nearly out of her shoes! She screamed! There bounding towards her was a great, and to her mind, terrible dog! Lyn began to spit and hiss and Tracy held on to her beloved cat lest she leap from her arms into the vicious jaws of the approaching beast.
A shrill whistle from the barn halted the dog and sent it tearing off in a new direction. A door of the barn slammed shut and then out of the shadows a man approached with the stride of a cowboy.
“Howdy.”
Somehow Tracy managed a tiny, fleeting smile. “Hi.”
“Can I help you?”
“Um, oh yes, . . . I mean, . . . my car--” She could go no further for the door of the house flew open and a crowd of noisy children of all sizes came dashing out helter-skelter. Behind them, with a baby in each arm, came a woman.
Tracy could only stare. Never had she seen so many children at once except at schools. Even Lyn seemed impressed for she turned for a look and then scrambled up to Tracy’s shoulder as though added height would help figure out the situation.
The woman came over to the fence and, after handing over one of the babies to the man, held out her hand with a pleased smile. “Hi, I’m Anne. Brian’s wife. It’s not often we have guests. Can we help you?”
At last Tracy found her voice. “My car has a flat, and I can’t change it. I was wondering--”
“Of course we can help,” Brian put in.
His wife added, “You came through that field? Oh your poor shoes! They look ruined. I’m afraid there is no gate, but if you’re not afraid to climb the fence or go under it, we can give you a lift back in the truck. Tramping back through that would only make your shoes worse.”
At this, Brian handed back the baby, placed one booted foot on the lower strand of wire and pulled the top strand up, thus forming a gap large enough for Tracy and Lyn to squeeze through. Then he bellowed, “Everyone in the truck!”

A blur of movement crossed Tracy’s vision as there was a mad scramble for the truck. In a daze, Tracy soon found herself seated in the back of the pickup with Lyn in her lap surrounded by half a dozen large, middle sized and small boys all staring at her. After a brief moment she asked, “Are the babies boys too?”
“Naw, only one.”
“Nice cat.”
“Bet ya Colonel would swallow it in one bite.”
“Aw, be quiet, Jackie.”
“Where do you live?
“How come you’re riding with us?”
Tracy could neither respond to these bewildering comments nor answer the questions hurled at her. Her brain, so quick in school, was a total jumble.

It took only a short time in the truck to reach her little car and soon the tire was changed, and after declining an invitation to stay for the night, Tracy found herself once more alone with her cat.

As she settled back again behind the wheel, she said, addressing the occupant of the seat beside her, “Did this really happen, Lyn, or was I dreaming? Tad will think I dreamed it all up.” There was a brief pause. “On second thought,” she glanced ruefully down at her ruined shoes, “when he sees these shoes, he’ll know it wasn’t a dream.” Then she sighed and drove off down the road.

Have you ever ruined your shoes doing something?

What did you do this week?

Have you had a lot of rain this week?