Monday, October 11, 2010

On, In and Around Mondays: Dragon Scales to Go, to Stay

sneakers 2

I'm pulling shoes out of boxes.

"Try these on." White and blue sneakers, black shoes with silver-beaded rosettes, brown shoes with faux brass buckles. Fancy shoes, walking shoes, boots. Shoes to show off. Shoes to run and jump in.

sneakers 3

She has her eye on the dragon-scale flat sneakers, but I'm focused on other pairs. Push, pull, zip. On, off. Next, next, next. I keep handing her new options (and remember vaguely how my mother said it used to take me hours to choose shoes when I was a child). She's on the floor, trying, trying.

sneakers 4

Looking down at her small fingers, brown hair shiny-tangled, I try to smile. But I feel impatient. "Not like that," I tug a boot zipper, push its flap inside. The pop music is too loud. "I am so done here," I tell her.

I pick up the yellow box with the useful sneakers, turn to go.

sneakers 5

"Can I try on the dragon-scale ones too?

"Sure, sure. Try them on. Why don't they have laces?" I pull them off the shelf and look inside the shoes to see if the laces are hidden inside, undone.

"That's the style," says my daughter.

A saleswoman passes and I ask, "Where are the laces for these?"

"That's the style," she says.

My daughter laughs a soft laugh. She wants these sneakers, but they are loose without laces. We buy pink sparkle ones. She frees them from plastic and tries to put them on the shoes before we pay.

"Do it in the car," I tell her, looking down. She's fumbling with the laces, and I don't want to wait. (Credit card, signature, bag the boxes. I am so done here.)

When we walk outside, she says, "I couldn't breathe in the store."

"It was the music," I say. "Too loud." She leans into me, and I pull her close, put my face in her hair.

At home, she laces the dragon-scale sneakers. The useful blue and white pair never make it out of the box. All night she wears her sparkly sneakers in the house. She knows she can do that, because they are still clean. When I go to tuck her in at bedtime, the sneakers are near her bed, where she can look down at them and smile. The laces are marvelously, outrageously pink. They lie open and ready for tomorrow.

It is quiet here, and I feel like I can breathe.

sneakers 1

sneaker 6

Dragon-Scale Sneaker photos, by L.L. Barkat.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place.

Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below. If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

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This post is also in honor of the PhotoPlay prompt at TheHighCalling.org. Why did I choose to photograph down? It was the posture I felt existed in the whole incident. Looking down is an opportunity. I feel I kind of missed mine (or not... it is ambiguous), but my daughter embraced her chance to look down lovingly.

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15 Comments:

Blogger Maureen said...

Imagine what she'll create while she's wearing those dragon scales.

11:22 AM  
Blogger RissaRoo said...

Love the sneakers, and I could identify with the "I am so done here". I am so...enjoying these Monday glimpses into the moment! It's a great idea.

11:35 AM  
Blogger Megan Willome said...

I need to send this to a friend who, on Saturday, had a fight with her daughter over shoes just like those. I'm glad you saw value in them.

12:12 PM  
Blogger TraciB said...

Do those come in adult sizes? ;)

Another wonderful window into your world. These prompts are a great way to spark up our writing. I'll have to do one later in the day, when I'm not at my desk. After all, how many of those can y'all read?

12:33 PM  
Blogger Bob Gorinski said...

Yesterday our oldest son dug a pair of neon green shoes out of a huge bag of hand-me-downs.

"Bike shoes!"

They are loud green, run of the mill Converse. The flatness of the bottom makes them b.m.x. style bike shoes, I guess.

"Uh, okay. Yeah. Bike shoes. Lets try them on."

2:30 PM  
Blogger Andrea said...

very nice.
I can relate. *smile*

2:33 PM  
Anonymous Sandra Heska King said...

I'm impressed she left them *by* the bed. My husband says he took all his new stuff--including shoes--*to* bed when he was a kid.

Sweet shoes.

3:18 PM  
Blogger Louise Gallagher said...

While in New York last week I bought a pair of two colour stockings for my daughter -- just for fun -- one leg is green, the other blue -- bright green and blue I must add.

It was raining. I was stuck in New York because of my passport crisis and needed something silly and weird. These stockings fit the bill and I thought my daughter would laugh when she received them and put them in a drawer.

haha.

She's wearing them!

3:22 PM  
Blogger Linda said...

I just bought a new pair of shoes today. I love shoes! I think she made a wonderful choice.
I also went grocery shopping today. The music was so loud and awful I felt like I couldn't concentrate. I long for quiet too L.L. I can't seem to think without it.

4:43 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Excellent perspective/angle here. Sorry about the dial. What Canon Powershot do you have? Does it have the Av function? If you let me know the model then I can offer a few work around suggestions.

I can hear you saying: "I am so done here" and I like that very much.

5:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't you love having daughters? (I am sincere in this comment, btw. I really love having daughters)

I am very familiar with the "I am so done here" mantra...

9:28 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

If it helps, the whole shopping thing makes me stop breathing, too. I am so done here before I start. :) And oh yes, loved the sneakers. I would not take them off either. Hugs to you both.

12:21 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

If it helps, the whole shopping thing makes me stop breathing, too. I am so done here before I start. :) And oh yes, loved the sneakers. I would not take them off either. Hugs to you both.

12:23 AM  
Anonymous kingfisher said...

I left you a link. Even if it isn't Monday any more.

God bless and keep you today, Laura! You're a special person.

8:50 PM  
Anonymous Ann Kroeker said...

How to train a dragon

Step one: buy dragon scale shoes

7:37 PM  

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