2021 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 26
Today's prompt is to write about an article of clothing.
Damien stepped out of the taxi right into sludge. He was thankful that he wore his old, size twelve, brown leather oxfords, but sad because this was the last time he could use them. He walked into the coffee house and surreptitiously changed his shoes. After a quick hot coffee he headed to his interview next door, dumping the old oxfords into the trash bin outside the coffee house.
Nicky loved bouncing up and down Seventh Street. There was always good food in the trash bins. His nose brought him to the trash bin outside the coffee shop. But instead of a tasty snack, Nicky found a leather shoe. He pulled it out, tossed it in the air and chased it to where it landed on the sidewalk. Passersby pulled out there cell phones taking pictures of the looney dog with a shoe. He heard a distant whistle. It was time to go home. As much as a dog can bury anything in a concrete jungle, Nicky shoved the shoe inside a large drain pipe.
Ace saw the tail dangling from the pipe. He hunkered down, his whiskers twitching and slowly approached. The tail didn’t move. He was so close. He pounced but nothing happened. He swiped at the tail. Still nothing happened. Using his teeth, he pulled the tail from the pipe and the shoe bonked him in the head. He dragged the shoe down the alley by the laces, every now and then pouncing on it. Whoops, he knocked the shoe right down into the sewer drain. He stuck his head into the drain and watched as the shoe floated away.
Danny was a mess. Bea was about to have her babies and he still hadn’t found a good nest for all of them. He walked along the pipe seam and heard a gurgling sound. A few feet down, where the water runs through a drain, there was a large thing bobbing up and down. When he got closer he saw that it looked like a cave. Using all the strength he possessed, Danny dragged that wet cave back to the air pipe where Bea waited. Bea jumped into the shoe and crawled to the toe. It was perfect. Danny sat near the opening of the cave watching. It wasn’t long before Bea had five little pink pups.
Joe was sent out to fix a pipe. There was something wrong with the air vent to the sewer on Seventh Street. When he looked down the pipe, he was amazed. He couldn’t reach the shoe so he went back to the truck to get the reach extender. He slowly pulled the shoe out of the vent pipe. A little mouse, tucked in the toe, stared at him but didn’t budge from her babies. Another little mouse stood on his hind legs in the heel of the shoe, muttering up a storm of mousy obscenities. Joe tucked the shoe, mice and all, into an empty box on the back seat of the city truck. Later that day, he bought supplies at a pet store and took the mouse family home.
Damien couldn’t wait to let his roommate know that he got the job. He walked into the apartment with a six-pack in hand. He walked to the kitchen to put the beer in the fridge when he saw his old oxford in a glass tank on the counter. “Well, would you look at that?”
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