“Mother.” Elsa modulated her tone to push the irritation out of it. “I like that pair the best. The cap-toe Oxfords have the lowest heel, and the heels are made of rubber. That’s what I’m looking for. Let’s try it on, please.”
Bette looked from mother to daughter and back again before Elsa added, “In case we’ve confused you, I am the customer, not her. I’m paying for the shoes, either here or elsewhere.”
With a nod, Bette unclasped the straps on Elsa’s shoes, and Elsa slid her feet into the new candidates. After Bette laced them up, she pinched at the toes, checking for fit, then rose. “Take a stroll and see how they feel.”
Elsa stood. In the corner of her vision, another young woman practically waltzed through the salon, testing a gold pair of high-heeled evening slippers. Mother shifted, clutching her handbag with tighter-than-necessary force. She crossed her ankles, then uncrossed them again.
Mother was nervous.
Elsa hated that it was because of her. This was a mistake, but there was nothing to do about it now except get through it.
Lifting her chin, Elsa walked away from Bette and Mother, forcing herself to focus on how the shoes fit, rather than the embarrassment she caused her mother.
“Do you need a lift in one shoe?” Bette asked her when she returned to her seat. “If you have one in the pair you’ve been wearing, could you switch it out to try it with this pair?”
Elsa smiled. “I appreciate that, but no. My legs are the same length, but one is not as cooperative as the other.” Her left knee didn’t bend as freely with the brace on it. But that was the point. She needed the support to help bear her weight. “The Oxfords fit fine. I’ll take them.”
“Wouldn’t you like to try anything else?” Mother asked.
Elsa assumed she referred to the three other boxes Bette had brought, but Mother’s gaze had traveled back to the satin white slipper, sparkling on its pedestal. It wasn’t just a symbol of that shining ball of years gone by but of a standard that Elsa couldn’t reach.
“That’s all right, Mother,” Elsa said. “Some shoes will never fit.”
The rest of the afternoon melted away under the heat of a summer that wouldn’t let go. Back at her apartment, Elsa tosseda Tootsie Roll to Ivy, then ducked into her room to change into a more comfortable sundress, pairing it with canvas sandals.
“How was work?” Ivy called through the door.
“You go first.” Headache still pulsing, she headed to the bathroom to wash her face and fix her hair.
Ivy came and stood in the doorway with a brief summary of how the events had gone this morning for the anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. Only after that did Elsa fill her in on the broken birds she’d unboxed and her conversation with Mr. Chapman that offered no hope the trend would abate.
“Okay.” Ivy crossed her arms. “So what else is bothering you?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Sure it is, only you’ve never slammed so many drawers over it before. What else is going on?”
“I don’t know.” Elsa turned from her reflection to face her roommate. “I went shopping with Mother after work.”
“Fun!” Her entire countenance lifted. “I was hoping she found you.”
Elsa laughed. “The most fun I had was imagining chucking my Tootsie Roll at two gawking shoppers exiting Goodman’s when we arrived.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“No, I wouldn’t. But I sure did enjoy thinking about it.”
“What on earth did they do to get your hackles up so? I mean, you said they were gawking. What else?”
Pressing her lips into a thin line, Elsa shrugged. “It was the way they looked at Mother, like they were totally impressed by her, and then they looked at me, like they couldn’t understand what I was doing with her.”
Ivy propped a fist on her hip. “So they looked at you both. And for this, you wanted to throw candy at them? Only, not like in a parade, but as in, an act of violence?” Amusement danced in her eyes.
Elsa grinned, barely containing a chuckle. “I would never do it, though.”
“People have looked at you before, Elsa. Do you always want to hurl things at them?”
“Nope. Only when I’m with Mother.” She unbuckled the brace from around her left knee, applied talcum powder to the skin, and refastened the brace.
