Writing in Snow

Money Shoes

Word count: 582

The high heels were hand-tooled leather the color of a brand new hundred-dollar bill. They sit in a glasses case on top of the white oak bookcase next to the green silk handkerchief, which Adrian used to clean them every morning before going to work and every evening after arriving back home.

Adrian received the shoes and the handkerchief at her nineteen-birthday party. The note attached to the box read, “Happy Birthday, Adrian! I hope these shoes bring you the luck and the wealth they have brought me in my ninety-two years of life. Love, Grandma Tillie.” Three days later, while waiting at a bus shelter, a drunk driver struck and killed Grandma Tillie.

On Friday, August 13, 2010, Adrian removed the shoes from their glass case and carried them to the lavender loveseat that faced the T.V. set. Placing the shoes on the coffee table, she returned to the bookcase and picked up the handkerchief. Returning to the loveseat, she sat down and began the morning ritual of removing every speck of dust from the outside and the inside of the shoes.

Her cell phone chimed, picking it up she looked at the number and then press the send key. “Hello, Mr. Holmes,” she said to her boss, “do you need me to pick up anything before I get to the office?”

“Of Course!” She pressed the end key and laid the phone on the coffee table.

“Well,” she addressed the shoes resting next to her cell phone, “I have an unexpected day off. The Old Bastard decided it’s unlucky to work on Friday the Thirteenth so he’s closing the office until Monday.”

Getting off the love seat, she picked up the shoes and started to put them back in there case, but the doorbell ring. Holding the shoes in her left hand, she went to the front door and looked out the peephole. Stoop, wearing casual office attire, was her next-door neighbor Alicia Davenport, so Adrian unlocked the door.

“Alicia, what’s up?”

“My car won’t start; since we’re going in the same direction I thought I might catch a ride with you. Do you mind?”

“Those shoes go well with that outfit,” Alicia said as she entered the house. “Are you going to wear them to work?”

“I’m not going to work today,” the two women went into the living room. “Apparently superstitious people think Friday the Thirteenth is a good reason for a three-day weekend.”

“Oh, I’ll call a…”

“Don’t be silly,” Adrian motioned Alicia to sit beside her on the couch. “I’ll take you to work before I start my shopping. Yes, I am going to wear these shoes today.”

Adrian removed her house slippers a put the shoes on, but she removed the right shoe immediately. Removing a crumpled piece of green paper from the toe, she put the shoe on. Then she smoothed the paper out and just stared at the hundred-dollar bill.

Picking up the bill, she examined it closely. “I guess Granny was rich after all, that is a Silver Certificate and not a Federal Reserve note.” Adrian picked up her purse from beside the coffee table. Removing her daily journal, place the bill between two blank pages.

“You are going to put that in the bank, Adrian?”

“No,” she smiled at her friend’s confused expression, “I’m going to take it to Jay’s Coins and Collectables. That is a Silver Certificate in fair condition and I suspect it’s worth more then its face value.”