The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes

The warm, humid air was still when Ana Julia and her mother, Dolores, arrived at the Lama shoe store on Fordham Road in the Bronx. Ana Julia sensed a calm promise of excitement in the air, the kind that is in the air when one is young and full of joy.

“Ana, I love these shoes for you,” her mother said inher accented English as she pointed at the window display.  Ana Julia stared at the black, flat, leathershoes her mother was admiring.  They werethe ugliest pair of shoes she had ever seen.

            “Hay, Mami, por favor, that’s for a jamona,”Ana Julia said quickly regretting her irreverence, but feeling quite securethat her perception was accurate.  Thoseflat ugly shoes were for an old maid. Who in their right mind would look at a girl wearing them?

            “Dejade conte’ta’me asi, Ana Julia, porfavor,” her mother said in her stern Dominican intonation as she glanced atAna Julia up and down and rolled her eyes.

            “I’m sorry, Mami,” Ana Juliaresponded, avoiding her mother’s eyes as she fanned herself with a copy of aMademoiselle magazine she was holding.

            “Pero es que tu ya no me respeta, muchacha?”Dolores questioned.

            “I respect you. I do. I didn’t meanto answer back. Saw-rry!” she said as she continued looking at the black flatsin the window display, and mustering some feigned interest in them.

            “Theblack shoes are kind of cute, Ma, but…”

            “But, what? What’s the problem?  No,‘tan de moda?” Dolores asked with curiosity in her eyes.

To read More:

Báez, A. (2007). My daughters eyes and other stories. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone.

Story behind the story:

Who has not struggled with their mother over shoes or an outfit. Once I read this story at BCC/CUNY, and a young man had the courage to share how he struggled with his dad over sneakers, his dad thought they were not appropriate for a young man and could get him into trouble. I asked him to write his story.

Once I read this story at a Psychoanalytic conference, and I heard three stories about shoe struggles from three different countries. Some stories are universal.

Share your story about a struggle with an item, and how the mores may have changed from when your mother was young and what was allowed.