The story spark was – Laugh Lines. The writing prompt I took was: A time in your life that knocked your socks off.
Look, Listen, Buy?
Now, this will sound weird, but I have a problem with socks.
Yeah, I know we all have problems with socks. You are convinced you put a pair in the laundry and when you empty the dryer, lo and behold, you only have a singleton. What happened to the other sock?
That is not the problem I have.
Let me backtrack a bit and fill you in on where I’m at.
Last Thursday, I took a trip to the city. I planned to see a few museums, have lunch at a cheap restaurant, and then take the train back home. As I left home to catch the train, I noticed I had inadvertently put on two singleton socks that didn’t match. Not wanting to miss the train, I decided not to go back and change. After all, I was going to the city, and people who walk around with mismatched socks wouldn’t be noticed.
However, as I walked around the city, people must have noticed. For every person I passed, looked down at my feet.
As I crossed 5th Avenue I spotted one of those street vendors. You know, the ones you always look the other way so that they don’t try to sell you anything. This time was different. The woman doing the selling was selling socks. I asked her how much the socks cost and what they were made of. You see, I’m allergic to wool and wouldn’t want anything made of it.
She spoke with a foreign accent that I couldn’t recognize and said something about socks, magic, perfect fit, and never need washing.
None of that made sense, but I saw ones that matched what I was wearing and I bought a pair. It was a steep price, but I figured it sounded okay if they fit and I didn’t have to wash them often.
I found a place where I could sit down, change into them, and continue my city trip. No one glanced at all at my feet the rest of the journey.
That night when I got home and undressed for bed, a strange thing happened when I took my shoes off. The socks pretty much took themselves off without me touching them. When I got up and dressed in the morning, as soon as I put my pants on, these same socks put themselves on me. I never laid a hand on them.
This has continued since last Thursday! I can’t get rid of these socks. No matter where I put them, they seem to find me. No wonder she said they never need to be washed. They won’t leave my feet alone long enough to get washed.
Think of it, if you had only one pair of socks that lasted forever, would you need any other socks? Well, YES, unless you happen to wear the same colored outfit every day. These socks don’t go along with most of what I wear.
I’m now back in the city to find that vendor again. But she doesn’t exist, and no one I’ve spoken to has even heard of her. I’m not sure what to do.
Not wanting to go home empty-handed, I just made another purchase before I leave the city. I found a vendor selling a really cool looking sweatshirt. Yeah, the color isn’t the greatest, but I can live with that. It says, “Look Before You Leap.” I really like that quote. He mumbled something about magic I didn’t quite understand, but the price was ridiculously cheap. For that price, “What could possibly go wrong?”
