Shoes

[Michael F. Chamness]

I just finished reading a fairly new book about Major John Wesley Powell's
trip down the Colorado River in 1869, and there was a passage in there that
told how Powell, a left-arm amputee (or maybe it was the right, I can't
remember) as a result of a Civil War wound, later in his life met a retired
Confederate officer who was an opposite-arm amputee. They became friends,
and for the rest of their lives, whenever either purchased a new set of
gloves, he always mailed the other, not needed one, to his friend.

Whenver I buy a pair of shoes - and so far, they only come in pairs - I can
only use the right shoe. The new left shoe goes into a box with the others
I've saved, waiting for a new owner. I've called the VA, local hospitals,
senior centers, shoe stores, prosthetists, and nobody but nobody wants them
or knows anybody who wants them. But, I just can't find it in myself to toss
them into the trash. Good men's shoes cost about $100 a pair. I just can't
throw that sort of money into the trash.

If there is anybody in this group who knows of somebody (they're men's
shoes, of course, but they're not labled "gender specific") who wears a size
12 medium (size 12 - one foot! Get it?) who would want new shoes for free,
please...please...let me know and I will send them at my cost. I just want
these lefties to have a happy home, on some worthy foot. Their right side
brethern are living comfortably in my closet. I favor boots, so that's
mostly what they are, dress 11" or 12" boots; no tennies, no "walking
shoes", no AirJordans.
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M.F.Chamness, PO Box 22, Montpelier, ND 58472
Please reply to: chamness at daktel.com
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