01
Shopping for Shoes
After my sophomore year in college I took two summer jobs to earn money for the coming school year. Weekdays I worked in a coffee shop during the busy morning hours, six to ten. From four to closing time at nine, I worked in an upscale shoe store on the nicest block in the area, a place that appealed to women who could afford the latest designs from Italy and Spain. In the middle of the day I usually read books assigned in my upper level literature course, "The American Novel in the Twentieth Century." The readings were engaging and the professor, who was also my advisor, arranged credit for me so long as I wrote a substantial paper before the start of the fall semester. I wanted to graduate early so this would help.
In both the coffee shop and the shoe store I enjoyed the opportunity to interact with attractive women. Some of them, especially in the shoe store where the pace was less hurried, seemed to enjoy looking back at me, flirting with a decent looking young man who obviously enjoyed the exchange. Overall it was a pleasant summer.
One of my tasks at the shoe store, as low man on the pole, was to turn off the lights and lock up the store just shortly after nine. One night, as I prepared for the end of my shift, an extremely gorgeous woman came in the door just a few minutes before closing time. I knew I had seen her there before. Surely I had not waited on her or I would have remembered her in more detail. In any case, as soon as she was inside the store she said to me, "I'm sorry to arrive so late but there is one shoe in the window that I very much would like to try on before you close. Can you help me with that? I'll show you." I followed her to the display area, enjoying watching her hips and legs move enticingly under her black wrap around dress. I thought perhaps she had stopped in for a few minutes while on her way to a late dinner in the fine restaurant around the corner. She pointed out the shoes that interested her. I noticed the gold wedding band on her left hand.
I asked her to seat herself in one of the fitting chairs. As I looked up at her I appreciated more fully how very beautiful she was, her face and neck, her hair, her wide and deep brown eyes. She wore small gold earrings and a very narrow gold necklace. I went to the back of the store to retrieve the shoes in the size that she gave me. When I returned I sat in front of her on a short fitting stool and asked her to give me her foot so that I could remove one of her shoes. As I did so it was tempting to sneak a look further up her lovely leg encased in a sheer black stocking. I resisted. I removed one of the shoes from its box. I looked again into her face; she was smiling at me, almost a smirk. She either was conveying her sense of my status in service to her, or perhaps testing my ability to resist appraising more fully her lovely feet and legs. As I slipped the new shoe onto her foot, placing my hand around her ankle to guide it, I was struck by the shapeliness of her ankle and calf. Exquisite was the word that popped into my head. "How does that look and feel," I asked?
"I like it," she said. "This shoe feels very nice on my foot." Then she lifted her leg as though to see the shoe on her foot more closely and she swung that leg outward and twisted it to give herself a better view from the side. In doing so, with her very short dress, she gave me a full view of the insides of both legs, all the way to her lovely bare pussy, up above the top of her stockings which were fastened to a black garter belt. I could not avert my eyes. Perhaps I sighed.
She asked me, "How do you think the shoes look on me? Perhaps it will help if you take off my other shoe and put the new one on my other foot so I can get a better look. As I again grasped her ankle I looked up at her, hoping that she might give me some signal of her wishes. Her only reaction was to swing that leg wider as well, clearly intending for me see even more clearly her sex spread wide, her pussy glistening. She held that pose for ten seconds or so. I was stunned and speechless.
"Do you like the way these shoes look on me?" she asked again.
"I have never seen a pair of shoes so perfectly suited to a woman. Very lovely. "
"I'm not certain," she said. "Perhaps I will return to try them on again. Would you help me again if I come in?"
"Certainly," I said. "Just ask for James."
"I will," she said. "I come to this street to shop every Thursday evening. I will plan to be here at just about this same time next week. I'm sure you will have other shoes I will want to try on. I promise to be a patient customer, James. You won't mind if I take my time, even if it is a bit past closing, will you James?"
"I will look forward to seeing you again."
"I know you will James. My name is Gretchen. And I will look forward to you seeing you again. You are a beautiful boy. Good night. Sweet dreams."
We repeated this act for the next two Thursdays. Gretchen arrived a few minutes before nine. She sat down in an area that could not be observed from outside the store. I assisted her as she tried on each different pair of shoes, all very expensive ones. Each time she looked at her watch and said to me. "James, I know know it is closing time. May I stay a while longer?" I turned the lights down in the front section of the store and returned to where she was seated. Each week she opened her legs for a longer time for my enjoyment and, I assumed, for hers as well. Each time she wore a different combination of stockings and garter belt. Nothing else under her skirt.
On her fourth Thursday visit she asked me, "James, how old are you?"
"I am twenty."
"I am thirty-seven, James, nearly twice your age. They say that men reach the height of their sexual capacity at around twenty while women do so in their mid-thirties. Have you heard that James?"
"I didn't know that. Thank you. That is a good thing to know."
"Do you enjoy showing shoes to me each week?"
"Very much. I look forward to it."
"I like it too," she said. "And do you like what I show you each week?"
"You know I do, Gretchen."
