The Red Shoes

THE RED SHOES

The second act opened with the lead actress moving gracefully to the centre of the stage and making a dramatic speech about her dilemma of choosing between her lover and her husband. The audience was enraptured by her dramatic and mesmerising talent. "For god sake girl, are you day dreaming again? Get a move on and get those shoes priced up will you! barked Marie the, shall we say, well built supervisor of the shoe department at Jones department store. Jenny came back into reality with a jolt and carried on her day job of shop assistant.

Jenny had worked at Jones since she left school and was 19 now. School hadn't been her favourite time but she turned up, did the best she could and marked in her diary the last day of school as being the most happiest day of her life. The only thing she missed when she left was the drama classes, this was when she escaped into another world where everything sparkled and was glamorous. It took a while but she looked round and found an Amateur Dramatics group that she could join, it took two buses to get there on a Thursday evening but it was worth it.

Some people had families that supported her dreams but Jenny's just laughed and made fun of her. "Who do you think you are? You'll never make a decent living out of prancing about on stage, and anyway I bet you're a rubbish actress her Dad sneered at her as she made her escape on Thursday nights. She'd show them, her dreams were just in her head at the moment but one day she'd make them reality. Since she was young she'd bought copies of The Stage magazine from WH Smiths and scoured the pages of auditions, most of them in London, plotting how she could get herself there.

Auditions for the next play were to be held soon at the Amateur Dramatics group and Jenny was taking the plunge and trying out for the lead part. It was a modern play titled "How to get what you want which was about a love triangle set in the 1970's. She knew the part was made for her if only she could convince the three stalwarts of the group of that. Fred Wells, the founder who was about 93 in age and attitude, Rebecca Levine, a woman who made out she had been a professional yet nobody could find any records of her being so, and then there was David McCourt, who was in his mid-40's and had actually had some professional experience in his past but didn't make a big thing of it.

Auditions were to be held next Wednesday night so the final cast could be announced on the Thursday. Jenny was mentally planning her outfit for the evening and she'd seen just the shoes in the store to finish it off. Red, high heeled, made of the finest leather - they spelt sex with a capital S and were perfect for portraying the image she wanted to put across for the part. But at £98.99 they were way out of her budget.

Wednesday afternoons were always quiet in the shop so she usually ended up being given jobs in the stock room - tidying, pricing up, cleaning the floor. The time crawled by so she sneaked into the aisle where she knew her dream shoes were. Opening up the size 6 box she took them out and sniffed at the fine leather, something she never had the luxury of doing with her own shoes as she could only afford synthetic made shoes. Looking round she tentatively put them on and walked up and down the stock room. They were perfect, and would be the final touch for her planned outfit.

Looking round as if in a crowded room rather than the empty stock room, she broke out into a sweat and without further thinking made her way to the staff cloakroom area and pushed the shoes into her bag. She left the box on the shelf and tomorrow morning she'd bring the shoes back and put them into the box, so nobody would know they had gone.

Home time came and Jenny went for her bag, clutching it to her as if precious cargo were inside it rather than stolen goods. She made her escape and got home with plenty of time to get ready for the auditions at seven.

The audition went well and she felt she had as good a chance as anybody. After all, the majority of those up for the part were a good twenty years too old and not even the finest actress can act round that.

She floated into work the next morning feeling quite positive about the outcome of the previous evening. Walking into the department she saw Marie, the supervisor, and Frank Woodall, head of security talking by the till area. "Jenny, could you come into the office with us please? said Marie, looking her directly in the eyes. "Of course said Jenny following them both like a timid mouse, and trying to hide her bulging hand bag that contained the shoes.

Frank inserted a video film into the player and she watched as she played a starring role in a short film which could be entitled "Stealing the shoes. She tried to explain that she was just borrowing them, but didn't get anywhere and within ten minutes was walking out of the store with the contents of her locker, rather than the shoes, in her bag. How was she to know that they had CCTV in the stock room?

She couldn't go home as questions would be asked as to why she was home so early and if her Dad found out that she'd been sacked all hell would break loose as she wouldn't be able to bring any money home. So she went to WH Smiths for her regular copy of The Stage and went to a café to see how long she could make a cup of coffee last. Soon she was engrossed in the lists of auditions in London and wishing she was there instead of Bolton on a rainy day.

She looked out of the café briefly and realised she was just opposite the train station. Above the entrance there was a large poster saying "Bolton to London £20 one way, she looked down at the audition list again, looked back at the poster and giggling to herself she made her way out of the café.

Jenny did sneak home, packed a bag and made her way back to the station. Sitting on the train she felt nervous but excited all at the same time. Her mobile phone rang just as the train was pulling out of the station. "Hello Jenny, I just wanted to make sure that you'll be at the meeting tonight as we've got some good news for you said David from the audition panel. Giving a little giggle Jenny replied "Sorry David, I can't be there as I'm going to London to make my dreams a reality but thanks anyway.