Dear Jimmy Choo - Nora Nadjarian
Years after my wallflower adolescence, I sold my soul to you, you shoe-devil! On the night of the break-up (it was Christmas Eve), I was wearing heels designed by you and was teetering on fa-la-la and yet, miraculously, did not trip once. Mr Not-So-Right took one look at my Red Crystal Covered Pointy Toe Pumps and said how pretty blah blah, and I doubt he gave a blah whether they were made of glass, or gold, or wood. (Step into these shoes and you’ll be a different woman, the salesgirl had told me). As I gracefully excused myself and said I had to go and powder my nose, I hoped his heart would fast-forward to a near attack. I couldn’t care less that my skirt climbed up and got mini-er as I stood up and walked out of the restaurant. The miles of corridor at the reception ended with a mirror and there were so many of me, one after the other, after the other. I admit I’d had one too many but, surely, I hadn’t imagined his I’m not really looking for a serious – Had he actually said the R word? I held my head high, even though my nerves were all frazzled, and didn’t – couldn’t – turn left or right, for fear of making my stomach tumble. But oh, the shoes I’d spent hundreds of pre-Xmas days saving for did me proud, so killer-stylish! I looked like, no, I was a departing princess, but minutes later, in the mirror of THE END, there was this girl facing me. This mousy, buck-toothed girl who – once upon a time – couldn’t even afford ballet shoes. She looked me straight in the eye and said Take them off. The past started streaming down my cheeks and as I stood barefoot in the puddle with a shoe in each hand, I finally, fully, understood that Happily-Ever-After is the beginning.
Originally published by Reflex Fiction, 2021
Nora Nadjarian is a poet and writer from Cyprus. Her short fiction has been published in Sand Journal, FRiGG, Milk Candy Review, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, Fractured Lit and elsewhere. Her recently published collection of poetry ‘Iktsuarpok’ is available from Broken Sleep Books. https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/nora-nadjarian-iktsuarpok
