I bought some boots.
But today I was in a hurry. The house was cold and dark. They were sleeping. All of them. I put my feet into my new boots without socks. I opened the door and closed it behind me without tying my laces. My boots slapped the pavement too hard. It didn’t matter that the hollow sound was echoing off of everything. It was too early for anyone to notice. Or was it too late? My brain was so fuzzy I couldn’t remember.
I was lost now. This city was so big and confusing and I was running so fast, through neighborhoods and streams and woods and fields. Now I was certain I was downtown. My untied laces made a scritching sound as they dragged behind me on the cracked asphalt of the street. A group of people were huddled on a street corner around a fire. THey were dirty and ragged and thin and smoke was pouring from their mouths. It wasn’t their breath. Some drug or other probably.
My boots made that terrible clunking sound that makes you feel like you’re 6 years old.