A Short October Story II

Maria went to the other shoe shop anyway, even though she told the shop assistant at the Giselle's that she will buy those snow boots for her holiday in Chicago. It will be winter by the time she take off, and she needed good boots to weather the winter. The ones she saw at Giselle's were just the one she had in mind.

The other shoe shop is Estella. They gave her a call a couple of days ago to inform her that the boots that she wanted to see are available in store and invited her to their shop to have a look at their boots. She had left her name and number with them during a visit sometime back, hoping to see if there are more choices out there other than the pair she saw at Giselle's.

She had told the shop owner at Giselle's that she will be getting the boots from them. However, having promised the friendly sales person over the phone at Estella's that she will drop by, she decided she should visit them anyway. Afterall, it doesn't hurt to see what's available in the market, right?

When she left Estella's later, she realised she had a difficult choice to make, even though she had promised the owner at Giselle's.

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The sales person at Estella's was a friendly man, and he even introduced Maria to the owner of the shop. Both parties had a great time discussing shoe designs, and the people who wear them, whether the shoes look good on them. They seemed to be pretty taken in to Maria, as she shares with them her personal experiences at buying shoes. Shoes that seemed to fit at the shop but refused expand when she brought them home, even though the shop told her that they will; Shoes that were beautiful to look at but gave her calluses and blisters. They in turn, shared with her their share of shoes and clients, both good and bad; Maria felt that they seemed to like her. A LOT.

Before she left their shop, she was given a tour around their shop, introduced to everyone, down to the delivery man. Maria bit her lip and silently wondered, "Oh dear, they are such nice people, I feel so guilty that I have actually came in expecting nothing from them. They are probably expecting that I will buy those snow boots!"

As the boots are not available for sale yet, they informed her that they will let her know when they arrive, most probably next Monday, she was hinted that she would most probably be the first customer to get them. Maria bit her lip again, "Gee, I am beginning to like them already! I feel so bad to have to turn down their offer if they get me my boots!" She was seen to the door, and she bit her adieu.

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On the way home, her mind raced in different directions. "I've given myself a big headache!" Maria realised that she has to make a choice between the two shops. Giselle's boots look trendy and it's definitely a design very new in the market. Estella's boots were the classic black, but feels sturdy and reliable. She has given her indication to Giselle's that she will take their boots; she is willing and ready to be one of the first to try them out. However, Estella's boots look appealing to her too. And they have the same waterproof material that could give her a good walk in the Chicago winter.

She has never felt so torn in choices when buying things. It's a tough decision.

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When she reached home, she checked her voice messages to see if Giselle's has left any messages to inform her that she can collect her boots. Nope, no messages from them, even though she gave them her answer before the cut off time. She reckoned that they probably have some issues at the date of collection for the boots;"It might be too long for them, I guess," Maria thought. "If that is so, then maybe I would have sometime to wait for the boots at Estella's!"

Even though that thought brought some relief, Maria is aware that the decision making isn't going to be easy.

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She went out to have dinner with her friends and told them about her shoe shopping trip. None of them could offer her a good answer. She really wished they could gave her a definite answer so that she need not think further.

She came back home later that night, and the voice machine was the first thing she check after turning on the lights. Hmmm, no messages from the shop owner at Giselle's. Maybe he's too busy to call me, she thought. Hmmm... Or maybe he wasn't too happy that I would take that long to get the boots from him.

Oh well, I'd just to check again tomorrow then. "Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not us to see, que sera, sera..." Maria hummed along to the famous old tune that was now playing on the classics radio station.

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When the light in her room had escaped into the night, Maria took a few moments to close her eyes and shared with her Maker her adventure today. Minutes later, there was silence as the moonlight shone into the girl's room, a girl who had a unforgettable shopping experience in a single week.


image from inmagine.com