Red Shoes

Word Count: 4,090

The coach trundled down the Spanish motorway on its way to Cuenca in
the Spanish region of Castilla de la Mancha, just south of Madrid. As the old
vehicle jolted on the potholed road, it bumped one of its passengers into
undesired consciousness. As his sunglasses fell across his cheek, a ray of
sunshine peered past a thin curtain and woke the Spaniard. A tall figure, his
perfectly groomed features showed a hint of irritation at the reminder of his
situation. Awake now, he peered around. To his left sat a plump Irishman, face
laying on the window in a deep slumber, a hint of dribble falling down his
cheek. A steady rythmatic breathing arose from his sleeping body.
So the Spaniard looked through the crack in the seats to his front, where
two young women sat talking quietly. One of them sat perched cross-legged on
the seat with heavily braided hair and loose clothes. Her relaxedness was a
sharp contrast to the woman at her side. With her perfectly styled blond hair
and her crossed hands on her lap she had a properness that was somehow out
of place.
‘Hey.’ The Spaniard spoke with an American tinge to his English. ‘Any
idea how long?’
The two women stopped their conversation and both turned to take note
of the handsome man.
‘I think we’re nearly there. We were told two hours, it’s been… One hour
forty.’ The blond replied.
‘Really? That’s cool. My name’s Sergio by the way.’
‘Sarah.’ Continued the blond, reaching an elegant hand across to be
enveloped in a strong but soft embrace.
The other woman pulled down a pair of dirty shades over her eyes and
rested her head on the windowsill, feigning disinterest as the pair continued
their conversation.
‘Excellent, pleased to meet you!’ Sergio continued, ‘Any idea what to
expect?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, will we be sharing rooms? How many kids will there be? What age?
Have you been told anything?’

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‘Fifty teenagers, one university campus! That’s all I know!’

Sergio laughed. ‘Fifty Spanish kids, five adults, in the middle of nowhere!
Are we mad?’
‘I think we must be!’ Sarah smiled in return, ‘I’m sure we’ll be fine.’
‘Well, if we’re finding it a bit difficult we can always get rid of some!’ A
voice called out from across the coach.
Sergio broke eye contact with the blond woman to turn and register the
new voice. Sprawled comfortably across two seats of the coach the prostrate
man spoke with a loud confidence. The brashness grated on its recipients but
he continued regardless.
‘My name’s Will!’ Will stopped to clear his throat, ‘I’ve worked for the
company before, you’ve got nothing to worry about, it’ll be fun!’
‘The children are ok then?’ Sarah asked.
‘The children!’ Will laughed, ‘It’s not the children you need to worry
about! Last time I worked with Conner there,’ Will nodded in the direction of
the snoozing Irishman, ‘He got so drunk that he started a game of tag in the
town centre! We were picking kids out of bushes until the early hours!’
‘Drunk?’ Sarah interrupted. ‘You can’t drink when you work with
children.’
Sergio pulled down his shades with a smile and leaned back in his chair.
‘First time in Spain?’ Will asked.
‘Yes. But why. What. What has that got to do with anything?’
‘Things can be a little bit different here!’ Will nodded towards Fran who
was now gently snoring at her side.
Sarah looked at her sleeping companion with a slight feeling of shock.
‘Look.’ Sarah said, ‘I’m a teacher! We’re here to work. We have a job to
do, children to look after!’
An atmosphere slowly arose in the back of the coach and Sarah turned
to face her front. Smiling to himself, Will leant back down on his crossed arms
and joined the rest of his new colleagues in a gentle slumber.
About thirty minutes later the coach rolled up outside an old stone
building. Rising high into the sky with a nineteen-sixties efficiency the bland
architecture spread its influence around to its worn gardens which encircled
like a moat. Standing in front of a low stone wall was a small figure. Hints of

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grey matted the combed hair and a tight-fitting dress suggested a

combativeness to the inevitable onset of age. She leaned purposefully on the
wall behind her, casting an appraising eye as each of the five young adults
walked from the coach, retrieving their heavy suitcases from the luggage
compartment. As they wheeled their possessions to stand across from her she
greeted them with a beaming smile that betrayed her tightly controlled poise.
‘Welcome!’ She shouted in an Australian accent, ‘I’m Maria. You must
be, Sergio, Will, Sarah, Fran and Conner?’ The woman nodded her head
correctly towards each of the figures as she said their name. ‘The next three
weeks will be hard. They will be long, they will be tiring, but they will also be
fun! I have a few rules, if you listen, we will get along just fine! Firstly, you are
here to work. When you are working, you are working. I don’t want to see any
of you slacking. Understood? Secondly, there will be no drinking. In three
weeks time you can do what you want, while you’re with me you will be diligent
and you will be sober. Ok?’
The five figures nodded their heads up and down in shock at the
forcefulness of their boss’s tone. As the words sunk in Maria walked up and
down handing each of the workers a piece of paper.
‘What you have in front of you are your schedules. Read them. Once this
sinks in the place will run like clockwork, then we can start to enjoy ourselves!’
Maria forced a smile and breathed out as she reached the end of her speech,
‘Now as you can see, you’ve two hours to find your way around, your rooms
and settle in! See you in two hours!’
The five figures stared in bewilderment at the spider’s web of text
written in front of them.
***
Sergio’s t-shirt matted itself across his broad frame, glued on by the
river of sweat pouring from his body. Although he had no problem holding the
two crates resting on his shoulders, the fifteen minute walk through the bright
sun was beginning to take its toll. As the late afternoon sun lingered in the sky
it reminded him that he had not yet had a break today. Since seven-am in the
morning he had been labouring and teaching until his mind had degenerated
into animalistic simplicity, simply continuing to push his body further and

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further. And so, with a shaking in his hand that he barely registered he dropped
off the afternoon meal by Fran’s class.
Sitting in the sun caressing paper with light stencils, Fran and her fifteen
children could not have appeared more relaxed. It was only the hesitancy and
quiver in their movements as they approached the chocolate sandwiches that
betrayed their fatigue. Unable to summon any appropriate words Fran caught
Sergio’s eyes sympathetically, it was a look that shared more feelings than
words could ever have done. Sergio smiled in acknowledgement, picking up the
sentiment perfectly. Several seconds later he scolded himself and turned to
walk back to the campus.
Swinging through some bland double-doors into the cafeteria Sergio
staggered towards the water fountain in the corner to allow himself a brief
reprieve. As the stagnant liquid splashed on his lips he sighed in almost
depthless gratitude. It was as he lost himself in the water that he noticed two
figures deep in conversation to his side.
‘Who do you think you are?’ Maria scorned, ‘I’ve been doing this job for
twenty years. Twenty years! You’ve been here for all of a week, how dare you
try and tell me what to do?’
‘But please.’ Will spluttered, ‘Just look at my schedules. It can still work,
it will still work. We can make this more manageable.’
‘I didn’t have you down as the lazy type Will.’
‘Lazy?’ Will looked down at his thinning unwashed frame, sweat rashes
covering his body. As his did so, the light caught in the heavy rings around his
eyes, betraying a chronic lack of sleep and a reddish tinge. ‘I’m anything but. I
just want this to work, more than anything. Can’t you see what you are doing
to us. Can’t you see?’
‘Making you work.’ A flickering of her fingers against the table showed
Maria’s irritation. ‘I have gone hour for hour with you all.’
‘Maria, I know.’ Will tried to grab hold of the woman’s hand, but she
flinched away from the touch. ‘But can’t you see what it is doing to you to?
Who benefits, who wins from this barbarianism? Certainly not the kids.’
‘Barbarianism? Who do you think you are? What right do you have to say
these things? Who are you?’

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‘I’m a person. I’m a human being who can’t stand what you are doing to
these people. To my friends. To me.’
Sergio walked away from the cafeteria with the final box of chocolate
sandwiches, walking up a cracked stone stairway. As he peered around the
door at the top he spotted Sarah’s flowing blond hair. Her serious voice
projected itself across the class with a thick Scottish accent, a strange contrast
to her pretty feminine figure. As Sergio edged into the classroom to deliver the
meal, she turned to register him. As her eyes fell on the thick box of chocolate
sandwiches, the same meal for the seventh day in a row, a black spot began
swimming around in her vision. She caught Sergio’s eyes to control her
dizziness, placed a hand on the desk to steady herself and faced the class. She
breathed in deeply to gather her thoughts.
Then she carried on teaching.
***
The flashing blue siren sent waves of light across the dusky sky. The
sound had been silenced, but the ripples of blue cast an ominous hue on the
tired policeman. Resting against the low stone wall, he breathed a deep sigh
and held a dark cap tucked underneath his armpit. Across from him, Maria sat
with her head in her arms, sobs wracking her body. Fran jogged past, barely
casting a glance at the odd scene. As she rounded the corner of the stone wall
the murky light silhouetted an old tree. Beneath it, Sarah rested her head on
Will’s shoulders, a tired tear slowly forming in her eye and falling to the ground.
Her striking blond hair splayed itself on his chest as she spoke.
‘I can’t believe… I can’t believe all of this. I didn’t come here for this.’
‘Why did you come here?’
‘It was supposed to be a holiday! A working holiday.’ Sarah chuckled,
‘Maybe do a bit of shopping.’
Will joined her as he too laughed at the irony, ‘Not quite what you
expected then?’
‘You could say that.’
‘It’ll get better from now on,’ he stroked her hair tenderly as he spoke,
‘you’ll see.’ A ringing interrupted Will’s thoughts and he rose and pulled the
phone to his ear. ‘The office.’ He whispered in response to a pinch on his calf.

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‘Will, hi. Listen, erm, we’ve just found out what’s going on… things are
obviously pretty bad over there…’
‘Obviously!’ Will mimicked as he quickened his pace through the murky
garden. ‘Just as obviously as yesterday when I tried to speak to you. Just as
obviously as the day before. Why has it had to come to this? Why have you let
it come to this?’
‘Now come on Will. There is no way that we could have anticipated what
occurred, we’re sorry about what you have all been through.’
‘Sorry.’ Will repeated.
‘Now listen. How would you feel about taking on some extra
responsibility, it would really help us out of a tight spot.’
Will stopped and looked over at Sarah’s gently resting figure and kicked
a stone angrily into the distance. He lowered the phone to his side, and then
with a quiver, he raised it again.
‘Ok. And Maria?’
‘Just leave that to us, I’m sure that everything is going to be ok. Good
luck.’
A dialling tone emerged from the phone, gently reaching Fran’s ears as
she rushed past the tree, stumbling on a broken concrete step. She ran up to
the top of a muddying hill, reaching the top panting for breath. Scanning the
horizon she heard a gentle sobbing. Looking around her gaze was drawn to a
row of thickets which were shaking in the breezeless air. Sighing with relief,
she approached the bush. A mat of branches had been dragged away from the
wall-like plant to form a circular entrance. Crouching down as she forced a
reassuring smile, Fran poked her braided head into the bush.
Lying there, resting his head on Sergio’s lap, Conner lay sobbing. His
sixteen stone frame was rocking with anguish as his flustered red-face wept
tears. Fran’s smile melted into a grimace as she listened to Sergio’s heartfelt
reassurances.
‘None of us thought you had done anything. None of us. Honestly man.’
‘How could… How could anybody…’ The sentence couldn’t force its way
out between sobs.
‘Listen. This whole situation is just a complete mess. It was nothing to do
with you.’

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‘My life… My life could have been…’

‘It’s not worth thinking about. Honestly.’ Sergio caught Fran’s eyes in a
soundless cry for assistance.
‘Conner.’ Fran began. ‘You have to believe us. No-one doubted you for a
second. It was just the pressure. The tiredness. Things got out of hand.’ Fran
rested her arm on Conner’s shaking ankle and curled up at their feet, the three
of them laying wordlessly on the dry itching floor of the Spanish bush.
Just fifty feet from them in front of the campus the policeman continued
his laboured reprimand.
‘We take unsubstantiated claims very seriously. Your allegations were
very serious.’
‘But they weren’t unsubstantiated.’ Maria retorted with a grimace. ‘He
had been drinking.’
‘How old is he?’
‘Twenty-six.’
The policeman didn’t even reply, he just looked at Maria with the answer
she herself had given.
‘But he broke the rules.’ Maria spoke down to her clenched fists. ‘He
broke the rules. He was drinking. He was hugging a child. Who knows what he
is capable of.’
The policeman looked up with a reborn anger. ‘You do not make the laws
of this country. He has done nothing wrong. You have accused an innocent
man of terrible crimes. It is not your place.’
Maria looked away in defiance, causing the policeman to arch his head
around to look in the eyes of the tiny woman.
‘Do not make this mistake again. Understand?’
A tear fell from Maria’s face onto her clenched fists.
As the moon began to light the scene, a child’s face appeared in a
bedroom window, watching the world go past curiously and ignorantly.
***
The faint sound of music reverberated around the softly lit room. To the
side of a leather sofa lay a chilled bottle of cider, the type which popped
opened like a champagne bottle. A solitary wine glass lay against the green
bottle. Will stretched out his arm across the sofa, pulling Sarah’s body closer to

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him. As the sweet scent of perfume drifted over he leant in to kiss her cheek.
Sarah flinched slightly in protest and reached over to unclasp his arm.
‘I,’ She stated rising to her feet, ‘have a class to prepare!’
‘Do you have to?’ Will smiled.
‘Yes. Yes I do!’
Will sat back, reaching for the cold bottle at his side as Sarah left the
small room that served as an office. As she walked down the corridor, she
spotted Fran dozing in front of a group of twenty children composing a melody.
Jokingly, Sarah poked a toe into Fran’s side, smiling as she watched her friend
lazily acknowledge her with a grunt. As she jaunted outside Sarah came to rest
in the doorway. Outside she watched Conner and Sergio chase each other in
the brightly lit gardens. Amongst the two adults thirty children ran and shouted
excitedly. For several moments Sarah simply leaned and watched the scene
with a sigh. She felt a pang of regret as she watched Sergio’s happy face
bounding about, his athletic body completely relaxed in the midst of the
energetic children.
But Sarah was shocked from her daydreaming as Maria burst past,
angrily whispering into her phone. The shock pushed Sarah into the doorframe
with a jolt and she frowned as the day’s tranquillity dissipated into the
atmosphere.
Maria rushed down the corridor, pausing only to take note of Fran’s
lethargy as her class squabbled. The scene incensed the small woman further,
forcing her to hang up the phone in her hand in frustration. She banged loudly
on the office door. Clearly hearing the clinking of glass from within the room,
Maria bit her lip as she tried desperately to control her welling emotions.
Several moments later the door cracked open and Will’s face appeared.
‘Yes?’ He asked, a whiff of cider drifting towards Maria’s face.
‘This.’ She stammered, pushing the door open forcefully, ‘Is a place of
work.’
‘What is your point?’
‘You’ve been drinking.’ Maria’s voice quivered.
‘Now now Maria.’ Will spoke smugly as he sauntered back towards his
sofa and crossed his legs. ‘Haven’t you learnt your lesson about baseless
accusations?’

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‘You scum.’ Maria screamed, leaning over the seated man. ‘There are
children here, children that we have a duty to look after.’
A flash of anger opened Will’s eyes, widening the pupils into a fury.
‘Don’t talk to me about duty. The children are being looked after. They
are being looked after by people who are happy and relaxed. By adults who
aren’t being treated like slaves. Who aren’t on the brink of exhaustion.’
‘They are being looked after by a drunkard. There is no control here. This
place is falling to pieces.’
‘Can’t you see?’ Will screamed. ‘Some things don’t need to be
controlled. Some things require relaxation, freedom. Looking after children is
the most natural thing in the world, it cannot be controlled. It must not be
forced.’
‘This is negligence.’
‘No.’ Will retorted, quieter now. ‘This is natural. This is working. And you
are just angry that you are not the one in charge.’
‘You’re a dangerous man.’ Maria whispered, leaning in towards his ear.
Will put his head closer still, and breathed in a voice that could barely be
heard, ‘And you are the devil.’
The situation exploded in Maria’s head, she could cope no longer. Putting
her head into her hands she broke into tears. Her knees buckled and she fell to
the floor, a golden crucifix falling to dangle over her top. Grounded by her
emotion she crawled towards the office door. As she stumbled to her feet she
ran from the campus, again pushing her way past Sarah, who stood waiting
outside the office door.
Inside, Will’s phone rang.
‘Hello.’
‘Will? We’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours. What’s going on
there, we’ve heard there are problems?’
‘What problems.’
‘Classes not happening, the structure falling apart. We’re concerned
Will.’
‘There’s nothing to be concerned about, really. Everything is running
perfectly.’
‘That’s not what Maria has told us.’

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‘Yeh. About that.’ Will said. ‘Maria’s gone.’

‘Gone where?’
‘No idea,’ Will spat, ‘but I suppose now is as good a time as any to
discuss my contract.’
‘Will.’ The voice paused. ‘You understand that you’re not in charge there,
don’t you?’
‘Well you understand then, that if I’m not, then no one is.’ He angrily
hung up the phone, reaching across to top up his drink.
Sarah rushed around the door to stare at Will’s figure which had sunken
back into the leather sofa.
‘Look at you, you’re pathetic.’
‘Pathetic?’ Will asked, a quiver of pain in his voice. ‘I’m just trying to
make this thing work.’
‘Work?’ Sarah shouted, ‘Look at you, look at what you’re doing.’
‘What I’m doing?’ Will retorted. ‘I’ve stopped a megalomaniac driving my
friends into the ground. I’ve created working conditions that won’t destroy a
man. I’ve run myself to the floor to make this a better place for you all. All I
want is some recognition for that. Can’t you see?’
‘No Will.’ Sarah spoke with a weep. ‘Can’t you see? Can’t you see that
what you’re doing isn’t helping anyone, not least yourself.’
‘I’m just trying my best. For you...’
‘Try harder.’ She stated. ‘And Will?’
‘Yes?’
‘Beware the man who would be king.’
***
It was a hot day and so the sun glistened from the bright blue surface of
the Arroyo de Bonilla river. A hint of a breeze drifted down from the nearby
mountains, funnelled by the rock’s twisting rippling descent into the valley
below. The exhaust of the departing coach wisped up into the light air,
signalling the departure of the children. The other adults had also left on the
aging bus, leaving just two figures in the small town of Cuenca. Sarah and Will
leant over a rusting rail overlooking a tiny waterfall in the river.
‘Do you regret being here?’ Will finally asked.

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Sarah stood staring down at the water below, breeze gently lifting up her
blond hair. She thought carefully before responding.
‘It’s just that things have changed Will, surely you can see that?’
‘I can. That’s obvious. I just don’t understand why.’
Sarah smiled sadly, ‘You’re just not the person that I thought you were.’
A tear rolled slowly down Will’s cheek, eventually dropping off and falling
into the river below.
‘All I ever wanted was the best for you. The best for all of you.’ He
choked. ‘Everything I did was to make things better for the people I cared
about. I don’t understand...’ again he choked, ‘I don’t understand what it is that
I’ve done wrong. What’s so wrong about caring?’
‘The problem is...’ Sarah paused to gather her thoughts concisely, ‘not
that you didn’t care about other people. You did. It’s just that it had to be you
in charge, didn’t it. It had to be you who changed things. Every time something
happened, it was always you, fighting.’
The breeze picked up slightly and wafted some fine blond hair over Will’s
shoulders. As he reached to touch it Sarah flinched away. There was a long
pause before she continued.
‘You keep asking about what it is that you had done wrong.’ Sarah
looked down on the wet rocks below. ‘But think about it, it’s so simple. There
were so many people at the camp, but once again, somehow, inevitably, it has
come to be all about you.’ Sarah paused to run her fingers through her hair.
‘Why is it always about you?’
‘I’m just trying to do what’s right.’
‘Then stop trying so hard.’ Sarah smiled hopelessly. ‘I know you’re trying
to do your best, and trying to do what is right.’
Will’s nose began to run as emotions flooded his body.
‘But for all you talk about making your friends happy. For all that you say
you could make me happy. I can’t think of a single second when you have
seemed content. You can’t fight the whole world. And far from help, you draw
people in. You pull happy people into your endless fight against the world, and I
don’t see how even you can think that is the moral thing to do?’
‘So I should just give in?’ Will looked confused. ‘Stop trying to do
anything?’

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‘This is the problem Will. This is what you really need to understand.’
Sarah looked towards the man at her side with a now distant fondness. ‘Stop
trying to take on all these things by yourself. Instead, why not try and help the
rest of us. Then maybe you wouldn’t be on your own.’
Another silence arose between the two as they stood with the hot sun
beating down upon their foreheads. After a while Will spoke.
‘I just came here to do the right thing. To try my best. To make a
difference.’
Sarah laughed in desperation before trying one last time,
‘But Will. We didn’t come here for any of this, I didn’t want any of this!’
‘So what did you want?’
‘All I wanted. Was a pair of red shoes. Just a simple pair of red shoes.’
***
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