Sleepy Brain: Slipped Moccasin
Part One of the “Suburban Condition” series…

by Beatka Provis

The cars pass by and I wait for a break to cross the road.
The traffic is relentless today.

Oh – a chance!

I stumble on the gutter and my grey moccasin slips off.
There is no time to save it, so I watch it from the other side of the road.

It gets thrown from tyre to tyre.

Eventually it is reduced to a flat piece of wool and polymer – stuck to the road.
Camouflage – as dirty as the smoke that escapes from the tallow factory over the hill.

I walk with one slipper to the tram stop to meet my love.
I don’t wait long and he arrives.

We walk hand in hand, I hobble – my feet are uneven.
The traffic gets loud again as the sun disappears behind the factories.
A car slows down, then honks. A passenger screams out: “Ya pooftas!”

I have been mistaken for a boy again.

I try to hold my head up high, but my foot is dirty and it’s been a bad day.
We return to the squashed slipper. My love picks it up off the road.

“Look, it’s still clean inside,” he says and begins to pull it back into shape.

He places it on the grass before me and invites me to step in.
It feels softer than ever, and my stride is once again back to normal.

We continue walking…