December 13: Behind the Scenes

Most aspirations lie in the Himalayas. They dream of white water rafting through the Grand Canyon or seeing the Taj Mahal. The Jews want to travel to the Wailing Wall and the Mongolians want to scale the Great Wall. Some people go through life with the sole purpose of earning as much money as they possibly can while others just want to find true love. Some want to build homes in Haiti and some want to rob homes in Compton. Neil Armstrong wanted to walk on the moon and Lance Armstrong wanted to ride a bike. Me? I want to see the back room of a shoe store.

Every time I visit a Foot Locker, I hope for just a glimpse of the secret lair. As my foot rests in that ice-cold, metal Brannock Device foot-measurement tool and the faux-referee takes notes of length and width, I try to steal a glance. When he tells me to stand up, I look around, stare at the opening in the back wall, and prepare my attempts at sticking my head around the corner when the coast is clear. The problem is: The coast is never clear.

I tell him I want a size twelve in the new Jordans. In my socks, I follow close behind as he makes his way to the back until I'm thwarted off by another employee exiting the targeted room. When the salesman returns with the shoes, I tell him I want a different color and try the move again. A child runs in front of me, causing me to stumble which causes my cover to be blown. And so the trend goes until I'm standing at the counter paying for a pair of shoes that I never wanted in the first place.

I don't know what I'm drawn to. Is it the complete and utter unknown? How big is that room? The store itself is just a tiny space shoved between a Wetzel's Pretzels and a Hello Kitty, but how far back does the rented space go? Is the back room just as big as the front? Is it nothing but walls and walls displaying the ends of boxes? Is the ceiling higher than the front room's ceiling?

I bet it's aisle after aisle of bookcases, but instead of books they have boxes of shoes. A person of average height would most definitely need a ladder to reach the boxes on the very top. Have you ever seen a midget employed by a major shoe retailer? Neither have I. The back room at any shoe store has got to look like Ollivander's Wand Shop of Diagon Alley.

Most people want to travel the world before they die. Some want to raise a family feed the poor. Others are striving to find a cure for cancer and aids. Every day, people are creating organizations like Habitat for Humanity and PETA. Every day life-long goals are being imaginatively created while I ponder how to sneak a peak of the back room at the local Foot Locker.