Sue Johnson looked down at the monstrosity in her hands. It was leather. That was no problem. It was made in the U.S.A. Now, that was a big plus in her mind. Her daddy had lost his job to a factory shutting down and going overseas for cheaper labor. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about such things because she was still a minor. The real problem was the gross heels coming down to a narrow spike at the bottom. They had to be like six inches long and looked terribly dangerous to be on the receiving end of a hard kick.

She had just turned 16 last month and this would be the first real dance she had ever been to in her whole life. The dress was easy because she just let her mom pick it out at the store where all the high school girls liked to shop because the prices were reasonable.

Her older brother had almost broken the arm of Josh Williams to get him to ask her to the prom so she wouldn’t have any loss of confidence for not having a real date. Poor Josh was panicked because he had no income of his own and his parents were far too busy working double shifts just to keep up with inflation and rising taxes. Her father stepped in and let Josh use his credit card to get a nice tux and a corsage for his daughter to wear to the dance. It was all hush-hush but Sue didn’t mind the interference because she knew how broke Josh’s family really was. She didn’t like Josh all that much because he tended to pass gas at inappropriate moments and was a bit of a class clown when things got boring.

Deep down inside, she would rather be watching the football game with her brother and his friends down in the rec room in the basement but only tolerated her because she was the sister of the host.

Sue was a tall girl at 5’10” high and she didn’t think she needed high heels at all because she would be towering over the shorter Josh, her date for the evening. She played basketball for the school and was considered a possible pick for a scholarship to the State college.

The dress was real nice but Sue was not happy with the pink color. It made her feel far too girly-girly and she was really trying to look more mature than her sixteen years. She usually wore her plain white undies but for this evening she had donned the silk French panties that her mother told her,

“These will make you float around the dance floor, darling!”

Her hair was a huge success because the hairdresser had used a style that perfectly framed her pretty oval face with her deep green eyes and her sparkling white teeth. Thank goodness her braces were off. She didn’t think she could have managed it if her braces were still on. The wearing of those braces were like some penance for an unknown sin and seemed to last forever and a day.

She practiced walking up and down the rec room floor all by herself in front of the mirrored wall. She could see how wobbly she looked and the way her ankles kept turning this way and that almost to the point of suffering a sprain that would put a severe crimp in her dancing style.

After a couple of days of practice, she was able to at least walk a straight line without falling flat on her face. It seemed like a big accomplishment to her but she knew she had to get better a lot faster because the big night was only three nights away. She was encouraged by the fact that the heels did make the calves of her legs look a lot nicer in the mirror and she figured that was what most boys were looking for when a girl was wearing high heels. She also noticed that her thigh muscles were more pronounced and she kept her back a lot straighter with the heels on.

By the night of the dance, she was able to walk in them pretty well, but she knew that dancing in them would be almost impossible. Her mother told her that it was nothing to worry about because most of the girls would be dancing in their bare feet because of the very same problem and that she would not look out of place. That tended to mollify her a great deal and she concentrated on her make-up and her cleavage with the low cut dress. Fortunately, she was still developing up there and she posed no challenge for the party dress.

Josh came right on time and it was arranged that her brother would drive the pair of them to the school for the dance and then show up at the conclusion to pick them both up for the return journey. It sounded a bit retro to Sue but she could see how it would relieve her parent’s worries what with all the stories about girls getting into all sorts of trouble after the prom had concluded.

The dance was not as exciting as Sue had expected it to be. There really seemed like a lot more girls than boys and the chaperones were the only ones who looked like they were having a good time. It was probably the music which was from a style that was seriously outdated. Music these days seemed outdated only several months after being a big deal to people her age.