Andrew J. Lederer

did laundry yesterday and now have clean socks.

but when no clean socks had to wear shoes without them.

so, my new ten dollar shoes got smelly faster than (maybe) any on record.

and the spray i bought diminished but didn't eliminate the odor. plus my feet would be smelly after a sockless jaunt, even if the shoes weren't.

still, when the spray ran out, i wanted to get more

but i couldn't afford to.

so, i went back to an old, cheaper de-stinking method that i had been avoiding -- baking soda in the shoes.

boy, it works great -- even better than i remembered. but i was avoiding it because it would aggravate my athlete's foot, leaving me with painful, yet reasonably good-smelling feet.

'cause of money, though, i had to chance the pain. (plus i had some athlete's foot remedy if i needed it.) it wouldn't do to disgust the other gym members every time i removed my shoes in the close quarters that make up harbor fitness' locker room.

some of them are cops.

so, guess what --

the bicarbonate didn't hurt my feet.

but it has fostered some kind of stalactite (or stalagmite) system of crystalline emanations along the seams of each sneaker. i washed 'em off and the salty-looking rind simply came back.

i'm sittin' here on a little step in front of a new york theater which is related to the edinburgh venue i've been a consultant to and the owner got involved in a phone conversation, so is late for our (early) meeting.

sun just came across my keyboard and is warming my hands.

i figured as long as i had the time, i'd tell you about my new shoe crystals.

this is not an official part of the "feet" series.