Would you take home the pairless shoe? First published in AlienSkin Magazine, December 2009. (PG)

For those of you that know the story, it’s pretty obvious that Shoe is a retelling of The Red Shoes. I studied The Red Shoes in Year 10 and drew some rather terrible charcoal pictures to go with it.

Apparently unrelatedly, a friend of mind has this pair of gorgeous black shoes that I have always admired. Back when I was teaching Pathfinders (like Scouts or Guides or whatevs), the kids did some work with photography, and one of the girls took a photo of said enviable shoes (shown below).

Finally, I don’t know about you, but I always wonder about those single shoes you see lying by the side of the road. Perhaps that isn’t so common elsewhere, but I swear, hardly a week goes by where I don’t see some lone shoe lying discarded by the road. BIZARRE. How can you possibly lose a shoe from a car and not realise?

So combine all these, and you get Shoe.