Fenton and I are back at Beige after spending the weekend at home decorating Tree. She puts a great deal of effort into her appearance, which leads me to wonder if she’s unusual in that regard or if other trees are similarly inclined but just aren’t able to express themselves. I especially wonder about deciduous trees and their gaudy fall colors.
Danielle created shoes for Francis to wear, which makes sense. During the brief time that Fenton and I were in the human world, buying shoes was one of the first things we did. If we had stayed for any length of time our bare feet would have developed protective callouses, but that wouldn’t have solved the cultural problem. All of the humans that we encountered wore shoes, and we didn’t want to stand out more than we probably did. “Look at that couple! They’re eating crickets! And they’re not wearing shoes!”
On this side of the portal the only shoe-wearing species is the horse, and purely for protective purposes. The idea of wearing them as ornamentation doesn’t exist here, probably because with all of our fur we have so many other ways of expressing vanity.
I’m not immune from that. Tonight I’m going to find out what it’s like for someone to decorate me.
So, what kind of shoes do you humans wear?
