Parts ‘R’ Us
THE BOOTS WERE FASHIONED out of feet and nailed into the ground outside in the grass. I wasn’t quite sure what the nails were for until I approached the feet. They wriggled, toes flexing and un-flexing. I backed away in disgust.
“If I didn’t keep ‘em nailed down,” the proprietor said. “They would hop right out of here!” He stood in the doorway smoking a pipe. He was a tall man with thin gangly legs and arms, a large belly. His bearded head sat upon his shoulders with no transition between. He smiled, exposing a row of long, crooked yellow teeth and black gums. Periodontitis came to mind and I grimaced. “Oh, don’t mind them, they harmless.” He laughed a wheezing laugh that ended in a spasm of coughing.
“What can I do for you, sir?” he asked, sobering quickly when I didn’t jo
