“Oh, John,” the other man murmured, “that’s gross.”
“Shoes are more common,” Swanson continued. “There are loads of them in Northampton apparently. Probably because that was where everyone made the things.”
“What are they for?” Terry asked, his voice hushed into an awed whisper that John found irritating.
To think that his own boyfriend would be so easily taken in by this government lesbian. Well, he thought, he was more disappointed than angry, as his mother used to say.
“Blessings, offerings, entreaties, that sort of thing. Something to ward off evil, something to protect against bad omens.”
John instantly thought of a holiday they had enjoyed together on Rhodes, basking in the glorious sun of Lindos, marred only by the presence of Terry’s sister and her obnoxious daughter. He knew
