A Mile A Minute

Chapter 3

We pull into the parking lot of the store Miss Roisin told us about. We open the door and it smells like a barn! Mom later said that it was because of all the wool sweaters.

"Hello, how can I help you?" An older man with a thick Irish accent says.

"Hi, we're looking for Irish dance shoes."

"Around the corner to the left, Past the scarfs. My wife, Edna, will be happy to help you."

"Thank you." Mom says and we head that way. We see Edna over there and she sees us right away and heads over.

"Hello, Are you here for Irish dance shoes?"

"Yes, my daughter just started and her teacher told us to come here and get soft and hard shoes."

"Yes yes... do you know what brand you need?"

"No, we weren't told anything."

"Well we'll see what fits her foot the best." She says leading us over to the corner. There are some cushiony stools and and bench. One wall is covered with a rack of dance shoes.

"So what size street shoe do you wear?" She asks me.

"A 12 kids."

"Okay, let's try these 3. This is the Celtic Choice Ghilles and I have a size 10, 10.5 and 11 for her to try on." She says then puts one of the shoes on my foot.

"How does this one feel? It wants to feel smug everywhere, not too tight though"

"It feels too big in the front but too small on my heels..." I tell her.

"Okay let's try the 11 and I'll tie the front tighter." She says.

"How do these feel?"

"The heels are better but the front is really big still."

"Okay let's try this brand," She says while pulling out 3 more shoes. "These are the Cavan Ghillies."

"These ones feel better." I say once she finishes putting them on.

"Yes they obviously fit better but these are the 10s and doesn't fit your foot exactly... Lets try the Fays Platinum Ghilles " She says while pulling out another few pairs.

The first one she puts on firs perfectly. This must be like how Cinderella felt when the prince put on her glass slipper!

"I think these are the ones!" the lady says. "could you do a few moves to make sure?"

I stand up and do some hop 1 2 3s and jumps.

"Yeah they feel great!"

"Great, and for heavy shoes I recommend the Fays Super Flexi Hard Shoe since her foot fits best with their soft shoes."

"Okay great!" Mom says as she gets 2 pairs down. the first one she puts on fits! This was so much easier than the soft shoes!

Mom goes to the register with the shoes and she pays for them. Then we head back out to the car.

"Hey Scarlet, how about after I put Ainsley and Wynter down for their nap you can show me some of the stuff you learned the past 2 days!" Mom says.

"No Nap!" Ainsley says from his seat.

"But remember, After your nap we can watch SpongeBob." Mom says to calm him down. He's only 5 so he gets excited about that kind of stuff...

Once we get home I run down into the basement where we have a lot of free space that mom said we could use as my practice space. She already gave me her old IPod with Irish dance music on it and a speaker! I try and tie the shoes like the lady at the store did but I can't remember how to... There are a lot of crosses and wrapping things...

15 minutes later mom comes down.

"Mom I can't tie my shoes!" I say once she comes over.

"Okay I took a video of the lady doing it so that we could remember." She says pulling out her phone. We both watch the video and eventually we get my shoes on. Mom turns on the iPod and puts on the song that Miss Roisin plays in class.

"Now I've been listening to your critiques in class so I know what you need to work on. Dad said he would stop by a store to get you a mirror after work.

"Okay! First I'll do jumps!" I say and I do jumps all around the basement. I try to remember to push my arms in to my side and point my toes. We're about to go onto hop 123s but then crying comes out of the baby monitor.

Mom sighs and gets up. "Wynter's crying... I'll try and come down. Keep practicing though." and she goes upstairs. It's not the same mwith nobody to practice in front of... But I guess I'll keep going until she comes back down. I end up in front of the bathroom door because it has a mirror on the back. I'm practicing my hop 123s, hoping to see the diamonds that Miss Roisin keeps telling us to see while dancing. I'm really nervous about class tomorrow... Everyone is probably going to be a lot better than me and I'll probably look clueless and stupid...

I just keep practicing then mom comes downstairs. "Scarlet, it's time for dinner." She says "Sorry I could come back down, Wynter wouldn't settle back down."

"No it's fine I get it." I say as I start to take off my shoes. Mom always needs to do something with everyone else...

"We'll have to find a bag for your shoes later." She says as we walk up the stairs.

After eating I go upstairs and take a shower and lay out my clothes For school. Winter break is done and now I have to go back to stupid school... I have one friend, her name is Zoey and she's really nice and pretty. We don't talk much but she's someone to eat lunch with and stuff. I'm excited to tell her about dance!