Late to dance class I kicked off my shoes

among the other shoes outside of the studio

it was a pole dancing class and I had signed up for

 

two classes back to back two hours the first

hour was choreography and the second was tricks

by the end of the second hour I was very dizzy

 

and weak but I had accomplished a new trick

wearing my black vinyl lace-up 8-inch pleaser boots

and I got a good video to prove it I took off my pleasers

 

and headed toward my brown Birkenstocks

which I had kicked off outside the studio but what

I found in the place of my Birkenstocks were

 

someone else's much older much less cared for

Birkenstocks in the same size same color same style

left in the same location but definitely not mine

 

I was crushed I immediately took a picture

of these Birkenstocks and sent them to the studio

owner asking her to send a message to the other

 

dancers to notify them that someone with the same

shoes as me had accidentally taken mine and left

theirs behind then I went back into the studio

 

and told the instructor what had happened

she said I bet it was Christine since she smoked

a whole blunt before class and she started texting

 

other girls to see if she could locate my Birkenstocks

when I got home the owner of the studio had been

looking through the security footage she sent me

 

a screenshot of me taking off my Birkenstocks

before class “Is this you taking off your shoes?”

she said Yes I said and another one of me putting on

 

the same Birkenstocks after class That's me I said

but those are not my Birkenstocks you can see

the sole is dirtier on those ones mine are newer

 

“I understand” she said she told me that she did not see

anyone else wearing the same Birkenstocks as me

to class in the footage and that the only time

 

my Birkenstocks moved was when the studio door

opened and pushed them aside but she promised

she would look through the footage again meanwhile

 

I had eaten lunch and laid down on the couch

and was replaying the video of my new trick which

was an aerial ballerina I edited the video and put a

 

Doja Cat song over it so it looked really good

I looked again at the footage sent over by the studio

owner I saw myself staring down at those old dirty

 

Birkenstocks I did not recognize my boyfriend

came home and I told him what happened he was

sorry I lost my Birkenstocks I told him I bet she thinks

 

I'm crazy she being the owner of the studio looking

through the footage Do these look like my shoes to you?

I asked holding up the old brown Birkenstocks “Yes”

 

he said and then it dawned on me what I had done