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Twelve year old, Mila approached the shoe. She wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and placed her hands into the pockets of her skirt to warm them. The deep, black leather was worn and cracked. The original laces had gone, some replacement laces were left hanging out at the top, the others lay in a tangled mess on the cold, stone footpath at her feet.
Mila flicked the droopy strings, and a hatch-door clicked open. An old lady, sat on a raggedy cushion. She had a wide smile, sharp eyes and wore a huge green hat.
“Good morning, Grandma,” said Mila.
“Oh, it’s you, Mila,” said the aged voice. “Hello, my dear. What brings you here today? Have you come to visit me?”
“Ah, yes, Grandma. I was wondering if I could come and see you sometimes?” asked Mila as she pulled her scarf tighter around her neck.
“Why, Mila, where do you want to go?” asked the old lady curiously. “I’d love to go with you.”
“Well…err”, said Mila. She thought quickly. “If you’re going to the beach, maybe we could go down to Mataraka Beach and have some lunch?”
“No, Mila,” said the old lady. “That would be too much. I was going to the supermarket.”
Mila was disappointed. “Okay. That’s okay.” She paused, thinking. “I was thinking of going to an Aloe Vera Farm. Say, maybe there’s an Aloe Vera Farm near Mataraka Beach?”
“Oh, I forgot. That would be an interesting place to visit. It would make a nice change for us both.” The old lady thought about the beach. “Oh, I remember. The lifeguards have the beach on their lunch break. There’s not much beach left, so we could get eaten by sharks.”
“Really? I had my heart set on the beach. Is there an anywhere you’d recommend?”
“Well, there’s an open park near Mataraka Beach, but it has a fence around it.”
“Oh, that’s not great. Is there anywhere nice in town?”
“No. Mila. There’s only one thing in this town, and it’s not very nice or nice at all. I’m not sure it’d be safe enough to walk by,” said the old lady, looking at the street they were standing on. The steel netting, above the car and the lawn, was sliced in half, and hung down. The lawn itself had been trampled and torn, and the netting, was covered in debris: broken branch, torn up leaves, and old food wrappers.
“Oh, Grandma,” said Mila, frowning. “Please, can we just go to the beach tomorrow?”
“No. You know what? Let’s go on a journey around the world,” suggested the old lady. “You don’t want to go to the beach. We can visit a beach in the Maldives, in Thailand, and Australia.”
“Yes!” she said, jumping up and down. “I would like to go on a trip around the world.”
“I know. It’s a good idea. I want to travel, too. I’ve never had the opportunity to before. I haven’t been much of anywhere. I haven’t gotten out of New Zealand or Europe since I was a little girl,” said the old lady, as she reached into her sewn-up pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
“Oh, but, you don’t smoke,” said Mila, surprised.
“Yes, well, I’ve been having a problem with my lungs,” said the old lady, as she broke the cigarette in half between her wrinkly finger and thumb, and lit one up. She took a long drag, and then blew the smoke out of her nose through her mouth as she laughed.
“Okay, Grandpa. When do you want to go?” asked Mila.
“How about next week?” suggested the old lady.
“Great! I’ll be back.”
Mila had an idea. She would find out tomorrow if she could leave the shoe early. If she could, then she could go on holiday with the old lady. She would invite someone to the beach, and the old lady could come with them. She approached the shoe, and a door opened for her. She got in, and pulled the door shut. It clicked shut. Then she lit up a cigarette, and she took a long drag, blowing the smoke out of her nose through her mouth as she laughed.
She fell asleep immediately.
The next morning, the alarm buzzed, and Mila woke up. She was in the shoe, and not on the bed. She brushed some of the dust off the seat next to her, and she sat down.
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“Hello, Mila,” said the old lady. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going on holiday, Grandma. I’m not going to go to the beach tomorrow,” said Mila, cheerfully. “I’m thinking of going to the Maldives and Thailand. What do you think?”
“Oh, that’s nice,” said the old lady, taking another long drag of her cigarette.
“But I do want to go somewhere nice here in New Zealand, too. I would like to go on holiday with a friend of mine, so I hope that we can go somewhere nice,” said Mila.
“Well, the only nice places in New Zealand, that is, in my opinion, are the city, the mountains or the beach.” Mila thought about the mountains. “Do you want to know about the city?”
“That would be interesting.”
“I’m thinking maybe we can go to Auckland. I have heard it is a nice place to visit.”
“Yes, everyone says Auckland is a nice place,” said Mila, as she took another long drag of her cigarette.
“Are you sure you’re going to go on holiday, Mila?” asked the old lady.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m going there with a friend of mine,” said Mila. She took another long drag. “Have you heard about the mountains? Maybe Queenstown?” Mila took another long drag of her cigarette.
“Oh, I’ve been to Queenstown before,” said the old lady, as she took another long drag of her cigarette. “It was a rainy day.”
“What was it like?” asked Mila.
“It was small, it was dry, and there was no one around in the streets.”
“That sounds boring,” said Mila, as she took another long drag. “What about the beach? What about Christchurch or Wellington?”
“Well, I’ve been to Christchurch a million times,” said the old lady, as she took another long drag. “There was always a nice beach there.”
“Really? What’s it like?” asked Mila, as she took another long drag.
“The beach has a lot of beautiful, white, sandy beaches. It has shallow water, big beaches, and there are lots of nice people,” said the old lady, as she took another long drag. “The water is warm, too.
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