“She turned away to think about what he said, and the book slid off her lap in a flurry of pages to the ground. He bent down to retrieve it and noticed her feet. He had never really looked at them before, not like this, but they were magnificent. He wasn’t sure what fetishes were, clinically at least, but he was well aware of an obsession he had had since childhood that took the form of an overpowering attraction to feet. Not all feet, mind you, just certain ones. Unlike other parts of the body, where imperfections might be arousing, the feet were entirely different, since they were the ugliest part of the body and had to be kept out of sight at all times.
“Mia’s feet were not like that. They were in perfect harmony with her calf and the rest of her leg. Neither was there a hair on them; they were as smooth as her cheeks and of the same Arabica color. The toes were not too long, not too short, unexpectedly graceful, and fitted one against another like measuring spoons. Her arches were just right, not precipitous like the arches of high-strung, cold, or domineering women, but not too low, either, which would have made her phlegmatic. And, while she may have been many things, Mia was not phlegmatic. The inner curve of her sole, where the flesh on most people was wrinkled and pale, had neither a crease nor an unsightly blue vein. It was as smooth as sanded mahogany and perfect for nestling his lips and rubbing the tip of his nose, which he imagined doing as he waited for her answer to a question that he could not even remember.
“But the most wonderful thing of all and the flowering of all his fetishing were her toenails, which were polished blood red and contrasted the brown leather cord of her sandals that encircled the river delta of her toes and the tender tapering of her ankles. He followed the cord around and around until nothing remained for him but her feet: their smell, their touch, their taste. They were, in a word, exquisite.”
Excerpt from The Gringo. Take The Gringo, Laura Fedora, or Nine Lives to the beach. They’re perfect for digging your toes in the sand. Available at Amazon. Photo and feet by Susan Acampora.
