Red Shoes and Rain

The door is ratty, the dancers outside the door smoke cigarettes and wear torn leg warmers, but upstairs ... oh, upstairs at Worldtone on 7th Avenue is the mecca, the East, the end of the Silk Road, the only place where you can actually try on the tango shoes you love. It always takes at least two hours, and you can't practice ochos by steadying yourself on the racks, or you will bring them down on top of you. The smell is leather and sweat. What could be sweeter?
Outside the second-story windows was a downpour to chill the head and soak the feet, but inside, the red tango shoes with the 3-inch heels were all mine.