Lives Between Walls

Good day sir. May I interest you in a quick shoe shine? It’ll only be about 10 minutes and you can get back on your way. I can see you are in a hurry. On important business no doubt from the way you are dressed. Looking very distinguished – unlike me. Wait sir! If you want to make a good impression where you are going, please let me shine your shoes. I promise I will make them sparkle. I know there are many of us shining shoes at this fountain, but my business is quite special you see. My polish is magical you see, whosoever’s shoes I shall polish with my magic polish, shall experience good fortune where they are going. Sir I see you rolling your eyes but I am serious. This formula has been in my family for generations. Passed down from my great grandfather, Andre the third, down to me your servant George. You ask why am I not famous? Because that is the curse of my gifting sir. But sit down, let me tell you all about it as I shine your shoes. If you would have allowed me, I would be nearly done by now. Have a sit, there you go, get comfortable.

Raise up your right leg sir. You won’t regret it I promise. This polish will make you great. Let me tell you the story of this polish as I shine your shoes.

My great grandfather was an explorer. He would travel far and wide, exploring old ruins across ancient cities. He would tell me many great stories from his exploits. Once he came back with this tin of polish. He found it within this very old cave. Apparently there was this old woman there. The woman told him that whoever’s shoes that he will shine with that polish would experience good fortune. My great gran was amazed and thought about the money he could make with such a finding. However, he also received a warning from the old lady – that if he were to leave the cave with that relic, his family would always shine people’s shoes forever. They would never go beyond that occupation. You are laughing sir. Don’t laugh I’m actually being serious. Why would she say that? Well, I don’t know, perhaps he violated some ancient law by being there. It was a curse. My great gran dad was well known for his greed. He left with the relic in his hand. I know what you are thinking, this was many years ago, why hasn’t the tin of polish run out? That is what makes this all the more mysterious. My great gran dad I was told started shining all his shoes and the shoes of his family members the same day he returned. He was shouting saying that the polish he had could give people good fortune. His family thought he had gone bonkers. “You will see,” he would say, “just give it a few weeks and you will see that I have made the finding of the century!” 4 weeks turned into 3 months, and there was nothing out of the ordinary that happened in his or his family’s life. “This can’t be!” He would say as he pulled his hair in disbelief. His wife, my great gran Rachel would try to calm him down, “Listen dear, this is a myth. There’s nothing magical about this polish. You need to pull yourself together.” Great gran Andre wouldn’t hear it. Instead he took the polish and would begin to polish everyone’s shoes again. This went on for weeks, until a family doctor recommended that Andre be taken into a mental home. He insisted that his tin of polish go with him. Reluctantly the family consented. His family would visit him regularly, hoping for a change in his condition but it seems it got worse. They would find him polishing his shoes everytime. “It will work, this thing has magic!” He would be shouting out. It was an agonizing few years for the family. The final blow being dealt when they heard the news of his death. Apparently he had died of pnemonia. Even in his bed he was clutching the tin of polish.

Okay, you can raise up your left leg sir I’m nearly done I promise.

So the tin was handed down to my grandfather who really had no interest for it. He kept it as a decoration in his room divider in memory of Andre the third. He opened a company manufacturing shoe polish. It was quite interesting that it seemed as though the prophecy of the old lady was coming true. My family was all ending up in the shoe polish business. Even my cousins ended up working in his company, having failed to complete school and get jobs. My great gran Rachel kept these things in her heart but said nothing. Eventually the tin of polish was handed down to me, at my father’s deathbed last year. He had called me privately into the room, having asked the rest of the family members to leave the room. “Son,” he whispered as I drew close to him. He shoved this golden tin of polish into my hand and clasped my fingers shut. “This is my legacy to you son,” he coughed, “your great gran Andre the third was not wrong. There is something magical about this polish. You just need to go deeper and understand it. A curse is merely going against the wind. This is your life’s purpose son. Don’t go against the wind, go with it.” I still remember his dying words with clarity. I wept that day, and vowed that I would understand the mystery of this shoe polish. So I took the can and everyday after school, and studied it. I meditated on the words of the old woman in the cave, ‘Whosoever’s shoes you will shine shall experience good fortune. Your family will always polish people’s shoes.’ I meditated on this for years, from teenager to middle aged man. Many times my girlfriend would walk in on me after putting our daughter to sleep, staring at this tin of shoe polish. “Baby, don’t you think you are overthinking this?” She would ask as she ran her hand across my back. I would reassure her that I would not get obsessed like my great gran Andre. But the truth is, I was obsessed already. You will understand when you are at your dad’s dying bed and hearing his last words. He was convinced that there was something about that polish. And his words, ‘a curse is merely going against the wind.’ I had to find what the mystery behind this polish was, so I could being to flow with the wind. Currently our family was stuck, there had been no doctors, lawyers, architects in the family since my great gran brought that polish home – just shoe shiners, or unemployed. At that point I had been working at my grandfather’s shoe polish manufacturing plant. This did not make sense! Where was the good fortune prophesied?! Why was everything just falling apart for our family.

Okay sir, put both feet down now, I will spray them with my special spray. I’m nearly done with my story.

Then things went from bad to worse. My grandfather’s company had to downsize because of the corona virus pandemic. I ended up losing my job. It was rough in those days. My girlfriend had to work three jobs to support us. That was when I decided to come to this fountain and start my own informal shoe shine business. I came here with that can of polish and I’ve been here for a year now. The most phenomenal thing I noticed was that the shoe polish never ran out, despite how many people’s shoes I polished. Every morning it would miraculously refill. I showed my girlfriend and she was blown away. I remember she was teary eyed that morning, “Maybe this polish is magic after all.” I kept polishing shoes faithfully every morning. It wasn’t until a client came back to me and said, “You know Andre, I just won the lottery yesterday. The odds where a thousand to one. It’s a miracle that I guessed the numbers right. I think what you were saying about your polish is true.” And it’s not just one client, I’ve heard this from many people, some of whom I will never see again as they have been promoted, they have bought houses in richer neighbourhoods – its only a handful who come back and thanked me. It was then that I understood what I had in my hands – it was a gift given me to bless other people. And through their good fortune, mine came. That is why I am not famous, that is why I am not a global sensation. I am a bridge to greatness, the bridge is seldom remembered but without it you could never get there. And this is why I am here today sir. And as you go, let me tell you – that you have a gift as well, one that is designed to give good fortune to others as you use it. You have buried it, because you thought it doesn’t work because it doesn’t give good fortune to you. But sir, I’m here to tell you today, that through the good fortune of others, you will be satisfied. The gift is not intended for you, but for others. You are crying sir, its okay, here’s a tissue – weeping is good for that is a response of the soul. It is proof that you have heard me.

Thank you for taking time to hear me. And when you do experience that good fortune, come back and tell me. Sit with me and we can have a drink and rejoice together. Because in your good fortune, I am satisfied.