Until we started going to High School and Leather Shoes were listed as one of the requirements, our shoe category was Rubber Shoes. They are what we now regard as sports shoes or casual wear. They were the cheapest of all the shoes in the Jirada Shop, and father knew that too and it suited his pocket perfectly. As was his custom, he went ahead of time and talked with Jirada, just like he did with Ng’atho. He dropped us off at the Jirada shop and asked us to go get our shoes. You would think we had a say in what we were getting. The only thing we had a choice in was the color. Jirada, as the good business woman she was, waved hello and goodbye to our father and welcomed us warmly. We were like a herd of goats invading her serene looking shop.
One by one, she called us to the foot scale. It was an upward slanting wooden foot scale, that had shoe sizes curved onto the wood. We placed one foot on the scale, the heel touching the back panel of the scale that was marked Zero, and the big toe reaching the mark of whatever size our foot was. We were mainly numbers 4 to 6. After we were measured, Jirada asked the boys which shoe style and color they wanted between Bata Bullets and Hockey. They were in the same price range. Hockey came in two colors. Black and Navy Blue. Bata Bullets were either Black, Navy Blue or Red. She climbed a ladder to reach the top shelves and removed boxes containing the correct size and color for each one of us.
The box she gave me contained Bata Ngoma, exactly the style my mother wore. They came in two colors. Green and Blue. They had a white leather panel that had holes for the white shoe laces. When I look back, I think they looked kind of cute, I wish they still had that design. I would buy myself a few pairs willingly and wear them proudly.
Anyhow, inside the boxes, the shoes were separated with soft white tissue paper and more white paper stuffed inside the shoes to maintain their shape. We eagerly got the shoes out, our eyes almost popping out of their sockets with excitement.
