Kathy opened the shoe box and was bewildered. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but after the buildup of magic shoes, glitter and sparkle seemed like a given. Gold satin encrusted with jewels would have worked, perhaps even an undefined glowing aura. What she did not expect was a man’s pair of thin ratty old brown moccasin type slippers that were not even the right size! “Seriously?” Kathy said making a face at the twenty‑something shop girl.
The shop girl giggled at Kathy’s confusion. “I know they don’t look like much right now but that’s the state they were last left in. These shoes can be any style and they will magically adjust to fit. Simply slipping them on will cause them to enlarge or shrink to fit your foot, or anyone’s foot. Please, give them a try.”
Kathy sat down and removed her size 7 heels and dubiously picked up one of the hugely too large man’s moccasins. Feeling silly, Kathy went to hang the giant ugly shoe on her toes only to find it had somehow shrunk without her even noticing and fit onto her foot perfectly. “Holy cow, that was like magic!”
“It was magic, try the other shoe.”
Picking up the other moccasin, Kathy couldn’t help but see that it was already suddenly smaller. Slipping it on confirmed that it was a perfect fit. “That was amazing! So what happens if I take them off, do they enlarge again”
“No, when you take the shoes off, they remain exactly like you left them.”
Slipping both shoes off and putting them back, resulted in a box of ugly man’s moccasins in a woman’s size 7. “OK, that was amazing but why would anyone want magically re-sizing ugly old shoes?”
“That was only the beginning. If you are standing up with both feet on the ground and balanced with approximately even weight on both shoes, you may command them to change to any style you like.”
“So you’re telling me I could change the moccasins to woman's shoes? I could change them to heels?”
“Yes. You can make them sequined or plastic or any style you like, however there is a very significant effect to be aware of first. Your standing height in the shoes will not change, no matter what shoe style you command.”
“But you said I could make them any style I wanted. What if I want heels?”
“Yes, you can command them to become heels, but your standing height will still not change.”
“That makes no sense,” Kathy argued.
“Please, give it a try,” the shop girl grinned.
Putting the now small moccasins back on, Kathy stood up, carefully balancing her weight evenly and said, “Change to pretty woman’s pink slippers with red satin ribbons.” Watching carefully, Kathy saw the brown moccasins smoothly morph into pink slippers with red satin ribbons. “So if I take these off now, they will stay pink slippers?”
“As I said, they will remain in whatever state they were, so yes they would now be pink slippers.”
“So what if I make them heels?” Kathy asked shifting her weight back with one hand on her hip in a classic feminine challenge.
“Go ahead.”
“Change to black pumps with a three inch heel,” Kathy commanded, with her hand on her hip and confident she would show up the shop girl. “Nothing is happening, I knew it!”
“You’re not sufficiently balanced on both shoes,” the shop girl said blithely.
Taking her hand off her hip and standing up straight, Kathy decided to go all in. “Change to red leather platform stilettos with a clear plastic platform and a seven inch heal.” Looking down, Kathy saw the shoes morph as she rose up onto her toes. Despite the extreme heel, it was surprisingly comfortable. Looking back up, it took Kathy a moment for it to dawn on her that everything appeared the same, but it shouldn’t! Walking around, which oddly felt easy and comfortable, Kathy realized that she wasn’t any taller. “This is crazy, I’m wearing seven inch heels, I should be seven inches taller!”
“Take them off and you’ll understand.”
Confused, Kathy sat down and took off the now outrageous platform stilettos and put them in the box. Attempting to put on her old shoes brought her up short, they were hugely too large! “What happened to my old shoes,” she demanded as she stood up holding them out. Only then did she notice that everything was much bigger, not just her old shoes.”
“As is said, when changing the magic shoes, you standing height does not change. You added seven inches of height to the shoes so it reduced your height by the same seven inches. It also re-sized the clothes you were wearing as well.”
“Wait! I’m … I’m … I’m less than five feet tall now?”
“Whatever seven inches shorter is, yes.”
“Change me back! Change me back! Change … ,” Kathy panicked.
“Calm down, calm down. Your seven inches of height are right there in the shoes where you left them.”
“Wha … what? I don’t understand,” Kathy sniffled.
“Remember? Your standing height doesn’t change while commanding the shoes. Just put them back on and command a lower heel. The difference is reflected in your body such that your standing height doesn’t change.”
Anxious, Kathy put the stilettos back on and stood up. “Change to thin ballerina slippers,” she commanded. Hurriedly removing the ballerina slippers, Kathy stood up and sighed with relief. She was her old height again, or at least she thought she was but her old shoes seemed just a tiny bit snug, as if they weren’t completely broken in. “Why do my old shoes feel tight now?”
“The ballerina slippers you made must be a little bit thinner than the moccasins, so you probably acquired the height difference. It looks like a quarter inch at most, probably less. You can always put a bit of height back into the shoes if it’s a problem.”
“I don’t understand, how could I be taller than I started? Where did the height come from?”
“Whoever last used the shoes left a little bit of height in the thickness of the moccasin soles. You extracted it when you went to an even thinner shoe. I guess they didn’t think of a ballet slipper.”
“So if someone leaves shoe height in the shoe, then someone else can take it?”
“Like I said, your standing height does not change while commanding the shoe. It doesn’t matter what the shoe style was when you put it on.”
“Oh, I’ll definitely take the shoes,” Kathy said with a gleam in her eye.