Brittney, the Tapgirl Princess

"All Taps Week" arrived none too soon for Brittney and John and all the other kids who'd worked so hard over the previous several days to plan this event. Principal Martin himself made the announcement on the public address system on Friday morning, having made some slight edits to the script written by Brittney and her friends.

"Good morning, students. The student tap-checking committee, led by Miss Brittney Davis, has proposed having an 'All Taps Week' at Forest Glen High. The committee has worked hard all Spring long to make sure that students and teachers who want to wear metal taps on their shoes at school can do so without risk of harming the polished floors that our custodial staff has worked so hard to maintain. As a reward for their efforts, I have agreed with the committee's proposal. We are asking that all faculty, staff, and students at the school who have not yet put metal taps on their shoes allow the student committee to temporarily attach metal taps to the heels of the shoes that they wear to school next week. Or, if you wish to have taps put on professionally, you may go to Mr. Sam DiMaggio's shoe repair shop on Main Street, and he will attach them to your shoes at no charge, both heel taps and toe taps. Although we hope that all of you will join us and participate in 'all taps week,' we recognize that some of you may need to wear shoes that will not accept metal taps—sneakers or heavily treaded shoes—for example, the kitchen staff because your job requires them or, in the case of students, your family may require you to do so. That will be o.k., and there will be no punishment for those of you who cannot participate. However, all administrative staff will be expected to participate and that includes myself, of course, and Mr. Hawkins. Beginning at lunch today and continuing before school and at lunch all of next week, anyone who wants to have metal taps put on his or her shoes can come to the area in front of the fountain and the student committee will attach the taps to your shoes. The students assure me that they can pull the heel taps off easily at the end of next week if you decide you don't want to continue wearing them on your shoes. That is the only announcement for today. Thank you."

Immediately, throughout the school, cheers went up in every classroom.

"Holy shit, Brittney," cried out Christina, a girl in her 2nd period class. "How did you get Mr. Martin to do that? And even Mr. Hawkins, I mean Hawkeye, is going to have to wear taps. I can't wait to see that!"

"I guess that means you too, huh, Mr. Wilson?" said Jessica to her algebra teacher. She giggled. "Are you going to put horseshoe taps on yours?" she added with another laugh.

In the faculty lounge, where a few teachers who didn't have a second period class had gathered to talk or smoke or work, there was a bit of muttering about the dictatorial administration. "I'll bet Doris Jackson was behind this, or Alan Hooke," said middle-aged history teacher Jean Allen, mentioning the head counselor and the registrar. "They put taps on their shoes, just like the kids do, and just like those vampy sisters, Susan Wilms and Sandra Abrams, do."

"I don't think this is Doris' or Alan's idea," said biology teacher Lynn Friedman. "I'm guessing that Alison Dexter put old Martin up to this. You've heard her scraping her taps along the floors, haven't you? She sounds just like a ninth grader! And she's got Blake wrapped around her finger! Have you ever seen them together? He'll do anything she says!" She raised her head and rolled her eyes.

Not all of the teachers felt that way, though. Brandi Thomas, a young Art and Drama teacher, was also in the lounge at the time, and she took offense at those comments. "I don't see what you're so down on taps for," she interjected. "I have metal taps on my own shoes. See!" and she slipped off one of her flats and held it up for the others to see—a nice-sized #5 Eagle plate on the heel and a smaller one under the toe. "They're really quite harmless and they do protect your shoes from needing repair."

"Well, if that's all you wanted to do, you could get plastic or nylon taps. They do the same thing," one of the other teachers replied.

"It's not the same," answered Brandi, although somewhat lamely. "The metal ones are much better. Well, I guess you'll find that out next week, won't you!" she added, with a bit of smirk.

John Baker, the student with the portable tap-attaching gear, had enlisted Barry Browne to help him put the taps on people's shoes in the lunch area. He'd figured that there were still maybe 80 kids who didn't yet have taps on their shoes, in addition to most of the 80 to 100 adults who worked at the school. And since people didn't wear the same shoes everyday, there would probably be 200 pairs of shoes needing taps put on over the next few days. However, he forgot that many of the teachers would prefer to have their taps put on at Sam's Shoe Repair, and he didn't even consider the possibility that not all of the teachers would go along with the idea.

Brittney, however, was definitely worried about whether the teachers would just ignore Mr. Martin's request. On the morning Principal Martin made his announcement, Brittney skipped her 4th period English class and walked over to the office to talk with Alison. Together the two of them went in to see Mr. Martin, and they persuaded him to personally try to convince some of the teachers and staff to have taps put on their shoes. He agreed to go around to the teachers during lunch and during their break periods and encourage them to participate. He also said he'd be a good example and be one of the first to have John Baker put taps on his shoes—and he was secretly excited about doing that.

So at the start of the lunch period, Brittney, Alison, and Mr. Martin went to the fountain area where John and Barry were finishing setting up their equipment. There were already some students waiting, but the students happily let Mr. Martin go ahead of them.

"O.K., Mr. Martin," said Barry to his principal. "What size taps do you want on your oxfords?"

Mr. Martin turned to his secretary. "Alison, what size would you say…. Well, what size do you have on your loafers?"

"Umm, on these shoes I think I have #7's. Aren't these #7's, Barry?" Alison raised one of her shoes so Barry could get a closer look.

"Yup, they're #7s, Miss Dexter." Barry took one of Mr. Martin's shoes and looked at it closely. "But, Mr. Martin, it looks to me like the heels on your shoes are already worn down some. I wouldn't put on #7's because that size doesn't have any bend to it. The taps wouldn't conform to the shape of the heels, and then they would sound really clinky. I'd suggest that you let me put on #5s. They're kind of small, but they curve more than the others do so they'd fit to your heels better."

"Well, o.k. I'll take #5's then." But he thought to himself: This is embarrassing. My own secretary has bigger taps on her loafers than I'm going to have on these shoes. Tomorrow, I will have to take another pair of shoes to Sam's and have him put bigger taps on. But these will have to do for now.

While John finished putting the taps on Mr. Martin's shoes, another 20 or so people gathered around. But it was mostly students, and most of the students who were watching already had taps on their shoes anyway. Brittney looked a little worried. She took Mr. Martin by the arm and with her other hand took Alison's hand. "Come on," she said. "We've got to round up some teachers!"

On their way to the teacher's lunch room, they ran into Jack Youngblood, going in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Jack," said Mr. Martin. "Are you going to participate in this taps thing…you know, just for school spirit and all?"

"Of course!" answered Coach Youngblood. "That's where I'm headed right now. I figure if all these women teachers are going to be having taps on their shoes, us men better be represented too, right?" He gave out a chuckle and waved goodbye to the threesome as he went to find John's tapping-station.

Mr. Martin, Alison, and Brittney went into the teacher's lunch room, all three of them now making clicking sounds with their taps as they walked, although the girls' taps were much louder. The first teachers they ran into were Jean Allen and Lynn Friedman, the two who had expressed skeptical attitudes about this idea in the teachers' lounge earlier that morning.

"Hello, Jean. Hello Lynn," greeted Mr. Martin. "I hope you will be joining us in 'All Taps Week' by wearing metal taps on your shoes next week. You'll be doing that, won't you?" he asked confidently for confirmation.

"I don't think so, Blake," replied the older woman, Mrs. Allen.

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that." He turned to Alison. "Alison, what was it that Mrs. Allen asked me for last week? It had something to do with her schedule next year, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Mr. Martin. Mrs. Allen was hoping you would assign her to two periods of Advanced Placement U.S. History."

"Oh, that's right. Thank you." He smiled at Mrs. Allen. Then he turned to Lynn Friedman, the biology teacher. "How about you, Lynn? Do you think you'll be having taps on your shoes next week? I can understand if you'd rather not have students put the taps on your shoes. But Sam DiMaggio is an excellent shoemaker, and I'm sure he will do a good job with whatever you bring to him."

At that point, the older teacher, Ms Allen, glared at Brittney and then at Alison and then she motioned to the girls to step away.

Alison said, "We'll wait outside for you, Mr. Martin." Then she and Brittney quickly clicked and clacked out of the room.

Ms Allen continued: "Blake, come on, was this your idea or are you just coddling up to the kids and that teenage secretary of yours?"

"Jean," replied Mr. Martin. "Alison had absolutely nothing to do with it. Yes, it was the students' idea—I certainly wouldn't have thought of it." (Which was true—he wouldn't have thought of it, but he frankly loved it.) "But look, it’s the end of the school year. It's time we gave something back to the kids. They're a good group, and I'm happy to do this if it makes them happy."

"Well, o.k." said Lynn. "I will participate. Tomorrow, I'll take a couple pair of shoes in to Sam's Shoe Shop and have some small taps put on them, but only for next week. Then they're coming off when the week is over."

"Thank you, Lynn. The kids will appreciate that. And how about you, Jean? Will you go along?"

"I'll think about it, Blake." She gave him a sour smile.

"Well, that's good. And I'll be thinking about your request for A.P. course sections. Have a nice weekend." Mr. Martin smiled knowingly at Ms Allen and then turned and went to the door of the lunchroom. Alison and Brittney were waiting just outside. He reported to them his mixed progress with the two women teachers. Then the girls left and Mr. Martin went back inside and engaged several other groups of teachers in similar conversations.

Meanwhile, Jack Youngblood had gotten to the tap-attaching-station and saw that John was putting taps on one student's shoes and two more students were waiting in line. He talked to the first student in line, Mary Jo, a pretty junior who he knew from his exercise class. Mary Jo was raised in a strict Catholic home, and she was one of the few girls who had not yet put taps on her shoes.

"Mary Jo, don't you already have taps on your shoes?" inquired Coach Youngblood.

"No, Coach. These will be my first." She smiled. She'd secretly longed to have taps on her shoes and so this "school requirement" was just perfect for her. She walked over to Coach Youngblood and whispered in his ear, "My parents haven't allowed me put taps on my shoes before. But now I can tell them it's a school rule! I have to put them on, right?"

"That's right," he assured her. "And you don't have to tell them it's just for a week!"

Mary Jo nodded in agreement. "Maybe when the week's over, they might not care any more. But I think I'll put on small taps for now just to keep things simple at home."

The Coach shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you can do it that way if you want," he said. "But if you want to have large taps on your shoes, now is a good opportunity to do it since it's beyond your control, right? You can tell them that's the size they're putting on everyone's shoes!"

"That's a good idea! I'll tell them that. Thanks!"

So when John had finished putting taps on the shoes of the boy ahead of her in line, Mary Jo asked him what size taps he had put on.

"They're #8's. Is that the size you want on your shoes? Let me see if they'll fit."

Mary Jo took off her penny loafers and handed them to John. John took one of the 2-and-a-half inch long size 8 Eagle plates and measured it up against one of Mary Jo's loafers.

"Yeah, I can get them on—they'll be angled more than usual, and they'll go from the back of the heel almost to the front, but they'll fit. Do you want them?"

Mary Jo looked at Coach with a quizzical look. "Do I want these?" she mouthed.

He shook his head up and down enthusiastically, and gave her a big smile.

She turned back to John. "Yes, please. Those will be fine."

While this was going on, Jack was thinking about what size taps to put on his own oxfords. Originally, he'd been thinking of #7s, but when he saw the #8's being put on Mary Jo's loafers, he realized he couldn't take anything smaller. Then, when the boy directly in front of him in line asked John for horseshoe taps for his motorcycle boots, that reminded him that two of his favorite people, Susan Wilms and her sister, the librarian Sandy Abrams, both wore horseshoe taps to work the last time he'd seen them. So he decided that he should have horseshoes put on his shoes also.

As John was hammering the horseshoe taps into the heels of his oxfords, the coach asked him, "John, what about toe taps?"

"Coach, Mr. Martin said we should only put heel taps on because we agreed to take them off after a week, and if we took off the toe taps, they'd leave holes in the soles that would get your feet wet when it rained."

"But what if I'm not planning to take the taps off after next week—what if I want them on permanently?"

"Well, then I guess it's o.k."

"Good. Then put some toe taps on—medium-sized ones like about so long." He held up his right hand and made about a 2-inch space between his thumb and forefinger."

"Yeah, number 5's. That's a good size."


On Saturday, Sam's Shoe Repair was busier than usual. All day long there were two, three, or even four people waiting to have metal taps put on their shoes, and some people brought in two or three pairs to have fixed up with taps. Sam worked as fast as he could, and he even hired John Baker to help him.

About 1:30 in the afternoon, Principal Martin walked into the shop. He recognized all four people waiting in the shop as being from Forest Glen High—Anna Williams, a teacher's aide; Michael Gordon, an English teacher; and two 12th grade girls.

"Hello Mrs. Williams, Mr. Gordon, girls," he nodded to each of them as he came into the shop. "What a coincidence we're all here today!" He smiled and the others smiled back, understanding he was referring to "all taps week."

His arrival made a buzzer ring in the back, so Sam came out to greet his new customer. "Hello, Mr. Martin. Nice to see you this afternoon."

"Hi Sam," said Mr. Martin. "I see we're keeping you quite busy today. Don't forget to keep track of how many pairs of taps you're putting on for us. The school will reimburse you at the end of next week."

Principal Martin handed Sam the two pairs of shoes he brought in with him--some black dressy high-top shoes (like ankle boots, but with laces and leather soles) and some brown casual penny loafers. He spoke to Sam in a whisper, hoping the others wouldn't hear. "Sam, on these black shoes, could you put on the largest size taps that you have? I want to be sure the students notice that I am participating in their event next week. On the brown loafers, I'd like some horseshoe taps, if you can do that. And toe taps too on both pair." He'd decided he wanted horseshoe taps to impress Alison the next time they got together outside of school.

After Sam took his shoes from him and returned to his workbench, Mr. Martin turned back to talk to his co-workers. "Anna and Mike, thanks for participating in this event. I'm sure the students really appreciate it." Then he asked for confirmation of this point from the two senior girls waiting. "Girls, isn't it nice that your teachers participate in these student-planned activities?"

One of the girls, a mature looking girl with long streaked blonde hair and glasses, looked up from the magazine she was reading and nodded politely. But the other girl, a dark-haired heavy-set girl, with spaces between her teeth, looked at Mr. Martin disdainfully and said, "Whatever. I don't quite get making the teachers put taps on their shoes. I mean it's really none of your business whether they put taps on their shoes or not."

Mr. Martin responded to her impolite challenge, "Well, sometimes it's good when the whole school does something together, don't you think?"

Just then Sam brought out some of the shoes he and John had been working on. He gave back to the dark-haired girl a pair of chunky-heeled black goth-looking boots with thick rubber soles. He pointed to the horseshoe plates he'd put on the heels and the #4 taps he'd put on the sides and the toes. "These are what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah, that's what my friend Caroline said I should get. I've never put side taps on before, but Caroline said these boots would be good with them."

Sam smiled. "Yes, I think so too."

Then he gave three pairs of shoes to the girl with glasses—some skimmer flats with #5 taps; a pair of white open toed 2-inch heeled sandals with #2 taps, the largest that would fit on the little heels; and finally a pair of Bass Weejun penny loafers with horseshoe heel plates like on her friend's boots. "You didn't want toe taps, right?—not even with the horseshoe taps on the loafers?" he asked. She nodded. "I don't see the point of toe taps. It's your heels that make the noise, not your toes!"

Sam turned to speak to the adults. "I'll have your shoes out in a minute."

Meanwhile, Mr. Martin was watching the girls with interest. 'Glasses' slipped into her horseshoe-plated loafers. Then she fished into her backpack for a pack of cigarettes while 'toothless' was tying the laces on her boots. The two girls didn't say anything as they got up and walked out of the shop, clip-clopping on the floor, and then on the cement outside. As they each lit cigarettes and started walking down the street, 'glasses' shrugged her shoulders and then both girls started laughing. Having metal taps on their shoes was apparently something they enjoyed but didn't see the point of making it a school spirit type of thing.

Much the same could be said for Anna and Mike, although for each it was their first pair of shoes they'd put metal taps on.

"So, are you getting horseshoe taps on your shoes like those girls did?" asked Mr. Martin of his two fellow staff members.

"No, sir," replied Mike, the English teacher. "I am just putting some crescent-shaped taps on the shoes I wear to school just like you asked us to do."

"Well, I'm glad you're helping out."

"Well, I'm partly putting them on because my wife wanted me to. She's been wearing shoes with metal taps for the past few weeks, and she keeps saying I should do it, too. So when I told her you asked the teachers to wear taps on our shoes this next week, she said I had to do it. She almost came here with me to make sure I'd get big enough ones, but I told her not to worry. I asked Sam for the biggest ones he had."

"The taps that Sam's putting on my shoes are big ones too," said Anna. "I've been working with Sandy Abrams in the library and saw what she put on her boots, so I figured if a librarian could have really big steel taps on then I could too."

Just then Sam came out with Anna and Mike's shoes. On Mike's two pairs of oxfords, he'd put identically sized taps—number 8's on the heels and number 6's on the toes. Anna's oxfords had 6's and 4's, and her loafers had 7's and 5's.

Mike commented that the toe taps were smaller than the taps on the heels. "Is that usual?" he asked.

Sam replied, "I pretty much always suggest two sizes smaller on the toes than on the heels—they look best that way," Sam said. He turned to Mr. Martin. "That's what I did with yours too, Mr. Martin." He brought out the two pair for the principal. His oxfords with #8s and #6s, just like Mike's. And on the penny loafers, horseshoe taps on the heels and #8's on the toes.

Mike seemed surprised by the horseshoe taps. "Blake, are you going to be wearing those horseshoe taps to school this week?"

"No, they're mostly for wearing on weekends and evenings."

"Oh, did your wife want you to wear taps, too?"

"Well, no. I just thought I'd see what it was like having horseshoe taps on. The boys at school sure seem to enjoy them!" Of course, he didn't tell her anything about trying to impress his secretary, Alison.


On Monday, the first day of "all taps week," although not everyone participated, Brittney was still pleased because almost half of all the adults (besides the custodians and kitchen help) had taps on their heels. She figured that was probably five times as many adults with taps on their shoes as before. And Monday at lunch, John was still busy putting taps on more shoes, with most of his "customers" being teachers.

But there'd been one noticeable hold-out among the administrative staff—Mr. Hedley Hawkins, the school vice-principal. He was wearing noticeably soft-soled casual oxfords, with the kind of soles that if you put taps on they'd sound like clinkety-clinkety little girls' dancing taps.

At lunch, Alison made a comment about that to Mr. Martin. "Aren't you going to say something to him, Blake?" she asked him privately. "I mean this is part of your agreement with Brittney, right?" She put her hand on his arm, looked straight into his face, and then clicked her heel taps on the floor.

"Well, we have pretty good participation from most of the faculty," he responded, hoping that would satisfy her.

"Yes, that's true," said Brittney firmly. "But Mr. Hawkins has to do this too. If he won't get taps put on his shoes, we'll have to do it for him. And if he insists on wearing soft-soled shoes like he's wearing today, we'll just have to find out his size and go buy him a pair of shoes and give them to him with taps already on them." She was dead serious, and Blake Martin knew it.

When Alison mentioned this problem to Brittney, the tapgirl princess decided to take the matter into her own hands. So right after last period, Brittney went to seek out her nemesis, the vice-principal, herself. She found him patrolling the hall at the side entrance to the building. All around him, students were clicking and clacking their way outside heading for their cars or the buses that would take them home.

"Hey, there, Mr. Hawkins," called out Brittney.

He was surprised to hear Brittney's voice being so friendly. "Hello, Brittney," he answered. "How was school for you today?"

"It was really nice. My classes were really interesting." She hoped he wouldn't ask her about them, though, because honestly she hadn't paid attention to anything her teachers said. Her mind had been focused on "all taps week," like thinking about which teachers had new taps on their shoes and which ones didn't have them yet.

"Hey, Mr. Hawkins. Those are really nice-looking shoes you have on. What size are they, like about size 8?"

Before he realized why Brittney had asked him, he immediately blurted out a correction. "No, Brittney, they're size 9's. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Thanks! Bye!" and off she went to find Alison, in such a hurry she forgot to scrape her heels on the floor in front of Mr. Hawkins, which she usually did in order to annoy him.

"Alison," said Brittney when she reached the main office. "Hawkeye wears size 9. What guys do we know, you think, who wear a size 9 and would be willing to loan a pair of their shoes to us for Hawkeye to wear?"

"I dunno, Brittney, why don't you just ask all these students around here?"

"Damn, of course!" cried Brittney. "I better hurry. Everyone's leaving campus already." She scurried off in the direction of the buses where she figured she'd find kids in large enough numbers to meet her need.

"Listen up, everyone," said Brittney, after she boarded an almost full bus and asked the bus driver to wait a minute before taking off. "Do any of you boys wear a size 9 and have an extra pair of shoes, preferably with big taps on them, that you could loan me for the week?"

"You into men's shoes now, Brittney?" called out one of the guys.

"No, of course not. I need a pair of size 9's to put on Hawkeye's feet tomorrow. He won't put taps on his own shoes, so I told Mr. Martin I would get him some if he would make Hawkeye wear them!"

"Way to go, Brittney!" yelled several of the kids.

"I've got some size 9 zippered dress boots I can give you," said Jose Martinez, one of the sophomore boys. "They have taps on them."

"Are the taps big, and are they noisy?" asked Brittney.

"Oh, yeah," said Jose. "They're what my grandpa called Pachuco taps, like what he put on his shoes when he was young."

"What's that?"

"Oh, they're just horseshoe taps. That's just what he and his friends called them. I'll bring them in to school and give them to you tomorrow morning."

"Terrific! I can give them back to you at the end of the week…unless Hawkeye decides he can't live without them!"

So the next morning, Jose and Brittney met up before school and Brittney carried the shoes into the office and gave them to Alison who in turn brought them in to Mr. Martin's office.

"O.K., Blake. I did my part. Here are some shoes that I'm pretty sure will fit Mr. Hawkins." She handed Jose's boots to Mr. Martin, who immediately turned them over and saw the large horseshoe plates on the heels along with #3 toe taps. Alison apologized for the fact that they had horseshoe taps instead of half-moons. ("I suppose he'd take to them more if they had smaller taps on them, but it was nice enough for one of the students to loan us his shoes for Mr. Hawkins, don't you think?") Mr. Martin acknowledged the loan, and ushered his secretary out of his office, saying he had some urgent issues to attend to.

Around 11 in the morning, Alison peeked in and saw the shoes were still in Mr. Martin's office.

"Hey, Blake, when are you going to give the shoes to Mr. Hawkins," Alison asked in a critical tone.

"I'll do it, I'll do it," Mr. Martin replied. "I'm busy right now. I'll get to it this afternoon." The truth is, of course, that he didn't relish the idea of telling his vice-principal that he had to wear these shoes with these big steel taps on them.

"O.K., but I don't think Brittney wants to see him at lunch time walking around in those soft-soled shoes of his."

The mention of Brittney's name reminded Mr. Martin why he needed to attend to his secretary's wishes. Brittney still had the power to reveal his indiscretions with Alison. While he knew Alison valued her job enough not to say anything, he wasn't sure Brittney wanted anything badly enough to keep quiet, not even the threat to get Susan Wilms in trouble for her similar off-hours socializing with students.

So, right after Alison left, he bucked up his courage and took the horseshoe-tapped ankle boots in to his vice-principal, making sure that Alison saw him leave with the boots in his hands.

"Good morning, Hedley," said Mr. Martin as he entered. "I have a present for you…well, its either that or a favor to ask you. You remember the students' request that all of us wear shoes with metal taps on them this week?" He lifted his own oxfords up so Mr. Hawkins could see the #8 heel and #6 toe taps he had on himself. "Well some of the students noticed that you had on soft-soled shoes that taps wouldn't be able to fit on, so one of the boys said he would loan these to you—they're his favorite pair of dress boots, and they already have taps on them. See." He showed Mr. Hawkins the bottoms of the boots with their large steel horseshoe-shaped plates.

"I'm not going to wear those, Blake."

Hedley Hawkins was a very opinionated person—much more in command of himself than the person he reported to, Blake Martin. He was in his mid-40's, divorced from his 2nd wife who had custody of their two teenage children and lived in the next county. But the one thing he did want was to become a high school principal, if not at Forest Glen then somewhere else in the county. And so Blake knew how to get to him, through the District School Superintendent, Hardin Masters.

"O.K., well I don't want to disappoint the boy who volunteered to loan them to you. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to leave them here in your office, and, well, if you should change your mind for some reason, they'll be right here." Mr. Martin put the boots down on top of Mr. Hawkins' desk, turned, and walked out, ignoring Hedley's proffered objections.

Hedley gingerly picked up the boots, as if they carried a disease, looked at the metal taps on their bottom, shook his head in disbelief, tossed them onto the floor, and went back to work.

Just as he was getting ready to leave for lunch, Mr. Hawkins' phone rang.

"Oh, hello Superintendent. What can I do for you?"

"Hedley, I've just got a second so I'll get right to the point. Hedley, I don't have to tell you that if someone wants to get ahead in the education business how important it is for him to follow the leadership of his supervisor. I know you are hankering for a principalship, and I think it's going to come your way soon enough, but to get there you've just got to play along with what seem like silly little requests that come your way, like this thing that Blake wants you to do for the kids, something to do with your shoes or whatnot. Hedley, just do it and stop being so damn principled about everything! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir, I will."

Immediately after he hung up the phone, Mr. Hawkins turned around in his chair, reached down for Jose's boots that he'd tossed to the floor, picked them up and began untying his own shoes so he could put them on. He thought, "Well, I better get used to this. I just hope the kids don't get on me too much."

About 10 minutes into the lunch period, the vice principal marched out to take his position overseeing the outdoor eating area. Click-clop, click-clop, click-clop, his newly borrowed boots sounded with new authority as he paraded around the blacktop surface. Minute by minute more and more students noticed Mr. Hawkins was wearing taps on his shoes and the word got around very quickly that not only were they taps, but steel horseshoe plates, with a loud but really solid sound that called everyone to attention.

"Hello, Mr. Hawkins," greeted several cute 9th grade girls. "It's nice to see you here," one said. "Nice boots!" another one added.

"Hey, Mr. Hawk!" called out a couple of boys. "Very cool! Awesome heel plates, sir!"

Wherever he went, that afternoon, Mr. Hawkins was continuously greeted by happy teenagers. No one made any nasty comments about how he'd tried to shut their tap wearing down, but now had to wear them himself.

The vice-principal's main duties at lunch hour were to be sure that students didn't litter the grounds or smoke outside the smoking area or engage in any fighting or drug dealing. That afternoon, he found that whenever he approached a group that was doing something not quite right, they immediately stopped in their tracks and obediently righted what was wrong, picking up the trash they'd dropped, or putting out their cigarettes, or letting go of each other's grasp, and they did so quite willingly. For maybe the first time all year, the students actually seemed to respect his authority rather than pout and curse his name under their breath. The change in their attitudes was sudden and stark.

"Well, maybe these horseshoe taps aren't so bad after all," he thought to himself.

When Friday afternoon came around, and the "all taps week" was coming to an end, very few people asked John Baker to remove the taps from their shoes, not even some of the reluctant teachers like Lynn Friedman. But perhaps the most remarkable event of all was that on Saturday morning, Mr. Hedley Hawkins—the primary opponent of the students' tap-wearing—took his entire collection of eight dress oxfords, loafers, and boots in to Sam's Shoe Repair and had large metal heel and toe taps applied to every pair. "I'd like horseshoes on whichever ones you think they belong on, and I'll take that #8 size on all the others. Plus be sure to put taps on the toes too."

"Yes, sir," smiled Sam. "But I thought you weren't in favor of such things."

"Well," replied Mr. Hawkins, "sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks. These metal taps are actually a pretty nice invention, don't you think?"