Brittney, the Tapgirl Princess

On the last afternoon of "All Taps Week," John and Barry were at their tap station by the fountain where they were making themselves available to remove taps from the shoes of any of the teachers or students who didn't want to keep them on after the week was over. Brittney came by to see how they were coming along—to see if anyone actually did want to remove their taps. Several of the teachers and a handful of students did, but apparently everyone else was going to keep the taps on their shoes.

"So what are you doing this weekend, Brittney?" asked John during a lull in the conversation. "Do you want to get together some time?"

"Well, I'm not sure, John," Brittney replied. "Some friends of my parents are coming over for the whole weekend and they've got a daughter who they want me to entertain. So I guess I'm kind of stuck."

"O.K., well if anything comes up, give me a call," said John.

Barry chimed in, "and if she's good looking, give me a call too!"

"O.K., will do. 'Bye guys. See you Monday."


Saturday, around noon, the Greene family arrived at Brittney's house. Jonathan Greene was an attorney who was an old high school friend of Brittney's dad, and Phyllis Greene had dated Brittney's Uncle Ted, her mom's brother, during college, before she hooked up with Jon. Accompanying the two adults was their only child, Barbara, a tall shy 16-year old with shoulder-length naturally dark blonde hair. Brittney remembered Barbara when she saw her, but because the Greene's lived about 200 miles away, at the other end of the state, the two girls hadn't seen one another for several years, when both were quite a bit younger.

After the obligatory time in the company of their parents, the two girls excused themselves and went for a walk outside.

While Brittney gathered up her cell phone and straightened her hair, Barbara took a long look at the girl she knew as a tomboy when they were younger. "Hey, I know we were a lot younger the last time, but you look really different. I wouldn't have recognized you. I think you had brown hair then, didn't you?"

"Yeah, probably so. I've had my hair blonde for the past couple of years, though. What do you think of the color?"

"Well, it looks really good on you, but it looks like you need a touch-up though. I can see your brown roots showing."

Brittney laughed. "Yeah, I know. I actually like it when the roots show. I only get it done every couple of months."

As they continued walking down the street, the sharp clickety-clicks of Brittney's tapped-up boots were clearly audible and occasionally visible to her visiting guest.

"What are those metal plates on your shoes for?"

"Oh, these? These are horseshoe taps. Haven't you ever seen them before?"

"Gosh, no, I don't think so. Do other kids at your school put them on their shoes too?"

"Oh sure, almost all the kids at school have metal taps of one kind or another on their shoes. Some women in town do too. Most of the women have small half-moon taps on, but a lot of us kids have these horseshoe taps. They're much louder."

"Yeah, they're plenty loud, aren't they!" Barbara smiled, wondering to herself if she would have the guts to put them on her own shoes.

Brittney pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket. "Do you want a cigarette?" she asked Barbara, as she pulled one out for herself.

"Um, no thanks. My parents don't let me smoke."

"But they're back in the house! They'll never see you out here."

So with that extra little push, Barbara nodded her head and extended her hand, reaching for Brittney's pack. Brittney offered her a light and the two girls continued on their way, Barbara, a relatively novice smoker, watching Brittney's mannerisms carefully and emulating every move.

Barbara was quickly becoming very impressed with her new friend. "Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked.

"Well, sort of," Brittney replied. "I go out with a bunch of different guys, but I'm pretty close to one of them—John. I try to keep other guys' cocks out of my hole, but I'm not all that successful!"

With that last comment, Barbara blushed red, and although she tried to hide it, Brittney noticed and figured maybe she should tone down a bit. She continued, "How about you? Umm, I mean, do you have a boyfriend?"

"I used to, but we broke up a few weeks ago. He was just too bossy."

"Yeah, I hate it when guys are like that. By the way, do you want to go out tonight? I can set you up with a really nice guy, named Barry, and we can double-date."

"Sure," smiled Barbara, thinking it might be a wonderful opportunity to forget about her ex-.

"Hey, you're 16, aren't you?" said Brittney, rhetorically. "Do you have a license?"

Barbara smiled. She thought to herself, "for once I have something Brittney doesn't!" "Yeah," she replied. "I got it a couple months ago."

"Cool! Will your parents let you take their car? John and Barry aren't 16 yet so it would be a lot easier if you could drive."

"I think they will be o.k. with that," Barbara answered. "Where can we go?"

So Brittney outlined a plan for the rest of the day. First she called up John and told him they had wheels for the evening and to expect her and Barbara to drop by within the hour. Then she called up Barry.

"Hey, Bare," she whispered into her phone. "Are you ready for Barbara? She is One Hot Girl!… Yeah, she's my parents' friends' daughter. You will really like her…. Yeah, I'm whispering," she lied, "so she won't hear me…. What's she like? Well, she's sweet, sort of blonde, and….what's that? Does she put taps on her shoes? I don't think so, but let me ask her."

Brittney muted her phone and turned to Barbara. "He wants to know if you put taps on your shoes. I'm sure he wishes you did. He loves that about me." Without waiting for Barbara to answer, she turned her phone on and said, "Yeah, Barry, she has big noisy taps on her shoes…. And what's more, she DRIVES. We'll pick you up in about an hour, ok?"

Meanwhile, as soon as Brittney spoke the words "she has big noisy taps," Barbara started wildly gesturing and moving her lips to the word, "NO! NO!" and pointing to the plain, unadorned bottoms of her shiny brown penny loafers. And as Brittney was closing up her phone, Barbara yelled out to her, "Brittney! Why did you tell him I had taps on my shoes? You can see I don't!"

Brittney laughed. "Yeah, now you don't but in 15 minutes you will. Our first stop after we get back to the house and get your parents' car will be to drive over to Sam's Shoe Repair and get those loafers of yours all fixed up with metal taps!"

Barbara didn't know what to say. She started to say something about her dad being angry at her, but then she stopped and just smiled faintly. It was hard keeping up with the Brittney whirlwind, so she figured she might as well relax and go along with whatever was going to happen.

When the girls got back to Brittney's house, they asked Mr. and Mrs. Greene if Barbara could take their car so the two of them could go out for the rest of the day. "We'll be really careful," Barbara said. Brittney added, mostly for her own parents, "We're just going to go with John to Barry Browne's house and then probably to the mall or the movies." After a few questions and clarifications, the girls got their parents' assent and headed out the door.

True to her word, Brittney directed Barbara to the town center and to the parking lot down the street from Sam's Shoe Repair. They marched in to the shop, but had to wait several minutes for Sam's attention, since he was already handling several customers including a woman who'd come to pick up what looked like five or six pairs of shoes for her whole family—all newly repaired and all with shiny new metal heel and toe taps. Brittney quickly pointed the taps out to Barbara.

"Hey Sam," said Brittney as the two girls approached the finally-emptied-out counter.

"Hi, Brittney," smiled Sam. "What can I do for my favorite tapgirl today?"

"Sam, this is Barbara," said Brittney. Barbara smiled. "Barbara's from downstate and the kids there haven't discovered taps yet. So Barbara's going to be the first!"

"Oh," said Sam. "You'll be their Christopher Columbus—er, I guess Christine Columbus; the one who explored the new world of Forest Glen, returning home with all kinds of silver and gold—well at least noisy metal taps!"

Barbara smiled. "I guess I will." She took off her penny loafers and handed them to Brittney who, in turn, handed them to Sam.

"What size taps should I put on these?" Sam asked, first turning to Barbara, who shrugged her shoulder, and then turning to Brittney.

"Well, Barbara's going to be going out tonight with Barry Browne so you know she's going to need to have pretty big taps. But this will be her first pair. So how about number 6's on the heels and 4's on the toes?"

Sam nodded and pulled out one tap of each size and placed them against one of Barbara's shoes so she could see what they'd look like.

Barbara smiled. "I guess that will be o.k. They'll take some getting used to."

"Yeah," said Brittney. "But you'll love them by the end of the evening. In fact, you'll probably wish we put on bigger ones!"

So a few minutes later, Sam came back with Barbara's shoes, now sporting those same attention-getters that so many others in Forest Glen were wearing that they hardly warranted a second glance. The visitor dropped them to the floor and was startled by the sound they made. She recovered quickly though and slid her feet into them, scraping them along the floor. Then she stomped each shoe twice on the floor. It was instant success. "These are really cool!" she beamed. "Thank you!"

"Now you're all ready for Barry," said Brittney as the two girls clicked their way back to Barbara's car. "But first we've got to get John."

Barbara drove out of the parking lot and onto Main Street, and Brittney gave her directions to John's house. About a block from his house, Brittney pulled out her cigarettes and offered one to Barbara, who declined.

"John always talks about not liking me to smoke," Brittney started to explain. But Barbara interrupted: "Then why do you do it in front of him?" she asked.

"Actually," answered Brittney, "my smoking turns him on. He just says he doesn't like it." Brittney laughed.

"Really?" inquired Barbara. "Do you think Barry would like it if I smoked?"

"I don't really know. You can always try it and see."

Meanwhile, Barbara had pulled up at John's address, so Brittney put away her cigarettes and leaned over and honked the car's horn. John came out, clicking noisily in his engineer boots with horseshoe taps, toe taps, and big side taps. Brittney introduced him to Barbara, he got into the back seat and off they went to get Barry.

When they got to Barry's, he was already waiting for them, lying down on his lawn, hands behind his head, boots spread out in front of him, his horseshoe taps shining in the setting sun. He sauntered up to the car, and Brittney got out and ushered Barry into the front seat, introducing the blind date pair as she joined John in the back seat.

"Barry, tell Barbara how to get to the mall—she's from downstate, you know." And then she turned back to John and kissed him on the lips.

When they got to the mall, Brittney directed Barbara to a parking spot away from most of the cars, and the two couples got out of the car.

"I need a cigarette before we go into the mall," Brittney announced to the others. She took one out of her pack and before she lit it, she called out, "Anyone else want one?" She knew that neither John nor Barry smoked, so it wasn't surprising that the only answer she got came from Barbara.

"Barry, would you mind if I smoked?" Barbara asked.

"Well," said Barry. "You gotta do what you gotta do!… Sure, that's ok."

Brittney lit Barbara's cigarette and the two couples proceeded to walk slowly towards the mall entrance, four pairs of tapped-up shoes and boots clicking loudly on the concrete. The sound of Barbara's taps quickly gave Barry an erection. And watching Barbara's long slow sexy exhales enhanced the overall effect. This was a girl for him, he thought—attractive in a pleasant way, and fairly reserved—especially compared to Brittney—yet confident and assertive, as suggested by her noisy taps and her smoking.

Once the two girls had finished their cigarettes, the two couples entered the mall. Brittney pointed out the drug store where she worked, waving to the boy who was on duty that evening. Then they wandered around the mall, going into and out of almost every store. After a bit, Brittney noticed that despite Barry and Barbara seeming to be enjoying themselves, both of them being somewhat shy, there wasn't a lot of conversation passing between them. She suggested to John that perhaps the two couples should split up so that Barry and Barbara could get to know one another better. She told them that she needed to go out for a smoke again, and suggested the two couples meet at the movie theatre at 7:30—mentally calculating that would give the new couple an hour and a half together.

"I hear that Knocked Up is an awesome flick. It starts at 7:40. How does that sound?" said Brittney?

The other three nodded their approval.

"What shall we do for dinner?" Barry asked.

"Well, Bare, I guess you're on your own for that," Brittney replied.

Barbara whispered in Barry's ear, "My treat! I have money from my folks!" She smiled. Barry smiled back. Wow, he thought. A pretty girl who turns me on and pays for dinner! This was going to be great!

As soon as Brittney and John clicked their way out of sight, Barbara turned to Barry. "So which is the nicest restaurant here?"

He suggested they go to Fuddrucker's, and knowing that chain from her own town, she agreed.

As they walked towards the restaurant, Barry listened to the sound Barbara's shoes were making as they walked along the terrazzo floor, and he remembered he'd noticed the taps on her shoes earlier.

"Those are new taps on your shoes, aren't they?" he asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Barbara replied.

"Well, they are pretty shiny. Taps don't keep their shine unless you apply a file or sandpaper to them."

Barbara continued, "Actually, Brittney took me to the shoe repair just before we picked you guys up. I've never had taps on my shoes before."

"No shit!" Barry exclaimed. "But I thought Brittney said…. Oh, never mind." He changed the subject, "How do you like the taps?"

"Very cool," said Barbara, as she raised the bottom of her shoes so she and Barry could both see the taps. "They're not horseshoes like Brittney has on hers, but I really like the clicky sounds they make."

"Nice!" said Barry. "They look like size 5's or 6's on the heels and 3's or 4's on the toes, right?"

"Sixes and fours," said Barbara. "I'm impressed you could tell! Those are the sizes that Brittney said I should have."

"If you want," Barry suggested, "I could put taps on all your shoes and boots. John and I have a portable set-up for putting taps on."

"Can you put on horseshoe taps too?"

"Sure!" said Barry. "Horseshoes are the best! Especially for boots and for penny loafers like the ones you have on."

"Cool!" said Barbara, repeating her favorite word. "Maybe we can do that when we go back to your house later this evening. I'd really like that!" And to emphasize her feelings, she abruptly put her arms around Barry, pulled herself up to his face and gave him a big, wet kiss.

That kiss shocked both of them, Barbara herself more than Barry.

Embarrassed at her boldness, Barbara pulled back. "Gosh, Barry," she apologized. "I don't know what got into me."

"Hey," replied Barry. "Don't apologize! I loved that!"

Barbara continued, trying to explain her behavior. "I guess it was that I'm pretty excited by these taps that Brittney had put on my shoes. So thinking about having horseshoe taps like you and Brittney have—and having you put them on my shoes yourself—that was just too much!"

Taking hold of her shoulders with both his hands, Barry pulled Barbara towards him. "Barbara, there's nothing in the world I'd rather do right now than put horseshoe taps on your shoes. I wish we could do that instead of going to the movies." And then he pulled her up to him and touched her face, drew her lips towards him, and gave her such a tender, loving kiss that it almost made her cry.

When they released themselves from their embrace, an idea came to Barbara.

"Hey, it's still more than an hour before we're supposed to meet John and Brittney. What if instead of having a sit-down dinner, we just get a hamburger and then drive back to your house and you can put the horseshoe taps on my shoes. Then we could come back here and meet Brittney and John at the theatre."

"Great idea!" replied Barry. So off they went to the food court, grabbed some burgers, fries, and colas, and carried them, clicking along in their metal-tapped shoes, back to the car. Not even stopping to eat their burgers, Barbara sped out of the parking lot so fast that Barry almost spilled their drinks in his lap.

With Barry providing directions, it only took them 10 minutes to get to his house—both of them snarfing down their food as Barbara drove—and just a few seconds to breeze past his mom—"Hi mom—this is Barbara—we'll be downstairs." They descended the stairway to the basement where he had his collection of taps and the portable anvil that John shared with him.

"Wow," said Barbara when she saw his set-up. "You sure have a lot of taps! I wish I had my other shoes with me so you could put taps on all of them!"

"Well, we'll just start with the ones you've got and go from there. Why don't you take off your loafers so I can see what size horseshoes will fit."

"You mean there are different sizes of horseshoe taps?" she asked.

"Sure," replied Barry as he lifted one of his legs so Barbara could see the horseshoe taps on his boots. "See, they have to fit from side to side and heels have different widths. These horseshoes are size 9-10s. Let me measure the heels on your loafers."

As she handed her loafers to him, Barbara noticed something about the bottoms of Barry's boots she hadn't seen before. "Hey, you have taps on the sides of the soles too."

"Yeah," said Barry. "Most of us put side taps on also—Brittney does and even her English teacher, Ms Wilms, has side taps on her boots."

"Really?" exclaimed Barbara. "Teachers have taps on their shoes too?"

"Yeah, around here they do. But Ms Wilms is kinda like an older sister to Brittney—she has big taps on all her shoes and boots."

"Wow! Well, can you put side taps on my loafers after you put the horseshoes on?"

"Sure, if you want. That would be cool. Brittney has side taps on most of her loafers and so do some of the other girls."

"Can you actually take off the taps the shoemaker put on or are you going to put the horseshoes on top of the ones on there now?"

"Better to take the ones you have off. But I could put two horseshoe taps on each shoe, one over the other. That's what I have on these boots, and they'll be way louder that way."

"Well, if you'd asked me 5 hours ago, I'd have said 'no way,' but now I'll take as many taps as you want to put on." And despite her generally shy approach to boys, she turned towards Barry and give him a big open-mouthed kiss.

After they released from their embrace, Barry got down to work. First he pried off the #6 heel taps, and then measured the width of Barbara's heel—2 1/8 inch exactly. "That would be size 2-3 horseshoes," he said mostly to himself.

Barbara was feeling increasingly frisky. As Barry was searching through his drawer for the right size of horseshoe taps, she walked around behind him, and put her arms around him. Barry was preoccupied with his work, and barely noticed that Barbara was putting one of her hands on his belt while she pulled on his zipper with her other hand. It was only when her hand reached inside to touch his member, that he came to life, in more ways than one.

"That feels really nice," he said to her. "But lets wait till I get these taps on. You don't want me to mess up, do you?"

"OK, you're right," she replied. And she backed off to watch him work. He applied two horseshoe plates to one of the heels, and then hammered in the six nails, checking that the taps were firmly attached. After doing the same with the other heel, he went searching through his drawer for taps for the sides of the soles. He found some with the number 2 on them and measured them up against one of the loafers, putting one on each side of the sole.

"They're little!" Barbara exclaimed.

"Yeah, but this is where your shoe bends when you walk so they can't be much bigger."

"Let me see the ones on your boots," she asked.

"Yeah, mine are bigger but my boot sole is thicker so it doesn't bend as much as your loafers do."

"Well, ok," Barbara answered with some disappointment. "Whatever you say is best."

"You'll like these," Barry assured her. "I promise."

"Are the nails going to hurt my feet?" she asked as Barry started attaching the side taps to the shoes.

"No, I'm using short nails and I hammer in the nails so that they bend back towards the surface so they don't go all the way through the sole."

After another minute or two, Barry raised Barbara's loafers up so she could see all her new taps—double-thick horseshoes covering nearly all of the heels and carefully placed and appropriately balanced small half-moon taps on either side of the sole about two inches down from her steel toe tap—which was the only tap left from shoemaker Sam's work just two hours earlier. As Barry he handed Barbara her shoes, he planted a tender kiss on her cheek.

Barbara placed her newly re-tapped loafers onto the basement cement floor, and slid her feet into them. As she took her first steps in horseshoe-tapped shoes, they both listened to the sound her heels and soles made—a clickety-clop-click-click sound that was music to their ears.

"They're louder than the first pair was," Barbara said approvingly. "I like that. This afternoon, when Brittney said she was going to take my loafers to the shoe repair guy, I didn't think I'd like making clicky sounds when I walk, but now I really do! And you were right! The horseshoes are the best! I like the side taps too! Even when I just slide my foot forward, I can hear the side taps scraping across the floor. Awesome!" And feeling both romantic and assertive, she took the liberty of touching Barry in all the right places.

"Come on!" said Barry. "Let's go back to the mall. I wonder if Brittney and John will notice the difference in your shoes!"

So Barry and Barbara high-tailed it back to the mall and got there just as Brittney and John were about to walk into the theatre.

"Where WERE you guys," Brittney called out. "We looked all over the mall for you. Couldn't find you anywhere. Then we walked back to the car and the car was GONE! We thought you'd stranded us here! OK, no matter. Here—we already got your tickets." Then after handing the two tickets to Barry and without waiting for an answer to her questions, she turned around and led everyone into the movie theatre. As they walked in, Barbara made a point of dragging her heels and sliding her feet along the cement, trying to make especially obvious noise with her new taps. But Brittney was oblivious and kept walking.

John, though, noticed immediately the clippety-clop-scrape-scrape sound that Barbara's shoes made, so he made a point of trying to see what kind of taps Barbara had on her shoes. He stepped back and let Barbara and Barry pass him by. Seeing the horseshoes and side taps on Barbara's loafers, his hunch was proven correct.

"Like those horseshoe taps, Barbara," he said as he caught up with the group again.

"Yeah, Barry just put them on my loafers—that's why we were gone from the mall."

"So you guys were pretty busy while we had dinner, huh?" He smiled at Barry, then turned to Barbara.

She smiled back. "Yup. Have to compete with blondie there," she replied, pointing to Brittney.

Brittney sensed she was missing out on the conversation. As they were reaching a row of empty seats, she turned back to the others. "What's that about competing with me?"

As they sat down, John asked Barbara to slip off her loafers so he could show Brittney. She did and passed them to John who in turn showed them to Brittney.

"No shit!" cried Brittney. "Where'd you get those horseshoe taps—double taps! And side taps too! So that's where you guys went!" And she seemed quite pleased that her new tap wearing protégé had taken to them so well that she'd "upgraded" her taps so quickly.


The movie was a gas—about a one-night stand that ends up in a pregnancy. The guy is a slacker with no job and no plans and the girl's a smartly dressed, blonde T.V. interviewer on an entertainment channel. After the movie, the four of them went into Fuddrucker's to have a snack and to chat.

"That Allison character, I'll bet she has taps on her shoes," Brittney said. "I really liked her."

"Yeah, probably her and her sister too," added John. "They were both tough bitches. Those wimps of guys they were with couldn't hold a candle to them."

"I liked that she was in T.V. news, just like Kelly!" added Brittney.

Barry explained to Barbara about Kelly. "Brittney's got this mid-20's cheerleader-type friend who's one of our T.V. personalities. She never shuts up about her—like they were sisters or something!"

"That reminds me," mused Brittney. "Kelly said I should come by after school next week to talk to the manager about a summer job. Wouldn't that be cool!"

"Yeah?" said John. "I'll bet the manager wants to see you up in his private office, and you'll have to audition for him, if you know what I mean."

"No way, you dork," replied Brittney. "Those are mature people on that T.V. station; not punks like you!" And she punctuated her comment by a quick kick of her shoe under the table that got John right on his shin-bone.

"Hey, Brittney!" yelled John. "Careful with those steel side taps of yours. You could kill someone with those."

"Yeah," said Barry. "Just like that little girl in that T.V. movie we saw last month. 'Bad Seed,' wasn't that its name?"

"Right!" called out John. "That was Brittney in another life! You better not get on her bad side or she'll beat you to death with her steel heel taps, just like that cute little girl did in the movie."

"Ok, you guys, enough already," said Brittney. "Let's split."

So the four of them walked back into the mall, and paraded noisily back and forth from one end to the other, three or four times, 'till they all got bored of all the attention they were getting and headed back to Barbara's car.

"So Barbara," asked Brittney. "How do you like your new taps—double horseshoes and side and toe taps! Wow! You really went into taps big time on your first try!"

"They're awesome," replied Barbara. "One thing I notice, though, is that the horseshoes on the left heel are louder than the ones on the right. Does that happen a lot?" She took several steps with each foot as the others listened to the sounds her taps made on the cement.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," said Barry. "Sorry,…but I can fix that. I can re-attach the horseshoes on the left shoe so they'll be a little quieter and match the ones on the right."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Barbara. "I was thinking of the other way—doing the right ones over again so they can be louder, like the ones on the left!"

Barry and John smiled. Just their kind of girl, they thought. "Sure," said Barry. "I can do that when we get back to my house."

So they all climbed back into Barbara's parents' car and headed back to Barry's.


Back inside, after checking that Barry's folks were still out ("They always go to the late night show on Saturdays," said Barry), the four kids headed for the fridge.

"Cold beer! There's got to be some beer here, right?" asked Brittney.

"No," said Barry. "My mom won't let me drink beer anyway. She says not till I'm 18."

"What a bitch," said Brittney. "I think she needs to be brought into the new century."

Brittney thought for awhile. "Hey, Bare," does your mom put taps on any of her shoes?"

"No," replied Barry. "In fact, she's mad at me for marking up the floors with the taps on my shoes and boots."

"Then I think she needs a little help, don't you John?" She turned first to John, who just shrugged his head.

"Come on, Barbara, let's go see what kind of shoes Barry's mom has that would be good to have taps on."

Meanwhile, Barbara had slipped off her loafers, handed the right shoe to Barry for its "repair," and while the two boys headed for the basement to work on Barbara's shoe, the two girls went to check out Barry's mom's collection of shoes.

"Wow!" exclaimed Brittney as she opened the closet door. "Barry's mom has a lot of shoes! There must be 50 pairs in here!"

"Well my mom has at least that many," said Barbara. "She's always buying shoes on e-bay!"

"Here's a good pair," said Brittney. She held up for Barbara to see—a pair of black suede zip-up ankle boots with a broad 2-inch heel. I'll bet #5's would fit on these heels, and she might even like the sound they make! Let's take these downstairs and see what Barry says."

"Oh, look," said Barbara. "Here's a pair of penny loafers—just like the ones I have. Wouldn't these be good with taps too?"

"Yeah, let's take those, too. Let's see if Barry will put #6's on these. That's what Sam would probably put on if Mrs. Browne brought them into his shop."

Before they were done, the girls had picked out 5 pair to have taps put on—the black ankle boots, the penny loafers, a pair of red mid-heel pumps, some strappy sandals, and a pair of beige skimmer flats.

They ran down the stairs to the basement with their haul to show the boys.

"Hey," cried Barry. "I can't put taps on my own mom's shoes!"

"Why not?" screamed Brittney.

"Well, for one thing she wouldn't want them--I'd be in big trouble! And for another—she's my mom, for Chrissake. That's like incest!"

Meanwhile, Barry brought Barbara's re-tapped right loafer up for her inspection. She banged the heel, with its double horseshoe steel tap, on the floor. It made a really loud sound.

"Very nice!" said Barbara, her face beaming.

"See. I made the right one louder by attaching the back nails through only the bottom horseshoe, so the two taps clang against each other."

"Oh, that's how you did it? Won't that one be a lot louder than the left one now?"

"It might be. If you want, I can fix the other one to be just like this one."

"Oh yes," said Barbara. "I definitely like the sound that these make much better. Please fix the other shoe just the same way." She handed the left shoe to Barry who went back to work.

Meanwhile, John and Brittney were talking about the five pairs of Barry's mom's shoes the girls had brought down stairs.

"Well, what if you put them on, John?" suggested Brittney.

"Umm, no. Barry would still be in trouble," John reasoned.

"Then, I'll do it myself!" Brittney yelled. "You guys go out for a walk, and I'll put the taps on. I've watched you and Barry and Sam put them on. I know how. It was my idea anyway. Barbara and I will put the shoes back in the closet, just where we found them, and you and Barry don't have to know a thing. When Barry's mom puts on any of these shoes for the first time, maybe a few days from now, maybe two weeks from now, Barry will honestly be able to say he didn't know how the taps got there. And he won't know, right? They'll just be there."

And so that is how Barry's mom got into wearing taps on her shoes. Brittney, who hadn't ever applied taps to any of her own shoes, put heel taps (she couldn't do toe taps) on four pairs of Mrs. Browne's shoes. (The nails wouldn't easily go into the mid-heel pumps, so those got returned to the closet tapless.) She installed #5's on the ankle boots, and #6's on the sandals and the flats, but she decided to go really large on the loafers and put #7's on them. "It's probably bigger than what Sam would have done, but she deserves these for not having any beer in the fridge!"


Mrs. Browne's first discovery of the fact that some of her shoes had metal taps on their heels came about 5 days later on her way out the door, rushing off for her hair appointment. She hadn't noticed the taps when she put on her beige skimmer flats that morning, and only noticed them when she stepped onto her driveway, headed to her car. Hearing the sound of metal on cement, she knew what that meant. She slipped off one of her shoes, picked it up, turned it over, and saw the large crescent-shaped silver plate affixed to the bottom of her flat's leather heel. She shook her head, and muttered, "Damn that Barry!" But she was in too much of a hurry to do anything else about it, so she went off to meet her hairdresser.

"Good morning," Mrs. Browne, called out Joanne, her regular hairdresser. "Cut, wash, and set, and a touch-up to those roots this morning?" she confirmed.

"Yes, Joanne," Mrs. Browne replied.

As the two settled in for their regular routine, Mrs. Browne brought the subject up herself. "So, Joanne, do you want to know what my son Barry did? He put metal taps on my shoes. See—look!" Mrs. Browne let one of her flats slip off her foot and brought it up to show her hairdresser. The 2-inch crescent steel plate shined in the overhead light.

"Well, that was nice of him," said Joanne. "That saves you a trip to the shoemaker, doesn't it?"

"Well, no, I wasn't planning to put taps on my shoes. Do you have them on your shoes?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I've started to. About a month ago, I began noticing taps on some of my customers' shoes. They'd come into the shop, and I'd hear the click-click of their shoes on the tile floor. It kind of peaked my interest, so a couple weeks ago, I had taps put on several pairs of shoes at the shoe repair place on Main Street. She lifted up her left foot, so Mrs. Browne could see the two-inch metal plate covering most of the heel of the white oxfords she'd worn to work that day. I actually like them. They make a sweet sound. Don't you think?"

"But why do you think Barry did that?" Mrs. Browne asked, almost rhetorically.

"Why don't you ask him," suggested Joanne.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm just assuming he put them on. He is really into taps—he's got a setup in the basement for putting taps on his and his friends' shoes. This morning, I put on these flats and noticed that they had taps on. It must have been him."

"Maybe it was your husband's idea," suggested Joanne. "My boyfriend has gone bananas since I started wearing taps on my shoes. He absolutely loves the sound I make when we are walking on cement or tile or even wood floors. He's told me he wishes I'd put taps on all my shoes, and bigger ones than the ones I had put on. I told him I'd think about it. Actually, I'm planning to do that and to add toe taps also, but I don't want to admit it to him. It's more effective if I keep him hanging a little bit, you know what I mean?"

"Well, maybe my husband did have something to do with this. But either way, I guess I'll give it a shot. I just wish they'd have told me ahead of time."

"Yeah, but you'd never have agreed to it, would you? It's only because the taps are there, on your shoes, and you're click-clacking around in them, that you realize they're a pretty nice idea."

"Joanne, you're so smart! You could have lots of jobs besides coloring hair. But I love you for it."

When she got home, and confronted Barry about the taps on her flats, he first protested that he had nothing to do with it. But his mom didn't believe him, and when she asked him, "Are there taps on any other pairs of my shoes or are these the only ones?" he kind of blew his cover.

"I think there are four or five pairs that have taps on," he said, suggesting he knew what had happened. So he admitted to knowing about the taps going on his mom's shoes but said "it was Brittney's idea, and she was the one who put them on."

Mrs. Browne didn't quite believe that story, either, but her reaction surprised Barry anyway. She said "Well, Barry, that's ok. I actually like the sound they make. Show me the other shoes that have taps on them." The two of them went rifling through her closet—Barry wasn't quite sure which shoes had them or where they were. But each time they picked up a pair that didn't have any taps on them, Mrs. Browne would look disappointed. After awhile, she said, "Barry, why don't you just go ahead and put metal taps on all my shoes. I think it might be nice."

"But no horseshoes!" she added. "You can put some on like the ones you put on these flats, or even like the large taps on the loafers you just showed me…. Mmm, what about the 2-inch pumps I have? These taps wouldn't fit on those little heels. Do you have smaller ones for heels like that?"

"Yes, mom, I have taps in all sizes. But I also have dance taps that would cover the whole heel on those pumps. Most of the girls put dance taps on their little heels."

"OK, that would be fine."

"Do you want toe taps on your shoes too?"

"Sure, why not! I can kick your dad when he's being mean to me. (Just kidding.) Yes, go ahead and put taps front and back on all 50 pairs. I'm ready to be a tapgirl!"


And what happened to Brittney's friend Barbara? Well, the third tapping of her loafers was definitely the best. The double horseshoes, with the rear nails holding down only one of the two pieces of steel, made the best and loudest sound, especially when supported by big toe taps and taps on the sides of the soles. When Barbara got back to her hometown, she instantly became the tap-princess of downstate. First the girls, and then the guys, emulated her with large metal taps coming to grace their shoes, just as had happened in Forest Glen. And Barry found that all of a sudden he had lots of reasons to travel to that part of the state. Soon all of Barbara's shoes had taps on them and Barry and Barbara had become an item—well known among teens in both of their towns. All because of the incredible draw of the sound of steel-shod shoes on tile floors.