57 Willie laughs at Lina

As soon as Lina walked out of the massive management building, she made up her mind to reach her home in a metro train. She needed to save, as much money as possible, for her family. But, there was one problem - travelling in a metro train, and walking from metro station to her home would mean that her expensive high-heeled sandals might get dirty or damaged on the way. There were chances that someone might accidentally step on them or they might get dirty on the footpath. And, Lina did not find it comfortable to ask Mrs. Ning to buy her more sandals. She decided to protect them.

Lina walked to the company's warehouse, which had 'shoe cover wrapping machines' installed for the employees. Lina stepped onto one of the machines, with her sandals still on, and turned on the machine. Within a few seconds, her sandals, along with her feet were neatly wrapped by plastic sheets. Due to the extra lengthy high-heels of the sandals, her plastic wrapping looked like swimming fins, and Lina looked very funny as she walked towards the metro station. But, she had no other option. She could not afford to loose her new sandals.

After twenty minutes of metro journey, she finally reached her locality. Lina ignored all the co-travelers who watched and giggled at her strange looking shoes' coverings. Lina took a sigh of relief as she walked out of the metro station and entered her locality. Now, she could afford to lessen her pace and let her feet relax a little.

Not very far away from her, Willie, Lina's trustworthy friend, saw Lina walk clumsily wearing swimming fins like footwear. He could not stop himself from laughing.

"Haha! What is this? What have you done to yourself?" laughed Willie, as he pointed at Lina's sandals' covers.

"Don't ask! My feet hurt so much," sighed Lina. "Wow! You are laughing at me! Do you even realize how difficult it is to stand in the metro train.. wearing these?" agonized Lina, pointing towards her feet. "I nearly fell on my face," she continued.

"Haha! These plastic bags.. look good on your feet. You should wear them daily! What are these? Some new fashion trend?" mocked Willie.

"There was no other option!" yelled Lina. "I don't want these footwear to get dirty.. or broken. From tomorrow onwards, I'll carry my own shoes with me and will wear them on my way back," Lina sighed. "Just look at the footpath! It is so dirty. What do we pay taxes for?" yelled Lina as her paining feet got her more irritated.

"So, are you going to wear these wedding clothes daily? Haha!" laughed Willie as he mocked Lina again. "This dress looks very expensive," speculated Willie. "You were so tense in the morning.. and so, I decided not to ask you much about anything," he continued.

"You find this dress expensive? You wouldn't have said this.. if you were to see my workplace and the employees who work over there. Everyone is so tip-top over there!" Lina remarked. "This is not a wedding dress.. this is pure elegance," insisted Lina.

"Hmm! So, is this 'elegance' going to be a daily routine?" asked Willie.

"Yup! Yup!" winked Lina. "Willie, today was an eye opener for me. I never knew life could be so posh and luxurious. It seemed that I was on a different planet, among different species. Everything was so majestic and fashionable," shared Lina. "And there was this woman.. Chunhua.. she seemed to be like those Hollywood celebrities we see on T.V. screens. I swear, she is not a human being," Lina continued.

"My dear friend, you are probably underestimating yourself. When you get back home, devote some time to looking at yourself in the mirror," praised Willie.

"Anyways! I need to get back to my bed as soon as possible. I need rest.. lots and lots of rest. Goodnight!" sighed Lina as she began to walk towards her house.

"Haha!" Willie laughed again, as he watched Lina walk clumsily wearing the shoe covers, that looked like swimming fins.

"Shut up Willie!" yelled Lina. "Ouch! My feet hurt so much!" sighed Lina as she continued to walk towards her home.