The Businessman
by The Gambling Cowboy

<< Back to Stories Index

Part One

The evening commute takes about 40 minutes and is packed like sardines with people every night.

By the time that I get on the trolley, its standing room only, and I don’t feel like standing on my feet for forty minutes. What I usually do is sit in the stairwell on the side of the trolley that people doesn’t board. Since no one would be exiting through these doors, it provides me with a place to sit down. I sit on the floor with my back up against the back part of one of the seats. I place my feet on the lower stair while I read the paper and I can now have a floor view of everyone’s feet. After about two more stops, the trolley is packed so tightly, there is literally no place to stand.

One night this businessman stood right up against me and I noticed he had brown penny loafers on that were well worn. They appeared to have been a few years old, because I could see the wear and tear of the heel. One side was worn down farther that the other one, which indicates that he either did a lot of standing or walking. I was also able to see his brown cotton socks and couldn’t remove my eyes from the site. He appeared to be in his early thirties, medium built, tall, and very handsome, but I wasn’t more interested in his shoes. I took a closer look and noticed that he had a 1943 silver Lincoln head penny in each shoe. It was easy to get a close look, because with the trolley packed like sardines, no one would even notice what I was doing.

Just as I was really getting excited about his feet, the trolley suddenly came to a sudden stop and everyone was thrown a little forward. Of course I had to fall forward and down enough to get my face right at the bottom of his leg. I also made sure that I grabbed his leg as if to keep my balance. He turned around and asked me if I was alright.
I said, “Yes, I’m fine and I’m sorry for grabbing your leg.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a slight grin, “I hope I didn’t step on your hands or fingers.”

“You didn’t, I’m fine,” I told him politely. “You must either be on your feet all day or do a lot of walking in your line of work.” I said in the hopes of making small talk.

“Yes, I walk about 7 hours out of a 9 hour day, and my feet get so tired. How could you tell that I did a lot of walking.” He said in a puzzled tone.

“I can tell by the wear and tear on your heels, it’s worn more on one side than the other. The more you walk, the more tired your feet gets, and you end up leaning heavily on the outside. That’s what caused the uneven wear and tear.” I told him with a voice of experience. “I know some of the pressure points on the souls that give relief on tired feet.” I continued. I then got the nerve to say, “You want me to show you?”

He replied, “Not here, people would see.”

“No they won’t, there is too many people to see me down here on the stairwell. That’s why I sit here, so no one could see me.”

With that he slowly lifted his right foot out of his shoe and bent his knee back to where his beautiful socked foot was right even with my chest. I could smell the sweet scent of his sweating feet and saw that the sock was pressed up against the sole of his foot. I grabbed his foot and placed it right in the palm of my hand. My hand was moist from the dampness of his sock and I just held it in my hand for about 10 seconds. I then started using my index fingers to massage his lovely socked foot.

I started on the heel first, beginning from the edge on one side all the way around to the other side. Then I applied extra pressure on the bottom of his heel to sooth the aches and pains. I then proceeded to the arch and finally to the ball of his foot. It was kind of callused from all the walking so I really gave it extra attention. I then started using my fingers between his toes which released more of a musky smell that I enjoyed. I then placed his foot back into his shoe and placed my sweaty hand on my nose to get a nice whiff of his scent. As I was sniffing my hand, he happened to look back and saw me.

I was getting ready to do the second foot when he said, “This is my stop, but I’ll be here tomorrow, same time, same place, and you could do the other foot.”

I said with a pleasant smile, “No problem, I’ll be glad to relieve your tension.” He got off at his stop, and I proceeded on my way home.

To be continued