The Barefoot Deputy
Read the storyThe action takes place in Colorado (USA). It is a hot day, and the farm is small. Scene One: Deputy Sheriff Ada—dressed in uniform, trousers, and brown women's police oxfords, yet barefoot (leaving her feet already sweaty)—arrives at the home of Anna and Lisa, an older lesbian couple who have reported a crime. Anna and Lisa whisper to each other about Ada’s foot, commenting on how sweaty it must be inside that tight police oxford. Scene Two: Anna, Lisa, and Ada are sitting and talking in the kitchen at a table by the window. Anna and Lisa sit opposite Ada. As they sit at the kitchen table, they discuss the reported crime. The women's legs are positioned beneath the tabletop. SCENE THREE – UNDER THE TABLE: Anna and Lisa turn on a small fan under the table and gently target Ada’s foot, nudging it with their own feet, until finally—with a distinctive wet, sucking sound—they slip off her shoe. Ada’s bare, sweaty, and tired foot is revealed. As soon as Ada turns to take her notebook out of her handbag, one of the women—sensitive to odors—grabs Ada’s shoe and tosses it out the window into the garden; it reeks of sweat and is damp, bouncing off the ground before rolling down a small mound of black potting soil. Then, the women touch Ada’s foot with their own feet. Ada does not react and continues discussing the crime, though she provocatively wiggles her toes—feeling a tickling sensation—all while remaining unaware that her foot is exposed to view. SCENE FOUR – The Yard: The final scene shows Ada’s shoe abandoned outside—the very same one the woman had thrown out because it smelled.