Getting the boot

There are two things I know about the IU campus: I know that it rains every Tuesday and Thursday, and I know that girls here love wearing their rain boots.\nI was intrigued when I noticed this rain-boot trend last year. Every rainy day, every girl on campus had their pants tucked into a pair of rubber rain boots, rain boots of every style, shape and color imaginable. I sat through classes with wet shoes and socks and constantly took note of all the rain boots, all the colors of the rainbow, and became deeply jealous. Last spring I decided that I had to have some. I asked around and found that every single girl on campus had bought their boots at Target. So I went into Target and asked to be pointed to the rain-boot aisle. \n"Rain boots?" replied an annoyed employee. "Those are seasonal."\nSeasonal? I was unaware that rain only occurred during one season and that that season was not spring.\nSummer came and I went back to Target. But this, too, was the wrong season.\nFall came. Surely this was the season.\nI went to Target the first chance I got, but the rain-boot aisle was completely sold out.\nI checked back each week. Always sold out.\nI don't get it, I would think to myself every rainy Tuesday and Thursday, balancing on my tiptoes through puddles of water while all the other girls splashed through carelessly in boots of rainbow and plaid rubber. How are they all in on the same secret? How do they know that exact moment to go to Target, right when the season has changed but before they have sold out? I was fascinated. I was obsessed. I was destined to live a life of cold, wet feet forever.\nLast week I was wandering around Target and peaked down the rain-boot aisle purely out of habit, expecting to again find it empty. But there, on the very top shelf, sat one pair of black, pink and blue polka-dot rubber rain boots, just my size, authoritatively staring down on me as though they had been sculpted for my feet alone.\nAll week I prayed for rain.\nIt rained on Thursday. I wore my boots.\nEvery time I passed another girl in rain boots, we checked each other out. Staring first at the other's boots, then working our way up until our eyes met in a look of approval and understanding. I felt like I was part of a secret society.\nGirls with the same pair of polka-dot boots looked at me with significantly less approval and even a hint of scorn, but the understanding was still there.\nI was able to splash through puddles without a care. All the girls wearing tennis shoes were jealous. I made sure to splash them.\nThe point is that I've crossed over. I'm not who I used to be. I probably cannot speak to most of you anymore unless you, too, are in possession of these glorious rubber foot coverings.