When Tim and I were young kids, our father was always yelling at us for ruining our shoes. I especially was an expert in the art of ruining my shoes. I would rarely untie my shoes before getting in or out of them. When our father would catch me jamming my foot in an untied shoe like a loafer shoe, he would yell, “Don’t do that, untie the shoes or you’ll break down the “counters””! Years later I finally found out what “counters” were. They are the top edges of the rear of the shoe over the heels. (See below). After a short time the “counters” on my shoes would be “broken down” and then I had to untie my shoes to pull up the end! This was before the days of my “Boot fetish”. Since high school I’ve rarely worn shoes, preferring boots (Western or Wellington). The only main exception was when I was in the Navy (but off duty I was always found in boots). When we needed new shoes, which seemed to be much more often than not, especially for me with the chronically broken down “counters”, our mother and/or father would take us to Norwalk to the “Red Goose” Shoe store. As best as I can recall, it was on Main Street on the north side of the road. When we would get to the store, I immediately said, “I want loafers, or as I called them in early years, shoes you don’t have to tie”. The answer was always the same, “NO!!!” I never did know why, but when I “turned 21” (as my mother always said) THEN, I got a motorcycle and “shoes you don’t have to tie”! Since then, I’ve had both! Maybe the reason I’ve always worn boots is not so much a “fetish” as it is a hidden rebellion against “tie shoes” I had to wear as a kid. (Hmmmm, I’ll make a note of that which will add some interesting fodder to my next visit with my “shrink”, Doc. Holliday.) When we would enter the “Red Goose” Shoe store we were immediately directed to sit down in one of the chairs, which were all lined up in a long row. They were black with chrome round armrests. Then a guy would appear and ask our mother/father what kind of shoes they wanted for us (ANY tie type)! The guy would then take the chrome and black metal shoe size measurer and have us take off our right shoe and he would have us stand on it and then slide the end to the tip of our big toe, then push the side to the edge of our socked foot. After measuring ME, every shoe guy ALWAYS said, “He has a very narrow foot and it might be hard to find a good selection; the only kind of shoe that will fit properly is a TIE shoe”. At least that’s what they all “claimed”. To this day I believe it was a major conspiracy between my parents and the “shoe guy” to prevent me from wearing “shoes that don’t tie”! Over the years after “I turned 21”, and been wearing boots and “shoes that don’t tie” ever since, I have YET to find most any boot that does not fit properly. Hmmm, I have always had “flat feet” and that never kept me out of the Navy since they didn’t appear to care. AH HA! ANOTHER myth exploded! Of course when I took my first physical in 1966 at The Armed Forces Examining Station in Cleveland I DID “hold my arches up” during it. One guy saw the military doctor look at his feet and write something down and when he told the guy he had “flat feet”, the guy asked him if that would keep him out of the military, the doctor said, “You’re 1-A all the way”. (I guess I needn’t have bothered to “hold up my arches”). ANYWAY, after we got our new shoes, we would run up to the big plastic “Red Goose” and pull his neck forward and a big plastic “goose egg” would fall from underneath. We pulled it apart and there was a “prize” in it! Then, the REALLY COOL part came when we would get up and a machine that looked like a pay scale. You would put your feet into a slot and flip a switch and look through a viewfinder. It was an X-ray machine and you could see your bare feet and toes inside the shoes! The whole picture had a green tint to it and we moved our toes and saw them! Too bad there are no more Red Goose Shoe Stores around, I would love to see my feet inside my boots to know once and for all if I have a “proper fit” with such a narrow foot wearing “shoes that don’t tie”! It would also be fun to “accidentally” hit the Red Goose head and see what kind of prizes they put into the eggs these days! (This would be for “study” and “experimental” uses only you understand)?