Ellen LaFlèche

SAVING CINDERELLA'S FOOT

The foot doctor kneels in front of Cinderella. Thirty years of hobbling around in those tiny glass slippers have shaped her feet into delicate ivory boats. The foot doctor holds Cinderella's left heel, turns it slowly in his cupped hands. He is as gentle as a midwife turning a newborn's head. This is the enchanted foot. The foot that the love-sick prince slipped once-upon-a-time into the glittering glass slipper. The doctor can feel the magic. Now the bad news. Cinderella has sugar in her blood. Already her soles are numb with the neuropathy. She has blisters on her heels. Diabetes is no fairy tale. She could lose her toes, maybe even her legs. Cinderella will have to give up her magic slippers. She thinks of her step-sisters frantically hacking off their heels and toes for a shot at the prince. The foot doctor promises to make Cinderella a pair of corrective shoes. They will be fit for a queen. He will use the softest suede in the kingdom. The fur lining will cushion her arches. On the appointed day, the doctor takes the new shoes out of their box. The gold tissue paper crackles. Cinderella gasps. The slippers are magnificent. He has added ruby buckles and emerald-encrusted straps; the jewels gleam under the exam-room lights. The doctor slides Cinderella's foot into the shoe. A perfect fit. The doctor feels the magic. Cinderella feels it too. She twirls her sleek white ankle. And looks away, her middle-aged cheeks flaming with desire.

Ellen LaFleche has worked as a journalist and women's health educator in western Massachusetts. She recently won the Poets on Parnassus Prize for poetry about the medical experience. The winning poem, "Snow White Faces Terminal Cancer", was published in Pharos. She has poems published in Patchwork Journal, Georgia State University Review, The Binnacle, and Words and Pictures Magazine. She struggles daily with Type II diabetes, which has challenged both sides of her family for years. She is especially interested in writing about health and healing as well as working class issues.