{This is a very short story by my standards}
The art of the window dresser is easy to understand. Their goal is to grab passersby's attention, then entice them to come into the store and, hopefully, persuade them to spend a lot of money. That is the theory… In practice, it only works sometimes.

The Charity shop was perfectly situated close to the Bus and Railway Stations. Lots and lots of people passed the store twice a day, which resulted in lots of sales, especially of paperbacks. Many such items would come into the store, be bought by a commuter, and a week or ten days later, they would be donated back to the shop. Other items didn’t move as fast as the shop manager hoped.

One such item was a pair of women’s high heels, size 6, with a 4-inch heel and the trademark red sole and in perfect condition. Even when they were marked down to the very desirable price of £35.00, they didn’t sell.

The manager decided that they were too good to be thrown away, so she directed that a new window display be created with the shoes as a centrepiece and that they were to be marked up at £75.00.

The new display drew the attention of many people passing the shop, but no one lingered more than normal. It was a shame because the display was, in her opinion, the best one that they’d had in a long time. The shoes didn’t sell, but takings in the shop went up, so everyone was happy.

Two days before Christmas, the shop had sold out of Christmas Cards, but the shoes had not moved. The manager decided to revamp the display in preparation for the new year’s sales.

“Put the shoes on the rack with all the others and mark them at £25.00. If they don’t sell by the new year, then I’ll take them home with me,” said the manager.

The newly updated display was ready for the 24th. The staff was preparing to shut up the shop and head home when a young man came into the shop.

He went straight to the shoe rack and dithered for several minutes before picking up the red shoes and walking straight to the till.

He paid the marked price of £25.00, stuffed them into a cloth bag and walked out of the shop.

The two assistants smiled at each other. One of them said,

“Are they his present to himself?”

The other one laughed.

“I seem to remember saying the very same thing last year when you bought them?”

“You did, and look how I turned out?”

The assistant was now a good-looking redhead with feminine curves in all the right places. One year before, she had been a very introverted and boring male who had never had a steady girlfriend. The shoes might not have been new, but they were magic to anyone who wore them.

For the young man, the next week would be the best holiday period ever. His future would change in ways that the male part of him could not imagine.

In this case, Charity does indeed begin at home.