Shoe Shine Boy

By Ken Ritter

Sort of reminds me of when I was stationed in Sangley Point, all the regulars had sort of their “personal” Shoe Shine Boys, Flower Girl, and Jeepney Drivers, who kinda adopted you, monitored your movements when you were out in town, and took care of you… was having a party at my house in town, and since most of us Sailors had spent time in Japan, it became common practice for everyone to leave their shoes outside the door… this time, someone got ready to leave, and all the shoes were gone… total panic, they had stolen all our shoes… I heard a noise from downstairs, looked over the railing, and “my” Shoeshine Boy had recruited several of his friends, and they were down there shining everyone’s shoes… needless to say, he got a big tip that time…