The Case of the One Legged Drag Queen

Loyal readers know that I live in the Casa Marina Area of Key West. My little spot on the island is just about the best place in the world on most days. My house sits on a big corner lot with lots of tropical foliage that insulates my house from the two intersecting streets. A big privacy fence surrounds the lot. My house and several more on my street and the next block have very tall Mahogany trees. In addition I have one of the tallest Date Palms on the island and a variety of very tall palms including a Washingtonian Palm, a Royal Palm, and several Coconut Palms interspersed with shorter tropical foliage that give my yard quite the tropical feel.

After returning from the gym one morning, I decided to do some yard work before going in to the office. I put on some grubby shorts and t-shirt, grabbed my rake, and started to attack the scrub under the foliage out on the right of way.

As I worked my way to the corner I noticed something sparkling through the bushes just on top of the pea rock. I bent down and saw a single fuchsia colored high heel shoe. The heel and base of the shoe had sparkles.Then I noticed a small multi colored clutch or purse.  I chuckled with delight. I pulled the shoe and purse out from under the bush. I searched for a second shoe but found none. I opened the purse: it was filled several lipsticks, rouges, and eyeliners but no ID.  I decided to grab a camera to record my find for posterity.

A neighbor walked by (actually, I think he came out of his house after he heard me laughing so loudly).  I showed him my find.  I laughed and told him that I had found the shoe and purse of a one legged drag queen. He laughed and said it's stuff like this that makes life in Key West so damned interesting.