Walk a mile in her shoes

Among the cultural references I never got until someone put me wise was this "Horse of a different color" piece from the "Wizard Of Oz" movie. I didn't pay much attention to the film when I was a kid because it made no sense to me that a girl could be knocked unconscious and then start dreaming in color. In a world where there are countless billions of facts worth learning, I never saw fiction as a good use of filling my three available brain cells. 

I knew that lions and tigers and bears could not coexist, though.

So now I read that an "elderly" (76) (!!!!) man has been charged with stealing one of the four pairs of red sequined shoes that Judy Garland wore in the picture.

In Grand Rapids, Minnesota (not to be confused with Grand Rapids, Michigan) there is a Judy Garland Museum. It costs $12 to go through the place and see the memorabilia, but if you click your heels together really fast they will let you in for 1/2 price. 

Up until 2005, the museum was able to boast of displaying one of those four pairs of slippers, but they were ripped off that year.

And in spite of many people claiming that the shoes just up and walked away down some yellow brick road, they were taken by a human, and the US Justice Department is charging one Terry Martin with being that human.

In one of those stings that the FBI is so famous for, they recovered the shoes in 2018, and it took until now to nab the guy they say is the crook. The charge against Martin is one count of theft of major artwork.

The Justice Department offered no further details about this Martin, and they are not saying how he came to be suspected of shattering a glass case in which the shoes were displayed. It was the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper that reported that Martin lives 12 miles from the Garland museum, and that he offered the following quote when they called him: "Gotta go on trial. I don’t want to talk to you."

The Justice Department certainly has many shortcomings, but they are all over these red shoes, which they describe as being "widely viewed as among the most recognizable memorabilia in American film history."

Grand Rapids Police Chief Scott Johnson, no average gumshoe, helped bring the heel to justice. He said of these magic shoes, "They're more than just a pair of shoes. They're an enduring symbol of the power of belief."

I guess I believe him.