Thou Shalt Not Covet

Think back to when you were ten years old, try to remember your Christmas list. Mine probably had GI Joes on it, maybe an Evel Knievel bendy doll with a wind-up crash car you could sail off the curb, an SST car, probably Hot Wheels, maybe a game or two. But I remember I really wanted Micronauts, especially the Baron Karza figure, a pound or two of black plastic bad guy who could totally pound the rest of the Micronauts, even Acroyear. I really wanted the Baron. Bad. And his horse too, whose name I can't remember. You could make a centaur out of the Baron and his horse, for God's sake! And they had rocket launchers! What kid wouldn't want that? I know I wanted it. Bad. Really bad.
   I didn't get the Baron. Aside from a life lesson in learning how to deal with disappointment, that Christmas day was also the last time I really, really, really wanted something in that childlike, desperate way. Maybe it was the disappointment of not getting the one thing I hoped I would get – but I got underwear, of course – or maybe it was just part of growing up. I never really ached for a material possession like that again.
   Until now.
   See, back in 2008 Nike provided the shoes for the US Fencing team. The shoes were kick-ass and the US Olympic Fencing team kicked ass. Coincidence? I think not.
   Nike was supposed to release the Ballestra fencing shoe that year to the general public but it didn't happen. I even wrote to them, asking when the shoe was coming out but the customer service stooge had no idea what I was talking about.
   Fast forward two summers. It's 2010 and I see an announcement that the Nike Air Ballestra is finally coming out, on the shelves in July. Be still my heart. I got on the Leon Paul web site and watched the video, which included the shoe's designer. Yes, I watched a video about a shoe. And it was good.
   It was like a light went on over my head and someone punched me in the chest. BAM! My Damascus moment. The instant I saw them I wanted those shoes. Bad. Really bad. Ten-year-old-at-Christmas bad.
   Now I know what coveting is, because I am coveting. Coveting like a motherf*cker, and I'm beginning to understand why it's prohibited in the Ten Commandments. The fact that the shoes are $175 makes it a little easier to ignore that little voice in my head that squeaks 'buy the damn shoes.' But I'm not made of stone.
   You will be mine, Nike Air Ballestra. Oh, yes. Sooner or later you will be mine.