Lost: One Shoe

Oh, people of Providence, you never cease to amaze me.
I had stepped out briefly at lunch time so I knew that it was a gorgeous spring day outside and I knew that I didn't need my fleece to walk to my car at the end of the day. After the day I had, I also knew that I couldn't get out of that building fast enough.
What I did not know, however, was that there would be a sighting so interesting that it would beg for a blog entry. Here goes...
While walking through the fine city of Providence just a bit before five o'clock this evening, I saw a man limping across the street. I couldn't figure out whether the man was hurt or not so I looked down at his feet...maybe he was wearing an aircast or a boot or something that would explain the awkward hobble.
Not only was there no aircast or boot but the man was missing a shoe. He was walking funny because he had lost a shoe and the gravel from the road was hurting the bottom of his foot.
I'm not quite sure how one loses a shoe. Not both shoes...just one.
Hell, I wouldn't have thought twice about a man walking through the city on a gorgeous spring day completely barefoot but to just lose one shoe? This didn't make any sense to me. He wasn't carrying the missing shoe and he didn't look like a man who would just leave home with one shoe on.
This struck me as very odd. What the heck happened to this guy during the course of the day? Was he mugged for his left sneaker? Perhaps he got into a run-in with a vicious dog and he threw the shoe to distract the dog so he could get away safely.
I'm not saying I've never walked around a city barefoot. I remember a lengthy barefoot walk through Boston several years ago. There is a logical explanation for that though. 1. I had both shoes in my hand; 2. It had been a long night of dancing; and 3. The wet grass felt great on my sore soles.
Anyway, part of me wishes I had asked him what happened and the sane part of me is happy that it put a smile on my face at the end of a grueling day.