Then she pushed her neck out and pulled back her shoulders and found she could lower her head a bit more.Then she pushed her neck out and pulled back her shoulders and found she could lower her head a bit more. Her face was angled so that her chin was about an inch higher than if her head were level. Not much but enough to keep her uncomfortable. If she relaxed her neck or shoulders she had to tilt her head back to keep from gagging. Eventually her body worked out a set of natural reflexes that allowed her to keep her head at the right angle while she kept the shoulder and neck muscles at the proper amount of tension. Susan pulled open the right bottom drawer and pulled out a device similar to those foot measuring tools found in shoe stores. She lifted Ally's right leg and measured her foot for length and width. It was only then that she realized how large yet narrow Ally's feet were. "Eleven B!" she said to Alex. She released Ally's leg and grabbed her left foot. "This one is just a hair wider," she said after taking the reading. "We'd better go with a C width. A B width would probably be too uncomfortable," said Alex. Susan returned the measuring device to the drawer and then helped Ally off the table. Ally was then led to the wall on the left side of the room to a strange device. It consisted of the heel end of two shoes made out of metal that were attached to rods that went into a wide metal platform. The heels were about two inches above the platform. The heels had leather ankle straps on them and a small metal loop on both sides of each heel. About seven feet up a steel beam extended from the wall and a heavy chain hung from it with a clip of some sort on the end. Alex explained that they were now going to measure how high a heel she could tolerate. She was then led onto the platform. Alex took Ally's hands, still manacled, and pressed the bracket onto the rod that was similar to the one on the table. Her arms were almost fully extended slightly below shoulder height. |