Not because we could not afford shoes.

Because school shoes came out of the household allowance, and the household allowance was a hundred and eighty dollars a week for four people in 2011, and shoes are a hundred and ten dollars, and there is a specific arithmetic that a woman does on a Tuesday when a fifteen-year-old’s shoes have gone through and the allowance comes on a Friday.

I asked for extra when it was necessary.

I want to be clear that it was not refused.