He knows the words, and it's deliberate

"Excuse me, miss?" a voice said.

"Can I help you, sir?" Ryleigh said, looking up from the computer terminal where she had been writing an article for the library's newsletter. The customer who was speaking to her was a man of slightly more than average height. He had black hair and a short black beard, and looked like he spent a lot of time out in the sun, judging from his dark complexion. Ryleigh didn't know what it was, but there was something creepy about him.

"Yes. Do you have a copy of the movie The Red Shoes?"

Ryleigh stood up. She reached down and took off her black pumps, right first. then left. She tried to stop herself from doing so, tried to push them back onto her feet, but was unable to do so. Her hands seemed to be moving on their own volition. Ryleigh set then her shoes on the floor beside her chair.

"I don't think we have that, sir," she said, trying to act like nothing had happened. "Can you excuse me one second?"

Ryleigh picked up her shoes, bent down, and tried to put them back on her feet. She couldn't get her toes into them; it seemed like a **** was pushing them away, rejecting them.

"Maybe you can help me with something else."

Ryleigh looked at the man. Was he smiling slightly? What had he seen?

"Yes, sir. What else can I do for you?"

"Do you have a copy of the 1957 movie Silk Stockings?"

This time, Ryleigh took off her stockings, again unable to stop herself from doing so, and again unable to fight the **** that made her hands pull them downward. She tried to put them back on, this time not even paying the slightest attention to her customer.

Again, she failed.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, "something seems to be wrong here."

Was it her imagination, Ryleigh thought, that he seemed to be smiling slightly again as the man said, "I don't see anything wrong. I don't understand why you are refusing to help me."

"Sir, please," Ryleigh said, gesturing at her bare legs and bare feet. She dropped her useless stockings on top of her shoes.