They felt the same after I had polished them as they had after his effort. But they didn't look the same, and I understood the importance of getting them to look right. The next step was to clean my hands. During the first attempt at polishing, I had kept my fingers out of the can of polish and away from the moist surfaces of the shoes. But when my polishing job was rejected, I decided that my fingers must tell me how much polish was being applied.
Shoe polish is intended to be reasonably waterproof.
However, they were still black, and I was sent back to the basin to wash a second time. Today I know that appearance is important. The substance of a thing is more important, but often we don't explore the substance unless the initial appearance is attractive. As readers of the Kernel Books know, my children, David and Dianna, are sighted. My wife and I are both blind.