La Cocachina - An X-files Fan Fiction Story

Chapter 10: Lony Roshtoff

Mr. Lony Roshtoff, the owner of The Walkassines shoe factory, looked judgingly at Mulder and Scully's badges over his half-moon glasses. He wore blue overalls covered with multiple black stains and a long leather apron that shielded his large chest and belly. His sleeves were rolled up, showing his muscular hairy arms and rough stained hands. Seated in his tiny workshop, behind a low cobbler's bench laden with tools, tubes of glue, and scraps of leather, he resembled a stereotypical cobbler from a fairy tale.

"Factory's back there," he pointed behind him. "We're a small operation. But we do well locally."

He examined the old sneaker handed to him by Mulder.

"I remember these," he said. "We made two pilot pairs last summer. We had to discontinue the model. Glue didn't meet industry standards ."

He turned around on his short stool, moved a large sewing machine out of his way, and busied himself with the contents of three cardboard boxes that had been stored behind it. When he turned back towards the agents, he was holding a handwritten order form.

"Here it is," he said. "Our regular glue suppliers from Guatemala had just gone out of business. Unexpectedly," he added. "Landslide buried their workshop during a storm. They were a small family-run business. Members of some Indian tribe, offshoot from the Guatemalan Incas. U.S. Government lab in Chula Vista, California bought their remaining material."

He squinted at the order form, trying to decipher the squiggly handwriting.

"Altova," he said. "Altova Labs. Anyway, they bought the leftover Guatemalan materials and made their own glue. Experimental, they said. Gave it to us for free. We took it, of course, and used it. Helped us make the pilot model real cheap. But -- quality did not pass inspection. Government tested. Didn't approve. You'd think they'd approve their own products."

He opened his arms. "That's all I've got for you."

Mulder and Scully thanked him for his time.