Had the opportunity this past weekend to do something I'd not done in some time- go looking for sneakers.

Do you even call them sneakers anymore? Is there a term that's more hip? I'm sure Steve in marketing came up with some sort of hip-hop styled term that all the 12 year olds are using.

Anyway, my current pair of sneakers are about 5 years old, and in the condition to prove it. The various rubber bits that make up the sole are coming apart, there are holes along the seam where the sole meets the upper, and where the sole come up over the front of the shoe it's come loose, so I make this flapping sound most of the time.

This breakdown in footwear shouldn't be such a big deal, and for most folks it isn't. But when you wear size 15 shoes, the search takes on a new dimension. Usually, it's futility.

Go back to high school. I had to special order football cleats my senior year as the local stores had nothing. I will say that they were the best cleats I had in four years of playing. My sister, stumbling across a cache of oversized Avia high-tops (is Avia still around? Apparently, they are) buys the lot, including a pair of size SEVENTEEN that linger in my closet for years until we donate them to our church's clothing drive. I'm sure they're being used as matching baptismal fonts in some church in Benin.

Another trip led my mom to buy a pair of Converse that were adorning a life-size cutout of Larry Bird. It took her a few minutes to explain to the guy at the counter that she didn't just want a pair of those shoes, but that she wanted those shoes.

So I didn't have much hope for our trip to the Natick Mall, and I was rewarded by striking out at Foot Locker, Sears, and Champs. There were at least 2 other places I could have looked, but I was too dispirited. Especially by Foot Locker, who used to carry Reeboks in my size on a regular basis. Well, OK, they did have one pair of 15 sneakers, but they were (a) ugly, and (b) 80 bucks. I admit it: I have big feet and I'm cheap. Not the best combination for these purposes.

Plans were thus made to return to the scene of my last sneaker-buying experience: Filene's Basement. But instead of the mother store in Downtown Crossing, it was off to the Dedham location. I know the chain's had some financial issues, and may have struck upon a reason. The entry to the Dedham store may be the least enticing retail entryway I've ever been in. First off, half of the doors are locked tight. Then there's the lighting, which seems to be out. Leaving the lobby in a very drab gray half-light. Throw in some cinder block walls, the lack of any sort of eye-catching detail, and cleanliness most often associated with a Cuban jail, and it's no wonder people who love bargains are going somewhere else.

And for our trouble, going back on to the Providence Highway a week after a trip to buy cheap patio furniture (four white resin chairs and matching table, still awaiting our inaugural use), there were no sneakers in my size. You know the gods are against you when the Basement's offerings end pretty much at 13.

But in my last ditch search, what did I find? A pair of size 15 brown cap-toed oxfords. Forty bucks. O happy day!