(1) We're at a shoe shop in the Heeren, which sells rather cute hand-painted shoes. My sister likes the white ones with splashes of paint, which look like something Jackson Pollock would have done if he had used the whitewashed Panda(?) schoolgirl shoes we used to wear for a canvas. I like the ones in shades of red with an orange line running down. The Rothko ones? my sister says. - They're not bad.
(2) Later, mulling over the shoes -
Me: But what would I do with red shoes?
She: Wear them!
Me: But nothing would match them.
She: Well you know how I have these crimson silk Adidas sneakers I really like?
Me: Yeah?
She: And all my clothes are purple or green?
Me: Uh-huh.
She: I never wear the sneakers because they clash with my clothes.
Me: Right.
She: But I think you should get the red shoes! All your clothes are black or blue. You can wear them with jeans.
(3) Back at the shoe shop. She gets the Jackson Pollock shoes; I get, at her instigation, an entirely different pair. This time they look like something Roy Lichenstein (the guy who did the 40-foot cartoons? Is that the right name?) might have done on a bad day.
Me: You know what you are? You're a multiplier effect!
She: Yes!