Mall Plan II
At a restaurant chain in an indoor shopping mall, two born-to-shop women sit at a table during a White Sale. Around them ghostlike people leave through various exits, exhausted and drained. It is Super Bowl Sunday. They nervously nibble on nachos
drenched in melted cheese while sipping their favorite beverages: coffee mocha and coca cola. Like stressed white collar workers, they take their guaranteed morning break. After two hours of hoofing it on hard concrete and cheap carpets, their arms
ache from carrying oversized bags. Resting their feet, they unwind and admire the contemporary kitsch decor, remarking how the plastic flowers in their condominiums, somehow, don't look as tasteful. The more aggressive of the two women caresses the
table stand with her foot. Her leg moves back and forth against wood carved with the faces of anguished men working to support their wives' credit, as if by this gesture she is performing her marital duty. Like an undiscovered starlet looking for fame
and fortune, she chatters away, never once looking into her friend's eyes. She gazes beyond her right shoulder and, from time to time, casually turns aside to examine each passer-by from head to toe. Inside this cathedral of consumerism, businesses fail
like novice gamblers playing with loaded dice. Despite shops going out of business as they speak, the women plan their strategy and discuss the best sales, bracing themselves for the long hours of buying. These are modern day women living capitalism
with a capital C.
"Mall Plan II" artwork by Marcus Stanley Bausch, Jr.
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