In 2004, not long after the elections, I made a trip to the mall. This was my first trip to a mall of any size in a year or so. The differences that I noticed then on the fringe of things, that awakening edge, not only in terms of how many folks were in the mall but how they were behaving, stands out even now in my memory. Those few folks still going to the mall compared to the year before were standing outside the shops rather than in them, to a great extent.
There were those shoppers there for something specific, of course, but the entertainment shoppers, the shoppers there for the fun of doing bad business to make “business” work and succeed – those folks were few. The ones still out and about looked a bit hesitant; they stood wearing last years fashions looking at the shop displays of this years not so much with longing but distrust, there hands in there pockets betrayed the feel of the fool awakening – but to my point.
I made a trip to the mall a few days ago, I went to get a book that I didn’t buy before I left with nothing. The mall itself was still a rendition of what I had noticed starting 4 years ago, with those additions that I would have expected by now. The sparse clientele counting furtively at there change to complete a sale, the young pup, a singularity, wind breaker hood pulled down to his brow, eyes doggin’ anyone who made eye contact to the point of discomfort; no one making time to argue – round and round he went, it`s what he was doing with his day.
But on my way to the mall, on the fringe of things, that awakening edge – I saw folks sitting outside their shops, their places of business or work, sipping a coffee or chocolate or their indulgence of choice, lunch in Tupperware in the sunshine. They sat in twos or threes, rarely more – and smiles, tired – often, but not resigned, and quiet conversation from folding chairs seemed the order of the day.
I have the greatest of respect for the current efforts of State, the spirit of the artisan will always be greater than the tools, but what I see on the fringe of things, that awakening edge, is the first hint of returning grass, tiny, fragile – unprotected as blade, indestructible as an idea. It`s unlikely I will be going back to the mall, even with a stimulus check that I really don’t want – along with a great many more people than the powers that be may guess. A fundamental change in a people`s perception of the world they live in, for the better I think.
…and gosh, the robins are finding the late winter snow so disturbing, so entirely out of the normal order of things.
Today.