Chapter 4

The local mall is a single floor layout. It has your usual food-court where you can get Chinese, pizza, subs, salads, burgers, etc. It has four branches that converge on the food-court. At the end of each is a major retailer, like Macy’s, J.C. Penny’s, Sears (but they’ve closed) and Target. The Sears portion is under renovation.

All the usual suspects can be found there, too. Zales, Kays, and Pandora, American Eagle Outfitters, Hollister, H&M, and Victoria’s Secret are spread throughout the mall. Auntie Annes is at the end of one leg, while there’s an Orange Julius at the end of another. The Footlocker is there, as are a few other specialty shoe stores, as is Dick’s Sporting Goods. That’s not a complete list, but gives a good idea of what’s available.

Oh, there’s also a gazebo that does temporary tattoos that can last up to two weeks! The guy there employs artistically inclined high-school girls to work for him. He pays them well but hires them as contractors so that he doesn’t have to deal with healthcare and such. A friend of mine works for him and loves it. He never comes on to them. Teaches them about the work, has them practice on him and each other, and lets them do their jobs. He is there to open and close shop and checks in during the day. They do air-brush and stencil work, henna, and Jagua Gel tats. The air-brush tats are the least costly, while the henna is the most expensive and starts at no less than $50.

Our first stop was to J.C.Penny’s to look at dresses and outfits. We didn’t purchase anything while we were there. We wanted to shop around before making our choices. From there we went to Macy’s to look at their offerings. We skipped The Gap and American Eagle as I had plenty of clothes that were in their styles.

We took pictures of the items we liked most. I was very willing to listen to my mother. She dressed well, and I wanted her input. She allowed that it would be alright for me to acquire a few outfits that tended to the sexier side. She did not want to be overprotective or to cause me to be treated poorly by my peers because I ended up dressing like a frump.

We ended up getting a variety of skirts in solids and plaids with blouses that could be mixed and matched to give me a good number of outfits. I purchased eight skirts that were knee length and ten blouses mixed between solids, striped, and prints. I also procured some short sexy skirts that could be matched with the blouses I had purchased.

After that, it was off to get footwear. I needed new soccer shoes. The old ones were nearly worn out anyway, so I got two pairs. I also got three pairs of trainers for casual wear, while we were at The Footlocker. Next, we stopped in at DSW, where I picked up four pairs of slip-ons and three pair of boots. The boots were all black leather. One set was ankle high, another knee high, and the third was thigh high. I was in love with those thigh highs and was going to wear them as often as possible. I love the smell of leather.