PART I

 

"It Only Cost a Dollar"

 

Chapter 1

 

Mark drove the mile from their house to the Lakewind Shopping Mall.  He and Paula always marveled at how busy it was, especially when so many of the malls in the area  were going under due to the poor economy. 

            Even some of the large indoor malls were struggling, yet the huge parking lots at Lakewind were always packed even though it was outdoors.  Rain or shine, the shoppers kept coming; one would never guess there was a recession going on accompanied by high unemployment.  Mark could only surmise that a lot of folks had not yet maxed out their credit cards.

            "Looks like that new McDonald's is almost finished," Paula remarked, gesturing toward a new building that was under construction across the street from the entrance they were waiting to pull into.

            "Yeah, it's sure to be a winner in that location.  I mean, how will hungry shoppers be able to resist that!  Even the ones who aren't really hungry will probably stop there anyway.  Too bad we don't have the money to own one of those!" Mark laughed.  The light changed, and he drove to the parking lot, parking some distance from the big Pet Smart store.

            "Walking will give us some good exercise," Paula said.  "I want to go in and see if they have more of that special kitty litter.  It's a bit expensive, but it sure is better than some of the cheaper stuff.  I like the way it clumps."

            They managed to get across the roadway to the store without being mowed down by some of the aggressive drivers who seemed to be blind to pedestrian crosswalks.  The automatic doors opened, and they walked in to the sound of barking and the beeping of registers as dedicated pet owners produced credit cards to pay for the things that they felt were important for their pampered pets. It’s amazing what a wagging tail will generate, and not just for dogs.

            It was doubtful if a dog would appreciate a pink toy more than a green one, but the color might be important to the owner who was able to detect the difference.  Lucky indeed were the pets of these kinds of people, for in some underdeveloped countries they would be candidates for the stew pot or on the menu at a restaurant rather than laying all day on a couch waiting for the owners to come home to feed and pet them. 

            As a matter of fact, some of the discarded pets in the ghetto areas of America do not fare much better than those in places like Haiti or Somalia. In reality, a quick death might be preferable to the abuse and starvation they often endure at the hands of cruel and neglectful owners, and even more so by those low-life sadists who breed them for dog fighting. 

            The store was gigantic with multiple aisles and rows and rows of shelves offering everything imaginable, and some things not imaginable,  for dogs, cats, birds and reptiles.

            “Why would someone want to take a python home?” Paula wondered.

            “Your guess is as good as mine,” Mark replied.  “Takes all kinds, I guess.”

            Mark and Paula paused to look at some cages of cats who were there for adoption and who had no idea of where they were or why they were there, their only interest being food, comfort and safety. This was the price of domestication…sort of a tradeoff similar to that of their docile human counterparts who relied on the so-called generosity of government agencies.

            Paula located the kitty litter she was after and said, enthusiastically, "This is the one!  It's so much better than that other stuff we were using.  This one 'clumps' really good!"

            Mark smiled and tried not to picture the "clumps" from the cat that it would be his lot to collect from its litter pan.

            They left the store toting the bag of litter and a bright red toy that Paula felt the cat would enjoy playing with.  And she was right, anything that wiggled and made noise would be fun for the cat…red or not.

            They walked back to their car and left their purchases in the trunk.

            "Why don't we go to the Everything For a Dollar store?" Mark said.  "I need to pick up a tube of tooth paste."

            "Okay, I like to go there and look around.  I like it that you know just what the price is for any item.  Maybe we can walk to Target after we get through there," Paula replied. 

            They walked to the store, making their way around a city bus that was sitting in front with the engine idling as exhaust from the diesel engine fouled the air. Even though the fare had tripled in recent days, it was still less expensive than owning and operating a car…not that most of the bus riders could get one.  The rag-tag passengers piled in, handing the driver crumpled bills and handfuls of change.

            Mark and Paula entered the store to pure bedlam.  The place was packed with customers jostling each other in the aisles and long lines waiting to reach the harried young cashiers of which there were only two.

            This looks like a shoplifters paradise, Mark thought.  I’ll bet their shrinkage rate is through the roof!

            They went their separate ways searching for bargains.  Mark found his toothpaste and then checked out a shelf full of books that were going for a dollar each even though they had originally sold for over twenty dollars.  Some were by prominent persons, the jacket of each one claiming to have the answer to diet, political and other  problems. The faces of well-known politicians stared back from the covers with pontifical statements of their ego-driven self-congratulatory boasting.

            This looks like a graveyard for failed books, Mark mused. It looks like the e-book revolution has even hit the politicians’ book-selling hopes…what a blow to their inflated egos!

            It would soon be Halloween, and he found Paula near the front of the store perusing the Halloween items…skull rings and necklaces, witches’ hats and boxes of candy for people to hand out to the little goblins that would be roaming around neighborhoods seeking handouts that they could take home and share with the parents who would be standing out on the street waiting for their pride and joys to  grab all the free stuff they could wangle from weary homeowners, most of whom gave some candy in the hope that their car would not be scraped by a disappointed junior panhandler.   

            Bored, Mark waited for Paula to finish going through the piles of Halloween stuff; then something grabbed his attention.  It was a statuette of a dark-gray head with an evil-looking face framed in  strange headgear and with an occult-looking necklace.

            It looked to be about five inches tall and stood out to Mark from the others that were just like it on the shelf.  It had an other-worldly look, and Mark felt a strange attraction to it. He reached out and picked it up, and it felt like some type of stone material and was quite heavy.  The figure’s eyes stared at him from its unsmiling face, and its mouth was partially open baring jagged teeth with exaggerated canine incisors. Mark felt a chill.

            “What’s that you’ve got?” Paula asked, as she turned to him.

            “It’s some kind of weird figure.  I’m surprised they’re selling it for a dollar; it looks like its worth more than that.”

            “Creepy,” Paula replied.  “I guess it’s good for this time of year, though.  It looks like a good Halloween item.”

            “Yeah, I think I’ll buy it,” Mark said.  He turned it up and looked at a label that was stuck on the bottom.  It read “Tramontane Imports/Exports…Roswell, NM.” 

            “At least it’s not from China!” he said.

            “Give it to me with your toothpaste, and I’ll pay for it along with this other stuff; no use both of us having to stand in line.  After all, it’s only a dollar.”

            “Okay, thanks.  I’ll go outside and wait for you.”  He handed his items to Paula and made his way through the crowd and stood outside inhaling diesel fumes from the bus and tobacco smoke from his cigarette.  He thought of this as part of his health program and guffawed at the absurdity of modern city life…purposeful self-destruction under the guise of free will.

            Paula finally finished navigating the long checkout line and exited the store carrying two plastic bags. She handed the one containing the figure to Mark.

            “The girl put your figure in a separate bag so it wouldn’t get nicked up from the other things.”

            “Thanks.  Let’s put this stuff in the car and then walk to Target.  I’d like to look at the items in the electronics' department; I want to see if they’re selling that Kindle thing from Amazon.”

            They went to their car, deposited the bags in the trunk and walked to the big Target store to join the hundreds of other bargain seekers looking for things they probably didn’t really need.  “What the hell?” was the common attitude, “I’ll put it on my card and worry about paying for it and the usurious interest later.”

            “I’ll meet you back here by the front door in about twenty minutes.  I‘m going back to the electronics,” Mark said. He had learned by long experience the futility of trying to keep up with Paula when she got into her “looking around” mode.

            “Okay, see you then.”  She took off for the beauty department.

            Mark walked to the back of the store and found a display of the Kindles. He asked a clerk about them but only got a blank stare and a mumbled, “I don’t know much about them.”  He was obviously not a reading type.

             Well, guess I’ll check them out more online, Mark thought. He looked at a few other items and then wandered around the store killing time.  He knew that with Paula twenty minutes could easily stretch into an hour.

            Mark ended up by the front door, and after another fifteen minutes he spied her in a check-out line with a basket full of things.

            “They had a great sale on cosmetics!” she exclaimed.

            Mark merely smiled.

            “I think I’ll go into the dollar store and buy a few more of those figurines like the one you got,” Paula said as they walked back across the parking lot. “I can take a few into work for Halloween and give a couple to friends.”

            “Okay,” Mark replied.  “Give me those packages, and I’ll just wait out front for you.  I don’t feel like fighting that mob again.”

            They reached the store, and another city bus was out front with its engine idling.  Mark lit a cigarette and stood savoring the pollutants and watching a pair of ladies hobbling to their car, a big new Chrysler 300, in a handicapped parking spot.

            How come the handicapped people always seem to drive the newest and best cars, he wondered as he looked across the parking lot to his ten-year-old Honda.

            Paula came out with a bag. “I bought the last ten they had. What the heck, they only cost a dollar.”   

            Upon returning to their car, Mark unlocked the doors and started to get in but then stopped, and a puzzled look came over his face as he looked in the back seat.

            “Didn’t we put the bags in the trunk?”

            “Yes, of course we did.  Why?” Paula asked, and then followed Mark’s gaze.

            Laying in the backseat was the bag containing the figurine that Mark had gotten earlier. 

            “That’s strange, I’m sure that bag was in the trunk with the others,” he said.  He unlocked the car and retrieved the bag and then walked around and opened the trunk and they put all of the bags inside.  Mark noticed that the bag containing his figurine seemed quite warm, but he attributed it to having been inside the car.  They got in and drove home.