Pulling into the parking lot of the mall Mary headed towards Dillard's. Wow! Huge crowds here today she observed. Must be the Easter rush. The crowd however, did not intimidate Mary. She drove single mindedly down the lanes until she reached one parking spot smack dab in front of the doors to the shoe department. There, perched on a steel post was a sign. Gold with black letters, it heralded, "Mary Martha Magnum, Valued Customer." Her very own parking spot! And why shouldn't she have one? She alone had saved Dillard's from bankruptcy a few years back during their storewide "blowout sale." In their appreciation of her, their most loyal customer, they had presented her with her very own reserved parking spot.
Disengaging her seatbelt and grabbing her purse, Mary was startled at a tap on her window. It was only Frank, the landscape maintenance guy. "Good morning Mary!" he said as he opened her car door for her. "Hello Frank, how are things going for you today? "Pretty good." He answered as he mopped his forehead and took a long pull from a bottle of water. "You're here early today." He observed. "I'm here to exercise and do a little shopping for Easter, which reminds me"...... Mary leaned over and retrieved a flyer from her glove compartment. "I would love to have you and your wife attend our church Easter presentation." She said placing the pastel lavender piece of paper in his hand. Deciding she may need some while in the mall, she stuffed a few more into her purse. "This looks real good." Frank remarked as he folded the flyer in half and placed it in his shirt pocket. "I'll talk to Rosie about it, I don't know what she has planned for that day." Sounds good Frank, we'd love to have you." She said as she closed and locked the car door with an electronic chirp. Frank was already heading back to his leaf blower.
Entering the mall, she made a beeline for Paradise Bakery. Her mouth watered at the thought of their delicious muffins and coffee. She would have a quick snack and then begin her exercise regimen.
"Good morning Stacy!" Mary greeted the young lady behind the counter. Petite and blonde, Stacy had her hair pulled up into a perky ponytail. Beautiful blue eyes peered at Mary from behind trendy little wire framed glasses. Stacy was a student working to pay her way through college and she waited on Mary several times a week. "Your usual?" She inquired of Mary. "Oh yes, you know me too well Stacy." Mary responded with a giggle. Stacy giggled as well as she handed Mary a lemon poppyseed muffin and a cup of coffee, rung her up and handed Mary her change. "See you later Stacy." Mary smiled and waved as she made her way towards the food court seating area. "Have a good exercise!" Stacy called as she turned to wait on the next customer.
Finding a seat in an obscure corner, Mary enjoyed her muffin and coffee and people watched, something she enjoyed doing on occasion. You could glean a lot of information about people by just sitting in a mall food court. She spied a mom pulling her two Easter finery clad children along behind her, obviously headed towards Sears portrait studio, another young girl talked on her cellphone with a garment bag slung over her shoulder. Mary could just make out the hem of a wedding dress peeking from the bottom of the bag. Several senior citizens lounged in the food court sipping on cups of coffee, while a group of tattooed and pierced young people passed by with Starbuck's cups in their hands.
Movement at a table to her right caught Mary's attention and she glanced in that direction. A young woman in her early to mid thirties sat down wearily in a chair. To say she was shabbily dressed would be an overstatement, however, her clothes were definitely worn and second hand. Her face and hands had a weary, work worn appearance, but the sadness in her eyes is what caught Mary's attention and evoked pity for the young woman. She tried not to stare as the woman put her head in her trembling hands. Her shoulders heaved as though she were weeping. Mary felt a surge of emotion and quelled the desire to walk over to the woman and smooth the hair back from her forehead as one would a child.
Mary looked at her watch and gasped. Goodness! It was already 11:30 and she hadn't even begun walking!" She pushed all thoughts of the woman aside and popped the last morsel of delicious lemony goodness into her mouth, swallowed a gulp of lukewarm coffee and tossed the trash. With one last glance at the woman, Mary headed in the opposite direction.
Her arms pumped as she walked briskly around the upper level of the mall. Sprinting down the escalator steps, she was pleased to feel a light sheen of perspiration break out on her forehead. Good, her heart rate was rising. She walked the perimeter of the lower level, then, headed back upstairs to the food court area again. She did a quick turn through that area, waving to Herman, the "hot dog maker" at Wiener Schnitzel and called out to Carol, the "sandwich artist" at Subway, then, she veered toward the open areas of the mall.
Winding her way through the food court seating area, she noticed something on the table she had just recently vacated. It was small and black. Her cell phone! Goodness, how had she done that? She rushed over, scooped up the phone placing it into the small purse she had looped around her neck. As she turned to resume her walk, she glanced at the table where the sad lady had been sitting. It was empty now, save for a piece of wadded up paper. What was it? It was barely noticeable and would have been discarded with nary a thought by a janitor or the next person who desired that table. Mary's curiosity got the best of her and she walked over to the table and picked up the paper ball. It was so tightly scrunched, she feared she would tear it in her attempt to open it. She did not know what drove her to open it, not nosiness, but a sense that it held something of importance. She sat down in the chair and smoothed the paper open as delicately as possible.
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