At the mall the other day, Cowgrit and I split up for a few minutes: she went into one of those girly-clothes stores and I browsed through the book store. I finished my shopping before her, so I looked around, up and down the hall to see what other store might be of interest to me. There’s a Hollister across from the book store. I’ve never been in a Hollister — in fact, I didn’t know anything about it other than it looked like an Abercrombie & Fitch.

I stepped up to the front to take a peek inside, but the way the entrance is arranged, you can’t see inside from outside. But what you can see are some nearly naked mannequins. Look at the picture on the right. Look at that. I really hope that mannequin is not anatomically correct. And don’t think the pants nearly falling off are a mistake or accident — the other male mannequin behind it looks exactly the same.

My god! That’s absurd. Really. Remember when the offense was seeing a person’s underwear, or maybe the crack of their butt? Now stores are selling clothes to show this? I’m far from a prude, but come on, this is crazy.

I went into the store to see what the inside looked like. I walked all the way through the store and I nearly got lost. It was so damn dark that it took all my concentration to feel my way through the literal maze.

The store is as dark as a movie theater, and the walls and shelves were all black or dark wood. There were a few spotlights here and there, but the contrast in lighting just made the shadowed areas even darker.

Of the dozen or so customers in the store, ten of them were teenage girls. I saw two teenage boys in there, and I think one of them was a worker. I couldn’t really tell who was an employee because everyone was dressed alike — like teenagers who shop at Hollister.

I tried to look for some t-shirts, for myself, while I was in the store, but I couldn’t see anything on the shelves or tables well enough to identify what the clothes were.

I know it probably sounds like I’m exaggerating the place to be funny, or to be old, but really, it was very dark and very mazy. The only cool thing in the store were the two wall-sized monitors showing a live shot of Surf City, California.

I don’t understand how anyone, even teenagers, can shop for clothes in that kind of environment. It’s like shopping in a grotto.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Calfgrit7 has mentioned wanting to get a watch for the past few weeks, so a few days ago, Cowgrit got him one. She surprised him with it one morning, and he was really excited.

It was an analog clock (dial & hands) with a black plastic band with red flames. It did look pretty cool. He put it on immediately, and I asked him the time. He looked at his watch intently and counted the little lines past the hour. “Seven fourteen,” he told me.

After breakfast, he went to brush his teeth. “Is the watch okay to get wet?” he asked me. I told him to try to keep it dry, as it might stop working if it got wet. So he took it off while brushing his teeth.

He wore the watch to school and loved it. He was so proud to have it, and I was proud of how well he was trying to take care of it. That evening he and I and another father and son went to watch a semi-pro soccer game. A strong rain storm came through before the game started, so it was canceled. When we were out in the rain, rushing back to the truck, Calfgrit7 took off the watch and put it in his pocket, to keep it from getting wet. I told him how proud I was of him for taking care of his new watch.

The next day at school, he fell in some mud on the playground. When he went to the restroom to wash up, he took off his watch and set it on top of the towel holder. After washing up, he left the restroom, but he forgot his watch. Sadly, when he remembered and went back later in the day, it was gone.

It never turned up in the school lost and found, and he was pretty sad. He’d only had the thing a little over 24 hours, and despite his best effort to take care of it, it was gone. Cowgrit and I both reiterated how proud we were for his effort, but we consoled him that mistakes happen sometimes. He offered to use his own money, out of his piggy bank to buy another watch, but we told him we’d get him another one.

It’s a sad story. Despite his best effort to take care of it, it got forgotten and then apparently stolen. A sad life lesson for a 7 year old.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com