Chapter 7
When they got to the rusty maroon Corsica, Christian got in, tossed his coat and backpack into the back seat and unlocked the passenger’s door, turning it on. Shannon tossed her handbag behind her and buckled her seatbelt.
“I’m glad to see you cleaned it,” she said, leaning over the seat to peer down at the floor. “I’d hate to be curled up in the garbage for two hours.”
“I did it last night after I dropped you off,” He said. He put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot, narrowly clearing the rusty gold Honda Civic next to him. “It took me an hour.”
She chuckled. “There were certainly enough fast food bags and soda bottles!” She looked over the back seat again in awe and said, “My god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the floor. How much did you make in can returns?”
“I filled up a whole garbage bag. It’s in the trunk,” he said, turning on the CD player. The Exploited boomed out of the stereo and he turned it down. “Where are we off to?”
“It’s fucking hot out,” she sighed. “We should have brought Andy with us so we could use his pool.”
Christian smirked. He pulled up to the entrance of the parking lot and looked around. “Your hair would turn green,” he said as he pulled onto the road.
“That would kick ass!” She pulled a lock of her hair in front of her eyes. “Maybe that’s what I’ll do next.” She pulled her legs up into an Indian-style sitting position.
Christian looked over at her. “Swim around in chlorine until it changes?” He smiled. “You should keep the pink for a while. It looks good.”
“You think so?” she asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
“Yeah,” he sneered. “It’s sexy.” He licked his lips exaggeratedly.
She raised her eyebrows. “You think Michael Graves will agree?”she asked, running her fingers through her hair like a fashion model.
“You gonna try to hook up with him?” Christian drove with one wrist draped over the top of the wheel, and his other arm out the window.
“Oh yeah, baby,” She said, picking up a Misfits CD off the seat. She looked down at the band photos on the back. “He’s a sexy boy.”
“What about Jerry?”
“Yuck! That would be like doing it with my dad!” She tossed the case back on the seat. “I can’t believe we’re finally going to see them.”
“Maybe you could sweet-talk him into going to the prom with you,” Christian said, elbowing her. “Then Clark and I could go as zombies.”
“You're going with Clark?” she asked. “You really want people to think you’re gay, don’t you? Besides, I thought you wanted to go to the prom with me?”
“Of course I do,” Christian said. He turned up the stereo as “Don’t Pay the Poll Tax” started. “You want to just go to the mall?”
Shannon mulled it over for a few seconds. “We might as well. There’s nothing else to do.”
Christian chuckled. “We could always go back to school.”
“Okay, Andy,” she said with a laugh.“I can’t believe those two wouldn’t cut. They’re both such mamma’s-boys.” She rolled her window down and hung her feet out. “Now, I can understand Andy going into school on Friday. There is no way his mom would let him take the day off. What about you? Why are you going in?”
He looked over at her and looked away. “I have stuff I have to do. I figured I’d take advantage of being alone that day. I didn’t count on Andy being there.”
“What could you possibly have to do?”
“I have to work in the computer rooms,” he said, his voice a monotone. “I have to get my psychology paper typed.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “I thought you weren’t going to do it.” She jabbed her finger into his shoulder. “Who are you and done with my Christian Duke?”
He shrugged. “I changed my mind. You know, I might as well graduate. I’m just going to go in and work on it all day. I’m not even going to any classes.”
“What a change,” she said sarcastically, punching him lightly in the arm. “I bet all your teachers will be disappointed that it came so late in your career.”
He smiled. “Everyone needs goals.” The music stopped and Christian looked down at the discman on the seat. “You want to change that?”
Shannon picked it up and put the Exploited back in its case. She dug through the stack of CD’s and replaced it with TSOL.
“Good choice,” Christian said, as “Superficial Love” started playing.
“So, have you decided what you’re going to do when we’re done with school?”
Christian looked over at her for a moment. “My dad wants me to work in the gun store this summer, but I don’t think I will.” He chuckled. “Maybe I’ll move somewhere and be homeless.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “The singer from one of the bands that came here last year told me that San Francisco is the best place in the world to be homeless. Besides, I’ve never even been off the East Coast.”
Shannon grabbed his arm. “You should come out to Berkeley with me. It's just across the Golden Gate. We’ll get an apartment. You can work while I’m going to school.”
“So you want me to support you?” he asked with a laugh.
“You know what I mean,” she said. “I’ll work too. I just don’t want to go out there alone.”
He pursed his lips and sighed through his nose. “I’ll think about it.” He came to a traffic light at the entrance to the mall and stopped.
She shook her head. “What have you really got here?” She asked. “Andy and Clark will be gone, and would you really want to live with them, anyway? I’m way more fun.” She paused and her voice lowered. “Or you can stay here and work in your dad’s gun shop.”
He sighed. “I’ll think about it. You know I can’t stay here.”
“You have to come with me. Andy and Clark are both going to be in Florida. They’re going to only be about two hours from each other.”
“Maybe you should go to Florida,” he said thoughtfully.
“Yeah,” she said in a low growl. “Have you ever been there?”
Christian shook his head.
“Oh! It’s disgusting!” she cried. “My family went there when I was thirteen, and I hated every minute of it. The whole state is like a giant theme park in Hell. All the people that live there are like animatronic puppets, existing only for the pleasures of the tourists.” She shook her head. “The whole place is so fake, it’s all too good to be true. I don’t even want to go and visit Clark and Andy there. At least I haven’t seen how bad California is yet.”
Christian nodded. His face was drawn and he stared at the steering wheel. “I’m going to have to figure something out. I don’t think I have a lot of choice in what I do after school.” The light turned green, and he pulled into the mall parking lot.
“What do you mean?” Shannon cried. “Are you going to let your parents force you to work? You really are turning into Andy!”
He circled around the back of the mall and claimed a parking space near the door. “No, it’s just... I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me this summer.” He turned around and made sure the back doors were locked. “Maybe I’ll just be an outlaw. I’ll go out on the lam, living by my wits.”
“And why are you going to be running? Why are you going to need to be an outlaw? Somehow, I don’t think the cops are going to chase you cross-country for spray-painting ‘Misfits’ on a wall.” She got out of the car and locked her door.
“No!” he protested, getting out. “I’ll do something real. I’ll kill the president or something.”
Shannon laughed. “You’re going to kill the president, huh?” She cocked her head, mulling it over. “Well, it’s a step in the right direction. Just make sure you get him before they get you.” She smiled. “And don’t worry, if you ever need a place to hide-out, you can always count on me.” She punched him lightly in the arm.
Christian laughed. “I was hoping so, because Clark would run his mouth and blow my cover on the first day.” He furrowed his brow. “And Andy, he wouldn’t even let me near his house.” He pushed open the doors to the main entrance and held them for Shannon.
She smiled and bowed to him, insisting on holding the next door. “Oh, man! He would freak out! He’d be all worried that the pigs would tell his mom about the Victoria’s Secret catalog he keeps hidden under his bed.”
Christian shook his head. “No way. Since he turned eighteen, he’s dedicated himself to the real thing. He has made me drive him down to the porn shop at least once a week. We went at midnight on his birthday. He even used the booths. Talk about uncomfortable for me waiting was.”
“So gross, Chris!” she cried, slapping his shoulder. “You loved every minute of it!”
“I’m the only one who knows.,” Christian said. “He won’t even tell Clark” Christian took a deep breath. “I’m going to get my ass kicked later.” He looked over at her, and then at the ground.
“Just stay in the car. Andy and Clark will meet us out front,” she said, rubbing his arm. “Those fuckheads won't do anything in front of the school. Don’t worry about it.”
Christian shook his head. “I’m so sick of Jim,” he said. “I just want him to die. I just want all of them to die.” He curled his lip menacingly at an old woman that gasped at them.
Shannon was sarcastic. “Don’t say that!” She looked out the window. “It’s not like they deserve it or anything.” When Christian stopped to look at sunglasses in a display case, she grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “That’s the last thing you need in your wardrobe, more black! And that’s coming from me...” she trailed off when she saw caught the sad look in his eye. “What?” she asked.
“I just wish the school would blow up, or something. I’d be willing to die if I knew Jim Smitt was in Hell.”
“Now really don’t say that,” she said, punching him in the arm. “I’d pay a lot of money to be at his funeral, but I’d never trade my life for that piece of garbage.” She leaned against him and said, “I think you’re letting the music go to your head.”
“Music doesn’t make monsters,” he said. When they passed a giant clock suspended above them, he looked up at it. “We don’t have to be back for three hours. Want to go see a movie?”
She looked up at the clock. “What do you want to see?” she asked skeptically. “I don’t have much money, and I want to save it for the show.”
Christian waved his hand. “It’s on me,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure?” she asked, gabbing his hand.
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” she said, leaning against him. “You rule, Chris,” she said.
His cheeks turned red and he looked away. “I do my best,” he said, putting his arm around her.
The only movie playing was a romantic comedy. They took seats in the back talking loudly. A couple in the middle of the theater yelled to be quiet three times but never looked back. Half way through the movie, the couple left. Christian and Shannon stayed until the end, still laughing when they exited the side door of the theater into the parking lot.
As Christian looked around, his smile faded. “God,” he whispered. “There’s no one around. It’s like the whole world is dead.” He looked around again slowly, and then gave Shannon a grave look. “Did you ever get that feeling?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “What feeling?”
“That everything’s gone, that there’s nothing out there,” he said. “Look around, look around and listen,” he said, waving to encompass the whole parking lot. “There are all these cars, but nothing else. No people, no noise, no life. It’s like a zombie movie. This is a major cultural center, and nothing!”
She shook her head. “This is hardly a ‘major cultural center,’” she said with disdain. “It’s the fucking mall, Chris.”
“How can you say this isn’t a cultural center?” he asked. “How many lives are centered here? It’s not just the mall-rats.” he pushed open the doors and they walked back inside. “This is the place our parents go to ‘do things.’ When we were all younger, this was the place we would go to hang out. We can buy clothes, entertainment and food. If there was a place to sleep, we wouldn’t have to leave the mall. We could have our own little colony inside and never have to worry about mother nature again. When the world gets too polluted, we can just seal off the exits and never have to worry about a thing again.”
“Oh yeah?” Shannon said. “And where are we going to get money? Where are all these things that we buy going to come from? Your master plan has a flaw.”
“First of all, it isn’t my plan, it’s society’s. There are several options there. First of all, we could build bigger and better malls, where goods could be produced right within. The other option, is that we continue to become more like ants. We’ll live inside and never see the light of day. Just like ants, we’ll have a lower class that has to live in the harsh climates to get products for the higher classes. We’ll work different jobs inside the mall, and the higher your class, the less you’ll have to work.”
“And how is your class going to be determined?” poorly feigning seriousness.
“Why, the ones who own the stores, of course,” he said. “If you are in possession of where the product is stored and distributed, people are going to be giving you money for it, so you won’t need to work. You would have people working for you, selling your goods, and you pay them. Life will continue on as normal in the mall, but your bosses will be your leaders. It could even end up with wars being fought between stores, people dying for a new pair of GAP jeans. Or armies from bigger malls could come to absorb the smaller malls. This is the eventual progression of our capitalist society.”
“Now you sound like the crusty punks,” she said, laughing. She pointed to the pet store. “Let’s go play with the puppies,” she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the pet store, to the big pens where three black lab pups romped in an open box. Shannon reached in to scratch, and the dogs chewed her fingers and yipped. “They’re so adorable!” She cried. She picked up one of the black dogs and looked in its eyes. “I want one so bad, but my mom would kill me!”
“The hell with her,” Christian said. “‘Break all the fucking rules and go to Hell with Superman.’”
“‘And die like a champion.’” She picked up a dog. “I wish you had your coat,” she said. “We could just steal it. No one is looking.”
Christian smiled. “This weekend we will,” he said.
“Really?” Shannon cried, putting the dog back with its litter-mates. “I’ll tell my mom that we found it wandering on the street. She won’t be able to make me give it up!”
Christian reached down and scratched a few of the pups and smiled at Shannon. As he stood up, his eyes settled on a small clock hanging on the wall. “Well,” he sighed. “I guess it’s time to face the music.”
“I’m glad to see you cleaned it,” she said, leaning over the seat to peer down at the floor. “I’d hate to be curled up in the garbage for two hours.”
“I did it last night after I dropped you off,” He said. He put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot, narrowly clearing the rusty gold Honda Civic next to him. “It took me an hour.”
She chuckled. “There were certainly enough fast food bags and soda bottles!” She looked over the back seat again in awe and said, “My god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the floor. How much did you make in can returns?”
“I filled up a whole garbage bag. It’s in the trunk,” he said, turning on the CD player. The Exploited boomed out of the stereo and he turned it down. “Where are we off to?”
“It’s fucking hot out,” she sighed. “We should have brought Andy with us so we could use his pool.”
Christian smirked. He pulled up to the entrance of the parking lot and looked around. “Your hair would turn green,” he said as he pulled onto the road.
“That would kick ass!” She pulled a lock of her hair in front of her eyes. “Maybe that’s what I’ll do next.” She pulled her legs up into an Indian-style sitting position.
Christian looked over at her. “Swim around in chlorine until it changes?” He smiled. “You should keep the pink for a while. It looks good.”
“You think so?” she asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
“Yeah,” he sneered. “It’s sexy.” He licked his lips exaggeratedly.
She raised her eyebrows. “You think Michael Graves will agree?”she asked, running her fingers through her hair like a fashion model.
“You gonna try to hook up with him?” Christian drove with one wrist draped over the top of the wheel, and his other arm out the window.
“Oh yeah, baby,” She said, picking up a Misfits CD off the seat. She looked down at the band photos on the back. “He’s a sexy boy.”
“What about Jerry?”
“Yuck! That would be like doing it with my dad!” She tossed the case back on the seat. “I can’t believe we’re finally going to see them.”
“Maybe you could sweet-talk him into going to the prom with you,” Christian said, elbowing her. “Then Clark and I could go as zombies.”
“You're going with Clark?” she asked. “You really want people to think you’re gay, don’t you? Besides, I thought you wanted to go to the prom with me?”
“Of course I do,” Christian said. He turned up the stereo as “Don’t Pay the Poll Tax” started. “You want to just go to the mall?”
Shannon mulled it over for a few seconds. “We might as well. There’s nothing else to do.”
Christian chuckled. “We could always go back to school.”
“Okay, Andy,” she said with a laugh.“I can’t believe those two wouldn’t cut. They’re both such mamma’s-boys.” She rolled her window down and hung her feet out. “Now, I can understand Andy going into school on Friday. There is no way his mom would let him take the day off. What about you? Why are you going in?”
He looked over at her and looked away. “I have stuff I have to do. I figured I’d take advantage of being alone that day. I didn’t count on Andy being there.”
“What could you possibly have to do?”
“I have to work in the computer rooms,” he said, his voice a monotone. “I have to get my psychology paper typed.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “I thought you weren’t going to do it.” She jabbed her finger into his shoulder. “Who are you and done with my Christian Duke?”
He shrugged. “I changed my mind. You know, I might as well graduate. I’m just going to go in and work on it all day. I’m not even going to any classes.”
“What a change,” she said sarcastically, punching him lightly in the arm. “I bet all your teachers will be disappointed that it came so late in your career.”
He smiled. “Everyone needs goals.” The music stopped and Christian looked down at the discman on the seat. “You want to change that?”
Shannon picked it up and put the Exploited back in its case. She dug through the stack of CD’s and replaced it with TSOL.
“Good choice,” Christian said, as “Superficial Love” started playing.
“So, have you decided what you’re going to do when we’re done with school?”
Christian looked over at her for a moment. “My dad wants me to work in the gun store this summer, but I don’t think I will.” He chuckled. “Maybe I’ll move somewhere and be homeless.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “The singer from one of the bands that came here last year told me that San Francisco is the best place in the world to be homeless. Besides, I’ve never even been off the East Coast.”
Shannon grabbed his arm. “You should come out to Berkeley with me. It's just across the Golden Gate. We’ll get an apartment. You can work while I’m going to school.”
“So you want me to support you?” he asked with a laugh.
“You know what I mean,” she said. “I’ll work too. I just don’t want to go out there alone.”
He pursed his lips and sighed through his nose. “I’ll think about it.” He came to a traffic light at the entrance to the mall and stopped.
She shook her head. “What have you really got here?” She asked. “Andy and Clark will be gone, and would you really want to live with them, anyway? I’m way more fun.” She paused and her voice lowered. “Or you can stay here and work in your dad’s gun shop.”
He sighed. “I’ll think about it. You know I can’t stay here.”
“You have to come with me. Andy and Clark are both going to be in Florida. They’re going to only be about two hours from each other.”
“Maybe you should go to Florida,” he said thoughtfully.
“Yeah,” she said in a low growl. “Have you ever been there?”
Christian shook his head.
“Oh! It’s disgusting!” she cried. “My family went there when I was thirteen, and I hated every minute of it. The whole state is like a giant theme park in Hell. All the people that live there are like animatronic puppets, existing only for the pleasures of the tourists.” She shook her head. “The whole place is so fake, it’s all too good to be true. I don’t even want to go and visit Clark and Andy there. At least I haven’t seen how bad California is yet.”
Christian nodded. His face was drawn and he stared at the steering wheel. “I’m going to have to figure something out. I don’t think I have a lot of choice in what I do after school.” The light turned green, and he pulled into the mall parking lot.
“What do you mean?” Shannon cried. “Are you going to let your parents force you to work? You really are turning into Andy!”
He circled around the back of the mall and claimed a parking space near the door. “No, it’s just... I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me this summer.” He turned around and made sure the back doors were locked. “Maybe I’ll just be an outlaw. I’ll go out on the lam, living by my wits.”
“And why are you going to be running? Why are you going to need to be an outlaw? Somehow, I don’t think the cops are going to chase you cross-country for spray-painting ‘Misfits’ on a wall.” She got out of the car and locked her door.
“No!” he protested, getting out. “I’ll do something real. I’ll kill the president or something.”
Shannon laughed. “You’re going to kill the president, huh?” She cocked her head, mulling it over. “Well, it’s a step in the right direction. Just make sure you get him before they get you.” She smiled. “And don’t worry, if you ever need a place to hide-out, you can always count on me.” She punched him lightly in the arm.
Christian laughed. “I was hoping so, because Clark would run his mouth and blow my cover on the first day.” He furrowed his brow. “And Andy, he wouldn’t even let me near his house.” He pushed open the doors to the main entrance and held them for Shannon.
She smiled and bowed to him, insisting on holding the next door. “Oh, man! He would freak out! He’d be all worried that the pigs would tell his mom about the Victoria’s Secret catalog he keeps hidden under his bed.”
Christian shook his head. “No way. Since he turned eighteen, he’s dedicated himself to the real thing. He has made me drive him down to the porn shop at least once a week. We went at midnight on his birthday. He even used the booths. Talk about uncomfortable for me waiting was.”
“So gross, Chris!” she cried, slapping his shoulder. “You loved every minute of it!”
“I’m the only one who knows.,” Christian said. “He won’t even tell Clark” Christian took a deep breath. “I’m going to get my ass kicked later.” He looked over at her, and then at the ground.
“Just stay in the car. Andy and Clark will meet us out front,” she said, rubbing his arm. “Those fuckheads won't do anything in front of the school. Don’t worry about it.”
Christian shook his head. “I’m so sick of Jim,” he said. “I just want him to die. I just want all of them to die.” He curled his lip menacingly at an old woman that gasped at them.
Shannon was sarcastic. “Don’t say that!” She looked out the window. “It’s not like they deserve it or anything.” When Christian stopped to look at sunglasses in a display case, she grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “That’s the last thing you need in your wardrobe, more black! And that’s coming from me...” she trailed off when she saw caught the sad look in his eye. “What?” she asked.
“I just wish the school would blow up, or something. I’d be willing to die if I knew Jim Smitt was in Hell.”
“Now really don’t say that,” she said, punching him in the arm. “I’d pay a lot of money to be at his funeral, but I’d never trade my life for that piece of garbage.” She leaned against him and said, “I think you’re letting the music go to your head.”
“Music doesn’t make monsters,” he said. When they passed a giant clock suspended above them, he looked up at it. “We don’t have to be back for three hours. Want to go see a movie?”
She looked up at the clock. “What do you want to see?” she asked skeptically. “I don’t have much money, and I want to save it for the show.”
Christian waved his hand. “It’s on me,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure?” she asked, gabbing his hand.
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” she said, leaning against him. “You rule, Chris,” she said.
His cheeks turned red and he looked away. “I do my best,” he said, putting his arm around her.
The only movie playing was a romantic comedy. They took seats in the back talking loudly. A couple in the middle of the theater yelled to be quiet three times but never looked back. Half way through the movie, the couple left. Christian and Shannon stayed until the end, still laughing when they exited the side door of the theater into the parking lot.
As Christian looked around, his smile faded. “God,” he whispered. “There’s no one around. It’s like the whole world is dead.” He looked around again slowly, and then gave Shannon a grave look. “Did you ever get that feeling?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “What feeling?”
“That everything’s gone, that there’s nothing out there,” he said. “Look around, look around and listen,” he said, waving to encompass the whole parking lot. “There are all these cars, but nothing else. No people, no noise, no life. It’s like a zombie movie. This is a major cultural center, and nothing!”
She shook her head. “This is hardly a ‘major cultural center,’” she said with disdain. “It’s the fucking mall, Chris.”
“How can you say this isn’t a cultural center?” he asked. “How many lives are centered here? It’s not just the mall-rats.” he pushed open the doors and they walked back inside. “This is the place our parents go to ‘do things.’ When we were all younger, this was the place we would go to hang out. We can buy clothes, entertainment and food. If there was a place to sleep, we wouldn’t have to leave the mall. We could have our own little colony inside and never have to worry about mother nature again. When the world gets too polluted, we can just seal off the exits and never have to worry about a thing again.”
“Oh yeah?” Shannon said. “And where are we going to get money? Where are all these things that we buy going to come from? Your master plan has a flaw.”
“First of all, it isn’t my plan, it’s society’s. There are several options there. First of all, we could build bigger and better malls, where goods could be produced right within. The other option, is that we continue to become more like ants. We’ll live inside and never see the light of day. Just like ants, we’ll have a lower class that has to live in the harsh climates to get products for the higher classes. We’ll work different jobs inside the mall, and the higher your class, the less you’ll have to work.”
“And how is your class going to be determined?” poorly feigning seriousness.
“Why, the ones who own the stores, of course,” he said. “If you are in possession of where the product is stored and distributed, people are going to be giving you money for it, so you won’t need to work. You would have people working for you, selling your goods, and you pay them. Life will continue on as normal in the mall, but your bosses will be your leaders. It could even end up with wars being fought between stores, people dying for a new pair of GAP jeans. Or armies from bigger malls could come to absorb the smaller malls. This is the eventual progression of our capitalist society.”
“Now you sound like the crusty punks,” she said, laughing. She pointed to the pet store. “Let’s go play with the puppies,” she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the pet store, to the big pens where three black lab pups romped in an open box. Shannon reached in to scratch, and the dogs chewed her fingers and yipped. “They’re so adorable!” She cried. She picked up one of the black dogs and looked in its eyes. “I want one so bad, but my mom would kill me!”
“The hell with her,” Christian said. “‘Break all the fucking rules and go to Hell with Superman.’”
“‘And die like a champion.’” She picked up a dog. “I wish you had your coat,” she said. “We could just steal it. No one is looking.”
Christian smiled. “This weekend we will,” he said.
“Really?” Shannon cried, putting the dog back with its litter-mates. “I’ll tell my mom that we found it wandering on the street. She won’t be able to make me give it up!”
Christian reached down and scratched a few of the pups and smiled at Shannon. As he stood up, his eyes settled on a small clock hanging on the wall. “Well,” he sighed. “I guess it’s time to face the music.”
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