Shoplifters Will Be Persecuted
Chapter 3 — The Escalators
The next week passed easily enough. She ignored the pictures from the tourists, listened to snippets of customers’ conversations, chatted with Maggie and Meka, and took bets on the new girls’ survival before being moved. Between Meka’s gangsta anger and Maggie’s rebelliousness, Lauren’s smart blonde sensibility fit in perfectly. She never forgot where she was or thought being trapped as a store mannequin was a good thing, but at least she had friends and people who would listen to her, so she could feel calm about the situation. It helped that the outfits were gorgeous and fit her like they’d been designed for her. “Hey, if this is to be my life’s work, there are worse things,” she said, mostly to Maggie and Meka’s laughter.
“Yeah, being trapped looking like some supermodel. Shit, I told my crew that would be me, they’d think I was crazy,” Meka replied one day.
“Oh, she’s just excited ‘cause they put her in a short skirt today. Did you see the pose they put you in? How would that even be legal in the real world?” Maggie said. Lauren had in fact gotten a good look at herself that morning, and her short white skirt matched with a black top was quite the head turner if she did say so herself.
“Well, yeah, but can’t control that. Or are you just sick of the catcalls? I am a little, though there were some doozies, and that one guy that came with his girlfriend ‘round eleven- oh, I’d show him this in a moment!” Lauren cracked back at her friends.
“Hey, I’d pimp you if you were into that sort of thing,” Meka replied.
“My price starts at $1,500, I believe,” Lauren mocked.
“$1,699.99, actually. It’s a great bargain! You could go elsewhere and pay close to $2,500!” the den mother sniped back, absolutely seriously, her mental voice haughty.
“I never got that. Do they expect us to act like salesgirls despite... you know.. not moving, or talking, or doing anything but thinking real loud at each other?” Lauren asked Maggie.
“They’re as bored as we are. They think making us act like workers makes them powerful. Think about it. They had lives before they got repo’d too. Always wondered how this place got around the husbands and kids. But I really don’t wanna know. But if I were some suburban white bitch young enough to be stupid and rich enough to have a credit card to begin with, I’d be a bitch like that too,” Maggie thought.
“Or she seen enough girls that they’re turning her on!” Meka joked.
The den mother was not amused. “Such filthy minds! Here almost a month, and more in Maggie’s case, and you’re still content being escalator junk. You ladies have so much potential, if you just took your job seriously,” she lamented.
“Job? Yeah, this one’s on crack. You sure she wasn’t trying to steal stones to pay her dealer?” Meka thought with a cackle.
“I’ve had this bitch type before. She just thinks she’s whatever kind of snotty boss she was before she paid her debt in plastic,” Maggie scoffed.
“Paid her debt in plastic, nice! I know her cover! They just told he truth to her co-workers, and they threw a three-day block party!” Lauren fired back.
“Children, all of you. Why do I even bother? But if you like standing around doing nothing all day, it’s your business,” the den mother despaired.
“Whatever, bitch,” the three girls thought almost all at once as they continued through their day before being placed back in the secret room for the night.
“Will you girls play nice with Ashlynn already? Shouldn’t her five-thousand-dollar evening gowns command enough respect from you?” the saleswoman asked. The humanity that the sales people treated the mannequins with was refreshing on the surface and deeply creepy the more Lauren thought about it. Some of them seemed to like the idea of being an inanimate object for the rest of their lives, while others acted like they were six-year-olds playing with the coolest dolls ever.
“Hey, at least we’re not sitting at some table with little plastic teacups and teddy bears,” Meka agreed.
“Shut up before she gets any ideas!” Maggie protested, her mental voice having the sound of a hurried whisper.
“The idea that they freaking get e-mail from mannequins creeps me out. I know how the system works, but still. What the hell.”
The saleswoman flipped on the television with her empty smile- only to see her normal teenage drama replaced by opening night baseball. “Aw, darn. Oh, well, Dodgers it is!”
“Angels and ministers of grace preserve us, something that doesn’t suck the life out of you! Not my Reds, but worth staying awake for,” Lauren said, wanting to grin.
“True enough!” Maggie said in agreement.
“That explains your total lack of taste! I mean, you two probably don’t need the boys to get you all excited!” one airheaded girl who had joined them that afternoon said.
“Listen, Barbie, you played enough dolls, you know there’s nothing in their pants to get excited over!” Meka mocked.
The game was a nice change of pace, and Lauren felt like she was hanging out with friends at a local sports bar, taking in the game and arguing calls. One girl just out of range kept trying to argue that the National League needed the DH, which was such patent nonsense that Lauren argued with her for the entire seventh inning stretch.
Morning came, and they were dressed up in their new costumes for the day. Lauren got put into a traditional tight jeans with a tighter t-shirt combo, as did Meka. “Still not what they got me for. Hell, I wasn’t boosting anything. They either didn’t bother to check the pockets or enjoyed what was in there too much to care,” Meka boasted, which made Lauren uncomfortable. While she could admit to herself that she was a chronic petty thief for the thrill of getting away with it, Meka made no secret that she was in a gang, and Maggie also seemed to be a professional thief. Still, she could deal with them more than the girls who would stereotypically be more her speed.
The saleswoman got ready to read the roll, but she did a double-take before she started rattling off names. “Well, I’ll be! I guess punk is the new trend!”
If Lauren’s jaw hadn’t been secured in place by rock hard plastic, she would have felt it drop as Maggie was set aside with the others going up front. “Wow, never thought they’d ever put her in the main display area,” she said with a whistle.
“Man, though, she was here a while. She was here when I got here, and before you, right? No one else around us lasted a week. Guess you and me are some kind of special,” Meka said.
“Well, yeah,” Lauren said, wondering what new world Maggie was heading to. The torn denim skirt, black tights, leather jacket, and biker t-shirt looked like the kind of outfit that Maggie would be in if she had a choice.
“At least I didn’t leave in a bra and thong like Monica did!” Maggie said, defiant to the end even as her voice faded out of Lauren’s range.
Lauren pondered that. She hadn’t seen Monica leave, only heard, and she could only guess what kind of skanks ended up in the lingerie department. Her train of thought was interrupted as she was trotted back out onto the escalator that had become her home. Ashlynn’s despair and indignation spread over the room like a cloud. “They’re looking for troublemakers? That Maggie will be in the front window just by default! What is this store coming to?”
“Somehow I can’t find it in me to give a good goddamn,” Lauren sniped back.
“Ah, so much to learn. I like you, Lauren. It’s not your fault you were put in with two troublemakers who happened to have the measurements to be taken in. But you have to understand that this is not a bad job. Oh, yes, I was scared to death when I was processed, and for my first few weeks I was just as defiant as you are right now. But don’t consider yourself a prisoner or a slave. You have a wonderful opportunity to grow inside without growing outside. Imagine yourself with your perfect nineteen-year-old body going back to college with years of business acumen in your brain.”
“Jesus, be a set of earplugs. They must have hooked her up to a gas pump and shot her full of Kool-Aid,” Meka groaned.
“Who needs Kool-Aid when they stick us in front of that teenage wasteland every night? I sleep through it, except when the Dodgers preempt them, but it’s gonna get to us one way or another. Helps that the fringe stations are broke- I don’t want to consider what dreck they’d find there,” Lauren said gently.
“Most of you on the escalators are of the young and stupid variety, stealing to be funny, or cute, or impress someone. You should understand that. Most of your kind happen to like that sort of show, and it does help with their understanding of what their punishment is. For taking from them, they take from you, everything but your thoughts. But this stay is anything but imprisonment. Why else would we be allowed to converse through the mainframe?” Ashlynn asked.
“Because they can’t afford the insurance to just kill us!” Lauren practically snarled.
“They do have the intention of freeing you, you know. When will depend on how much you learn, and on how you mature out of the stupidity that forced Mr. Gimble to make you like this in the first place. See-” Ashlynn continued her speech, but Lauren had had enough and cut out to talk to Meka.
“Has she always been on her high horse and I wasn’t listening? What a lunatic. Only thing she’s good for is a laugh,” Meka said as she and Lauren began the day’s gawking at customers and breaking in the new girls in hopes of finding someone else to have a conversation with. All too soon, it was the end of the day and they went back to the secret room. Sundays were the worst of all the days. The store was only open a few hours, which meant extra time completely surrounded by airheaded newbies and watching more TV than Lauren could stomach. The salespeople were also more awake, which meant more lectures about being so lucky to have all free movement taken away by force. It was depressing to think what the salespeople’s lives were like for them to think that Lauren’s predicament was preferable to living life.
“Meka, they got me. They’re right. I’m learning a very valuable life lesson here,” Lauren announced gravely.
“Shit! No, no, no! Stay with me, Lauren! There’s nothing good about this!” Meka shouted.
“But I have to give credit where it’s due, and I learned something important today,” Lauren said with all the sarcasm her brain could muster up. Knowing that they were essentially exchanging IMs, she imagined a little angel smiley at the end of her sentence.
“What, you realized what kinda plastic they got us buried in?” Meka asked.
“No, I realized that whatever I do, I’m never, ever, ever, ever, ever, going to end up a department store salesgirl,” Lauren replied.
Meka laughed. “Oh, no you didn’t! But that gives me an idea!” She directed her attention to the nearest salesperson and thought very loudly, “Hey, pretty lady, if your life is so boring and you want my job, how ‘bout you go to your boss? I’ll volunteer to trade with you!”
“What are you... oh, I see what you did there!” Lauren said as the salesperson smiled and walked away, giving Lauren an angle to see the text on her handheld computer. Communicating with real people- well, okay, walking around people, ‘cause I don’t think the salespeople are all that real- doesn’t work so well, but it was worth a shot. I think you’re right. She totally would trade places.” She decided to keep that idea in her back pocket in case the opportunity presented itself again.
Night passed into morning again, and Lauren prepared herself for another day, waking up as much as she wanted to and readjusting to how her muffled senses worked. Suddenly, she felt herself being wheeled away, much to her amazement. “Off to the real floors!” one of the people next to Lauren squealed with jealous excitement. Lauren was not impressed.
“We had no idea you were such a tomboy! This will be perfect for you!” the saleswoman said as she readied Lauren into a pair of red and black tight shorts and a matching sports bra. She lowered the prod and studied Lauren’s standing form. “A perfect fit! We’re going to the seventh floor. You’ll be much happier there. Sporting goods and exercise products, here we come!”
They got off the freight elevator, and Lauren strained to see as much as she could. The display was an elaborate locker room with men and women showing off both the latest sports equipment and the newest sneakers and shorts. Unlike the escalator, the split was even, at least as much as Lauren could tell before the feel of the prod on her head distracted her from her count. She felt her body squatting down, then her legs being pushed into a stretching position against one of the weight benches that was also being showcased. Her body moved into the pose with perfect accuracy and heartwrenching reality, and she was able to recognize that they were using an age-old tactic to draw the audience’s attention; she could practically see her own ass as her head was bent. One last push, and her body was numb and frozen again.