An Empty Mall

The first months of the year are the worse for retailers. This is a view of what I stare at five days a week. Notice the empty store next to Kay Jewelers, that is where Old Navy stood until February. Three other stores in my mall closed as well. 


The big expanse of floor used to hold "The Bouncy Thing" where people would strap into bungee chords and bounce up and down.

 Usually this space is occupied by The Easter Bunny or Santa during the holidays, but right now there exists a theme of nothingness. 


At some point in time, I began wondering if I were the main character in a book similar to The Neverending Story and the enemy "the nothing" was coming for my mall. I know it sounds crazy, but your mind begins to stray towards delusional thoughts after staring at an empty mall for several hours. 

The two or three couples (on a busy day) say the same comments, "Wow...pretty busy, huh?" or "Are you awake?"

I reply, "This is my moment for reflection and meditation. Not too many people can get paid to meditate at work."  We laugh and they leave me all alone to the overhead music of the store. I get lost in my thoughts and write-up ideas for stories or blog posts in my head.

As the image on the right demonstrates, this is my empty mall and here is my bench that I sit on to meditate about my writing. 

In some strange way I am a character in the current U.S. recession and "the nothing" has come after me, but I flipped the situation to my own benefit. Here I sit writing about my empty mall and sharing it with my audience.