As Lisa walks down the Power Isle in the front of store, she thinks about her kids and wonder if her husband is having any trouble with the start of their day. She calls home from her cell phone to check in. After a comforting conversation with her husband, she hangs up her phone. Knowing everything is fine at home; she turns her attention to the sale racks. ‘My son would love this for his stocking’, she thinks to herself. The little $5.00 toy makes its way into her cart. The store is now full to capacity with shoppers, all hungry for the great sales and the thrill of the day.
Moving down the aisle is a painstakingly slow process. Like animals being led to the feeding trough, masses of people slowly work their way through the store. “This is ridiculous ”, she thinks to herself. Lisa is known for her calm attitude. Under normal circumstances, she lets little get to her. But, this morning is not a normal day for Lisa. This is getting to her, very quickly. She feels almost claustaphobic as all the people surround her in the aisle. She feels like her head is in a vice! Like a pressure cooker, she can feel her emotions boiling inside her. Finally, in one brief moment, she screams at the top of her lungs, “come on people! Have your family reunions outside and move on down the line!” Everyone within 30 feet stops and turns to look at her. Everyone is silent, just staring at her in disbelief. “I can’t believe I just did that”, she says to herself. In less than three seconds, like a switch on a wall, her emotions change from anger to embarrassment. She wants nothing more than to crawl into a hole in the wall and disappear.
In a few minutes, people go back to their business. No one will look her in the eye. Everyone around her just looks to the ground as they try to move forward. Finally she sees a break in the crowd. Just to her left, a hole opens in the masses of people, leading straight into a branching aisle. She seizes the opportunity. Like a heat-seeking missile on its way to a target, she heads straight into the hole and ducks into the next aisle.
The aisle is almost empty. She tries to regain her composure, standing there holding onto her cart and crying a little. After a few moments, she looks up to find where she is in the store. She came into the aisle so fast that she didn’t even notice where she was going. She looks around to see what is on the shelves. “Yes!” She says to herself. Unknown to her, she just made her way into the home decor area. “I need some things here anyway.”
After finding her items, she makes her way through the store. Once weaving in and out of aisles, she finally makes her way to the toy section. There she finds more people than toys. Hoping she has fully gotten over her little moment of failure, she presses on into the isles. She’s on a mission. She needs to find those precious Moon Shoes for her son. Every year there seems to be one toy, one request for Christmas that stands out well beyond all others. This year, it’s her son’s need for Moon Shoes.
Slowly she scans the shelves for her item. The toy section is a wreck. It looks like someone came through the aisles with a wrecking ball and smashed everything. Slowly she walks through the isle full of people, scanning the shelves like radar. Finally she spots something about 10 feet ahead. “Could it be them”, she asks herself. She makes her way to the spot on the shelf. There, right in front of her, is one last box of Moon Shoes. One very lonely box in what was once a fully packed shelf of the shoes. She reaches out for the box, when suddenly, to here amazement, another pair of hands quickly snatches up the box. She looks up to whom it was. Standing within inches of her is the one of the girls she was behind outside. One of the very same group of girls that started her day on the wrong foot. She stands there in amazement, just staring at the girl with her mouth wide open. She can feel that overwhelming feeling in her head again, as her heart starts to beat nearly out of her chest. She silently calms herself down and one again looks at the girl. “Um, excuse me, but that was mine”, she says to the little snotty bitch that she now can’t the stand the sight of. “You obviously seen me reaching for it and you took it right under my nose. My son will be very disappointed if he doesn’t get this for Christmas and there’s no more on the shelf.” The girl, with all the attitude in the world, looks at Lisa and says “This is mine, not yours, and don’t think for a minute otherwise”. In one swift movement, the girl then spins around, flinging her hair into Lisa’s face.
This makes Lisa boil inside. Watching this girl go through her motions, and every word that she spoke, has Lisa virtually bleeding from her ears. Her heart races, her eyes are the size of silver dollars, her hands are shaking and her head feels worse than the last blow-up. Suddenly, she snaps. She runs towards the girl. With all the power she has, she hits the girl on the side of the head with her head with her open hand. The girl screams and spins around towards her. Lisa then grabs the girl by her hair and pulls her to the floor. The two are pulling and grabbing at each other, with everything they have. In typical female style, they pull and hank on each others clothing, hair, face and whatever else lends itself at hand. Then, Lisa finds herself on top of the girl. Without thinking a thought, with her open hand, she smashes the girl in her nose as hard as she possibly can.
The girl starts shaking and twitching. Like she’s having a seizure, the girl shakes violently. Then, within seconds, the shaking stops and the girl’s body lies still on the floor. Lisa gets off of the girl and walks over to what was once the girl’s cart. Without showing even a sign of emotion, Lisa takes the box and puts it into her cart. She then starts to walk away from the scene, almost in a trance. The aisle is filled with people who witnessed the crime, but no one will stop her as she walks away. By now several people are on the floor with the snotty girl, tending to her aid. This will prove futile, as she is dead.
