The Mall
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Some argue that the best opening line in literature is Dickens’ “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” But for me, it’s Peter Pan’s beginning, “All chidren, except one, grow up.”
Maybe it resonates to me because I so often stand in the children’s section of the wholesale bookstore at the mall, rediscovering memories of possibility and the fascination of experiencing things anew.
For children, the selection of picture books at the discount store is always quality. The shelves are filled with overstocks and titles with all the popular characters that just didn’t sell enough. And, there are more worthy titles. Tonight, I found an EB White collection of three stories for $5.99.
For adults, the picking is more sporadic. You might make several trips and turn up nothing, then the next visit unexpectedly find the book that’s been on your list for months but the price or your mood for that piece had never been timed right.
I got lucky and for less that six bucks found a hardback copy of On the Road. So with a bag full of books and deep thoughts still fresh from standing among the bookstacks and reading famous works, we head out to the play area in the mall’s middle.
No one could blame us for feeling intellectually elite (for a time) simply because of the way we spent the last hour broadening our horizons. Everyone else around us was pursuing a better pair of pants or maybe a new Hollister shirt.
The mall is not located in a working class area not far from where we live. Late October into early November is the drop in temperature that leads to cold and flu season. We are driven inside every autumn to pursue warmer interests.
The trips are a good way to rediscover childhood, but a better one is reading to the children as they lie in bed after bath time. They fall asleep with fresh imaginations and images in their minds of flying fairies and pirates. They do grow up, though, and they go to work and maybe watch their own children so they can be young again.
All that happens so fast, as quickly as pages turning.
