It started out as an unfortunate day. As soon as I awoke from my slumber I was immediately recruited to care for my older sister-in-law who was feeling unwell. I am a very selfish person, so of course the first thought to enter my mind was how unfair it was that she happened to get sick on the very day I had actually made plans to leave the house. To calm my pent-up rage, I spent some time stitching a little cloth pin of a video game character I rather like. (Remember this as it is important later.) When it was the time I was to accompany her to an appointment, she insisted that she was going to skip the check-up and make an appointment for her sudden illness for a later time. I then asked her if she would be alright with my previous engagement ensuing as planned, she consented.
I was, of course, ecstatic.
So I joined my neighbor (who I will refer to as Neighbor) for a day out in the town. We visited Pullman Square and I had my first drink from Starbucks. It was a hot chocolate and it was delicious. After Starbucks, we painted pottery, which I also enjoyed. When I finished with my painting I continued to stitch my little pin. It was ever closer to completion and my pride in my work was sky-rocketing.
When Neighbor was satisfied with her work on her pottery, we left and walked across the street to another store that sold an assortment of cute little things. There were some very adorable dolls I was confident I could recreate in my own fashion.
We were not in there for much longer and left after Neighbor had made a purchase. (What did she purchase? I have no idea whatsoever.) After that visit we entered a clothing store and met a kind woman who looked far younger than her actual age. She was an odd duck, as she continually insisted that she could be Neighbor's mother. Neighbor and I are confident that she was trying to kidnap Neighbor without physical contact being utilized.
Would you want to be adopted by this?
When we escaped the clothing store, (which was a delightful place despite the eeriness of the employee) Neighbor insisted I was to "have my first cupcake from the best cupcake shop around." I ended up trying two cupcakes instead of my usual one cupcake limit. I tried the chocolate and lemon cupcakes, their delectability and the previous events of the day led me to believe that I was truly having one of the best days of my life.
But Fate had other intentions.
We then went to the Huntington Mall, as Neighbor intended to return some clothes she had purchased without previous sizing information. We first had lunch inside a mexican restaurant called "Qdoba", where I had my first real burrito. (Yes, it was a day of firsts for me.) We were delayed several times, the first being to get a cardigan for Neighbor and then all subsequent delays were our attempts to locate a brooch for the cardigan she just purchased.
We did not return the clothes.
After returning home to await the arrival of her daughter and my youngest sister, we encountered my mother and sister-in-law who had just discovered she was ill with Mono. Mom wished to visit the other mall and needed to take the van to the shop for a check-up, so we all split up. Neighbor took the two children and I rode along with Mom. At the mall, we let the two children play on the playground while we sat there and watched over them, making small chat.
While we were in Claire's, my little sister needed to use the restroom, so Mom told me to take her. I was obviously annoyed that I had to escort little sister there instead of her own mother, but I digress. We reached the bathroom and I had little sister go first by herself and then let her look at my character pin. She tried to touch it and I stopped her. I picked up my purse that the pin was attached to and took us out of the bathroom. The pin was still on my purse when I was washing my hands and when I dried them. We started walking down the hall and I lifted little sister and spun her around, we had not gotten all that far away when I recognized the absence of the character pin.
I immediately backtracked and searched the empty hallway leading to the bathroom and the area of the food court just outside the hallway. The pin was gone. Vanished into thin air. I have many theories. One being that one of the cleaning nazis that worked the food court had descended on it and picked it up as soon as it had fallen and thrown it away, like some sort of starving carnivore that was suddenly thrown a fresh slab of meat. Another theory is that someone else picked it up and loved the plush character so much that they had no desire to return it. Upon this theory, my Mom suggested that I may have made someone's day if they truly loved the plush. To which I immediately responded, "Damn them and their thievery!"
Obviously I have learned nothing about selfishness, as the thought of someone else having a good day because of something I made came far second to my fury that the truly good day was not my own.
<--- Solitaire
