A Fatal Delay

Jake and I were moseying around the mall, as broke teenagers tend to do when their moms are off shopping. I hate shopping. After going to GameStop and playing the demo versions of the latest PlayStation games, we realized that we were hungry. So, we hit the food court multiple times, with each of us making a round asking for two samples (for a friend) from nearly every option: Mexican, pizza, Japanese, submarine sandwiches, and the local Chinese joint that would always have two or three different samples to try in the first place. Jack went first, brought back my half of the samples - well out of sight from the food court - and then I made my trip.

In reality, we weren't broke...my mom had given me $50 to make an important purchase. Or really, what I thought was an inconsequential purchase because I really could have made it the day before or any day in the future. However, it was the last thing that I wanted to do; I was hungry. How could I be expected to make decisions when the only thoughts going through my mind revolved around food?

"Jake, this is a great first effort but how do we get more food?" I asked, while savoring the last of my mandarin chicken sample.

"Maybe we should go find our sisters and have them also make a few trips," Jake suggested, clearly also still hungry.

We proceeded to dodge all of the cell phone, jewelry and curling iron mall kiosks (and their smiling workers), on our way to go find our sisters, who could run the same food court route and pick up another four sets of samples. They were just kids and wouldn't be as hungry as we were...and surely the food court guys giving out the free samples wouldn't notice the family resemblance, since Jake's family was all blonde and mine were all brunette. We made sure to alternate between my two sisters and his two sisters.

After our sisters did their duty in helping us acquire some more free samples, I was finally able to think on a not-so-starving stomach, on one of the benches adjacent to the food court. I thought back to my impending "important" purchase and tried to make some decisions. What style should I go for? Should I focus on appearance or function? What will the other kids at school think when they see it? Do I want to risk them laughing in my face or just thinking that it's super cool? Should I spend a little of my own money to get something that's more "me" or will impress my crush? It's not a tattoo for goodness' sakes, but I was reflecting like it would be a permanent presence in my life.

Fifty dollars was a lot of money, given how poor our family had always been. And my mom was trusting me to make the best decision possible - this is probably why I was overthinking it in the first place. My first major purchase (if I ever went through with it), with no parental input whatsoever. I wanted my parents to be proud of the decision that I made, so that I could hopefully be entrusted with making similar decisions...or at least ones with increasing responsibility. I was the oldest child, after all.

I finally turned to Jake with a big smile on my face and said "I think I know what to do!" But Jake wasn't looking at me. He was waving at our moms; they were walking toward us with their hands full of shopping bags from the clearance sale on-going at JCPenney and Macy's.

"Oh good, you found your sisters," my mom sighed with relief. "Did you make your big purchase?" she knowingly winked.

"Not today," I grumbled back. I thought I had finally gotten somewhere, but it was clearly time to leave. I hate shopping anyway. "I am hungry though!" I said with a hopeful smile - hoping to stop by the food court just one more time on our way out.

"Me, too. But we've already gotten fast food for lunch, so we'll just have to wait until we get home in about an hour to eat back at the house," my mom replied.

I took half of the shopping bags my mom had to help her get things to the car. We walked outside and about halfway through the parking lot - my youngest sister exclaimed "Oh yeah, I still have some french fries left in my bag from lunch!"

My eyes widened and a smile crept across my face and I looked over at my mom - who had the same expression. We both started to run, shopping bags in tow. My sisters followed close behind, although I don't think they were as hell-bent on eating cold, soggy fries.

Even though I was an athlete, we were outside of basketball season, so I wasn't in my best shape. My mom had been in the military and although she was smaller than I was, she was still quick. Normally, I was quite average because I cannot run quickly without purpose. That day, I was filled with purpose and was able to beat my mom to the car! As I reached out to pull the handle, I heard something fall to the ground.

People always say that hindsight is 20:20. The car was still locked - I didn't have the keys! My mom came up behind me, jogging and laughing and finally unlocked the car door as soon as she was within reach. I just stood there, staring at the ground. My mom's smile vanished at the sight of me.

I didn't laugh. My appetite was gone. I wanted to cry. My inability to push through my hatred of shopping and just make a decision resulted in a shattered screen and fatality of my phone.

My mom felt bad, so she made sure that my sisters gave me the cold, soggy fries on our trip home as I sat there silently berating myself for not just buying a case - ANY CASE - to protect it. My lack of decision resulted in a lack of cell phone; what a terrible fate for a teenager.