The chirp of the alarm confirmed another workday had concluded. Quiet sobs began from the corner and moved to the storeroom doorway. When the lights flipped on, Janet could see the glitter in her peripheral view – dried painted streaks of blues and pinks and greens ran through her hair and down her costume. Her apron was torn - the ruffle outstretched and laid flat on the floor at her feet. The sobbing began again, but more resigned and hopeless – it was the third time in a week she’d been abused this way.
“I said I don’t want to be Alice – no children’s characters, in fact! I said it! I say it all the time, but no one cares! No one listens to me!” She stormed into the storeroom, muttering under her breath about obscure characters and cult classics.
“I don’t know why she gets so upset,” Melinda whispered.
“She acts like it’s like this all the time,” Jenny huffed with an eyeroll so wide, her head followed the momentum.
“It’s not like she’s the only one! Look at this,” Amy slammed her basket on the counter and angrily pulled back the gingham kerchief to show a headless plush dog, “Look what they did to him!” She tugged at the ribbons in her braided hair, combing it through with her fingers, then dropped them in the trash can as she crinkled her nose.
Melinda and Jenny recoiled in horror at the sight of poor Toto, Melinda started crying in a soft whimper, which elicited another eyeroll from Jenny.
“I swear if this is what it’s going to be like for the rest of season, I’m going to find a way out of this place,” Jenny muttered, dropping to her hands and knees to look for the stuffed dog’s head so they could get back to doing anything but crying about the people. “I just don’t understand why you want to spend your time crying all the time, when you don’t have to. You don’t have feelings. You’re not real!”
“I feel real,” Melinda whispered, without looking up from her dirt smudged shoes.
“You don’t even know what real feels like, Dummy.”
“That’s enough, Jenny,” Amy moved to stand in front of Jenny, challenging her to continue.
“Whatever,” Jenny pelted Melinda with the plush dog head, then stalked off into the storeroom.
“You okay?” Amy asked Melinda, folding the kerchief carefully over her headless companion.
“Yeah, she just…nevermind.” Melinda straightened herself and took a deep breath. “Alright, what do you want to do tonight? Fashion show? Charades? Dance party?” She pulled back the kerchief and stuffed the head in the basket, then covered it again.
“I was thinking we could check out that new movie - but I’ve got to change first – I can’t go out in this,” Amy fanned out her shirts, showing marker stains and lipstick smears down the side of her dress.
Melinda stifled a laugh, “’tis the season!”
“I don’t think that’s this one! Come on, let’s go.” Amy headed for the storeroom and Melinda followed.
Janet pulled her cap down low and flipped her collar up to cover her ears. She’d grabbed a jacket from the Lost & Found box, but any errant streetlight would give her away to anyone sober – and prove equally provocative to anyone not. She hurried down the side street that was poorly lit and mostly empty, but for a few tire and body shops which were all closed after dark. As she neared the end of the block, she turned right into the alley, well before anyone at the next cross street would take note of her. She climbed up onto a loading dock and sat down, wondering what it would be like, to just not go back there.
“She’s not here,” Jenny said with a shrug, as she rifled through the racks in the storeroom. “What do you guys want to do tonight?”
“I have to change, she wants to see that new movie,” Melinda said, pushing past Jenny to a rack near the fire door, shoving hangers aside to make room for proper rummaging.
“Where do you think she went?” Amy asked, dropping her basket – and her companion’s remains – in the trash can.
“Who cares?”
“You’d care if it was you,” Amy said, looking pointedly at Jenny without raising her head from where she had been assessing the damage to her ruby slippers. “Kids, eh?”
“You got off easy, did you see what they did to Janet? I get why she’s pissed, but what are we supposed to do about it? Winding ourselves up and getting upset with feelings we don’t even have seems like a waste of time, to me. This is it; this is what we do – I don’t know what she wants,” Jenny trailed off, moving to a different rack. “Didn’t we just get a truck in? Where’s the new stuff?”
“Nobody unpacked it!” Melinda called from the back of the room.
“Ridiculous – it wasn’t even that busy today.” Jenny slammed some hangers together for effect and went back out front, “Let me know when you guys figure out what you want to do – I’ll be next door, petting the kitties!”
The disabled alarm system chirped, and the door chimed as she left, followed by unintelligible mumblings as Melinda came from the back of the room.
“I can’t hear you,” Amy laughed.
“I said ‘Where do you think Janet’s gone off to?’” Melinda pulled a dress over her head as she walked, “She’s different lately, gets upset a lot.”
“Yeah, I don’t know – she doesn’t talk to me. Let’s go,” Amy pushed the door open while Melinda clasped her hand, heading out into the mall for another night without the people.
Janet hopped down from the loading dock, resolved that anything would be better than going back. She slung her bag over her shoulder, tucked her chin to her chest, and headed toward the streetlights.
