I push open the big door,
laughing,
all the time in the world.
I step into another place.
People struggle past-
too many packages heaped in their arms,
faces strained and distant.
Why did they shop if it bothered them?
It didn’t bother me at all.
The cheerful sound of Jingle Bells
full blast
overwhelms the tumult,
And I hum along.
First Joe. I know exactly what to get him.
Sold out? How can you be…
Well, I do have another idea.
Really, that music is a bit too loud.
Three people down,
I’ll just pay for this-
How dare he cut in front of me?
There should be a law.
Stop smiling.
That music. If I only hadn’t come.
An eternity later, I stumble towards the door.
A crazed person holds it open for me.
Then he willingly enters the torture chamber.

–Katelyn Thomas

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