Page 166 - Demo

2545 Redefining AmericaMy third Black Friday, the company wasn%u2019t doing great. There was no commission and no prize. I still outsold everybody.Back in the store, there%u2019s a new body in the body pile and in PoleFace%u2122 a young woman is trying to kill Angela. She%u2019s clawing and screaming, and even from the store entrance, I know what she wants. Angela is pinned against the wall where the SuperShells are. It looks like the girl is about to bite Angela%u2019s nose off. Lance is rolling a teen toward the body pile, and Michel is helping a customer in the shoe section. Richard looks at me and points to Angela and the girl. I know what the girl wants.%u201cHelp!%u201d Angela yells, turning to look at me. She has a reach between her and the girl, but she won%u2019t last much longer. I turn and go to the back room. I look up at the only large SuperShell parka hanging there. I pull it off the hanger. I go outside, and the girl can smell it. She looks in my direction and howls like a wolf.I won%u2019t be alone with this, she%u2019s saying. They%u2019ll like me now.She rushes toward me. I dangle the coat out to the side like a matador. She runs toward it, and I let go and leap out of the way as she comes crashing through the parka. Then with the coat in her hands, she says, %u201cThank you,%u201d in a raspy voice. I watch her at the register. %u201cHave a nice day,%u201d Richard says, as he rings her up. She growls, then says, %u201cYou, too.%u201d I punch back in at the computer. Angela puts a hand on my shoulder. %u201cThanks,%u201d she says.%u201cYup,%u201d I say, and then I go back to my section.A herd of shoppers stops in front of the store. They see the PoleFace%u2122 we have left. I climb on top of my cabin. The people stampede. Some bodies fall and get up. Some bodies fall and stay down. They scream and hiss and claw and moan. I grab my reach and watch the bloodmessed humans with money in their wallets and the Friday Black in their brains run toward me.I smile out at the crowd. %u201cHow can I help you today?%u201dThey push and point in all directions. 20187580blood dries out before she gets all the way across the face.%u201cWhat?%u201d I ask.%u201cDead,%u201d she says. %u201cBuyStuy. Trample.%u201d%u201cOh,%u201d I say. %u201cRight.%u201d%u201cShe was weak. He was weak. I am strong,%u201d the woman says as she pets the face on the box. It hardly smears at all. %u201cWeak,%u201d she repeats.%u201cGot it,%u201d I say.I finish one burger, then I toss the second to the woman. She catches it, tears the paper away, and eats gleefully. My phone moves in my pocket and I grab it. I still have fifteen minutes, but it%u2019s the store.%u201cWe need you!%u201d Richard screams.%u201cI just left,%u201d I say, getting up and starting to walk.%u201cDuo just quit.%u201d%u201cOh.%u201d%u201cHe said he needed to go on break, and I said wait a few minutes, and then he just left. He%u2019s gone.%u201d%u201cI%u2019m coming,%u201d I say.I get up, walk toward the escalator. I step to the conveyor and float down. Coming up on the opposite escalator is Duo.%u201cHungry?%u201d I say.%u201cI couldn%u2019t do it, man. That shit is sad,%u201d Duo says.I grunt something because I don%u2019t have the words to tell him that it is sad but it%u2019s all I have.%u201cIt%u2019s a nice coat,%u201d he says. %u201cBut that%u2019s it.%u201d%u201cWhat?%u201d%u201cThe coat isn%u2019t proof. She knows. You don%u2019t need to, bro,%u201d he says, turning around and rising up the escalator.%u201cDon%u2019t do that,%u201d I say. %u201cNot to me.%u201d%u201cSorry.%u201d%u201cYeah,%u201d I say, and then Duo flies away.5055606570How does the woman%u2019s behavior change once she has secured the SuperShell? What message does this shift convey about consumerism?44Copyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.