The Mannequin

He crawled down through the dusty duct of the fan and boosted himself all the way down to a grid inside the building. He knocked off the grid with his hands and stuck out his head staring crazily about. He looked like Jack Nicholson in the movie "the Shining." He jumped down from the duct and walked toward the mannequin clutching his sledgehammer. He remembered where she was. The floor was shining when he walked on it and his dark shadow was following him. There was a deep, scary silence in the store.

He walked down to the end of the aisle, turned at the corner and saw the mannequin standing solemnly in the middle of the aisle and looking into his direction. He approached her with his sledgehammer.

"Hi," she said, looking at his sledgehammer. She looked beautiful.

Steve was stunned. He dropped his jaw and his sledgehammer at the same time.

"My name is Sally Hagar," she said smiling. "Do you want to dance?" and she came closer to him, her breasts almost touching him.

After a stretch of silence, Steve said, "Yes," and he gave her his hand.

As the mannequin held his hand, a calm, soft music came to his mind, and he began to dance. He felt her breasts touching his chest and he melted with pleasure. He fell in love with her in a second.

From here you could see a janitor mopping the floor at the end of the aisle. His head was down as he was mopping with slow parallel movements. The janitor now lifted his head and saw Steve holding the air and dancing alone. The janitor, a young man, leaned his mop against the stacks and quickly went to call the police.

"Do you love me?" Sally said to Steve.

"Yes, I do, Sally," Steve said. "You are the one I always wanted to fall in love with."

Sidi Cherkawi Benzahra July 1st, 2003