Earth

Shopping

"'Cause we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl!"

-Maddonna, "Material Girl"

Sarafina and I walk into my room. I shut the door behind us. Sarafina takes a seat on my bed. I walk over to my altar, which has been carefully decorated by Mapa and Darren with white doilies, red candles, and a blue cloth in spirit of tonight's celebration of Yule. I light my newest white candle, which stands tall in the middle of the table.

I set the lighter down, and turn toward Sarafina. She doesn't look sad anymore. Her face seems to display nothing but pure annoyance instead. "Did you actually buy Mom a Yule present?" She asks.

"No," I say, taking a seat next to her. "I just said that so she wouldn't drill us about why we decided to skip school."

"But Anna, her powers are at a very high point right now. She probably has strengthened telepathic and psychic abilities. She might just be able to see right through you," Says Sarafina, as she tilts her worn-out neck.

"So? What are we going to do about it?" I say, with a slight tone of anger mixed into my voice.

Sarafina looks me dead in the eye. Never have I seen her so serious. "We are going to the mall," She says.

"The mall is too crowded, Sarafina!" I quietly protest.

"Yeah, but I don't want to piss off a pregnant witch," Whispers Sarafina. "We'll leave in 15 minutes, when Mom heads to work."

I nod. I grab my makeup bag, head to the bathroom, and take a look in the mirror. Not surprisingly, I look like dog shit. I have pimples on my forehead and zits on my chin, ripe and ready to burst. I grab some concealer, and smear it onto my acne. It burns, but I blend it anyway. I need to look good.

I brush my hair out, and then open the bathroom door. Sarafina is pacing around our room. Her hair is done up in a ponytail, now. Her facial expression is extremely angsty. Her hands shake a tiny bit.

"Are you ready to go, or is there any prepping you need to do before hand?" I ask, as I strut into our room.

Sarafina sits down on our bed. She fiddles with her hair, and does some breathing exercising. Until now, I never knew dealing with a pregnant witch and buying her Yule presents could be so stressful. You never REALLY know until you see it happen. It's the experience that matters. 

"No," she says, as she sighs. "I'm fine."

"Alright then," I say, "Let's go downstairs."

We pace down the lengthy mahogany staircase. When we arrive in the kitchen, we notice my mom is in the entryway. She is fully dressed in her gym clothes. She looks a bit funny, since her pregnant belly is sticking out of her nylon top. I chuckle to myself, and then Sarafina shushes me. 

"We don't want her to know that we're leaving to buy her a present!" Sarafina whispers.

My mom rubs her belly, and then leaves the house. Sarafina rushes over to the front door, and she sees that Mom's car has finally escaped the driveway. She grabs her golden purse, and runs back to me. "Come on!" She says. "We can go! We'll just run to the bus stop, and head to the mall."

40 minutes later, we have finally arrived at the mall. This is not the strip mall, but a bigger, more popular one. It is called, "La Boutique de Stars," which means, "The Shop of the Stars," in French. It earned its name about 11 years ago, when this mall was a hot spot for celebrities. Unfortunately and ironically, since then, only 2 celebrities have been spotted there. And these are still really low-key indie musicians. I wonder why the creators of this mall haven't changed its name. 

Sarafina and I are in the center of the entire mall. We have a good view of Mom's favorite shops: Kelly's Garden (an herbal shop), Velas de la Oshira (a shop that sells magick candles, mostly for practitioners of Santeria and other witchy religions), and Ouija 100 (a divination shop). I know that Mom works mostly with herbs, but I don't know if it would be practical to get her more. The kitchen is already stacked with juniper berries, basil, sage, pepper, saffron, and other herbs. Mom and Mapa already have a lot of candles, and neither of them practices Santeria, so I don't know how well these candles would work for them. I guess we'll have to buy her something from Ouija 100--it's kind of a last resort option, but she does need some new tarot cards. 

I point to Ouija 100. "Let's find her something in there!" I say.

"Does Mom even do divination?" Sarafina asks.

"Well, she is part psychic," I say, "So she could."

Sarafina nods. "Okay. Let's go."

We walk into Ouija 100. The shop has its title for a reason. There are pendulums hanging on the walls of various, beautiful colors. There are three bookshelves filled with books called, "Spirits, Ghosts, and Angels 101," "Spiritual Communication: The Basics," "Creromancy: The Art of Candle Divination," and "I Love Tarot! How to REALLY Connect With Your Cards." These books seem to be for beginners. Obviously, Mom doesn't need any. 

The shop is so crowded with stuff! It is crazy! "Where are we supposed to find tarot cards?" I ask Sarafina. 

There is no response. This worries me a bit. 

"Sarafina? Where are you?" I ask.

I turn around. She was standing to my right just a minute ago, but she isn't there anymore. I am internally freaking out. My heart is beating at a crazily quick pace. I can feel my blood rushing through my body. Where has she gone? I run around the store looking for her. I don't see her anywhere. 

"SARAFINA!" I yell. 

No response.

Then, I head to the exit of the store. I run like there is nothing stopping me and no one judging me, even though all the other shoppers are looking at me with concern. I call out her name a couple more times when I exit the store. Still nothing. When I run outside, I see her accompanied with an older girl. This girl is wearing a leopard print coat, skinny leather pants in the color brown, big, clunky wedges, sunglasses, fake nails, and eye-glasses. The two are about to enter a convertible, one that looks extremely expensive. I keep running, and try to stop her from entering the car with a stranger. But they drive away before it's too late.