Scenes From A Mall

Meet the teenagers at the Marq*E Entertainment Center, a one-of-a-kind place that offers everything that matters in life: skateboarding, video games, movies, fortune-telling, bowling, miniature golf, T-shirts, ice cream—and close encounters with the opposite sex.

by Katy Vine

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TAMI: I got this girl's number and called—she's exactly like me but preppy. Same waist size—everything. And so we both called Ryan and broke up with him, and then Ryan and Carrie got into a huge fight.

RYAN: It was about a bunch of little shit.

TAMI: Right. So me and Ryan didn't talk for two months afterward. We got together in September and broke up this past February—the twenty-third or twenty-fourth—and then I called his stepbrother and found out he was in Austin at the Oaks.

RYAN: The Oaks is a treatment facility. I was taking 'shrooms, weed, X, and coke, which led to depression, which led to suicide—

TAMI: He did it because of me.

RYAN: Let's see. That was three weeks ago. What'd I do? Uh, I hung myself in my bedroom. [Laughs] I stood on a chair and kicked it out from underneath me. My brother found me and lifted me up and started yelling. Then my mom came in and my stepdad came in. I was passed out for a couple of hours and woke up in the hospital. Stayed there for three weeks.

TAMI: He loves me.

RYAN: Nah, I did it because I was depressed. I didn't do it because of her. I don't know. So anyway, a few days after I got home, I snuck out of the house and went to a party. I popped too many tabs of X and, ya know, blacked out. Ooh! Our lane's ready. We've gotta bowl.

TAMI: That pretty much brings you up to date. Then he kissed me on the balcony and we're back together! Isn't it great?

I WATCHED THEM BOWL FOR a while. They laced up their shoes in the semi-private lounge at the end of the bowling lane. Instead of the usual plastic or wooden benches, they sat on leather art deco couches that surrounded a small den with leopard-print carpeting and a vintage-style table. A fifties-style chandelier with blue bulbs hung above the seating area. (Some of the dens have red bulbs, but Angel insisted on a den with blue light.) At the front end of the lanes, six televisions broadcast a variety of sports shows: auto racing, soccer, volleyball, and so on. When a Britney Spears song came on the radio, Angel threatened to leave. Then Eminem's "Without Me" played, and Patti and Tami started dancing. "This is our song!" Tami said. The group bowled for several hours, teasing each other with names such as "movie star," "rock star," and "loser." They punched each other playfully and placed each other in headlocks.

Scene: Late afternoon at Jillian's bar. Finished with bowling, TAMI sits alone and waits for her friends to return from downstairs, where they have gone to play a video game.

TAMI: Okay, so you were gone for an hour and totally missed it. Ryan and I like totally got back together. Isn't that great? We were all walking around and we all got ice cream at Maggie Moo's and then we came back to Jillian's and Patti and Angel went somewhere and Ryan looked at me across the table and said, "I love you!" And he says, "Will you go out with me?" And I didn't even say anything. I just walked around the table and kissed him [Sighs]. So, it's official. He had to go. His mom came to pick him up. I love him. I'm so happy. Eee! Isn't it great? You came here, got a love story, and you got a happy ending [Bats her eyes]. Do you want a tour of the mall?

[ANGEL and PATTI return, and the trio head downstairs. They stop to say hello to the doormen, two blond brothers around twenty who have just started working at Jillian's for the summer.]

TAMI: That's Daniel. Say "Hi," Daniel.

[DANIEL waves at TAMI and gives PATTI a hug. TAMI talks to DANIEL's brother JOSEPH for a little while. ANGEL stands alone, chewing her thumb.]

PATTI: I can't believe he hugged me! Did you see that? He's so my boyfriend.

TAMI: Let's look for Zach.

[They walk through Vans, where at least fifty boys and a handful of girls are dressed in knee pads and helmets, to in-line skate and skateboard on the playground of concrete hills and empty pools. TAMI points to one of the Vans employees.]

TAMI: Hi, Chris! Chris is having a bad day. No Zach here. Let's walk around the mall. Okay: That's Hot Topic on the right—they sell goth clothes. And that's Morning Glory, where they have the little Japanese girls' toys. That's Just Sports—I've only been in there once. That's Café Adobe—they're supposed to have good Mexican food; I'm going to eat there when I'm rich. [She stops suddenly and turns to PATTI] Oh, my God! I forgot to tell you! Do you know what Daniel just told me back there? He said he wants to be in our band!

PATTI: Shut up!

TAMI: No, really! Isn't that great? We're going to have a metal band. I'm going to sing and Patti's going to sing, but Angel is going to be in it too. We're going to be called Twisted Halo. It's to be like No Doubt but harder. Like this new girl, Avril Lavigne? But softer. [She resumes the tour] See that guy who runs the phone kiosk? With the wall of all the different cell phone covers? That's John. I know him. And this is the psychic lady. She's nice, but psychics tell lies. Hey! There's my sixth-grade English teacher! Hi! Hi!

[TAMI and PATTI wave at a man in his mid-thirties who is leaving Edwards Cinemas. The man awkwardly waves back and continues walking.]

PATTI: I love him. He always let me talk in class. He didn't care.

TAMI: Yeah, me too. We always thought he was gay until he started dating one of the female teachers. So anyway, I've made out with one, three, five guys who I met here. That's since we started coming.

PATTI: Last year. I've only made out with two or three guys here.

ANGEL: I haven't done any of that.

TAMI: She's tall. Guys are afraid of her.

PATTI: We've got to get her a tall guy. I know someone who she might like, but— [ANGEL puts her hand up in PATTI's direction like a crossing guard stopping traffic. All three girls giggle.]

TAMI: I made out with this one guy—everyone gets a nickname, right? Well, he wore a Tommy Hilfiger shirt, so he was the Tommy Guy, and I made out with him right here once. He was just leaving and I wanted to show him something in the hall and he kissed me! Let's turn around—that's the tour. I'm going to go back to Jillian's. You guys want to come? Okay, let's go. This is the fountain. Sometimes we just sit here and watch bands. One time the guys from Surfers Paradise were giving hula lessons out here, and I got up and did the hula.

PATTI: And I yelled, "Tami, you rock!" and everyone stared. It was so cool.

TAMI: It was cool!

THE MARQ*E ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE a few problems batted around by the modern philosophers of retail—namely, how to put new life into the somewhat stale concept of the mall, just as the Galleria did three decades ago. First, they ask themselves, how do we make a mall feel like more than a mall? Answer: Make it a theme park, with bright colors and elaborate sets. Surfers Paradise, for example, houses small huts inside, where visitors can watch real hula dancers perform to live Hawaiian music. Café Adobe has a patio and balcony outside; inside, it resembles a Mexican courtyard, complete with pink, green, and brown windows that have been fitted with flower boxes. The second question: How to get more people into the mall? Answer: Market to families. The outcome is a retail spin on Disneyland. What the retailers may not have foreseen—and what is ultimately out of their control—is the extent to which this mall would become Teenland.

Scene: Around 7:30 p.m. The sun draws long shadows of palm trees on the pavement as the three girls stumble out of Jillian's.

TAMI: This is Joseph, the twenty-year-old doorman. Oh, my God! I think I'm having a caffeine fit! I just had one, two, three—I just had another Coke. I need to sit down. Are my eyes glassy? Somebody get me a mint. Patti's mom is going to be here in a little while to pick us up.

[JOSEPH the doorman hands PATTI a mint.]

PATTI: Here.

[PATTI backs away from Jillian's doors, into the outdoor courtyard. TAMI stumbles trying to pry the mint out of PATTI's hand, then the three girls wander across the space between Jillian's and the skate park, staggering in front of a security guard.]

TAMI: Hey, let's dance!

[TAMI and ANGEL do the hula, then they walk over to a stool and sit hunched over with their heads down, giggling as they wait for PATTI's parents to arrive. PATTI rolls her eyes and sighs.]

PATTI: They're giving me a headache.

PATTI PRESSES HER TEMPLES WITH her two index fingers. I tell her with as much confidence as I can manage that things will get better in a few years, when she's older. She doesn't appear depressed, just unconvinced. We're standing at the entrance of the mall together, and behind me she can see the entire 350-pace, canopy-covered strip. It's just a short walk, but to a thirteen-year-old, it must look like a long way to the end of the tunnel.

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