Emma and I have a handful of shopping bags that are swinging on our arms, almost sending me to topple over. We walk down the mall’s tiled floor over to the escalator. I look at people walking by and notice the strange mix in the crowd. I hear the laughter of random people erupting out, and then echoes in the building. People saunter into stores leisurely and stroll out the same way. Some people are in pairs chatting and hanging out, there are groups who all snicker at each other or just people flying solo because they had nothing better to do today. Bright smiles light up peoples’ faces as they pass us. We approach the escalator to go up to our next destination, Forever 21.

As we glide onto the escalator Emma starts to slide. She has one foot planted on one side and the other three steps down. Before I know it she is doing the splits on the moving stairs. Her legs are getting farther and farther apart. She squeals in pain and then laughs at the same time. I am cracking up and we start to get weird looks from all the shopping people lining the escalator. Now she is grunting and going “Owwwwww. Ohhhh.” Some stare in utter confusion thinking,” What is wrong with her?” or others are mirroring my exact reaction. I can only stand helplessly laughing and giggling. I try to yank her up, but it’s like she’s stuck in a painful splits. Her face is soooo funny; her face is scrunched in a laughing, but yet in a cringing way that makes you want to burst out laughing. I feel sort of like a bad friend, but since she is giggling to, it makes me feel a tad better. She reminds me of Buddy the elf when he does the splits on the escalator when he visited the mall. Imaging that image make me cry out historically all over again. The floor on the top floor closes in on us and I glance at Emma still in a hilarious pain. Then the ride is almost over and she tips over while trying to scramble off the escalator. She sloppily stands up. “You okay?” I question in between laughs. In a chuckling state she replies,” Oh ya.” Then we chat as we continue our trek to Forever 21. We dodge through the crowd of moving bodies to our next destination.

We both stroll to the store laughing our heads off at what has just happened. For the millionth time that day, we get that stare from grownups that state that we must have some issues, but who cares. We head over to a rack side by side maneuvering through the store. The rack has some shirts that snatch my attention. At some point I guess Emma brakes off to go check out some other stuff that sustain her interest. I select some things off the rack and try them on. While I continue to shop around, I notice my best friend’s absence is seriously an absence. She is now where to be found. I wander aimlessly around the store still sort of laughing to myself. My gaze sweeps the floor searching for her. I try to track her down, but all I see is a bunch of strangers. I can’t locate her at all. I seek just some red hair that stands out, but still nothing. I start to call her name, “Emma? Where did you go?” I start to draw attention to myself, and I try to peek at the faces, still no trace of her.

Then I spot her…… she has a big black bag over her head. Her red ends peeking out from underneath the shadows of the bag that has Forever 21 labeled on the front; I know that only Emma would attempt a stunt like that. A laugh bursts out of my mouth. She trails me around the store and now I defiantly am getting weird looks from the fellow shoppers at my black bag headed stocker. I whip my head around to find myself face to face with a bag head and I let a load full of giggles explode from my mouth. I am cracking up as I walk through the store, again, I just can’t help it. She stumbles around crashing into thing, or makes some funny motion with her body. The bag just tops it off. I watch as people laugh top, and then there’s me who is about to pass out from all the giggling.

When we finally decide to leave, she has to take off the sack. She pulls it off her head, and a girl with a laughing face replaces the black sacked head. She has a bad case of bag hair. I force her to set it down so we can depart this store with memories engraved in our minds. We head off to the food court cracking up for the billionth time again today. As we exit we get odd gawks but that’s okay because that was the most hilarious thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life. I think I will still be laughing at this memory with friends and family for quite some time. And with that we saunter to the food court with our stomachs growling, and yearning for something to chow down before we start our laughing session all over again.