My Christmas Eve Adventure, Part III

And I was proud of myself. So very proud! I had actually gotten all the way to the city BY MYSELF! I wished I had someone to share my triumph. But now I needed to be practical. I had to find a place to sit and rest for a while, and then plot out the rest of my day. There was a little ice cream shop a few floors down that I had noticed the last time I was here. I dug some money out of my purse and treated myself to my favorite dessert; a banana split.

I found a little corner table, dug into the ice cream and began to think. The store closed at 5:00 pm, an hour and a half from now. I would need to be hiding in the Ladies Room stall by then. I wondered how long it would take for the store to clear, and the employees to leave. Maybe an hour? Hopefully by 6:00pm I would be alone. I thought about home again. 6:00 pm was the time my family was scheduled to go out to eat, back in Palatine. We had dinner reservations at an Italian restaurant this evening, as was our tradition on Christmas Eve. I would miss all that this year; the stuffed shells, the garlic bread, the yummy cannoli, the man with the violin who came around to tables, playing “Silent Night.”

I licked the whipped cream off my spoon and thought more about my family. A lump formed in my throat and I began to feel homesick again. What would my parents do when they found out that I had run away? Would they be worried or angry? Would they miss me tonight? Thoughts that hadn’t occurred to me previously began to plague my mind. Up to now, I had mostly been a compliant, responsible child. Suddenly, a list of all the rules I had blatantly broken flashed across my brain. Here I was, a runaway on Christmas Eve! Was I being really selfish to want A Great Adventure?? I finished the banana split and shook my head defiantly. No. No. Absolutely not! This was MY Great Adventure. I needed this. It was good for me. Years from now, my parents and I would talk and laugh about this night. It would become a good family history story, I was certain. I would not think about home anymore. I would go and browse until it was time to hide.

6:something pm. I had been hiding in the stall of the Ladies Room for over an hour. It had been easier than I thought. I had tarried, washing my hands a bunch of times as the bathroom cleared of shoppers. Then I put my feet up on the toilet seat in the last stall, scrunching down as tightly as I could, and left the door slightly ajar. I imitated what I had seen done once on an episode of “The Rockford Files”. Someone, an employee perhaps, had eventually come in, called, “Is anybody here?” and then satisfied that the bathroom was empty, turned out the light.

Now it had been very quiet for what seemed like ages. I had, at first, heard footsteps going back and forth, and dim voices, then nothing. I climbed down from the stall, and stretched my cramped legs. My heart raced as I cautiously opened the Ladies’ Room door, and looked out. The store appeared to be empty! Very empty and dark. Unbelievably, creepily dark. The blackness felt overwhelming to me, and quite scary. I hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight, darn it. I hoped that the lack of light was only due to the fact that the Ladies Room was in a corridor.

I stood for a few minutes, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then I slowly edged along the wall, and turned down the corridor into the Toy Department. Still it was pretty gloomy, with a miniscule amount of illumination from the streetlights outside the windows. The once-friendly Toy Department, my favorite place in the whole store, now looked morose and threatening. I quietly, cautiously walked down an aisle, my macramé purse held in front of me for protection. Shadows fell across the floor. I turned down another aisle and nearly screamed. Big white eyes confronted me! I sank to the floor, relieved, as I realized it was a large stuffed teddy bear. I put my hand on my chest as I waited for my breathing to return to normal.

I was beginning to have second thoughts about spending the night here. In all my planning with Kerry, it had never occurred to me that Marshall Fields after closing would be so dark! This was VERY disappointing! I had imagined that the store would be just as it was during the day……only emptier. Completely devoid of shoppers, yet all the merchandise ready and available to me and only me. I had pictured myself trying on all the perfumes, playing with the Barbies, reading the comic books, and possibly eating a potpie in the Walnut Room. I’d dance through the aisles with the mannequins, singing at the top of my lungs and joyously relishing my freedom while spraying Chanel #9. Marshall Field’s would be a castle, and I would be its queen!

But now my favorite store seemed gloomy and frightening. And I hated the dark! At home, I always slept with the closet light on. I had an overactive imagination and I was not a courageous child. But then another thought; an empowering thought, occurred to me. Yes, I WAS courageous. I had gotten all the way here by myself, hadn’t I? I had outsmarted every shopper and employee, and was now sitting in one of the most famous stores in Chicago ALL BY MYSELF. I could do this! I would be brave. I would pretend that I was Nancy Drew. I just needed a weapon.