A Stroll through the Mall.
The man walked down the hallway lost in his own thoughts. Today was Monday, so what of it? He had nothing to do and nowhere to go, in any case. It was not as if he had any plans. He just wandered around the large shopping complex aimlessly. He looked into the shop windows at goods on display.
There were manikins clothed with all manner of attire, advertising clothes on sale. He did want to buy any clothes, but just looked at what was on offer, just for interest sake. In the watch and jewellery shops he looked at the expensive goods on display on the glass shelves. He was particularly interested in the wrist watches, which he always admired, but never bought.
He looked at some ‘Rotary’ wrist watches in the window of a jeweller’’. Very elegant, he thought to himself, I would like to buy one of those. He looked at the price and did a few basic calculations inside his head. Maybe some other day, he thought, and walked on.
He ambled slowly through the complex, and kept peering into shop windows occasionally. Eventually he came to the waterfront, and stopped to have a smoke. He sat on the small brick wall and took out a cigarette from the packet in his shirt pocket. He put it to his lips, and lit it. He smoked slowly, letting out puffs of tobacco smoke at intervals.
The smoke drifted away in light morning breeze. It drifted and floated away across the water, a gray swirl dissipating as it was blown away and disappeared. He looked at some waterfowl frolicking in the water close-by. They amused him for a while as he sat and smoked, and all the while he watched their antics intently. The dark waters that they were playing in rippled by soft and gently.
When he had finished his cigarette, the man got up and stubbed it out with the sole of his shoe on the pavement. He took a deep and almost sad breath, and put his hands in his coat pockets, as he turned to one of the wings and exits of the complex. Then he walked slowly, and almost aimlessly, down the corridor lined with shopping outlets…
