The Mall by Karen Blayne

Oh by the way red tape first.

Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus they are not suitable for you so put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.

They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author. All copies must be of the complete document. ©2014 Asstr.org accepts donations if you’re feeling rich or even if you’re not.

Luv Karen

Nancy looked round the store she’d worked at for two years now, the final day’s sale everything reduced by 50%. Every last item in the store was dictated by central office and what they could negotiate the lowest price on, not what people wanted to buy. She hoped she’d find another job shortly but the Mall was slowly dying, the two anchor stores had already closed down and there wasn’t much left. The big box stores seemed to be taking all the trade now and with their self service cash tills there were getting to be fewer and fewer jobs around.

“What sort of store would work here do you think?” “Something that wasn’t mass market and catered to the mall walkers, they are the base customers now one way or another, an upmarket card shop, a specialist CD store perhaps even a post office.” “Could you manage an upmarket card store?” “Are you offering?” He looked such an nondescript person, even a little on the short side he couldn’t be serious could he? “Well the banks aren’t offering high interest rates, the stock market’s flat so yes if you don’t mind setting it up I could probably bankroll it, 5% commission and a base salary of twice the min wage?” Well there weren’t that many alternatives immediately available “I could start tomorrow?” He nodded and gave her a card “Look round and see if you’d like a different unit, see the mall managers and let them know then ring these shop fitters up and sort out what you’d like.” He gave her a fairly generous budget to work with and a second one for stock “We’ll give it a year or so to settle down then sit down and see how we’re doing.”

It was only when she went to the mall office the following day that she realised her dream might be coming true. As she was getting the keys to the unit of her choice she was given a second set of keys. “Two sets?” “One’s for the unit and the other for the apartment over the mall, its included in the unit rental. Some manager or other thought that it would be greener or something if people didn’t need to drive to work, besides the apartments are vacant.” Nancy called Sandra with whom she shared an apartment. “Come over to the mall after work the unit seems to come complete with a three bed roomed apartment so it needs checking out.”

“You mean its rent free whilst you work at the store? Girl we’re moving in and you’re staying with this job.”

Soon her upmarket card store was stocked with exotic cards from the museum collections, BugArt, and a multitude of other suppliers. Jennie who came in to set up her computerised till asked if she’d like a web site as well as it was included in the package. Well she had the stock anyway and soon there was a trickle of orders on the web site. Fortunately a stationers opened up nearby with a post office counter in the back, very convenient for sending items through the mail.

A few lingering dress shops closed down, a classical music store opened up nearby, of all things an exotic tool store opened up, selling mysterious and expensive power tools. She was a bit taken back the first time the computer screen for the till flashed the customer’s name with a list of what they had brought last time and what they might be interested in that had come in since. It was useful. She questioned Jennie about it when she came to check the backups whatever they were. Jennie mentioned words such as CRM software and RFID, “Sort of like when they pay by credit card you read their name on the card.” It all sounded very mysterious and technical to Nancy but it was useful in that she could guide customers to the latest cards that might interest them.

They did quite well over Christmas but January and February were practically dead. Sandra, who was an accountant, looked over the books and thought they might just do a little better than break even over the year if sales improved and even that was including the web site sales. Nancy carried on smiling to the customers, at least no more stores had closed in the mall and those that were left seemed to appeal to the mall walkers. The occasional new specialist store would open, some closed after Christmas, but the mall struggled on.

“Well what do we do?” “About what?” “It’s sort of a year since we opened, he can’t have covered the costs of store fitting so far. I mean we’re doing a little better than a year ago but we aren’t making a huge profit by any means.” “You think he might close the store down after all your hard work? I mean if ever any one loved it’s you and your store. He can’t.” “Wouldn’t you?” “We’d lose the apartment, besides it’s a better paying job than many.” They exchanged looks “We couldn’t, could we?” “He’s coming on Thursday.” “So I’ll take the day off and we’ll serve him lunch, after all having the apartment over the Mall makes it so convenient.”

Sandra even went as far as to get her mother to prepare lunch and leave everything so it just needed warming up and serving. Nancy was nervous as she suggested since it was nearly lunch time why didn’t they join Sandra upstairs for lunch.

“I hadn’t realised these apartments were so spacious.” He exclaimed as they entered. “Oh that’s probably Sandra’s clever positioning of the furniture to make the most of the available space.” Sandra came out of the kitchen to greet him “Hi I’m Sandra.” “Delighted to meet you.” He looked appreciatively at her dress. Not quite what you might like to wander round in public in the mall but bordering on respectable. Nancy’s of course was much more respectable, well she’d had to wear it down in the store. Nancy sat back and relaxed and let Sandra handle the small talk. She had enough of talking to people in the store and Sandra was always complaining that she spent all her day looking at a computer screen and not interacting with people so let her interact.

After lunch they moved into the lounge area Sandra led him to one arm chair and sat on his lap. “One day we’ll be rich and buy a sofa as well but today we’ll have to share.” The sofa needless to say was crammed up against the bed in Sandra’s room. Nancy thought whilst he was occupied she’d slip into something more seductive so disappeared into her room.

“Could you help me get comfortable?” “How can I help?” “There’s a string at the top of my thighs if you could just pull on it slightly. Bemused he did as he was bid only to find a pair of well lubricated plastic love balls drop out into his hand. He looked at them in a state of shock, so Sandra took advantage and led him into Nancy’s room. “I think I’ve shocked him?” “Sandra really, just get him to lie down on the bed and loosen his clothes.” It was only a few minutes later that he realised that Sandra was about to lower herself down on to him. “I don’t think we should be doing this.” “Well I do.” “And so do I so you’re out voted.” He tried to pull himself together but by then Sandra had guided him inside. “That’s much better than a pair of plastic balls.” She moved up and down until his body started to react and take a more active role in the proceedings.

Afterwards they lay back on the bed together. “I suppose we ought to talk about the store and how its done.” Nancy volunteered. “I suppose we should really, does a ten percent pay raise sound reasonable?” “But I thought the store wasn’t making any real money?” “No but you remember the till recognises people by scanning their mobile phone or their RFID credit card?” “Yes?” “Well you managed to change the profile of the people who come into the mall, its ones with money and taste who buy up market cards so I’ve just signed long term lucrative contracts for both anchor stores based on the buyers you’ve attracted. Didn’t I mention I brought the mall for a song so your store and the other specialty stores I seeded didn’t cost me any real rental money either.” “You mean we needn’t have...” “It was very much appreciated shall we say twenty percent pay rise instead?”