Part 5 (1/2)
Well, my purpose is to get clothes that fit me and then get out of the store with them, without spending money. That means you've tagged the right kid to watch.
Danny stopped looking at the array of things for sale and started paying more attention to the people. How did regular shoppers act?
First, they weren't thirteen. Danny realized that kids by themselves had to look suspicious to the store employees. Serious purchasers were older than thirteen-anybody who wasn't old enough to have a driver's license would have to have come with a parent or adult or older sibling. Since there was no such person in Danny's vicinity-and hadn't been from the moment he walked into the store-they had to a.s.sume he had no money. Especially the way he was dressed. He might as well have hung a sign around his neck that said ”Thief.”
Second, most regular shoppers had shopping carts and put stuff into them. If you put stuff into your basket, you weren't going to steal it, right? You were going to push it around and get more and more stuff, and then take it to the front of the store and pay. As long as you had a basket, you weren't sneaking stuff into your pockets.
So Danny walked to the front of the store to get a cart. Not Not near the entrance where he'd lied to the old man about having a little brother. He didn't want to have to produce the little brother. near the entrance where he'd lied to the old man about having a little brother. He didn't want to have to produce the little brother.
The trouble was that the detective was right behind him, and as Danny went into the recessed area where the carts were waiting, the detective stopped him. ”Come with me,” he said.
”Why?” asked Danny.
”Just come with me.”
Danny spoke loudly. ”I don't go anywhere with a strange man.”
The old woman who greeted people at the door stepped into the s.p.a.ce. The detective flashed some kind of i.d. and the old woman relaxed, but Danny said, ”I don't care what he shows you, I don't want to go anywhere with this man.”
The detective sighed elaborately and turned to face Danny. ”Turn out your pockets.”
Danny turned them out. There was nothing in them.
”Lift up your s.h.i.+rt.”
”You like to look at the naked bodies of little boys?” asked Danny.
”You're not that little, and I want to see what you've been stuffing up under your s.h.i.+rt.”
Danny pulled his whole s.h.i.+rt over his head, then stepped out of the flip-flops and dropped his pants. One of the Family's concessions to modernity was that they bought their underwear at drowther stores, so Danny was wearing tighty-whities.
”Good heavens,” said the old woman. ”How far do you need to go with this? He hasn't stolen anything.”
”He's going to, even if he hasn't yet,” said the detective.
Why don't you check out the flip-flops? thought Danny. Out loud he said, ”I'm going going to pick out clothes and put them in a basket and when my mom gets here, she'll pay for them. And I can't wait to tell her about the Wal-Mart guy who had to look at me in my underwear.” to pick out clothes and put them in a basket and when my mom gets here, she'll pay for them. And I can't wait to tell her about the Wal-Mart guy who had to look at me in my underwear.”
”I didn't ask you to drop your pants.”
”Yes you did,” said Danny.
”I did not,” said the detective.
Danny looked at the old woman. ”You heard him.”
She looked confused. ”I don't remember...”
”Oh, come on, what kind of witness are are you?” asked Danny. you?” asked Danny.
”He's playing you,” the detective said to the old woman.
”May I get a cart now?” asked Danny.
”You can get out of the store,” said the detective. ”When your mother gets here, if if she gets here, then you can come back in with her.” she gets here, then you can come back in with her.”
”Whatever you say,” said Danny. Carrying his pants and s.h.i.+rt, Danny headed out of the recess into the main store.
”Put your d.a.m.n pants back on!” said the detective sharply.
Danny was out in the open now, and people were already staring at him, there in his underwear. ”You made me take my clothes off, and now you're throwing me out of the store,” he said loudly. ”Wal-Mart must hate poor people. My mom's coming and she's got a little money, and we thought she could buy me my Christmas clothes at Wal-Mart because you sell things cheap, but no, I'm too poor, you accuse me of stealing and make me strip and then you throw me out into the cold! My mom's going to buy me a coat, but you're going to make me wait outside with no coat at all!”
It was quite a speech, Danny knew, but the detective was completely helpless and they both knew it. Even the old woman knew it-she was giving him a twisted half-smile and she even winked at him. And the people entering the store had stopped near the carts and were looking at him and listening to him and then looking at the detective, and they looked a little hostile now.
For a moment Danny thought of talking directly to the onlookers and talking about how lucky they they were that they weren't getting thrown out of Wal-Mart into the cold, but he decided that would be pus.h.i.+ng too hard. Instead he started for the doors, awkwardly stepping into his pants as he went. ”I'm getting out, I'm getting out.” Then he deliberately tripped over his own pants and fell to the floor. were that they weren't getting thrown out of Wal-Mart into the cold, but he decided that would be pus.h.i.+ng too hard. Instead he started for the doors, awkwardly stepping into his pants as he went. ”I'm getting out, I'm getting out.” Then he deliberately tripped over his own pants and fell to the floor.
That did it. Immediately there were people helping him up, holding the s.h.i.+rt he had dropped, and standing between him and the detective.
”What are you doing to this boy?” a woman demanded.
”He's a shoplifter,” said the detective.
”He didn't steal anything,” said the greeter, with a shrug. ”You proved that. that.”
”I was just trying to get a cart,” said Danny.
”You can shop with us,” said a man. ”We'll vouch for you.”
”If you throw him out,” said the demanding woman, ”you're throwing us all out.”
The detective made a dismissive gesture and walked away. But Danny knew he hadn't given up. It was a tactical retreat-Danny had done the same thing himself, when he was little and the cousins played war. You pretend to run away, but then you lay an ambush for the guys chasing you.
”Thanks,” Danny said to the people who had helped him-but he kept his eyes down, as if he was ashamed to have needed help. Hadn't he used the same technique to deflect attention a thousand times before? And it worked even better with these strangers than it did with the Aunts and Uncles. ”Just want a cart.”
”Stick with us,” said the man. He had three children with him.
Danny took note of his face, in case he needed to run to him for help later. But for now, he didn't need someone watching him closely. ”Thanks,” he said, ”but my mom's going to get here soon and I'm supposed to pick out the clothes I like the best. She got her Christmas check from Dad today and she just went to cash it.”
That was a good story, Danny knew. Single mom, raising a kid alone-and not doing too well, from the fact that he was barefoot in winter and had no coat. And Dad was such a cheapskate he didn't even send the Christmas check until the day before Christmas. But it also meant that this man really didn't want to be near Danny when the purported mom arrived-needy single women were not part of this man's plans for friend-making, not even at Christmastime.
I'm pretty good at this, thought Danny. Fooling people by telling them stories that make sense in their view of the world-they had no reason to doubt you, and so they didn't. And it helped that Danny never looked like he was lying. He had perfected that during years of playing pranks on the cousins and getting away with it most of the time.
And now that he thought of it, of course course he was good at tricks and pranks and lies-he was a gatemage, wasn't he? The first loki since he was good at tricks and pranks and lies-he was a gatemage, wasn't he? The first loki since the the Loki who wrecked everything by pulling off the biggest prank in history and closing all the gates. Deception was part of the talent with gates-that's why Hermes and Mercury and Loki and the gatemages from all the other Families were the ones most likely to have dealings with drowthers. That's why they went by so many names-Eros and Cupid could always get into any bedroom. G.o.d of Love indeed! As if there were any such thing! Loki who wrecked everything by pulling off the biggest prank in history and closing all the gates. Deception was part of the talent with gates-that's why Hermes and Mercury and Loki and the gatemages from all the other Families were the ones most likely to have dealings with drowthers. That's why they went by so many names-Eros and Cupid could always get into any bedroom. G.o.d of Love indeed! As if there were any such thing!
But even as he gloated a little, Danny made sure that his face showed no sign of anything but a poor boy who had just been through an ordeal. He walked to the carts and someone pulled one free from the stack and offered it to him. ”Thanks,” he said again, with downcast eyes.
As he pa.s.sed the old woman greeter, her hand clamped down on his shoulder. He looked at her-she wasn't much taller than he was-and saw that she was smiling. ”You're the smoothest I've ever seen,” she said softly, right in his face. ”Just try not to take too much-n.o.body should lose their job over you, not at Christmastime.” Then she winked.
Danny showed nothing on his face, and said nothing. He just pushed the cart onward. But he felt a great deal less pleased with himself. The old woman had seen through his lies. He wasn't as clever and talented at deception as he had thought.
And yet she had also backed him up with the detective, making sure everybody else heard her bear witness that Danny hadn't been caught stealing anything. And she let him go with a warning not to take too much-not a warning that he shouldn't steal anything at all. Apparently Wal-Mart could hire her to be a figurehead representing their compa.s.sion for the elderly, but they couldn't buy her loyalty.