Little Inklings 2024

JEANS By: Will Stockman ’28 Vanessa hurried through the sliding glass doors of the Macy’s and made her way to the clothing department. She has done this walk many times with her friends, but she couldn’t remember the last time she made this journey on her own. The store was packed, it was three days before Christmas after all, and the aisles were brimming with doting mothers and caring fathers looking for gifts to get their beloved children. As shemade her way past the trending coats and scarfs, she didn’t give them a second thought since she knew they were sitting wrapped under her Evergreen at home. After twominutes of walking, Vanessa, who recently insisted on being called Tessa to not confuse her with “Poor Vanessa” who wears all the wrong clothes andwhose entire house could fit in Tessa’s closet, arrived at her destination. Without missing a beat, Tessa grabbed her item and rushed to the fittingrooms. Sheknewthepairfither; she had snuck off fromher friends and placed it there the day before. When she got inside a stall she unfurled her pants to admire their luxury. They were a beautiful pair of Celine jeans. At first, she had put these jeans on her extensive Christmas list without a second thought, but when her father told her that she couldn’t get them she was enraged and knew she had to have them. It was rare for Tessa to be told no, especially for such a silly reason as “They’re too expensive,” or “Don’t you have enough?”. After waiting for what felt like forever, but was really seven minutes, Tessa left the dressing room. She had the same clothes on, only this time there was nothing in her hands. In the stall, she had put her pants over the pair of Celines. To not arouse suspicion from the imaginary people watching her, Tessa spent the better part of an hour shopping around the perfume section. All the workers recognized her because she and her friends were the department’s biggest customers. While Tessa smelled and spoke she could feel herself starting to sweat. It could be because she was wearing two pairs of pants, or it could be that Tessa felt like amillioneyeballs were staring at her, just waiting to bust her when she walked past. Tessa preferred the former. While walking away from the strawberry and lemony scents she began to second-guess herself. “Is it wrong to steal?” “Do I really need these jeans?” “I don’t even like them.” She quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and walked towards the exit. “Of course, I need the Celines, after Christmas all my friends will wear them and I’ll be the one left out,” she reasons. Stiffly weaving through crowds, she found the exit. Tessa hurried through the sliding glass doors of the Macy’s and made her way out of the store. She has done this walk many times, but she couldn’t remember the last time she left without paying. For a second she thinks she got away. Then the alarm goes off. 52