Fact or Fiction Friday-Mall Mishap

It was a typical warm, humid day in New Orleans. Of course, the end of April usually signals the beginning of summer, and it was the first week of May. It was Monday, and I was a high school senior, counting down the days until graduation. As I sat in my seventh period class anxiously watching the clock, I then looked out the window and saw the clouds darken ominously. “Just an afternoon thunderstorm,” I thought to myself, recalling the typical nature of summer afternoons in Louisiana. I packed my bags when the bell rang and my mom and I headed off to my job at the mall. As we’re driving, I can see the sky still darkening, the clouds looking heavy with rain.

My mother drops me off and I got to work. I clock in, put the goofy red and white gingham apron on top of my uniform of khaki shorts and white tee, and get to work selling lotions and soaps to very few customers. I call my boyfriend, Dennis who upstairs in the mall, to check in with him to see if he is still going to bring me home from work that night. The night grows incredibly boring at the job. My coworker Stacy, a and I are both wondering WHY the mall is so slow. Then we hear the reverberating sound of thunder. We ask our manager, Jen, if one of us can go to the nearest mall entrance to see how bad the weather is.

Holy Shit. As I walk up to the glass doors of the entrance, which happens to be at the bottom part of the hilly parking lot, I see HUGE lakes throughout the lot. The rain is coming down in massive sheets, flooding all of the drains and filling the lot like a bathtub.

As I get back to the store, only the sound Neil Diamond singing “Sweet Caroline” can be heard. I see my managers face look forlorn as she says, “We’re closing up and I’m going home. Call your parents.”

I call my mother. She says “Stay there. I talked to Dennis’ mom and she said he can’t leave, so neither can you. It’s flooding out there. BAD. Parts of our subdivision aren’t even driveable.” I call Dennis. He tells me the same. My manager closes the store and heads out, with grocery bags on her feet and head. Somehow she got out.

Stacy, my coworker who is also a nursing student tries to leave, but her 1985 Toyota Corolla is already flooded with water in the floorboards. So she stays at the mall as well.
Stacy, Dennis and I meet up and go downstairs to his brother’s store, a sort-of skater punk type store, with burning incense and velvet curtains over the fitting room doors. All of our parents tell us to stay put, as it appears we’re stranded for the evening.

Isn’t this EVERY teenage girl’s dream? Getting stranded overnight in a mall sounds like a dream, right?
WRONG.

Many of the other stores were closed. Gates locked. No chance to go shopping after hours there. We were starving and the only restaurant that was open was Ruby Tuesday. Unfortunately, all they had to serve was appetizers and desserts. So we were forced to share potato skins and a giant chocolate dessert between the four of us, since our combined cash count was only about $30.

After we had eaten, we realized we were still stranded. It was midnight. What else could we do? We were all tired after a day of classes, and we wanted to sleep. Unfortunately we couldn’t go to Dillard’s and sleep on the model beds in the bedding department. The only store we could get into was Dennis’s brother’s store, with the velvet dressing room curtains.

And so we tried to sleep on the floor of the store, using the curtains as blankets and pillows. We were so miserable and crabby and bored. There was no television to watch and nothing really to do but try on clothes.

Eventually that got boring and we just sat around the whole night. Our parents would call every hour to check on us, to make sure we were ok.

Finally, at 9:00 the next morning, we get a call from Dennis’ uncle, who is a detective with the local police. He’s sending a rescue helicopter to get us out. Apparently the whole area was flooded and not drivable.

My parent’s house wasn’t flooded, but his parent’s house was, with about 3 feet of water in their downstairs. The water had receded enough around the interstate for my parents to pick us up from the interstate exit nearest our house in their van. Once we were rescued by helicopter, my parents were there, waiting for us.

I’ll never forget falling into my mother’s arm, full of exhaustion, hunger and relief. I was so happy to be with family, to be on my way home. To this day, I’ll never forget what that experience is like.

Sometimes when people want to play that “I Never” game, I always say… “I never spent the night in a mall.” And people always doubt me and think it’s not true.

Boy, are they surprised.