The Bucket List [ON HOLD]

The Bucket List - Part 6

***

          We pulled up at the mall and stumbled out of the cramped car. Six of us were a stifling number – I’d realized that fact somewhere between my face smooshed up against the window and my butt nearly on Chance’s lap.

          We convened at one of the entrances, looking shifty and up to no good; I saw a pair of security guards eye us warily. Great, we had just arrived and were already on the radar.

          “... everything on camera,” Ian was telling Carmen, who was trying to figure out how to record. Sighing, Ian pushed the button and the red recording dot flashed to life.

          Carmen scowled her thanks up at him.

          “Where do we start?” Chance asked, far too enthusiastic than the situation called for.

          “The Food Court?” Ian suggested, unsure. “I mean, that’s where all the full stomachs are, right?”

          We all pondered this disturbing fact, trying not to dwell on the details of what we were about to do.

          “And I’m thinking we should target younger kids, like four? Five?” Ian frowned. “They tend to have less control over their, ahh, you know.” Ian trailed off.

          I could tell that scaring the crap out of adorable four year-olds shocked Lacy, but she remained silent, biting her lip. Chance snuck a worried glance at her, too.

          Ian let out a breath, squaring his shoulders. “All right, let’s go,” he said, leading the way as usual. The rest of us followed him, also as usual. Carmen stalked right by the suspicious guards, clutching the camera and with an expression on her face that told me she found all this not at all to her taste.

          We found the Food Court and surveyed the mass of people before us. If we needed little kids, they were here in abundance. I caught Ian eying a toddler who had ice cream smeared over his face with a calculating expression.

          He strode confidently over to the curly-haired kid, Carmen trailing him reluctantly. The rest of us stood at the edge of the Court, silently watching.

          Ian reached the kid and knelt down in front of him; the child’s mother was arguing with a chef nearby and wasn’t paying attention. Ian and the kid stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment before Ian frowned, and said, “Boo.”

          The kid blinked at him before reaching out a chubby fist and promptly punching Ian in the nose.

          “Ow! Jeez!” Ian exclaimed, clutching his nose and scowling at the little boy who was gurgling with delight. Lacy laughed at the contagious giggles, but Ian glanced at Carmen.

          “Erase that,” he told a grinning Carmen who had successfully recorded the little episode. His voice was muffled from holding his hand over his nose.

          The two of them returned to where I, Chance, Lacy and Greg stood.

          “That was a fail, man,” Chance told Ian. “That wasn’t scary whatsoever.”

          Ian scowled. “I didn’t really want to scare the little guy; just shock him!”

          “Well a shock isn’t going to get you some pooped panties.”

          “Ugh,” someone commented.

          “Yeah, about that,” Carmen interjected, frowning at the display screen, “How are we supposed to know if we succeeded or not?”