I woke up early in the morning, having forgotten where I was.
Huddled in the back seat of my car, I peeked out through the
windows at a cold grey dawn.  I was in the parking lot of the
Mall of America.  There were some security people around, but
otherwise I didn’t see anyone.  It was about 6 or 7 AM.  I slept
some more. Then I got up and had a bowl of cereal.  I finished
reading “Service for the Dead,” a Vietnam novel and worked on my
letter to Ryan.  It was late and wouldn’t arrive in time for his
birthday.

Around 8 I went into the mall and watched the mall-walkers do
their rounds.  Since it was Sunday, the stores didn’t open until
11.  I explored the first floor just to get my bearings and
figure out how the place was laid out.

The Mall of America is probably one of the neatest places I’ve
ever visited.  It is four stories tall and divided into four
wings at each compass point.  Your average mall (like Greenwood
or Castleton) would probably take up two of this mall’s wings.
The place was just gigantic.  There was an amusement park in the
center complete with roller coaster and log ride.  At each wing
there was something different.  One wing had Lego Land.  It was
the size of a small house.  Everything was built from giant
Legos.  There were dinosaurs, guys on motorcycles, a space ship,
etc.  The little Lego people were about as tall as I am.

Besides having every store I had ever known, they had many
specialty shops.  One really cool place was the Rainforest Cafe.
The place looked like it had been chiseled out of rock.  There
were tropical plants everywhere.  There was a heavy steam
billowing through the place and every once in a while there was a
thunder storm.  Live parrots greeted you when you walked into the
gift shop area.  Just outrageous.

On one floor there was a laser tag arena.  There was a comic
book store with t-shirts of the Tick!  Amazingly enough, I didn’t
buy one.  They had a Starlog store, completely devoted to all
sorts of science fiction: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar
Galactica, Dr. Who, X-Men, Robotech, etc.  Hey Rod, they were
selling Breetai and Khyron action figures for $20 each!  The
whole back room was devoted to Star Trek.

Chris and Rod, you would have loved the Astronomy/World of
Science and Science Fiction store they had.  In one corner there
were telescopes and star charts, in another there were Star Trek
figures and robot models.

There were many clothing stores there, Beth.  I wished you
were there so we could have gone shopping again.
On the top floor there was a Hooters, Planet Hollywood,
American Sportsbar and a 13 theater General Cinemas.  The
Sportsbar had virtual reality games.  I saw that they were
showing “Just Cause” in the theater and decided to see it later
that afternoon.

Before the mall opened, I sat on a bench and read “The Left
Hand of Darkness.”  It was very relaxing.  When the stores
finally opened, more people had shown up.  I had had this idea
that I would have the entire mall to myself.  Suddenly the quiet
mall was filled with the familiar bustle of mall rats.  Oh well.

I stopped in the Natural Wonders store to ask about wolves.
The lady there told me that the place to go was Ely (EE-LEE).
That’s where the International Wolf Center was.  I asked her how
far away it was and she said it was about 6 hours north.
6 hours.  Into the snow.  I’d be right near Canada for crying
out loud.  But the wolves…  That was the goal of my mission: to
see the wolves.  How much would I risk to see them?  I had to
think about that.  In the meantime, I continued to explore the
mall.

I spent most of the day there.  So many people.  Most of them
had that Minnesota accent.  It’s so endearing, don’t ya know?
I’ll have to imitate it for you some time.  Going to the mall
usually drains something out of me.  It’s as though it requires
emotional energy to take in everyone around me, comprehending the
scope of humanity.  But not there.  I was happy.  I could look
out over a balcony on the fourth floor and see a forest inside a
mall.  There was a gigantic snoopy sitting beside a swimming
pool-sized water dish.  I just smiled and smiled.

In the afternoon I saw “Just Cause.”  It has Sean Connery,
Lawrence Fishbourn and Ed Harris.  It’s a murder mystery movie
which I highly recommend.

After the movie I decided it was time to go.  I had made my
decision: I was going to see the wolves.  I checked the map and
decided that I would drive as far as I could that night and then
check into a motel since it would be too cold to sleep in my car.
While I was sitting there in the parking lot, a car rolled
across the way from another parking space and bumped into the car
next to me, blocking my exit.  It had narrowly missed me.
Apparently the guy had forgotten to put his parking break on and
the lot had a slight slope.  I went inside and called security
and the mall secretary announced that the owner of the car should
report to the parking lot.  The guy and a rent-a-cop showed up
and worked things out, allowing me to leave.

I drove until late, stopping in Duluth.  I found a place
called the Spirit Mountain Lodge and got a room there.  It was
comfy and warm.  I watched the end of “Backdraft” on TV and then
went to sleep.