costumed dance & shop

I was working in a themed retail outlet in a busy shopping centre. It seemed to be a night shift although I couldn’t see natural light or the time to confirm this. Customers were coming in and out of the shop, all dressed in strange costumes complete with masks, headdresses and painted faces. They were not playing characters specific to a time period or a recognisable theme, and although each character was unique, once the characters were all assembled, they resembled a modernistic and colourful tribe. I was working with a young girl who had obviously been in the shop for some time. She was teaching me the various procedures and showed me where to hide my bag and, after I removed them, my shoes. I tidied shelves and did some paperwork. Toward the end of the shift, all of the characters who had gathered took position on the floor and began to dance. It was a fantastic dance: the whole group had mastered the choreographed routine and looked fabulous in their extreme costuming. I watched them dance for a time, feeling that I would like to be a part of it, but also feeling that they were a strange collection of people. Suddenly, I felt urgent about leaving. I realised that I didn’t want to work in retail and I wasn’t sure why I had accepted the position. I decided to tell the girl that I was going home and that I wouldn’t work another shift; I wanted her to pass on the message to the woman who owned the store. I found the girl at the back of the shop and explained that I was leaving and that the money I could earn working for myself was better, as well as the creative rewards. I told her that she was terrific at her job and wished her all the best. I went to collect my handbag and shoes from behind the counter at the front of the store. I opened cupboard doors and couldn’t see it anywhere, but then my mobile phone rang and I located it in a bottom cupboard. I then looked for my shoes: a pair of sparkling silver jiffies like dancing shoes. I couldn’t find them. Others, including the girl, helped me look, and eventually she found them by climbing up a ladder and unpacking the top shelf. She passed them down to me but they had melted; I had to reshape them somehow.