From her castle in the air she whispered the names of boutiques with the latest fashions as they mushroomed in the desert sand below. Then she flew down, tried on colorful bras, dresses, pants, panties, and shoes and made up her face to blasting rock and roll tunes from the Sixties.
Reflected by glass she admired her looks as Goddess Ivy until she got tired of her features. Bored with her face she changed the shape of her nose, ears and lips. She even changed the color of her skin half-red and blue and slipped into silk, satin, cotton and even wool. A large screen in the sky projected the scene of a young man and woman kissing on pause.
She had a vague recollection of being born, so she created ‘Man” and ‘Woman,” more as thoughts than anything made of clay or flesh. Two average-sized humans stood naked before her as she wished it. She waved her hand and they opened their eyes dazed by the brightness inside the Mall of Earthly Delights. She didn’t give them names or welcome them into her realm. Instead she read a ream of rules the creatures were to obey. They could smell the food at any eatery but were NOT allowed to touch or eat any dish from Mexican, Chinese, Thai, American or even Ethiopian cuisine! “Is that understood!” she exclaimed. They nodded their heads since they still had no vocabulary in spite of being able to understand her. They could buy anything their hearts desired, but were not to keep any purchase. At the end of the day, they had to pile everything on the Altar of Offering dedicated to Goddess Ivy. That was to be their reward. “Is that understood!” she commanded. They nodded their heads and she sent them out into the Mall with gigantic shopping carts. Woman quickly filled basket after basket while Man followed in her footsteps with a tiny empty cart.
Goddess Ivy kept a watchful eye on Woman who was fond of feeling fabrics and trying dresses, blouses and skirts. She even picked out a bluish dress that turned green in the light, which she kept on. Man just sat naked EATING a large pepperoni and pineapple pizza. Woman ignored him but to give an accurate definition to fruits, vegetables, raw meat, fish, corn dogs, salami, cheeses, breads she tasted them all. Man watched woman growing bigger and bigger as she floated upward. But he could say nothing. Besides, his mouth was busy chewing a new slice of pizza. Woman’s face was bewildered by what was happening to her as she hit the ceiling. Man smiled and waved, amused by her antics. “Get a rope!” she exclaimed. The word confused him because she had labeled something he had yet to see, and being new to this world, his tongue was limited to pepperoni-pineapple pizza. Woman called him names, but since he had no clue as to what they meant, he smiled joyfully at her body bouncing against the glass ceiling.
Aware of Woman’s sin, Goddess Ivy flew down to the Mall filled with wrath because Woman had disobeyed her Shopping Laws. And being reasonably angry, she yelled, "You disobeyed me! You renamed everything under the sun, and you're wearing my favorite dress. Who told you you could do that? And you didn't bring me the gifts you were supposed to place on my altar! Worst of all, you ate like a pig! I can't tolerate fat women! You're worse than fat! You're ugly! I can’t have ugly, fat people in my kingdom. You sinned big time, lady!" She pulled an arrow out of a silvery quiver, placed the feathered tail on the string of a golden bow and aimed at Woman. The arrow flew through the air and might have punctured her. But before it could reach Woman, something tugged at Ivy’s arm.
Lauren opened her eyes in the dark, surprised that she was being awakened. The strands of dream deleted themselves as she felt a warm hand take hold of hers.
"Lauren, time to get up," someone said in a gentle voice.
"But it's still too dark to go to school, Dad!" she exclaimed, unable to clearly see his face.
"It's okay. You're not awake yet," a man’s voice said.
"If I'm not awake, why am I going to school?"
"All the books in the world won't teach you what you will become. Please, get up!"
"I don't want to go anywhere. Roberta put you up to this. It's her idea!"
"It’s not."
"She just pretends to be my mother."
"You can no longer stay here."
"You don’t sound like my dad. He wouldn't throw me to the wolves."
"Sometimes a father hurts his child for her own good!"
The man’s voice wasn’t so gentle now.