by Anna Stahn

My little basket is checkered and made of aluminum. Oh look here at the entrance; a metal Christmas tree, a pleasure block or a column. I load up the basket at a bright shining table, a table made of stars, where women with orange breast cakes are strolling around or sitting. I pick a girl doll sitting in a small jewelry box, a gift for my little daughter, and a flirty venus for my husband. From the wall Anoushka judges me in her red boots and her yellow lion judges me. Oh, I'll have to have red shoes as well. Glass shoes you drop on the way home from parties, glazed metal shoes you can heat coins on to punish naughty men and naughty children and here hangs an advertisement that reminds me of myself; a young mother on her way home from a party wearing glass shoes, finding shoes with fish from the fridge, then roasts up a meal for her hungry child.

I swing my basket into the shop's other department; I have to remember to buy red apples from the brand "Bob" . I put them in the basket together with a grass green vase, pink holiday pills and a limestone. Strolling around with the basket under my arm; in the basket a girl doll sitting in a small box, a flirty venus for my husband, from the wall Anoushka judges me in her red boots and her yellow lion judges me. In the basket I have red shoes, glass shoes and shoes you can heat coins on to punish naughty men and naughty children, red apples of the brand "Bob", a grass green vase and a limestone.

The basket handle hurts my dry hands; I go into the beauty department and find creams and conditioners in beautiful colors; soft elbow and knee balm. I must have some beige powdered world peace in a small box and I must have a sandwich because all that beauty makes me hungry.

I put the items in the basket along with a small blue full moon hanging over a football field, as I swing further into the toy department the goods in the basket swing mysteriously towards my thigh; a girl doll sitting in a small box, a flirty venus for my husband, red shoes, glass shoes and shoes you can heat coins on to punish naughty men and naughty children, red apples from the brand “Bob”, a grass green vase, a limestone, creams and conditioners in beautiful colors, beige powdered world peace in a
small box, a sandwich, a small blue full moon hanging over a soccer field and the moon rises on its elbows and looks complacent over the edge of my swinging basket.

In the hallway of toys I must get masks; it's on a list. Dress-up dolls and raw materials from out of space for all me and my husband's 100s of children and all their eternal seasonal parties. A mask with
onions and beets to dress up as a harvester, a mask to dress up as a small animal, a mask with the face of a waffle creature. I am a good mommy and have a small glass bedside lamp made for my daughter Acropora. Now all the children's gifts are fixed. As I turn on my heel towards the registry I suddenly remember; dinner! I find the deli section and stuff dough faces, bull's heads, red wine and a frozen evening meal of another woman's evening delight into my bursting basket.

On the way to the registry I insult a lady and grab a copy of Doll magazine. I load the goods from the basket onto the belt; a girl doll sitting in a small box, a flirty venus for my husband, red shoes, glass shoes and shoes you can heat coins on to punish naughty men and naughty children, red apples from the brand “Bob”, a grass green vase, a limestone, creams and conditioners in beautiful colors, beige powdered world peace in a small box, a sandwich, a small blue full moon hanging over a soccer field, masks, dress-up dolls and raw materials from space, a bedside lamp, dough faces, bull heads, red wine and a frozen dinner consisting of another woman's evening treat, a copy of Doll magazine.