Please do not read if under 18 years of age or offended by sexually explicit stories and situations.
(c) 2003 Couture
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I watched my mother rub the fuzzy fabric between her fingers. Not looking at the cashmere sweater, just feeling it. Her eyes were directed elsewhere. At someone I didn't want them directed at.
"You want me to distract the saleslady?" I asked, trying to get her mind on her 'shopping'.
"No," she said, still looking out of the corner of her eye.
I knew who she was looking at without even turning my head. I had noticed the group of girls earlier, the way they looked around to see if anyone was watching, but not even noticing Mother or me . . . amateurs. They whispered to their small friend with glasses. They were trying to get her to take something. She was obviously scared, and didn't want to do it, but it was obvious her resolve was weakening. The worst part was, judging from the look of the other girls, they probably wouldn't even let her keep it.
"You want her?" mother asked.
"No thanks."
"Maybe I should take her then?"
"Mother. . ." I let it hang. She could be so exasperating sometimes - downright embarrassing.
Her nostrils flared. I looked over and watched the girl put a brightly colored blouse in an empty shopping bag. My mom went around the other side of the clothing rack stalking the poor girl.
"Come on Mom, why are you even bothering with her?" I caught her by her sleeve. "She's nothing - not even enough to take."
I was scared. Not of the girl getting taken, but scared because the girls went to school with me at community college. What in the world would I do if they found out what kind of person mother really was?
"You know when I was your age, I had taken dozens," mother said.
"But Mom," I said. "That was a long time ago and things have changed. Besides, I'm going to school so I can have a real job."
Mother ran her fingers through my hair and looked down at me with a disappointed glare. "I see that I've done a 'real job' of spoiling you. Do you think we could afford the lifestyle we lead, without mummy's work?"
"I know that's what you do mom, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's just that maybe I don't want to do it. I'm not like you."
"You're more like me than you know." That damned knowing smirk again.
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"Am not."
"Okay sweetie, let's not argue," Mother said, as she reached over and rolled a silk blouse through her fingers. "And they call this silk? This is crap. I'm going to go see if I can find a store that doesn't have seconds."
"The shirt is fine Mother."
"Maybe for you," she said patronizingly. "Surely they have something of quality in this mall. Really, I wouldn't even come in here if it wasn't for THEM. Tell you what, I'll meet you in the food court in an hour. "
To tell the truth, I was glad to leave her. It wasn't the clothes that she didn't like. Mother liked clothes. But there was one thing she loved more than clothes and that was taking. It was obvious what her mind was on today. She would probably take someone today and I didn't want to be around when she did it.
I shopped for awhile and tried on a new pair of shoes. The saleswoman wasn't very helpful or attentive, so I put my old shoes back in the box and left. An hour later I met mom at the food court. We ordered sushi and sat down to eat at one of the small tables with an umbrella on top. Why people put umbrellas on tables that are indoors, I'll never know.
"You Take?" Mother asked.
"Just a pair of shoes." I showed them to her and she was her usual critical self.
"Want to see what I took?" she asked, beaming proudly.
"Sure."
She showed me the contents of her bag, a very young looking brightly colored shirt. Not mother's style at all, but the look in her eyes said she was pleased as a peach. She was smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
I thought it was for me at first, but then my stomach lurched as I recognized where I had last seen the blouse. "Mother, you didn't."
Her eyes twinkled. "Oh but I did. I'm sorry sweetie, but I couldn't resist. She was just too easy. It was like finding fifty dollars on the ground and no one was looking. Oh, and you were right, she does go to your little college. Isn't that nice?"
Damn, it was all my fault. I should have never left Mother alone. Not when she had that look in her eye. Now, what was I going to do? Yes, get out of there as quickly as possible. "That's it then mother. Okay, we're leaving right now. Quick, before she sees us together. I don't want to have to move again."
Mothers smile grew wider. Sometimes I hated her. She could be so infuriating.
"Oh, I don't think she'd like that very much sweetie," she said.
"This is serious mother. I have to go to school with these people. It's bad enough I've had to move around all my life. But this, this is totally and completely unforgivable," I said, being as forceful as I dared without being noticed by the other diners. "Tell me what you did."
"I did the old undercover security officer routine. I gave her a good searching and then I took everything. I've put all the new purchases I bought with her credit card and checks in the car already."
"Damn it mother," I said. "She was just a girl. *I* could have taken her. Why couldn't you have taken someone else? Someone more worthwhile."
"Like who?" Mother smirked.
"Oh, I don't know," I said. It was so exasperating talking to her sometimes. The point wasn't, who it was, just that she shouldn't cause me problems by picking people I might know. "Someone like that woman there," I said, nodding at a young woman passing by. Mother would never have chosen someone like her though. The woman obviously had money, judging from the clothes she was wearing, but she had an aloofness that suggested she was better than everyone else. It's hard to take from someone who won't even look at you.
"Take her then," mother said.
"No!" I wasn't taking anyone. "We're leaving."
"If not for yourself or for me, then do it for Penny."
"Penny who?"
"Your little friend from college," she said. "I didn't just Take her money. . . I Took *everything*. She's in a restroom stall, naked as the day she was born. I told her I would send someone back later with her clothes."
"Where is she?" I demanded. "We're giving them back -- right now."
"I'm not telling," she said smugly. "I'm not telling unless you Take . . . her." She nodded at the retreating from of the woman I had noticed earlier.
Damn it - damn it - what was I going to do? "Someone else mother. Someone easy." Why did I pick her anyway? Why couldn't I have chosen a young boy or an old man.
She just smiled and shook her head. The bitch!
"What do I do?" I asked.
"Figure it out."
"Fine," I said as I got up. I refused to let mother know she had gotten the better of me.
"You're really going to do it?" Mother asked.
"Yes," I said. "Do I have a choice."
"I was just teasing you honey," she said. "Sit back down and finish your drink. Then we can go home or maybe Take someone together. Someone easy."
"But, what about Penny?"
"Fuck Penny," she said. "What's she to *us*?"
"She goes to my school," I said. "But I'm not just doing this for Penny . . .I'm going to take that woman, because you don't think I can."
"Sit down Lisa," she said. "Think it over. You know better."
"I'm Taking her." I knew I was being stupidly prideful, but I couldn't help it. Mother thought she was better than me because I went to school and had bigger plans in live. . She thought I would end up just like her . . .a Taker, lifting things here and there and hustling people to make a living.
"Do it then," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll be waiting in the car and ready to go in an instant. Do you remember where we parked?"
"Yes, mother."
"Then do it. Take her."
"Fine." I was already beginning to regret my decision. Why hadn't I agreed with her and just went home? Now she was safely in the car and I had to try to Take that rich woman. Well, I would show her. I got up, taking my diet Pepsi with me, and casually followed the woman. I still had no idea what to do. How to Take her? The shoplifting trick wouldn't work, not for someone like her, not even if I could plant something on her. No, she would just buy her way out of it with a laugh. I followed her to a few stores, watching, but not letting anyone know I was watching, from a safe distance.
Mother would probably have known what to do, but I didn't have a clue. Maybe I could pretend to be a salesgirl and offer her a real good deal -- cash money for whatever she wanted. Nah, she'd never go for it. What I needed, was to get inside the woman's mind. What made Miss Stuckup tick?
It was amusing to watch the sales woman fell all over herself to help Miss Stuckup. But finally, Miss Stuckup found something she liked and went to the dressing room. This was my big chance; it was now or never. I picked up a shirt I didn't even like and followed her.
I was still clueless on how I was going to Take her. While she had her pants down, I could easily snatch her purse and run. Only problem was, security would be after me and I couldn't give Penny her clothes afterwards. That damned stupid girl! I wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for that fucking Penny, who just had to go and shoplift in front of my mother. I pictured Penny naked, nervous, alone, and waiting for someone to bring her some clothes. I must admit the thought of her - naked and alone - aroused me. It also gave me an idea. I went to the next dressing room over from Miss Stuckup and quickly shed my clothes. I was naked as Penny, but I wasn't Penny. I was smarter - a Taker. My heart sped and I prayed my plan would work, but was what I was doing right? It didn't matter. I had to do it to help my classmate and to teach my mother a lesson. But, this wasn't like taking a pair of shoes from a company that pays its executive millions of dollars a year. This was a living breathing person.
I imagined Miss Stuckup vainly preening in front of the mirror. I imagined her being cruel to the people who waited on her. The people she treated like dirt. Yes, Miss Stuckup deserved it. She deserved to be Taken. It was only fair. I was doing the world a favor.
I summoned up my nerve, pushed my purse underneath the small space beneath the dressing room stall and the floor, and then rolled under myself.
Miss Stuckup sputtered and spat, her eyes wide at the sight of my naked body. "Wh-what- get out - oh my god - get out."
I put my hand over her mouth. "If someone comes in, I'll say you tried to rape me. Do you want that to happen?" I said it all serious like, no smile or giggle - one hundred percent pure business. I was no longer a college senior but a full fledged Taker.
Her face grew pale. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Good, cause I'm only fourteen," I lied. I'm eighteen, but what was she gonna do, check my license? "And if you get caught with me, then that would make you one of them - like - sex offenders or something wouldn't it? You know, even when you get out of prison, they are gonna make you register with your state and the city you live in." Miss Stuckup looked like she was going to faint and I warmed to the role and the power I felt. "Not to mention the women in prison. I think they would be hard on a someone who messed with a child, much less a rich bitch like you, ya know?"
Tears streamed from her eyes as she nodded her head. She was mine. I had Taken her. Sure as shit, I had Taken her. Now, I only had to keep her off balance and not let her think.
