Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Mall

At 3:15 pm today, after weeks of packing, spraying, scrubbing, and scouring until my knuckles swelled and my fingertips cracked, I turned in a bag of keys to my apartment manager. She told me to be careful, that a protest was happening at the nearby park at 4pm, and that she was afraid and wanted to go home. She’s a lovely, joyful person and a single mo…