announce me? as i scream into the darkness something sharp and hearless pricks me from behind. 991120 ... amy listen to this, or read it only if you care. 000122 ... Keemeers The thing that annoys me the most about shopping malls is those little booths where the so-called 'Lost Kids' can be found. I used to go to the Biggest Mall In the World (before they built the Mall of America) and I would lose my mother somewhere near Sears. I'd wander off and go look at some pet store, then find something interesting seventeen stores away. And by the time I got back to Sears, my mother was in none of the departments. I'd roam around the mall, checking things out, knowing that at any moment I could get taken over by Mallrats and inducted to their insane culture of window shopping and never actually buying anything. And sometimes I would run into another Lost Kid and we'd start roaming the mall in packs, devouring children that were with their families and igniting small flames in the bosom of fear that lurks within all parents that one moment they turn around and their children are gone. And then at 7pm I'd be sitting there waiting outside Bourbon Street, my hands folded neatly in my lap and a sweet smile of innocence on my face as my mother would swoop me into her arms. "Where have you been? I announced you as lost seven hours ago." And I'd shake my head, giving her a mysterious look. Because adults never understood these things. 011112 what's it to you? who go blather from