So it was especially sad to see this mall turned over to the junky stalls and junkier ride -- like a fat, washed-up supermodel sentenced to a talk-show appearance for her shoplifting arrests. He approached the doors with trepidation. He was resolved not to buy anything from the market -- no busts or contact lenses -- and had stuck his wallet in his front pocket on the way over. The mall was like a sauna. He shucked his jacket and sweater and hung them over one arm. The whole ground floor had been given over to flimsy market-stalls. He skulked among them, trying to simultaneously take note of their contents and avoid their owners' notice. He came to realize that he needn't skulk. It seemed like half of Boston had turned out -- not just young people, either. There were plenty of tweedy academics, big working-class Southie boys with thick accents, recent immigrants with Scandie-chic clothes. They chattered and laughed and mixed freely and ate hot food out of huge cauldrons or off of clever electric grills. The smells made his stomach growl, even though he'd just polished off a kebab the size of his head. The buzz of the crowd reminded him of something, what was it? A premiere, that was it. When they opened a new ride or area at the Park, there was the same sense of thrilling anticipation, of excitement and eagerness. That made it worse -- these people had no business being this excited about something so. . . lowbrow? Cheap? Whatever it was, it wasn't worthy. They were shopping like fiends. A mother with a baby on her hip pushed past him, her stroller piled high with shopping bags screened with giant, pixellated Belgian pastries. She was laughing and the baby on her hip was laughing too. He headed for the escalator, whose treads had been anodized in bright colors, something he'd never seen before. He let it carry him upstairs, but looked down, and so he was nearly at the top before he realized that the guy from the Florida ride was standing there, handing out fliers and staring at Sammy like he knew him from somewhere. It was too late to avoid him. Sammy put on his best castmember smile. "Hello there!" The guy grinned and wiggled his eyebrow. "I know you from somewhere," he said slowly. "From Florida," Sammy said, with an apologetic shrug. "I came up to see the opening." "No *way*!" The guy had a huge smile now, looked like was going to hug him. "You're shitting me!" "What can I say? I'm a fan." "That's *incredible.* Hey, Tjan, come here and meet this guy. What's your name?" Sammy tried to think of another name, but drew a blank. "Mickey," he said at last, kicking himself. "Tjan, this is Mickey. He's a regular on the ride in Florida and he's come up here just to see the opening."