Shameless Self-Promotion Alert: I’m pleased to announce that my latest short story, “The Wal-Mart Diaries (les Journaux Wal-Mart)”, was featured in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature’s February issue. Dead Mule has been an excellent magazine for over 21 years now, and after further review they’ve judged that my own resume contains a sufficient amount of Southern legitimacy. Thank God for all those summers spent working the state fair circuit!
I recently returned to the United States after spending some time overseas, and visiting all of my favorite stores and restaurants made for a great homecoming. Wal-Mart has always been a particularly fun haunt, and coming back to my local SuperCenter was a nice treat. Man, all the STUFF! Wal-Mart always seems to have so much merchandise for sale, far more than any one person could ever need in a couple of lifetimes. That one visit lasted for hours as I wandered the aisles, just taking in all the choices.
Even though I’d only been gone a (relatively) short time, my absence meant that I was seeing the store through a completely different lens. And I couldn’t help but wonder, after having personally shopped at Sam Walton’s creation for over twenty years, what impressions might an actual foreigner take away from their first visit to a SuperCenter?
From there, the story kind of wrote itself.
If you’ve got a spare moment, please surf on over to Dead Mule and have a look. As always, if you enjoy the story then feel free to recommend it to a friend… unless of course they’re Target shoppers!
Nicely done!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it!