Shopping trip

Monica sat in the passenger's seat nervously chewing her thumbnail as her mother drove her towards the Namish Town's exit. It felt like there were butterflies in her stomach. She was about to enter a new world, one she didn't really understand, and the thought frightened her.

The purple dome surrounding the town reached the ground at the border passing. A tall white tunnel, but only a few feet in length, led out into the 'real' world. They passed through it. Monica gasped in surprise as, for the first time in her life, she saw a blue sky.

"Wow." she gasped. "It's just like on the TV."

"It's strange, isn't it?" her mother commented, staring up at the clouds. "I've only seen it a few times in my life, but... it's beautiful."

"You've been here before?" Monica asked, a little surprised.

"Not often. Before the town's turbo sub-train station was built your father and I had to go into the city to travel to grandma's."

"What's it like?"

Her mother hesitated. "Unusual." was all she said.

They followed the road into the city, passing a few white-coated bubble cars on the way. The road to Namish Town was seldom used, although it gradually connected to the New York suburbs north of the city. Soon the two women found themselves travelling through residential streets, passing by people's houses. Monica watched the people living there with astonishment. It wasn't just the toys, amazing as they were. Children were flying around front-garden skate parks on hover boards, and playing virtual baseball with a hologram bat and ball. Or the houses, which seemed to hum and glow with electrical energy absorbed from the sun. No, what made her stare was that, with the exception of the children, every single person was naked. As the car stopped at a traffic light, Monica and her mother stared with wide-open mouths as a giggling group of teenage girls, wearing nothing but handbags, crossed the street in front of them. As the lights began to bleep, signalling they were about to change, the girls burst into a short jog to the sidewalk, their breasts bouncing freely as they did so.

"Mom, I can't do this. Don't make me do this." Monica moaned.

"I'm sorry dear, this is... I'm... I don't want this for you either. But we have no other choice."

The car carried on through the streets, shocking the two women with what they saw, until they pulled into the parking lot of a shopping mall. Monica's mother reached into the glove compartment and withdrew the piece of paper with the nude hologram on it.

"Seedy Woods Shopping Mall... this is the place."

The two climbed out of the car and locked the doors behind them. They passed even more naked people, who stared at them in their clothing as if they were the weirdo's, and entered the mall. Inside the walls were white, and the air was cool and fresh. As the two of them walked through, a little wary and eyeing the place with confusion, nearly every other shopper stopped to stare at their clothing. It made Monica feel very self conscious.

"Okay then," her mother said "I think the first order of business is to..."