The mall guards of Willowbrook February 19, 1986
His name is George.
He is one of those ethical men who believes the world is essentially
a wholesome place where people live and love and go on with their lives for the
most part without real scandal.
But as Dr. Thomas often points out, the unconscious world is
a vicious place where our worst aspects get played out and tends to reflect the
actuality of the waking world.
Yes, George is a good man, full of integrity and class, living
his life the way most people would assume middle class people should.
He reminds me of Dan (or Wild Bill as he likes to be
called), tall, quiet, with an intense passion for justice.
He is the kind of man most often abused by both sides of the
political spectrum.
Dan, of course, has dark hair and claims to be trapped in
his second marriage, stuck with child support for his two kids, and an enduring
sense of guilt over having married at all, where as George is single with dirty
blonde hair, girls extremely attracted to him.
Both men stand tall, both have served in the Marines, George
in South Korea, Dan as an MP in Germany.
Unlike George, Dan hated his service in the military, seeing
the whole affair as a series of fucked up routines. Nobody gave a shit about
anybody, he claims.
It effected his world view after service as well, although
George often argued that there were screw ups in services, but most “Joes” were
all right, and the screw ups were isolated not systemic.
Dan never got deep down into the mechanism, assuming the
worst based on these singular events, and perhaps, mistook innocent mistakes as
intentional, George claims.
George loved the military and wears his mall guard uniform with
all the same respect he wore the one in service, even though working nights
almost nobody else got to see him in it, but us midnight shift workers. When he
made his patrol of the dark halls, he looked every inch the soldier again, his
steady stride, his proud expression testimony to his wish he had stayed in
service, and often mumbles about possibly reenlisting someday, but never says
when.
When Dan patrols, it is like a cowboy meandering through the
dark caverns, always cautious, even though there is very little to be cautious
about. He hates those halls, and claims they are haunted, since he always
reports hearing things.
George claims they are birds or squirrels or some other
creature that has wandered in and made a life here, feeding off the trash the fast-food
places put out. George says he doesn’t believe in ghosts, although he is a
devout Christian, and is convinced God exists.
Both men are tough in their own ways, although Dan tends to boast
about it, where as George does his best to downplay it, holding his arms down,
rarely moving his hands when he talks. George always looks as if he’s about to apologize
for something he thinks he might have done, though one of the bakers at the bagel
shop claims George is extremely skilled at martial arts, and someone nobody in
their right mind wants to piss off.
George went to Catholic grammar school as a young boy, and
then to public high school, avoiding the cultural shock most Catholic kids get
when they come into contact with the flawed public education system. If he got
into fights in high school, he didn’t mention it. He went into the military shortly
after graduation, then when he did his four-year stint (from 1965 to 1969), he
got it into his head he would like to become a cop.
One of the nasty cops from Wayne, who stops in my store and
the bagel shop for free coffee and food, is constantly ragging on George,
saying mall guards are worth crap, something Dan considered fighting words, but
George did not, although George called the Wayne police station to complain,
saying no cop should act the way this cop does (and it’s not just the insult,
it’s the underage girls the cop screws in his parked patrol car in lot, and the
booze George smells on the cop’s breath, and the way the cop sometimes takes
out his sidearm, playing with it, a dangerous game, George claims, almost
tempted to disarm the cop.
The call started a feud between the two, which Dan has tried
to defuse, knowing if it comes to blows, George is likely to kill the cop and
wind up in jail.
Dan has tried to explain to George why it is a bad idea to aggravate
the cop. But George doesn’t see the point, claiming it is a matter of right and
wrong, and he’s right for complaining.
“Maybe you’re right,” Dan said. “But it won’t do you any
good to be right if you’re dead or in jail.”
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