Sent by: Jonatan;
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, USA;
Date: July 11, 2010.
Mall Security
I was asked by my employer to go on a business trip to Texas, and as a “quid pro quo” requirement from my spouse, I was provided with extra luggage: two Blue Marks to be posted somewhere abroad. Our first thought was to place one at a public space like an airport, but over thinking the security paranoia of the last decade it became clear that a Blue Mark would probably not survive longer than a few minutes before being removed by some eager official.
At my destination, I had one Sunday off from work and decided to do some shopping. Assuming 24/7 capitalism in Texas, I arrived at a large mall at 10am in the morning, to discover that most shops were closed until noon. My initial disappointment made place for a feeling of opportunity: I now had all the time to find a suitable location for one of the Blue Marks and photograph it without being disturbed. At the parking lot I found a small decorative tree, attached the Blue Mark to it, and made several pictures of it. While doing this some voice in my head was still whining about things like CCTV, vigilant security guards, and all kinds of trouble: after all, I was there on my own, “sneaking around and making pictures of the place” on an early Sunday morning…
To kill the time and get me something to drink, I started to drive around the mall looking for some shops that may have opened earlier. While doing that, I noticed a van with a flashing light on, driving straight into the direction of my Blue Mark. The van had a logo called “Mall Security”. With a slightly raised heart rate I couldn’t resist following the van, at the same time envisioning an early end of the Blue Mark and me being questioned by the security guards. The van approached the Blue Mark. And drove straight past it.
Mission accomplished: the Blue Mark and me managed to be undetected by the wrong kind of people. Will this Blue Mark be detected by the right kind of people?
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