I once said that Michael’s (the craft superstore) is the women’s Home Depot. During the holiday season, Michael’s is like Home Depot, Woodstock, and a giant game of dodge ball all rolled into one. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Michael’s goes from a mild-mannered craft supply shop to complete and total bedlam. This is especially true of the Michael’s in San Leandro, which is entirely too small to fit both its inventory and its shoppers comfortably. This young man looked to be somewhere between 12 and 15, and he was waiting patiently in line as his mother sorted through a curiously eclectic selection of plastic flowers. He seemed to have transported himself to some sort of remote dreamspace in which nothing could disturb him, not even the cart-wielding scrapbookers, knitters, and decoupage artists who bustled around and bumped into him.

Ajuan Mance