Taking It

A make-believe shoplifter is shocked to find herself actually stealing

Anna loves everything about department stores: the smell, the clothes, the crowds. But her favorite things to watch are the detectives. She can spot a store detective a mile away, whether dressed as a tourist or pretending to be a cashier, and she knows just how to fool them: She lingers over an expensive sweater until she catches the detective’s eye. When she leaves the store, they stop her, expecting to find the sweater hidden in her purse. But she’s fooled them. Anna pretends to be a shoplifter, but she has never stolen anything at all.

Until the day the scarf appears out of nowhere. She doesn’t remember stealing it, and yet, there it is. As more and more stolen objects begin to appear, Anna worries that her little game is about to push her over the brink.