Black Friday

Black Friday is the Page household’s annual early-morning shopping ritual, but this year its promise of bargains collided with a stampede, pepper spray, a missing family member, and news of a stabbing. For Henry Page, the day’s absurd culmination was getting a GoPro and an animatronic Yoda at a steep discount while the surrounding chaos made the celebration of consumerism hard to take at face value.

The Five-A.M. Shopping Tradition

The household set out at five in the morning to satisfy its most intense shopping cravings in a single day. The custom was hardly unique: nearly every other family in town seemed to have the same plan, turning the stores into crowded, hazardous spaces. A small stampede nearly trampled the group, and an altercation involving pepper spray left their eyes burning.

Danger and Bargains

The day’s disorder grew more alarming when Brodie went missing for several hours. News reports also said that someone had been stabbed in a department store. Against these incidents, Henry’s purchases—a GoPro and an animatronic Yoda, both obtained for 85 percent off—land as an uneasy punchline. The bargain hunt delivers its promised spoils, but only amid the risks and confusion produced by the crowd’s shared pursuit of them.

Friday-Night Aftermath

By Friday night, Henry had barricaded himself in the basement to escape the upstairs turmoil and questions from his aunt and grandmother about his glum appearance. His grandmother attributed his long hair and skinny jeans to indoctrination into an emo circle, a comic misreading that extends the day’s family unease beyond the stores. Black Friday thus runs from public commotion to domestic retreat: the shopping trip ends, but the household’s chaos follows Henry home.