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A recent mobile phone pic of Dinah celebrating life on the mall carousel.

Oh, merry-go-round
in the mall.
How I love you.

Preferring vintage carousels outdoors,
I never thought I'd ride
the mall one,
all new and plastic-y and mall-ish,
so un-hip
when compared with wooden, fantastical animals
all covered with crackled paint on Griffith Park's old carousel.
And the whistling music of a real calliope
thumps in your heart, replacing your heartbeat
for the ride's few moments.

And churros or cotton candy afterward.

But then, babies -- two of them!
And the discovery:
the mall rocks
when you need a close-by place to go
with two rammy kids who've been cooped up sick for a week.

The plastic-molded, jeweled animals,
the fakey tinkling music.

The food court afterward.

It's true: the carousel at the mall
goes round
and round
just like any carousel anywhere.