Copious Free Time

In the September 20 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), there's an story by Denise Batts on a T-shirt/airbrush shop that has taken on some of the aspects of a shrine. I'd like to link to it, but I can't find the article online, so I will quote from it here a little.

Owner and artist Shaukat Malik started the business seven years ago at the Military Circle mall in Norfolk, then four years ago, "a group of friends came into Malik's shop and asked him to create a shirt with the letters R.I.P. and a scanned photo on the front... But the friends didn't want the shirt. They asked him to hang it high in the corner... Then another customer came in and asked for the same thing. Then another. And another..." The story pauses to examine several of the shirts, which occupy a wall in the store; about a fourth of the space. "Malik remembers when Larry and a friend rushed in one night, just before closing time. He carried photos of his mother and pleaded with Malik to make a shirt for her. It was her birthday. Malik gave in. 'He was so happy,' Malik said, grinning at the memory." The next day, Larry's friend came back for an R.I.P. shirt with Larry's picture. "'No, what do you mean? I just saw him last night.'" Malik said. "'And he was killed last night,'" said the friend.

"Lines and lines of males go by, 19, 21, 25, grinning, trying to look tough, laughing, lying in a coffin. Malik waves his hand across the screen. All dead, he mumbles. 'Most have at least one child. They all have little babies.' Then he stops on one photo, double-clicks and a young man sitting on a red brick porch jumps into focus. It's Troy Jordan, Malik's foster child. Malik and his wife took him in when he was 14 or so." Ten years later, Troy was shot and killed, leaving a wife and children. Malik can't bear to put his picture on the wall. "'I just don't want to remember.' But others do."

The story describes people who come in every day to gaze at the wall of shirts. "'Grandma, why do they have these pictures?' 'They're people who're resting in peace, baby.'" People like Pat, Marie, Tank, Tony, Tam, Glesean, C.J., Easy, Lil' Doc, and I don't know how many more.

"Lately," the article concludes, "he's finding that he can't add shirts to the wall. Customers can still place orders and take them. The photos can stay in the computer, where friends can come by and look at their loved ones. But the faces won't go up behind the counter. The wall is full."

Night, all.