It felt unusual to Mindy, being at the mall in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. She wasn't part of the typical crowd this time of day. Most of them were middle-aged housewives, old people, teenagers skipping school, maybe a few college students. But Mindy had saved up some personal time at work, and today she'd cashed it in for a full day off. She decided to spend it treating herself, she'd earned it.

For most of the morning she wandered among the indoor shops, checking out the latest trends and fashions. One end of the mall housed an upscale department store, and it was there that Mindy found the most perfect little strapless black dress. It was low-cut and short, ending a few inches above the knees, with a zip in the back, and made of some soft, plush fabric. She tried it on in the dressing room and it was a perfect fit, accentuating her body's finely sculpted curves exquisitely. She felt so soft and squeezable in it, and spent a few extra moments running her hands over it, luxuriating in the garment's downy texture. A swipe of plastic later, it was hers.

She needed replacement contacts, but the vision center didn't open until 11:00, so she adjusted her glasses and went to look for a pair of pumps that matched the dress. It was while she was looking for these that Mindy, ever the exhibitionist, had gotten another of her scathingly naughty ideas. Mindy loved to set up little "accidents" that would leave her showing off her curvaceous body in public. What if, she thought, I were to make myself lose this dress? She'd figured she'd bought it, so she might as well start getting some good use out of it!

The only question was how to do it. It had to look right when it happened, as much like a genuine "wardrobe malfunction" as possible. Otherwise people would see right through her. And even though they would certainly still be entertained by the outcome, it just wouldn't be nearly as much fun for Mindy. Embarrassing, sure, and she loved that. But she wanted that to come entirely from the exposure, from the knowledge that other people had seen her undressed. Not from having botched her little performance.

Mindy kept her eyes and her imagination open as she passed the next block of shops, and when she saw the sporting goods store, inspiration struck. She stopped in and purchased a package of fishhooks, and a spool of invisible reel line.

"Hope ya catch something," the guy working the register said as she left. He couldn't possibly have known that Mindy had already caught something: The exhibitionist fever!

The plan was, she'd tie the fishing line to a hook, and hang it through the zipper in the back of her new dress. Then she'd let the other end trail behind her on the ground as she walked through the mall. At some point someone was bound to unwittingly step on it, and ZZZZZIP! Down would fall Mindy's dress!

Right in the middle of the mall, where anyone might see.

It still needed something, though. Mindy kept browsing, and soon came across a store that sold the kind of flashy, attention-grabbing clothing worn by ultra-hip teenagers. Mindy, 27, looked even more out of place here than with the fishing gear.

"Can I help you find something?" asked a very pierced salesgirl with bright orange hair. Probably thought she was buying something for a younger sister, or maybe a niece.

"No thanks, I'm just looking," Mindy replied. After all, how could she explain that she was on a quest to deliberately embarrass herself? Who could possibly understand such a strange obsession?

The salesgirl watched her with some amusement. Eventually Mindy found what she was looking for: A pair of hot-pink panties with a pattern of large, multicolored dots in bright colors -- blue, green, orange, purple. Underwear like this would lend her a clownish appearance, further adding to her embarrassment when the exposure happened.

Mindy felt that familiar quivering excitement in her belly as she made her way to the restrooms to change, and knew she was out of control. There was no stopping now. She was absolutely going through with this, ignoring all logic and common sense about how crazy it was. I mean, I'm going to be practically NAKED in the middle of a MALL! she thought. This is just plain NUTS! They have cameras in here. I could get arrested! I could get thrown in--

Mindy, and her thoughts, screeched to a halt as she saw the booth in front of her.

Temporary tattoos.

Oh... YES!

What could be more embarrassing than "accidentally" showing off a secret tattoo? Mindy browsed the selection in the glass case and picked out the most absurd one she could find: a little red devil with leering yellow eyes and his tongue sticking out. It was only three dollars.

Her purchases complete, Mindy made her way to the restroom and stripped out of her blouse and tan slacks in one of the stalls. The dress was strapless, so she removed her creamy white bra. Matching panties were replaced with the silly polka-dot ones. Mindy suppressed a giggle as she looked down at herself in them. This was going to be SOOO much fun!

Unwrapping the temporary tattoo, she pressed it against the spot between her belly button and her most intimate area, and began rubbing vigorously to transfer the artwork to her skin. Already she felt her excitement turning to arousal. Good thing I'm not applying this any lower! She adjusted her spotted undies so the little devil was peeking over the elastic waistband.

The dress went over her shoulders, and Mindy practiced letting it fall a couple of times before zipping it up. It was perfect: Without the support of the zipper, the garment's large-cupped top (Mindy was a natural 36D) was heavy enough to pull the bottom of the dress off her hips as it dropped and piled around her ankles. Mindy didn't practice any sort of reaction to being suddenly defrocked. That would come instinctively, she knew from experience.

After zipping up the dress, Mindy placed the fishhook and line through its metal loop, then untied her ponytail to let her long, dark brown hair flow around her shoulders, hiding the hook from view. She swapped her casual loafers for the pumps, then put her old outfit into the big paper shopping bag from the store where she'd bought the dress. Invisible thread trailing behind her, Mindy stepped out of the stall, checked herself in the mirror -- Damn I look good! -- and exited the restroom.

It didn't take long for Mindy's first exposure. As she started down the narrow white hall back toward the mall concourse, she felt something pulling at her zipper, then a moment later a rush of air on her exposed back, then down her entire body as the dress fell away, leaving her standing there in just her polka-dots.

"Yikes!" cried Mindy in genuine surprise, and quickly gathered her dress back up over herself, her heart fluttering. She glanced around, but the hallway was deserted and no one had seen her little mishap. How, then...?

Rezipping herself, Mindy located the thread and followed it back to the restroom door from which she'd just emerged. When it had swung closed behind her, the line had gotten caught! She pulled it free and started out toward the mall again. It had worked perfectly, and had given her a tantalizing taste of the genuine public exposure that was certain to follow!

WOW what a rush!

Mindy wandered down the mall, pretending to window-shop. When she sensed people coming near her she got in front of them, in hopes that someone might step on the thread. Then she tried to make her pace a bit quicker than theirs, so the string would get pulled taut between their foot and her body. She made it all the way to the other end of the mall, but nothing had happened.

This was unacceptable. She NEEDED this after all the built-up anticipation! She decided to try her luck on the upper level. It looked like there were more people there.

As Mindy rode up the escalator she realized that their numbers were about the same, but it appeared more crowded because there were no large open areas. The upper walkways were bordered by openings in the floor, surrounded by glass and metal rails, overlooking the ground level.

Mindy stepped off, and within a few paces she felt the anticipated tug at the back of her dress. In her excitement she stopped momentarily, her breath caught in her throat, before remembering that she had to move forward for it to work. She almost looked behind her to see who had stood on the thread, but then caught herself.

Her mind took in everything around her in an instant. To one side were an older couple mall-walking. On the other, a co-ed group of teenagers and a couple of college girls with shopping bags were all converging directly in front of her.

"Nice dress," one of the girls complimented.

An instant later, all of them reacted when the busty young woman in front of them suddenly went from being sharply dressed to clad only in a pair of gaudy polka-dot panties. The shocked elderly woman shot a hand up over her mouth, while her male companion's hung agape. The college girls gasped, their eyes wide. The teenagers all burst into raucous laughter. All of this happened in the course of about three seconds. Mindy's heightened senses watched everything unfold in slow motion with helpless clarity.

"OHMIGAWD!!" she squawked, and hastily wrapped an arm around her outcropping breasts, her other hand holding her shopping bag over the front of her embarrassing underwear.

But she barely had time to hold that pose. The next thing Mindy knew, something was pulling hard at her ankles, causing her to lose her balance in her high heels, and topple forward. Instinctively she held out her arms to brace for the impact, as she fell with a hard FLOP on her stomach. The pseudo-marble tiled floor was frigid against her naked breasts. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, but a second later she got it back and was able to gasp at the cold. Her nipples quickly hardened in response to the chill, and to her excitement at her exposure.

Immediately she got offers of help. From the old couple, who seemed to have some trouble standing themselves. From the college girls, looking simultaneously sympathetic to Mindy but grateful that it had happened to her and not them. From the teenage boys, just wanting an excuse to get closer to the large-breasted, half-naked young lady.

Cupping her breasts in her hands, Mindy got to her knees and turned, carefully, to see what had happened. She found her dress bunched up in the groove at the top of the escalator, and quickly deduced that that was where her thread had gotten caught, as she stepped off. Hastily Mindy grabbed for it, but by now the dress itself had become wedged in tightly, each ascending stair pushing it in further. She pulled as hard as she could, but it was no use. The dress was not coming out.

She still had her original set of clothes, though! Mindy scrambled around on her knees, looking for them.

"Have you seen my bag? What happened to my bag??" she asked, desperately glancing from one person to another. Others had gathered now, having noticed the commotion, and were watching with curiosity and growing amusement.

"Um... Is that it?" asked one of the college girls, pointing -- Mindy groaned inwardly -- at the down escalator on the other side of the walkway! When she'd thrown up her arms during the fall, she must have inadvertently tossed the bag aside, and it had slid across the floor to rest on the top stair. Of course that former top stair had now trundled all the way to the bottom, and had carried Mindy's bag of clothes down with it.

Mindy scrambled to her feet, awkwardly in the pumps, and began jiggling her way down the steps as fast as she dared without risking a fall. She gripped the handrail tightly with one arm while trying to contain her bouncing breasts with the other.

As she disappeared down the moving stairs one of the teenage boys called after her, "Nice undies!"

Panic was starting to well up in Mindy's chest. This was NOT going as she'd planned! A brief exposure, a few agonizing seconds of wonderful embarrassment, then she'd have her dress back up and it would all be over. Now her only thought was getting out of here as fast as possible, before someone from mall security saw her and she got arrested!

Shoppers of all ages and walks of life turned to watch her descending the stairs in just her underwear. At the bottom, Mindy kicked off the heels and left them there. She could run faster without them. Then she reached for her shopping bag...

Hey!! Where'd it go?!?

"Well look what I found!" exclaimed a nearby voice as four black-stockinged legs appeared in front of Mindy. She turned her gaze upward to see a pair of teenage girls in goth getup, all black, heavy on the eye makeup. One of them dangled her bag of clothes from a hand with black-nailed fingers.

"Hey, that's mine!" cried Mindy. "Give it back!"

She stood up, keeping one arm over her bare breasts as best she could, and reached for the sack with the other.

"I don't think so," said the girl, with a sneer at Mindy. "Finders keepers, right?"

"Nice outfit," commented the other goth, taking in Mindy's scantily clad body.

"Yeah," agreed the first, "but I don't think that underwear matches the rest!" And she pointed at Mindy's waist. Then, with an audacity that left Mindy momentarily stunned, the girl reached out, took the waistband of the polka-dot panties in her black-nailed hand, gave a hard yank, and ripped them right off Mindy's body!

"NOW she matches!" laughed the second girl.

"Nice tattoo," teased the first, spotting Mindy's little red devil.

Oh my GOD...! Now I'm NAKED!! I have GOT to get out of here!!

With a speed born of panic, she snatched her shopping bag away from the goth girl. Both girls laughed as Mindy darted for a side concourse, bolting toward the nearest exit, the shopping bag clutched tightly against her chest with both hands, her ass-cheeks bouncing as she ran.

Just before she burst through the door, she heard a male voice behind her yell out, "Nice ass!" She turned and looked. It was a grinning uniformed mall security guard.

A sharp, piercing alarm sounded as Mindy slammed through the door. She barely had time to note the bright red "Emergency Exit Only" before she was outside, in broad daylight, weaving between surprised shoppers who stopped to stare as her naked flesh flashed past them. A pickup truck honked its horn, making her jump.

Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod...!

Clinging to the shopping bag as if it were a life preserver, Mindy crouched between a row of cars, trying to figure out where she was and where she'd parked.

What a disaster! she thought. Everything she'd purchased had been lost in her little exhibitionist stunt!

She only had a few moments before everyone else inside the mall would begin flooding out. She had to get dressed and get away before anyone recognized her.

Except... This shopping bag feels awfully light...

Mindy looked inside and saw -- Oh NOOO! -- the entire bottom of the paper sack had ripped, leaving it empty! Her original outfit was back inside the mall! The two goth teens had probably taken it! She was stuck in the parking lot without a single piece of clothing to cover herself! Her car keys, her credit card, everything she had was gone!

What am I going to DO?!?

She thought hard for a few horrible, panic-soaked moments. What do I have with me? Nothing! Well, okay, this ripped shopping bag, but...

Then the idea hit her. Mindy lifted the bag over her head and as far down her body as it would go, using the plastic twine handhold loops for straps. The bag wasn't quite tall enough, leaving a bit of her ass peeking out the bottom, but it was the only covering she was going to get. Mindy kept her hands over her front as she made her way to the pay phone, back beside the mall entrance. Again, the barrage of stares and amused expressions.

She called collect, and hid among the landscaped bushes, crouched and barely covered, waiting for what seemed an eternity.

Mindy almost cried from relief when she saw the yellow cab pull up. She dove into the back seat and collapsed, exhausted, her face and body sheened with sweat. She felt lightheaded from the rush of thinking about how many people had seen her naked. It had to have been several dozen, maybe even a hundred, to say nothing of all the people who had sent curious looks at her improvised dress.

The cab driver turned his head to look at her. "Nice bag."

I have GOT to start thinking these things through, Mindy scolded herself.

(Copyright © January 2006 by ToddCheese.)

(For more of Mindy's exhibitionist misadventures, go here.)