Mum texted me to make sure that I hadn't forgotten that I was picking her up from the hairdressers. After that we would go to lunch. She decided she wanted to go back to Forest Hill because she wanted to pick up her cross from the jewellers in Blackburn. I suggested we go to the jewellers first and then we could just go home after lunch. She agreed.
San the jeweller was out but Dee was minding the shop. She called San who said she would be back at 1.30. She had to take her son back to school after taking his scholarship exam.
We decided to come back after lunch. The seniors were out in force at the shopping centre. "It looks like Mothers Day" said mum as we sat down. She ordered fish and chips while I had the New York club sandwich. After a pub meal the night before the sandwich was daunting but mum made good progress. She still had a good appetite but offered me a piece of fish and I helped her finish the chips.
After the meal she paid with her card and then I paid for the second round of coffees. Leaving the car park we arrived back at the jewellers at 1.30.
San arrived not long after us. She brought out some plastic bags for granny to examine. There was the cross and a bracelet that had been cleaned. She also brought out a ring that was $950. Granny looked at it and put it aside.
San offered us champagne but there was no glasses so Dee went over to the Op shop and bought some..
"Oh those are nice" said granny.
"Would you like me to get you some? They've got some more" said Dee.
"Ooh yes" she replied. Dee came back with five slightly different glasses. She gave granny back five dollars saying "They were cheaper than what I told you. They're better than yours" she told San. She flicked the side of one of the glasses and laughed as she listened to it ring.
San poured the champagne and got out her calculator. "That comes to two thousand dollars" she said showing mum.
"Ooh" mum said putting on her glasses. "I want to pay $200 in cash so just put $1,800 on the card."
San smiled, "No problem." Dee was out the back washing the glasses.
M7m was fully engaged as she perched on her stool. She had invited the two women to her 60th wedding party at the Grand Hyatt hotel. The deafness and blindness in one eye didn't seem to be holding her back. Armed with her credit card, this was on the surface a 'master - slave' telationship with the card holder the apparent 'master'. But this was not the case. Dad had built a financial bubble over many years in which she was free to go 'shopping' leaving him free to do the accounts at home. And in each of the shops she visited he shopkeepers were the real 'master' until she stopped coming...
In terms of small business it made for a fascinating skill set. What would a work experience student have made of all this? What would they go home and tell their parents? The smiles, the bubbly, the trips over to the ok shop, the thousands of dollars spent op, the plastic bags placed under the counter for 'next time? If mum was 89 years old, how much longer could she keep buying stuff? And what would she do with it all?
We made our way back to the car. Back home we parked the car and took the lift. Dad was at the bench in the kitchen looking at his phone. He was worried about getting his vaccination but he couldn't get any information from the clinic website. They told him he had to wait until after Easter, so in the meantime there was nothing he could do except wait.
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