That night after dinner Mum wanted to go grocery shopping. She acted all casual about it but we all knew she had taken to night-time shopping so as not to encounter any ‘small-town gossipy locals’ (Mum’s words) during the day. I was surprised she hadn’t thought of home delivery, to be honest, but I wasn’t going to suggest it because sadly, even a trip to Woolies felt like something to look forward to now.
But grocery shopping ended up being far from exciting. Who would have guessed the first person I’d see would be Seth Cromby! How was I meant to know he had a night job at Woolies stacking shelves? He must have definitely lied about his age. Anyway, there I was with our shopping list, pushing a trolley with Clementine, and there was Seth, squatting in the dairy aisle, unpacking tubs of yoghurt onto the bottom shelf of the fridge display.
Naturally, my first instinct was to run. Well, that was my second instinct really. My first instinct was to throw a carton of oat milk at Seth’s ugly face. I did attempt a swift trolley about-turn but it went all wrong. The combination of my one-handed steering (Clementine was zero help) and the trolley’s dodgy wheels saw me careening straight across the aisle and into a shelf of feta cheese.
As with most things, Mum’s first instinct was very different. Before I could stop her she had bowled straight over to Seth and confronted him. It happened so fast all Clementine and I could do was watch on in horror.
‘Seth Cromby,’ Mum scolded, ‘you are a bully and a coward!’
She pointed back towards me and Clementine, frozen like statues in the cold blue light of the refrigerators.
‘What sort of animal … what kind of barbarian does a thing like that?’
Clementine grabbed the shopping list and started rolling it into a tight scroll. I just prayed for a sinkhole to appear and swallow me up. But Seth was completely unfazed. He stood up, looked Mum straight in the eyes and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady!’
‘Lady? Where’s your manners, young man? I’m Mrs Bracken to you!’ Mum scolded. ‘And you’re lucky I haven’t called the police!’
Seth held his ground. ‘Listen, Mrs Bracken, I had nothing to do with it. Honest.’
‘Honest? Honest! There’s not an honest bone in your body!’ Mum’s voice grew louder. Where was the sinkhole? ‘Fancy leaving a young girl injured by the side of the road! You’re a disgrace! I shudder to think what sort of man you’ll become!’
Seth pushed his half-emptied box along the linoleum with his foot, calm as you like.
‘Shudder all you like, Mrs Bracken, but Alberta pranged her bike all by herself.’
‘What an absolute load of hogswallop!’ Mum looked to me for validation. But I was too busy memorising the ingredient list on a platter pack of tasty cheese and cabanossi bites.
Mum gave up. She knew Seth was never going to apologise or send a card with flowers or do anything that was the slightest bit civilised. Worse than that, he wasn’t even admitting he was involved. There were no witnesses so it was his word against mine. Seth could say anything he liked.
Tammy’s Tips
#8 making a proper apology
A proper apology has four components. Firstly, acknowledge the behaviour or event that caused the damage. Then, state the reason why your behaviour was wrong – whether it was intentional or otherwise.
After that, declare what you will do differently in the future. And finally, use the person’s name and solemnly ask for their forgiveness. All this, while offering the person on the receiving end as much time as they need to accept your apology.
‘Come along, girls,’ Mum said, making sure Seth was still in earshot. ‘That Seth Cromby is even more of a coward than I’d thought.’
Mum took hold of the front of the trolley and towed it behind her while I steered with my good hand. Clementine trotted beside her, unravelling the shopping list.
‘What about the yoghurt?’ she whispered, tugging on Mum’s sleeve.
‘Clementine, for once in your life just work with me, would you?’ Mum snatched the list from Clementine and gave it to me instead.
‘Alberta, what’s next, please?’ she said. That’s when I saw some of Clementine’s additions … sour worms, Pine Lime Splices, hokey pokey chocolate, party mix.
The whole encounter had put Mum in an even worse mood, if that was humanly possible. But we worked systematically through the list, sending Clementine to pre-check each aisle before we entered to make sure Seth wasn’t already there.
‘Can we get a burrito kit?’ asked Clementine.
‘No,’ said Mum.
‘Ben and Jerry’s?’ I asked.
‘No,’ said Mum.
‘That’s so unfair!’ whined Clementine.
‘Stop complaining,’ said Mum.
But despite Mum rejecting nearly all our requests for sweets and ice cream as we edged our full trolley sideways down the confectionery aisle, different rules seemed to apply to her. ‘You get to have your treats,’ moaned Clementine as Mum put some Werther’s Toffees in the trolley. I gave Mum a silent she does have a point face.
‘All right,’ Mum huffed. ‘You two go and get some ice cream. But not that dreadful rocky road!’
Clementine bolted for the freezer section. I followed gingerly behind. The last thing I needed was another collision with Seth Cromby. I poked my head cautiously out the end of the aisle and checked both ways, like I was about to cross a major road. Then I looked back to Mum, standing alone in front the chocolate selection like she was in some kind of dream. She picked up two chunky blocks of Milky Bar Nutty and Crunchy. This was strange in itself because Mum was religious about Fruit & Nut.
But you won’t believe what I saw next. I wished my eyes had been playing tricks. I mean … surely Mum knew I was there? But no. If she’d known I was watching she would not have done what she did next, and I would not have seen what I saw. But she did do it and I did see it. My mother, Tammy Bracken, world expert on table manners and social etiquette, slipped those two blocks of Milky Bar Nutty and Crunchy straight into her handbag! That’s right. She was stealing them. Then she just carried on like nothing had happened, whistling to herself as she pushed the trolley towards the checkout. Oh, but there’s more. I wasn’t the only one who’d seen what Mum did … Seth Cromby saw it too! Or at least I think he did. If he didn’t, Woolie’s CCTV camera must have captured it, for sure.
My heart pounded as Seth and I eyed each other from opposite ends of the aisle, exchanging a look that could only be interpreted as I know that you know what I know. Oh my lord! If my mother got busted for shoplifting it would ruin her entire career. And, considering everything else in her life was a wreck, that would mean ruining her whole life! Mum needed her career more than ever right now. Could Seth be so lousy as to expose her? Well, after Mum’s outburst at him in the dairy aisle … hell yes!
Just then Clementine skipped back with a tub of rocky road ice cream. Rocky road! But weirdly, Mum was suddenly in the best mood ever.
‘Oh, there you are, girls!’ she said cheerily. ‘Let’s get going before it melts.’
I still had some hope that Mum putting the chocolate in her bag was just an accident and that soon we’d be paying for them at the checkout with everything else. But that didn’t happen. I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder. What if Woolies security had seen Mum in the confectionery aisle on CCTV and were waiting to bust her as we left the store? I got an impulse to run and find Seth, try to make a deal with him. Something like, I won’t tell anyone else about you breaking my arm, if you don’t tell anyone what you saw. Beg him, even. But in the end I was too scared. In the end, I just helped Mum with the shopping as best I could with one hand.
Mum was happier on the drive home than she had been in days. But I kept wondering if I should tell her what I’d seen and warn her about Seth.
‘You know,’ Mum said, ‘I’ve been thinking. Why don’t you girls sign up for a school holiday program? How about those drama workshops down at the Rec Centre? That’s something you could still do with a broken arm, Alberta.’
‘Ew! Drama!’ said Clementine. ‘As if we don’t have enough drama in our lives already!’
Isn’t that that truth, I thought.