Chapter 3: Where Did All That Money Come From?
It was a nice warm Saturday afternoon when Mina sat with her mother on the couch in the family living room. The two of them were holding hands as Mina showered her mother with praise and admiration, "You've always been there for me, and taken good care of me, and well, words cannot describe how grateful I am," She said. "Aww, her mother said, as her eyes softened and slightly tilter her head, "That's so sweet!" Mina looked into her mother's eyes; they were watering up as her mother stretched out her arms and made gestures with her hands for Mina to give her a hug. Both of them leaned and embraced each other, not letting go. Her mother's body felt so warm as she lightly patted Mina's back. After releasing each other Mina gestured for her mother to wait for a moment, her mother nodded, "Okay, dear." Mina turned in her seat to grab the gift wrapped present that was sitting behead her the whole time they were on the couch and turned around to face her mother with the gift in her hands. Her mother covered her mouth with both her hands then took the present from Mina and carefully unwrapped the present. Mrs. Beff was always one to do things neatly, always, even when it came to unwrapping presents. Once she opened the box she found inside a beautiful diamond necklace that glistened when she held it up in the sunlight. Mrs. Beff covered her mouth with her left hand as she held up the necklace with her right hand, her eyes once again getting watery. "Oh my goodness," She said, "Mina, how were you able to afford this? This is so beautiful!" "I got a couple of new jobs at stores around town, so I could raise money to buy you the perfect gift," Mina said.
She smiled at her mother who was gazing at the very expensive gift in amazement, but on the inside, Mina was even surprised that she was even able to still afford this. After the fight that she had with Trina on Wednesday, she had not visited or spoken to the pink-haired girl for the remainder of that week. She spent that Wednesday afternoon, listing all the equipment she'd need to build that gas chamber and spent five minutes of her time designing a flyer, and the rest of the ten minutes printing out those flyers until she had enough to post around town. She had a hundred flyers by the time she was done and they were all in her bedroom ready to be sent out to the public. She spent the remainder of the hour searching for odd jobs to do around town so she can raise money to buy her mother that present she wanted to give her. She called Barney to ask if he had any openings at his furniture store: Barney Furniture Emporium; She calledthe Manager at Flo's Fro-Yo Place if they needed a new cashier; She called the Manager at Bed, Bus, and Beyond if they needed a new bus driver; then she went to on the computer to watch tutorial videos on Face Tube that taught viewers how to drive buses; then she called the DMV to schedule her bus driving exam for Thursday Morning.
On Thursday morning, 9:00 A.M., she went to the DMV to take her driver's test. Although her examiner was old, crusty, and rough-around-the-edges she was able to remain calm driving on the road while he barked orders. She ended up passing with a perfect score. Once she was done with that she went to apply for a job at Bed, Bus, and Beyond and scheduled an interview for that afternoon. Later that day she was able to score employment at the frozen yogurt place and the furniture store, deciding that she would work Friday at Flo's from morning to midnight and Saturday morning at Barney's, until 12:00p.m. She took an hour shift to do some paid bus driving through town and then she was done. She ended up having $200 in total by that afternoon due to her stellar performance on her first day at each establishment. Now that she had a job she could raise more money to get all the supplies she would need to get revenge on Trina.
Mrs. Beff hugged her daughter tightly, still holding the necklace in her right hand, "Oh, honey, you are so thoughtful of others; I hope you never change this trait you have," her mother said. Mina's casted her eyes to the floor as she hesitantly hugged her mother back, for some reason she felt heaviness in her heart. Once Mrs. Beff released her daughter she sat back on her side of the couch and tried on the necklace, "How do I look?" She asked Mina, smiling. "As beautiful as always, Mum," said Mina with a grin. Her mother shrieked with delight and got up from the couch, "I'm going to go look in the mirror," she said, scurrying out of the living room and passing by the kitchen to head to the dining room. Mina slid back into the couch and tried relaxing herself, the grin she had on was now replaced with a frown. She spent the next couple of minutes staring at the ceiling with dulled eyes.