The Boy from hell and the Shop lifter

Dear Mouse, Last Saturday, my married friend with the boy- from- hell asked me to give her company to the mall. The two children were too much for her to handle and the husband was too lazy to keep eye on them while she was out. My friend was a few items short to seal her balikbayan boxes that was due for pick-up on Monday. My "student" was free, so we brought her along. She was unimpressed by the mall she saw. Malls in the Philippines are more beautiful, so she said. We had to go to MC Donald for our lunch. I like BK more but the boy collects the toys that go with happy meal. Chicken nuggets and French fries are not his favorites but he just wants the toy. Using simple math, I can say that it is more expensive than the toy bought from a toy store. That day and that outlet was giving away a plastic cow toy with movable head. He did not like it. HE played with his food and he harrassed a little girl seated across his table. I can sense that the mother of the little girl had already counted up to 1,000 in order to keep her cool. Before she run out of numbers to count, we decided to put the left overs in the papers bag and left hastily. Window shopping, browse, stroll, sit, walk and eat again. The boy wanted to go to the restroom. Oh great... i asked them to go while I looked for Christmas lights. One hour and they were not back. Wow, they must have been sidetracked in the TOYS-FOR-US. The boy was wearing a new pair of pants. The thought that crossed my mind was that he wanted the pants very badly that he could not wait home to try them on. In-between snickers and swears, the mother told me that the boy did the most embarrassing umber 2 (is that number 2) on the floor of the restroom that she had to clean and change him too. It was a relief that the "student" went with them. Arghhh, what next? TIme to rest our tired feet and feed our grumbling stomachs. The pretzels in caramel dip looked temptingly delicious. Instead of buying the soda in the plastic cup, we bought Coke in resealable bottles. There was not better a place to have a break than in the benches, sofas and square tables (that can double as seats too) strewn in the middle of the mall. So with a soda in one hand and a piece of pretzel in another and shopping bag teeming with towels, Christmas decors and etc. we managed to get us seats in the "rest area". Unmindful of what was going on around her, the baby slept in the stroller while the boy positioned himself on that big low lying table where two children were amiably sharing pop corn.I shuddered what to think next but before I could open my soda, he intentionally dropped his---it popped out due to pressure and wet us all-- including the two kids. Again, the mother had to wipe and clean him and apologized profusely to the parents of the two children. We got to go home. I was wet all over and I saw the rain started falling heavily outside too. We got to come by another store in order to get us to the area where we parked the car. Shees, we did not have umbrella and the baby did not want to part with the mother. The little boy was already eyeing the computer that was provided for those interested to apply for a job. The plastic shopping bag was cool. We put the baby inside the bag, rolled the plastic up to her breast and she was ready to go out in the rain. In the meantime, we waited for her to get the car to pick us up at one of the entrances of the store. The little boy was busy pounding on the keyboard of the computer that said "application in Espanol". I told him, he's hired so if we please move near the entrance so we can see the mother in the car. Suddenly, there was a commotion. The assets protection staff (house detectives for you) were escorting a screaming lady inside the room where they have all those videos for the surveillance cameras. It turned out that between those toilet papers, paper towels and napkins were unpaid expensive items shoplifted by the lady. It seems that the humungous pack of toilet paper is able to cover the items with security sensors-allowing a shoplifter to bring out the items without having to undergo search, the moment the sensors go wild. The store has also devised a way by which the customers cannot bring the shopping cart outside the store. So the woman will have a mugshot. Wanted for shoplifting. Strike one ? The cellphone rung. Time for us to go out and run to the car while covering our head with the plastic bag. What a wild shopping day!!!!! The CAT