DIRTY MONEY

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Fewer and Fewer Options...

Bianca and her aunt Dorinda carried two shopping bags each while walking to the next store in the mall. When Bianca got a call from her aunt, she wasn't expecting to hear her say how she needed to be ready in thirty because they were going shopping. Bianca has always loved their shopping sprees, especially when she was a little girl, but she didn't have it right now to be spending money.

However, it didn't take too much convincing to get Bianca out of bed since Dorinda went on how she wanted someone to be there with her because large crowds made her nervous.

It wasn't true because Dorinda could be in a room with five hundred people and make friends with half of them within an hour.

But Bianca got in her car anyway. She put it in her head that she wouldn't buy a thing. She knew she'd find many pieces to call her own while there, but she needed every last bit of change for her bills.

Her mindset was noticeable because Dorinda noted that in the first store that they walked into, Bianca didn't even touch anything. Dorinda could see on her face that she was fighting the urge to not pick up anything until they walked past a selection of sunglasses.

Dorinda watched Bianca's eyes light up once they landed on these rimless, rhinestone brown sunglasses. She found it odd that Bianca didn't pick them up to take them over to checkout, watching her niece walk ahead to look at some earrings.

Bianca didn't know her aunt had seen her until she saw Dorinda set the sunglasses onto the counter at the register. Bianca tried to oppose and say that she didn't want the glasses, only thinking they were cute but not enough to buy.

Dorinda swiped her card immediately, ignoring her niece because she had known her long enough. Bianca did thank her as the two walked out, moving along throughout the mall.

"How are you paying for all this stuff?" Bianca asked as her aunt window-shopped. Bianca didn't go overboard like her aunt. She only picked up a sweatshirt and some shorts, while Dorinda's bag was filled with more expensive things.

"Spending the rest of my last paycheck while also overdrafting my account," Dorinda said in one breath, causing Bianca to gasp, "what? I could put the money right back once I start working again."

Bianca thought of turning to her aunt for help, especially since she was on a shopping spree. But knowing that this outing was putting her account further in the negative, Bianca quickly changed her mind.

"Aunt Dorinda!" Bianca gasped once more.

Dorinda looped her arm in Bianca's and said, "I like to shop, and so do you. You can't judge me," the two now strolling past a shoe store that had nothing appealing on display.

"See, this is where I got my shopping addiction from," Bianca stated as she lifted her new sunglasses off her face, looking over at Dorinda.

"Your mother actually introduced me to my shopping addiction," Dorinda said with a smile, "she was smart by putting money to the side. I should've been like her and saved mines, but the thing about me is that I go over the top, above and beyond, and end up with bad credit."

Bianca chuckles lightly and says, "I can see that," checking out the shopping bags she had.

While in reminiscence, Dorinda said, "your mother had a sick sense of style, too."

"She did?" a bit shocked.

Bianca didn't have many photos of her since many were lost, and the images she did see didn't explain much about who the woman was.

She wouldn't know what her mother looked like through her emo phase, really wishing she could've seen it for herself because hearing about it didn't compare. She wanted to know what type of clothes her mother wore because all Bianca was able to see were photos of the woman in her nursing uniform or lying in the hospital bed when she was giving birth.