Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

Author:Leslie Gilbert-Lurie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

ONCE WE ARRIVED at Fedco, our membership-based department store, we saw another side of Mom.

“Are you the manager?” she asked the gray-haired man behind the counter.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, smiling.

“Well, this vacuum is defective,” Mom said. She was pointing to the box Dad had lugged in. “It makes a strange noise every time we turn it on.”

The smile vanished from the manager’s face as he realized he was not on the brink of another sale. “You can leave it with us, and we’ll see if we can repair it,” he said to Dad.

“Sir, this was a brand-new vacuum. It never worked right. My husband and I want another one today, or you can give us a refund,” Mom said right away. In these moments, she displayed a tenacity that I admired, even if the manager was just doing his job.

“I’m afraid that’s not our policy, ma’am.”

“Rita, that’s not their policy,” Dad said gently to Mom. I looked away, wanting to melt into Fedco’s gray linoleum floor, leaving only my baseball cap to mark my final humiliation.

“We’re not standing for this,” Mom said. Then she turned back to the manager. “I’m sorry, but this is not acceptable. If you don’t give us a new vacuum, we will never shop here again. And I assure you, we are very good customers.”

In a restaurant with a waiter, over the fence to a neighbor, or in some store up against a manager, there was always some right to be asserted. In the attic, Mom had been forbidden to express her feelings. In adulthood, she grew healthier by learning to speak her mind. As embarrassing as it was at the time, I was also taking careful notes. Mom got results. Sure enough, we walked out of Fedco with a new vacuum cleaner.

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