I’m in a very crowded gourmet supermarket; it’s that time right after 5 o’clock when everyone has gotten off work and come to shop, and the supermarket employees all seem to be on break. My mom meets me there and I follow her through the store as she tries to decide if she wants to pick anything up. There are long lines everywhere. We’re near the back of the store when all of a sudden she goes through an emergency exit, and I let out a little cry. But no alarms go off. I follow her through the door and we’re outside, behind the store, and it’s nighttime and pretty deserted.

She picks up on my annoyance and says, “Don’t worry, your father is giving you $3,000 tonight.”

“$3,000?!” I say.

“Well, $1,000 tonight and then tomorrow I’ll give you $2,000, when the bank can guarantee it. We both have $3,000 already, so it’s your share.”

“I’ll put it straight into savings.” And then I start thinking about all that money sitting in my savings account, and what a nice nest egg that’s going to be.

And then (this is especially ironic if you know my mom) we walk over to her car, a dark blue Volvo (!) which she has parked almost in the middle of the street behind the supermarket. We open the doors and get in, and then my alarm clock goes off.