Chapter 42

Flashback – Gladys, Masha and Tanya – More discussion

Gladys talked to the man at the rental counter and said, “We need to get a car for Tanya.”

The man replied, “I know you and that’s not a problem.”

He looked at Tanya and asked, “Let me see your license ma’am.”

Tanya looked in her wallet and swore, “I can’t believe it.”

Gladys asked, “What’s wrong?”

Tanya replied, “My license is missing too.”

I said, “I have my license.”

The counter man said, “Let me see your license.”

I handed him my license and he commented, “This was just issued today?”

I proudly replied, “Yes it was.”

He handed my license back to me and said, “Sorry but we can’t rent a car to you. You don’t have enough driving experience.”

Gladys practically exploded, “Ladies, let’s forget this place which obviously doesn’t want our business and take my car to run errands. What is the first stop you need to make.”

Tanya answered, “We never got to the phone or computer store.”

I lifted Linda’s car seat, we walked outside, entered Gladys’ Rolls Royce and she directed the driver, “Please take us to the closest phone store.”

Tanya interjected, “Please make it the closest, T-Mobile phone store since that is the service I already use.”

The driver cordially replied, “Yes Ms.”

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the phone store. I brought Linda in her car seat and was amazed at the size of the phones - they were huge!

A saleswoman approached us and Tanya said, “My phone was recently broken.”

She asked, “What was your phone number?”

Tanya gave her the phone number and the saleswoman said, “It’s a good thing you have insurance on your phone, we will replace it for free. Do you need anything else?”

Tanya gestured toward me and said, “We need to get a new number and the same phone for my friend.”

I complained, “I’m not sure I need such a large phone.”

Tanya explained, “Masha, my phone wasn’t that large and besides, if the phone is too small it’s not very usable.”

Gladys commanded, “Make sure you send the bills to me.”

The saleswoman replied, “Certainly, do you have a credit card you would like me to use?”

Gladys opened her purse and handed the saleswoman a black credit card. The saleswoman remarked, “I’ve heard about these but have never seen one. There will certainly be no issue, is there anything else we can provide for you?”

Gladys smiled and said, “That should do it for today, how long will this take?”

The saleswoman said, “Not long at all.”

She then left with the credit card. She soon returned with a two boxes handed one to Tanya and then one to me. Tanya opened her box and began to manipulate her new phone. I asked, “What do I do with this?”

Tanya looked at the saleswoman and remarked, “Masha is a newbie in the mobile phone market.”

The saleswoman came over, took the box from me, opened it and said, “This is how you put the SIM card and battery in your phone.” She removed the back of the phone, installed a very small chip device into a location in the phone. She then took a small rectangle out of a different part of the box, and slid it into place.”

She said, “And this is how you turn on the phone.”

She pressed and held a button on the side of the phone, it played some music and started. The saleswoman then asked, “Okay Masha, do you have a gmail account?”

I replied, “I have an e-mail account?”

She clarified, “No I said a gmail account from Google?”

I answered, “No I’ve never heard of Google. What is it?”

The saleswoman explained, “Google is a company which provides a search engine on the Internet. They also provide people free e-mail accounts called gmail. Your new phone uses the gmail account to store much of your data in the cloud...”

I interrupted, “ ... What is this ‘cloud’?”

She explained, “It’s online data storage that exists on the Internet.”

I frowned and asked, “Is that safe?”

Tanya replied, “Of course it is Masha, I keep some of my data there.”

The saleswoman setup a gmail account that was practically my name (which was nice). When she was finished the phone beeped then vibrated. The saleswoman said, “Here’s your new phone.”