(1135) shop lifting

I was reading girl talk by Lois Walfrid Johnson. There is a story in there that talked about shop lifting.

Many years ago I had a brush with that. I saw a classmate steal a handkerchief with the help of another friend. That was way before CCTV became a standard feature in all supermarkets.
Naturally I was confused and I chose to tell my mum about it. She gave me advice on choosing not to accompany them shopping. I remembered going swimming and watching the Saturday morning cheap cinema show with them once or twice more. Slowly we drifted apart.

The girl who took the handkerchief had a traumatic teenage life. She was devastated when her mom wanted to send her to a public school. My friend wanted her mom to send her to the private school her twin sisters went to. In a fit of anger, she tore her school leaving certificate . Her mom and dad were too busy or too disappointed to help her apply for a replacement. She stopped school.
At age sixteen she became pregnant and she married her present husband. She went through a tough time raising up two sons and a daughter in a big extended family. She is a strong person and could weather all kinds of insults and slights.

With her husband working for his elder brother in the family car accessory shop, at least it was a financially stable life. She gained the favour of her father-in-law and was given the back half of a house to stay in rent free. When her two boys were off her hands, she started a shop. She took care of marketing while her husband managed the service end.  When we met again, she was a business woman but I was a homemaker. She was the one to advise me not to get into any business venture. As she used the proverb that said she was sitting on top of a tiger's back, that meant she could not get down even if she wanted to. If she gives up, where will her thirty two employees get their monthly pay?

We lost touch after I relocated to Silver City. I wonder what she is doing now? Probably still shouldering the responsibility of running a big work shop and working like a workaholic.