More dispatches from afar

Olivia, a woman from the West Coast, is someone my mother met when she was staying in the hotel in Monterey for months on end a few years back. At the time, she was working as a chambermaid.

Since then, my mother has asked Olivia to assist her in her travels several times, and apparently she's complied. Last fall, Olivia came to Boston to help my mother attempt to travel down to the Bahamas. The idea would be that she'd accompany my mother down there, then cook and clean while she was staying there.

Olivia called me a few months ago, looking for comfort. She is a devoutly Catholic woman who feels she should be of assistance to everyone whenever possible, but my mother's behaviour seems to have just broken her spirit entirely. She was in tears and said she'd been that way for days in the wake of her time with my mother.

Apparently, Olivia came to Boston, stayed with my mother in her hotel in nominal preparations for the trip, and the abuse predictably began. My mother sent her to the pharmacy several times, saying she'd reimburse her later, but never did. In the meantime, my mother went through Olivia's stuff, stealing Ambien and Valium from her.

When Olivia gently confronted my mother about it, my mother said Olivia was a "spoiled child". She mentioned that her children are "vultures" (ah, a common refrain!) and once again maintained that she has a "doctorate" (I took careful notes during my conversation with Olivia).

The upshot of all of this is that my mother stiffed Olivia for $210.00 in pharmacy costs when Olivia eventually left the hotel, and Boston altogether, to go home after this sudden blow-up. She had somehow obtained my phone number from my mother and gingerly called me, asking to be reimbursed.

I sent her a check from my mother's account (my mother's bills are still sent to me; I pay them with a signature stamp). After all, what did I have to lose? Ethically, I'm apparently already a vulture.