Friday.
Day off from the shop, for once — actually kept it this week, no swapping with Mai like I usually do.
Which meant grocery day properly, not the rushed after-work kind.
Woolworths on Herring Road, trolley in before nine. Corn first — three ears, still in their husks, the way I check them myself rather than trust the pre-shucked ones in plastic. Pork ribs after that, the smaller cut, the one that doesn't need trimming.
Same soup I always make when she's got something big coming. Corn and pork rib, not much else in it — a carrot if there's one going soft in the fridge. The kind of food that doesn't run hot on you, the way Mum always warned about before an exam. Plain. Reliable.
Apples after that. Four bags, more than we needed, but the only fruit she'll actually reach for without being asked twice.
Three weeks out now. Written on her wall calendar in her own hand, English extension first, three days into the block.
Maths tutor still comes to the house, same as always, Thursdays after school. Added an English one now too — one-on-one, Sunday afternoons, a retired teacher Carol's daughter used two years back. His place though, not ours. Small scramble most weeks fitting the two of them round each other, which somehow the daughter manages better than I do.
Driving her to one of them now, at least — a new bit of the week. Sat outside his unit twice already this fortnight, radio off, just waiting.
Not much else I can actually do. Not her books, not her exam. Just the driving, and the food, and whatever gets to the table on time.
Kept thinking about that, wheeling the trolley round — the two bottles Ninuo mentioned on Wednesday, the reishi, the fish oil. Told her then I'd order for Mum and Dad. Hadn't occurred to me until this morning that there wasn't any real reason not to add one more name to that order.
Wrote it on the list, right under apples: ReishiMax GLp®, Optimum Omega, the Probio PCC too. Three names, one for each of them — though hers would probably be the first bottle finished in this house.
No idea whether any of it does a thing for the exams themselves. Wasn't really the point. Just wanted her running on more than toast and nerves for the next six weeks. Steady, the way Ninuo always says it about her own mornings.
Stood in the car park after, boot half loaded, and worked out something I hadn't quite put together before. Hadn't sold a single bottle to anyone yet. Hadn't really tried to. And here I was, about to place an order for four people under one roof, myself included.
Laughed at that, quietly, keys still in my hand. The business hadn't started. The getting-healthier part had, somehow, gone and started itself first.
Got home, unpacked the corn, put the ribs straight in to soak. Order still open in a tab on my phone by the time the soup was on — three names typed in, nothing submitted yet. Wanted to get the doses right before I pressed anything.
Would ask Ninuo properly tonight, once the tutor had been and gone.