Full Price

At nine o’clock, Clara unlocked her handbag shop and found her mother waiting outside with a bag held together by two safety pins.

“Please,” Clara said, “don’t buy something because you feel sorry for me.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you. I need a strap.”

Behind Clara, twelve handmade bags stood on white plinths. She had spent three evenings arranging them to appear casually expensive.

“I make bags, Mum. I don’t mend them.”

“You made this one.”

“When I was sixteen.”

“Then you’ll know where everything is.”

Clara’s first appointment was at ten: a woman who had asked whether the shop offered private consultations. Her mother’s bag, meanwhile, contained a screwdriver, three oranges and an envelope marked IMPORTANT that held bus timetables.

“You’re carrying too much.”

“Will that be your slogan?”

Clara found matching leather in a drawer.

“Twenty pounds,” she said, expecting an argument.

Her mother put down twenty pounds.

“No family discount?”

“No.”

“Good. Write that on something before your aunt arrives.”

Clara sat at the workbench. The bag’s old stitches were uneven. She remembered making them at the kitchen table, her mother pretending not to notice the missing belt she had cut up for handles.

At ten, the consultation arrived. She examined the display, then watched Clara punching holes in the replacement strap.

“Could you do that to mine?”

“I suppose. But these are my new designs.”

“I’ve seen those online. Beautiful.” The woman set down a battered green satchel. “My husband bought this. He has excellent taste and absolutely no understanding of handles.”

Clara offered leather samples. Her mother ate an orange.

By half past ten, Clara had two repairs booked and an appointment for a custom bag. She added a small sign beside the till: Repairs considered. Bring the bag.

Her mother inspected her new strap.

“Nice work.”

“Don’t tell everyone you made me do repairs.”

“I intend to tell everyone you charged your own mother full price.”

Clara handed her a receipt.

Her mother folded it carefully, opened the IMPORTANT envelope, and moved a bus timetable aside.