What happens in the video
An older woman with a walking stick stands beside a silver vehicle between a man in a grey suit and a woman in a red jacket. Both of the others hold paperwork. The older woman gestures towards the car and speaks to the man. The woman in red brings her sheet forward, and the conversation continues as they look at the papers.
Continuation:
Jean had one question about the car. Could she get her cello into the back without taking the parcel shelf out every single Wednesday?
The salesman had told her the boot capacity in litres. He’d told her daughter it was a popular choice for older drivers. He’d even offered to show them how neatly the rear seats folded. Jean still had no idea whether she could get the cello in.
She tapped the order sheet with one finger. “I asked to try it with the case before anybody ordered anything.”
Her daughter Paula reached into her folder. Jean had asked her to come along because she was good at keeping paperwork. In the pocket marked *Mum’s car*, between the brochure and a petrol receipt, was the note from the woman who had booked the appointment. *Bring instrument. Customer to try loading it herself.*
Paula showed the salesman. He read the line and looked round the forecourt.
“You actually brought a cello?”
Jean glanced at her daughter. “Do people often come in here and pretend to own one?”
Paula went to fetch it. The salesman opened the boot and stepped aside when Jean asked. She rested her stick against the bumper, took the case by the handle and tried the angle she used with her old estate car. The top caught on the sloping roof. Turning it the other way meant lifting the heavy end higher than she comfortably could.
All three could see the problem now. It took about fifteen seconds.
Jean had nearly stopped playing after her husband died. For months the case had stood in the hall with a grocery bag hanging from its handle. Then the Wednesday orchestra had sent her a photograph of her empty chair with a woolly hat perched on the music stand. She had gone back the following week. She was buying this car for those Wednesdays as much as for groceries.
The salesman put the order form away. He brought round a used estate with a square opening and a lower lip. It was an unlovely shade of brown. Jean loaded the cello on the first try.
“May I ask what you play?” he said while Paula put the stick back in her hand.
“Mostly the right notes.”
They took the estate out, slept on the decision and returned on Friday. This time he placed the paperwork directly in front of Jean. Paula got the job she wanted, which was checking the arithmetic over coffee.
On Wednesday evening Jean sent the dealership a photograph. The cello was tucked safely in the boot. Beside it lay two music stands and a bag of buns. Underneath she’d written, *It also fits the entire interval.*
