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Lola Bats story 5: A Starbucks Frappuccino by any other name would taste as creamy and sweet

Lola Bats acquired a taste for sugar-free Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino (with whipped cream). Each time there was a party at her house, she would ask for "ice cream", which was actually her code for the Starbucks drink. And if it were a potluck party, I was usually assigned to buy the drinks from just outside her village.


This was one of the last times she requested for her "ice cream". I think this was from summer 2017. She was just released from the hospital and she wanted to celebrate her return to health with her usual  Starbucks' Frappuccino. Unfortunately, she's no longer allowed to drink anything extremely cold and sweet afterwards because she was too fragile. So we all skipped drinking "ice cream" in her presence.

There were several memorable instances with Lola and her Frappuccino. For me, in two cases, I was ordering drinks with Kuya Mitchie, and we were carrying her senior citizen card. In one instance, we also had with us, the senior citizen cards of our aunts and uncles... needless to say, it looked like we were playing cards while waiting for our turn at the cashier. When the cashier asked where all the seniors were (because they had to sign the receipts), we pointed to a long table outside; we told the cashier to look for an elderly woman sitting on a wheelchair at the head of the table. The cashier didn't insist on letting the seniors sign in front of her. A barista brought the receipts to our table and allowed all the cardholders to sign. In another instance, Lola was at home. Kuya Mitchie and I brought her "ice cream". The cashier was looking for her. But we told her:

 Di nakasama si Lola kasi 100 years old na siya. Hindi na makapunta dito.

And because Lola was one in a handful of centenarians in the village, the cashier allowed us to bring home Lola's drink without her signing anything.

Now that she has moved on, she can drink as much "ice cream" as she wants. 
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