His mom swears by shoulder pads

Christopher has been working all morning, but the first real news is about Joanne. Companies have been using her face in ads that have nothing to do with them, and Christopher wants it known that she didn't promote those products. They decide to call it flattering.

He's already on to the next woman, a lawyer. She wanted to look sexy, and in a red turtleneck halter sheath dress, he says, she did. The hard part is getting people to root for her, which only happens once you know her story. Hers came out after the makeover, when she told him she is 52 and had "kind of skipped that part about being a woman."

Then one of them spots something on a finger. It has been there forever and keeps getting popped, which earns a quick "Well, quit it." The defense is that otherwise it leaves a ridge in the nail. It's the kind of fussing only family gets away with.

Asked about her week, Joanne says it was quiet. They had rain they badly needed, and she worried about hydroplaning on the drive in, since it happened to her once, but the roads were perfect. She also won several Scrabble games. They play for $5 a game, and yes, it's real money, paid out once someone gets up to $100.

After that, Christopher wants to see what she is wearing, and he fusses with her shoulder until she tells him, "Quit pushing on me." Joanne wonders why she looks crooked, then answers herself. One shoulder sits lower because of a little scoliosis. Christopher steers things back with "This isn't about you, Mom. We're illustrating a point."

The point is shoulder pads. Joanne wears the Dolman, a rounded, soft foam pad. It comes with a flap meant to go over the bra strap, which she calls useless, since it would sit too high and shorten her neck. Instead she adds a little square of Velcro that catches under her bra strap, so the pad wraps around her shoulder and gives her width.

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The lady she worked with today has broad, sloping shoulders. Like most women with broad shoulders, Joanne says, she would expect pads to make her look like a football player. Joanne thinks otherwise. As women add a little weight and age, arms can look round, and a pad straightens that line and balances the hips.

"See how nice my arms don't come out round?" she asks. She used to wear a shell necklace but skipped it today and tried a long one, because she didn't need the eye to stop there. Even the jewelry comes with a reason. Many people have left notes for Joanne, remembering Christopher and the plain affection he had for her.