Julia
stopped by her friend’s flower shop. Henrietta’s shop did okay, but it did
struggle. Julia also struggled, but would find reasons to come into the shop
(Note: I keep writing “ship” instead of “shop” for some reason. Just thought I’d
let you know in case you want to psychoanalyze or you just want the funny image
of a flower ship in your mind. Maybe that’s the name of Henrietta’s store.
Maybe that is why the store isn’t doing too well). Today had been an especially
hard day for Julia; the class she had substituted had been very rowdy fifth
graders who tried to lie to her about their names and she overheard a couple of
girls talking about things they shouldn’t even have known about when they were
supposed to be reading. Not for the first time, she wondered what role their
parent’s played in their life—did they know what their daughters were doing?
Did they care?
When I have kids, I will really care about
them. I will be a part of their lives. I will make sure they feel loved and
feel like they can come to me about anything, thought Julia. If I ever have kids, that is.
It had been
years since Julia had gone on a real date with a guy she was really excited to
be asked out by. Sure, there were a few dates here and there but none of them
had turned into much of anything. Rarely did they even last long enough for a
second date. Though she was fairly young still, Julia had a tendency to give
into desperate thoughts. This was especially true when it came to thoughts of
her and men.
Julia
decided that today she would buy some flowers for herself today. It wasn’t like
anyone else was going to. Plus, she deserved them and needed something pretty
to look at. They would sit on her table and bring color to her drab apartment,
at least for a few days. She made small talk with Henrietta about Henrietta’s
beautiful daughter and work. Julia ended up with a bouquet of sunflowers.
Yellow had always seemed like a happy color to her, and she could use some
happiness.
On her way
through the small town, she walked past a woman who was obviously homeless. She
was unwashed, her clothes looked like they came straight from a dumpster, and her
hair was matted. A voice told Julia to give one of her flowers to the woman. At
first Julia dismissed the voice, but as she continued to walk toward to woman
her heart was moved with compassion. As she passed by, she pulled one of the
sunflowers out of the bouquet and handed it to the woman. “This is for you,”
she said.
The woman’s
eye lifted and Julia saw past the dirt to the woman’s glowing eyes, filling
with tears. She had the most amazing shade of green eyes Julia had ever seen.
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