New Flowers: Episode 2

It was the grand opening of Poppy’s flower shop. She woke up early, and couldn’t go back to sleep. She hadn’t been this nervous since she had to take her board exams to become a doctor. She got up and brushed her teeth, smiling at herself in the mirror. Sure, it was nerve wracking, but it was also exciting.

                Poppy arrived just 3 minutes before Marigold. It was an hour and a half until opening. “Alright, the other staff should be here in about an hour,” Marigold said. They started to get ready, placing a sign outside the store that announced the grand opening.  Two more people arrived, Calla and Quince, the other two new staff members. Calla was maybe 20, with her dark hair pulled back in a braid. Quince was tall, with expressive eyebrows. He and Calla would take turns delivering flowers. They busied themselves, making sure the flowers looked just right. 5 minutes before the shop was set to open, Sienna and Anton showed up. Poppy had made a deal with them that she would get them a cake if they passed out fliers.

                “Alright Poppy! Do you just want us to pass out fliers around this street?” Anton asked, grabbing a stack.

                “Yes, maybe the next street over too, the one with all the restaurants. Make sure to be friendly!”

                “We got this Poppy, don’t worry,” Sienna reassured her. With that, Anton and Poppy left the shop to start handing out fliers. The fliers also served as coupons for potential customers.

                “Well, this is it. Thank you all for helping me start this shop,” Poppy said to Marigold, Calla, and Quince. With that, she flipped the sign on the door to say open, and hung a bell on the door so they could hear when customers came or went. Poppy wasn’t expecting anyone to come in right when they opened, but the bell rang just a minute after she had flipped the sign to officially open.

                “Welcome to Poppy’s Flowers!” She said, turning to see her first customer. She hid her surprise behind a smile, it was Owen. “Oh, Owen! Hello!”

                He smiled, “Hi Poppy. Sienna and Anton told me you were starting a flower shop, and the grand opening was today. I thought I should come and check it out.”

                “Well we’re happy to have you! Feel free to look around, let us know if we can help at all,” Poppy responded, turning to busy herself with a flower arrangement. The phone rang and Calla could be heard on the phone.

                Calla hung up, and turned to them, “That was our first flower order! Flowers for a party! They want pink and violet arrangements. I took notes,” Calla handed a piece of paper to Poppy. She looked it over, the customer wanted peonies and tulips, 4 different arrangements delivered the next day.

                “Great! I’ll get started on these,” Poppy said. She grabbed the flowers she needed from their bins, and began working on the back table. She liked to arrange the flowers, matching them together into the right shapes and trimming the stems so they fit together perfectly.

                The bell rang again, signaling another customer. “Hi, how can I help you,” came the voice of Quince. The customer began to describe what they wanted, a flower arrangement for their anniversary. Quince was surprisingly adept at finding the correct flower arrangement. Originally Marigold had suggested hiring him because he could easily lift the boxes of flowers and pots, but quickly they had discovered his skills with flowers.

                Another customer came in, accompanied by the ring of the bell. This time Calla helped, it was someone who wanted a flower arrangement for someone sick in the hospital. Poppy heard Calla talking to the customer looking for a flower arrangement for their sick mother, and she remembered her time working in a hospital. She remembered how joyful some patients looked when they received flowers, how they smiled when they got to wake up to a beautiful flower arrangement instead of just beeping monitors and medications. This was what had initially made Poppy interested in starting a flower shop. She had loved her job at the hospital, but now she was older and she wanted to try something new, a new adventure.

                The shop was soon bustling, and Sienna and Anton came back, they had run out of flyers. “Well Poppy, we tried, some people seemed interested at least,” Anton said cheerfully. Poppy nodded and thanked them both. They sat down on two stools at the table where she was working on arrangements. The bell on the door rang again, and someone new came in. It was actually a pair of people. Poppy saw it was Owen and another man. Owen must have left, then come back. The men were talking, and eating some sort of snack food. Suddenly, the man with Owen began to cough and wheeze, and his face turned a ruddy red color. Poppy left Sienna and Anton at the table to check on the man that seemed to be getting ill.

                “Sam, are you alright?” Owen asked the other man in a concerned voice. Sam began to point at the food.

Poppy took what he was eating, and looked at it. Then she asked the man, “Are you allergic?” He tried to nod, but his face was growing redder and his coughing was more aggravated. She threw the food to the side, “Someone call 911!” Poppy said to the room at large. Owen began dialing on his cell phone. “Epi pen?” Poppy asked Sam. It seemed like he was trying to gesture towards his coat, so Poppy reached inside his pocket, and her hands found what she was looking for, an Epipen. Poppy flipped open the cap, grabbed the auto-injector, and stabbed the orange tip of the epipen into Sam’s thigh. Poppy heard a click, and held the pen against his leg for ten seconds before removing it and massaging his leg. She heard sirens coming, and looked up. Then she noticed the look on Owen’s face.

“Thank you, for helping him." Owen kneeled by Sam, looking at Sam’s face with concern. Sam’s breathing was beginning to come more regularly. Then Owen turned to Poppy and said, “I’ve met you before. Do you remember me?” Poppy raised an eyebrow, but the paramedics had arrived, and she began to explain to them what had happened, pointing to the food item that she had thrown away from Sam earlier.