flowers from 1970 (republish)

Chapter 6: who could hate flowers?

It had been a week, and since then Dream's inner demons had subsided.

He continued to speak to George, and Sapnap (if he wasn't busy with work), and since then he had been feeling better. Not perfect, but better.

At that moment he had been on the phone with George, talking about their favorite thing of certain categories.

"Hmmm," George mumbled, "favourite animal?"

Dream got up and walked over to the small pet bed on the floor and picked up his cat Patches, "Cats. Say hi, Patches." He put the phone up to Patches' nose but obviously she was in no mood to say hi to anyone. "She's moody."

George smiled, "Did you wake her up forcefully?"

Dream put Patches back on her bed, "No comment."

George shook his head with a laugh, "I like cats too." He told him, "I used to have one named Luca."

"Cat people are the best." Dream said and George hummed in agreement.

"What haven't we asked?" George wondered out loud after a few moments of silence.

Dream was looking outside his window when he saw a man pull up in his neighbor's driveway. His neighbor came out and she smiled at the man, who presented her with brightest and fullest of red roses.

She happily took them from him and gave him a hug, and he picked her up and spun her.

Dream immediately assumed these were people who had not seen each other for a while meeting for the first time again.

These kinds of moments made Dream slightly jealous. He had never had serious romantic connections other than the occasional one time date that usually ended in disaster.

He would have loved to be the one to bring someone flowers.

"Dream? You're quiet but I feel like I can hear your thoughts." George said after a while, snapping Dream out of his head.

"Sorry." Dream apologized, "But, I thought of a question."

George hummed, "Alright, what is it?"

"What's your favourite flower?" Dream could not handle watching the happy couple any longer, so he shut his blinds and covered his windows with his white curtain.

"I don't know much about flowers," George began, "but I do admire orchids or calendulas."

Dream knew exactly what those flowers were, as he had helped his mother in her flower shop for years. He knew his flowers and he knew how to take care of them, and he loved them very much,

He thought about George's answer, "Any particular reason?"

"Well orchids were my mother's wedding flowers, they were everywhere apparently." George explained, "As for calendulas, they're just quite beautiful."

"Cool. Now I know what flowers to send to you." Dream half joked.

"How would that work?" George was genuinely curious.

"I've given you items before." Dream suggested.

"Flowers from 1970 couldn't survive 50 years in a time capsule, Dream."

Dream sighed, "Well I know that." He sat down against the wall, "I'll figure it out."

Dream would be in his near 70's if he was still alive during George's time. That fact physically hurt him to think about, but still he brainstormed ways to get flowers to 2020.

He then came up with an idea, "George, I have to go get some stuff from the store, but I'll call you again tonight."

There was a small scuffle from George's end before he responded with a "talk to you later", and they both hung up.

----

Dream drove his car to the nearest flower shop. It was near his house and was squished between a night club and a bookstore.

He walked in and the smell of fresh flowers overwhelmed him, but felt clean and new. The door also rang a few bells when he opened it, which he found cool.

"Welcome." The man running the store greeted him, wearing an apron and tending to some plants hanging up from the ceiling, "Need anything specific, sir?"

Dream walked over to him, "Yes actually. Do you sell seeds by any chance?"

The man stepped down from his small staircase ladder and gave him a goofy smile, "As a matter of fact we do. Follow me."

Dream followed the young man over to the back where seeds and other various gardening supplies were kept.

"They're organized alphabetically in these little drawers." The shopkeeper explained, "I'll be tending to those plants outside, but if you need any help finding something in particular just give a shout or come find me." He grinned again before walking back to where he was working earlier.

Dream laughed and shook his head as he walked away, amused by the young man's energy. He then walked to the drawers and looked for orchid seeds, but could not find any.

Dream was too shy to call the man over so quickly after he had just walked away, so in the

meantime he went over to find calendula seeds.

To his luck, he opened the drawer and found one last packet of calendula seeds. He took them and walked over to where the shopkeeper was.

"Excuse me." Dream looked up because the man was high up on the ladder snipping little leaves of plants.

The man looked down, "Oh hello! Find what you need?"

Dream nodded, "Yes, but, do you keep orchid seeds by any chance?"

The man frowned, "No, actually. They take years to grow properly from a seed and we just can't get our hands on them to stock."

Dream gestured his understanding, "That's alright," he smiled, "I'll just be taking these then." He shook the seeds to show him.

"Calendulas. Pot marigolds. Very pretty when they grow." He stepped down from his staircase ladder once again and led him to the counter. "They also mean 'little clock' or 'little canlendar.'"

The man informed.

"Yes," Dream agreed, "the person I'm getting them for thinks so too."

"Oh, so you got a girl that loves to garden then?"

Dream chuckled at the innocent question, "It's a bit complicated."

"It always is." The shopkeeper agreed, "My little lady hates flowers, so it's complicated for me, too."

"Who could hate flowers?"

"Her apparently since she's allergic." He grinned nonchalantly before handing Dream the seed packet and taking the money.

Dream smiled back, "Well thank you uh-," he squinted at the nametag on the man's apron, "Karl." "You're welcome sir!" He waved goodbye happily before going back to taking care of his plants. ---

Dream came home and packed the seeds into a time capsule and burying it in the usual spot he'd put it in, then called George, notifying him that he indeed had figured out a way to get him flowers from 1970