Dinner with God

Chapter 4 - Part 2 - The girl with the golden hair

As John looked around to see where he could deliver the package, he was overwhelmed by a deliciously sweet and fresh fragrance. That wasn’t surprising, after all, he was in a flower shop, but the smell and the calming effect it had on him surprised him.

‘I will be with you in a second, one moment please’, John heard a voice in the back of the shop say. He peeked around the corner to see who had said it, but he couldn’t see, as his view was blocked by a somewhat large behind of a woman who was standing at the cash register.

‘Don’t be silly, put your wallet away,’ the same voice said

John saw the woman hesitate. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Don’t be silly Wendy, you know I am.’

The woman reluctantly agreed and tucked away her wallet. She turned around and gave John a friendly nod. From behind the counter, a young woman appeared – around John’s age – who accompanied the woman – apparently named Wendy – to the door. The two hugged each other. ‘Hang in there, be strong,’ John heard the young woman say, the sound somewhat muted by Wendy’s shoulder.

John suddenly felt like an intruder in a private situation he was not supposed to be part of. He tried to detach himself from the situation by looking around in the store. The sunbeams that decorated the floor through the big windows, were so bright that he had to squint his eyes. The glass in lead elements drew brightly colored patterns on the walls. A beautiful mosaic, consisting of thousands of small fragments, decorated the floor. It made him feel as if he had entered an entirely different world. He had been so angry and frustrated, that the calmness and peace in this shop had taken him by surprise. He couldn’t resist the urge to brush his fingers past the petals of a velvety soft pink flower. He didn’t know the name of the flower, but touching it made him happy and sad at the same time.

‘Sir, would you be so kind not to kill my carnations?’ a woman’s voice behind him said.

John froze, the petal still between his fingers. ‘Ok, at least now I know what they’re called.’

‘Sir!’ the voice said again, ‘would you please stop touching the flowers?’

Feeling like a young thief who got caught in a candy store, he quickly hid his hand behind his back, which was really stupid, because that is where the voice came from. He turned around, and wanted to apologize, but what he saw robbed him of his words. It was the young woman he had seen behind the counter, but now that the light was no longer blinding him, her true beauty was revealed to him, including her golden hairs, deep blue eyes and bright pink dress.

‘May I help you?’ she asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

John realized that he had been shamelessly staring at her. His eyes caught the name that was embroidered onto her dress. ‘Mary?’

The blue eyes were now shooting fire. ‘Mary, yes. Great, you can read. Hurray! Would you now please explain why you are killing my flowers?’

For a second John considered making a joke about wondering whether the flowers might also be reincarnations, but after taking another look at Mary, he didn’t.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.’ John was blushing.

‘There’s tons of things people don’t do on purpose, but they do them anyway. And eventually, I’m the one who gets to fix it!’ Even though he had just met her, it was clear to John that Mary too wasn’t having the best of days. ‘Oh, and those flowers will not even make it through the night now, so you’re gonna have to pay for ‘em.’

John suppressed a smile. He wondered whether Mary knew how cute her nose wrinkled when she was angry.

‘Do you think this is funny?’ she asked, as she took a decisive step towards him.