Life Lost and Found

6: Interventions

Wednesday, June 11

Madeline padded into the kitchen. She'd had the most wonderful dreams last night. It had been just her and Mark in some warm place, alone together. And something about pudding.

She poured a glass of orange juice. She knew exactly what she wanted to do today, and it had a lot to do with a bike ride to a certain house on the hill, where she would risk suffocation by breathremoveophilia. Yes, Mark was dating someone. Her dream had not caused her to forget that. But... but... pudding! That meant something, right? Didn't it? She didn't know how this worked. She was confused. She needed answers. She noticed a note sitting on the kitchen table.

Good morning!

Now that you're a graduate, are you ready to dive into an exciting career as a florist? I hope so, because we have a big order today, and I'm going to need your help getting it done on time. Also, two sprinkler pipes broke yesterday, and they're going to take some work to fix. Come down as soon as you can!

Dad

Madeline leaned on the counter and blew a strand of hair from her face. Well, suck. This did not fit in with her plans. She sighed. It was okay. She would help at the shop for a while, then go up to Mark's later. Yes, good. That would give her time to think.

A few minutes later, she was biking through the time warp called downtown Ackland—a place where bubbly yellow plastic windows, glass bricks, and the colors orange and brown would forever remain in style. She passed the general store and the tractor dealership and the miniature courthouse and arrived at Holly's Flower Basket, a quaint little bungalow that had been converted into a shop years ago. Its yellow paint and multicolored wooden sign needed some serious touch-up work, but it was her second home. And her father's first.

She checked for him in the sizable greenhouse around back. He wasn't there, which meant he was either in front or in the workroom. She climbed the handful of steps to the side door and went in. The workroom before her was full of cellophane rolls, ribbons, and large vases of flowers. She nodded with approval. From the look of it, this "big job" wouldn't take more than a few hours to complete. She went to the front room and found her father behind the long checkout counter talking with a middle-aged female customer who held a small child close to her side.

"Ah! Lizzie, you're here!"

"Hi, Dad."

"Lizzie?" the customer asked. "I thought your daughter's name was Madeline."

"It is," Madeline said and stood behind the counter.

"Her middle name is Elizabeth, so I call her Lizzie," Mr. Daniel Parker explained.

"It's one of the nicer things anyone calls me. Anything I can do here?"

"Mrs. Brown here needs a dozen roses if you wouldn't mind getting that started."

"Sure." Madeline disappeared again around back and returned with the finished bouquet a few minutes later.

Mrs. Brown took them. "Thank you! Say, who took the pictures in here?" The walls of the front room were lined with wire shelves filled with floral displays. Scattered among them were pictures in frames of different sizes for decoration.

Madeline raised her hand shyly. "That would be me."

"Oh! They're very pretty," Mrs. Brown complimented.

Madeline shrugged. "Thanks."

"Well, thank you again." Mrs. Brown turned and shepherded her son out the door.