She pushed forward the heavy door and was standing in the door of the shop where her nose immediately tingled with such a sweet fragrance of sunshine and trees, of cloudless skies and honey, of peace and gentleness. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forgetting about the rattling cart of the milk man in the dirty street behind her, or the swoon of busy people chattering and pushing each other out of their way, and even of the warning colors of the setting sun. As she slowly opened her eyes, she met a set of gently aged pools of a dark brown, furrowed underneath thick brussels of hair. The rest of the face seemed to match the eyes, the soft set nose overlooking an enormous smile, the creases chiseled with time and with each smile, around his mouth. His dark brown hair sat lightly atop his head, neatly combed, while his pale skin and cleanly shaven face gave him a very hospitable appearance.
“Hi! What may I do for you today?”
His accent gave away his foreign descent, but added to the cheeriness in his tone. Alba was taken aback and almost forgot that people could see her. She spent most of her days wandering, and living in a family of 12 children, Alba often felt invisible to the world. But that was how she liked it. She enjoyed being the anonymous observer and found it easier to pass time like a ghost. When the old man tilted his head to the side, Alba remembered her manners and quickly replied that she was just looking. It was difficult for her parents to feed all the children and they did not have money to buy flowers, especially not from a flower shop such as this. Oh how Alba would have loved to take home one of the enormous stargazer lilies, or exotic orchids.
Today however, she was just looking. First she tiptoed to the side of the shop and let her eyes wander across the rows of buckets brimming with such a multitude of colors. She thought for a moment she was looking into a magnificent kaleidoscope. One bunch of beautiful white hydrangeas, pure and fluffy, sat afloat contrasting with their black bucket. Adjacent to the clouds of white sat more black buckets, filled again with white, but this time in the form of snap dragons, long stalks of little white kisses from the hydrangeas next door. Moving along were the purple daises, so rich and vibrant in color, it was no wonder the hydrangeas and snapdragons were all white.
As Alba continued along the rows, her eyes settled on the bunches of stargazer lilies. Her face exploded with a smile as she went from lily to lily, each one unique in its size, shade, and shape. Some were enormous and shaded light pink with white centers while others were not so big and were more of a solid orange tone. However, it wasn’t just the appearance of the flower that thrilled her. Alba absolutely loved the strong scent that was very distinctive to lilies. She pushed her nose into a white lily and filled her lungs with the aroma. She noticed how fresh all of the flowers in this shop were. Other flower shops she had visited had all the same flowers, but somehow, these flowers seemed almost as if they were happy. But Alba knew that flowers could never come to life like that.
She looked up and noticed the owner arranging a bouquet for a very nice looking lady, smiling and chatting as he lifted each flower gently
from the bucket and lovingly placed it in the
vase. He looked down on her and smiled, as he continued to piece together the rest of the masterpiece. Alba moved on and stood in between two rows of roses, making sure to look from side to side, so she wouldn’t miss a single flower. Petal by petal was arranged uniquely and beautifully on each bud and the plethora of colors was just phenomenal. It was amazing how a rose with such a deep blue hue could be the same flower as the nearby pink ones or even the soft white ones by them. And the scent given off by roses were so tender and soothing. Sometimes, Alba wished her parents named her Rose, so people would think of her as pretty and elegant as the flower.After roaming around for what seemed to be only a few minutes, Alba noticed that the shop was completely empty of customers and the owner was beginning to put flowers away. She looked out the window and gasped at the blackness that now invaded where light was once present. Her mind went straight to the thought of her angry parents, so she nodded at the old man quickly and started walking home. Finally she saw her house and the welcoming lights in the window, and crept in through the door. To her relief, her mother was too busy washing dishes and her father was busy helping her brother with homework. Alba slipped into her room in relief.
That night, as Alba slept, she dreamt a most wonderful dream. She was at the flower shop again, but this time she was the only person in the entire store. Even though it was very small, she was still frightened of being so alone. The clock’s arms pointed at 12 o’clock and looking out the windows, Alba figured it was midnight. As she started looking over all the flowers, she noticed that one of the white orchids started to twitch. First she was startled, but when she looked closer, the orchid shook itself out and a tiny little fairy appeared. It was unlike anything Alba had ever seen before. She didn’t even know if it was a fairy because it seemed as if the flower just came to life. It had a delicate face, with an outfit made of the orchid flower. Its long slender arms stretched out as it shook its sparkly wings. It stood up and Alba could see her flawless features, as well as her long white curly hair. Alba was so transfixed on the creature that she didn’t even notice all the other flowers coming to life, until a perfect little daisy came and sat on her shoulder. It was incredible. She rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheek to check if she was awake. The fairies were still shimmering and fluttering across the room, making a faint noise that resembled a tinkering bell. Every flower in the shop came to life and Alba could not have been happier.
She sat down on the floor and blissfully watched as a rose visited some lilies and while petunias frolicked with a daisy. Hours passed of Alba sitting quietly on the floor, watching, admiring how a whole other world could exist in the quarters of this tiny shop. After watching all the flowers for quite a while, Alba leaned her tired head down on one of the walls and before she knew it, was fast asleep. When she woke up, there was not a single tinkering or shimmer of light. It was dark, but soon she recognized her own room, and watched as the sun began to peer over the mountain, telling the world that another day had come, a day without flower fairies. Feeling gloomy, she rolled out of bed and went on with her day, the memory of the fantastic night still dancing through her mind.
Later on, Alba and her mother were on their way to the market and passed the flower shop. While walking by, Alba glanced over through the window and saw the beautiful flowers, just as they were yesterday, and just as they were in her dream, except this time, to Alba’s dismay, they were not dancing and flying about. As Alba was just about to pass the shop, a glimmer of light caught the corner of her eye, and as she looked back at the flowers, the white orchid, tall and elegant, shook a little, and winked. Alba was so overcome with joy, she smiled at the orchid and skipped the rest of the way to the market.
Work Cited
"Moe's Flowers." Yelp. Real People. Real Places. 26 Oct 2009. Yelp, Web. 28 Oct 2009. e
In her post, Eunice describes the flower shop through the eyes of a girl. Describing the flower shop by itself, without a background character, would make one feel like a child, awed by the beauty, which made the little girl character fitting. The description of the man in charge of the shop and his foreign accent were very detailed and easily imaginable. The author describes the view of a general person’s experience walking through the flower store. It seems as if she does this through a compilation of many experiences, or as an average of those who she witnessed. It is very fitting.
ReplyDeleteAlthough a field study, there is no data, no information to be extracted, excluding the colors and pictures of the flowers. Even so, the colors are not universally exact. The piece is similar to an analytical piece rather than a scientific one because within every description are adjectives filled with connotations, generally positive. This does not give a direct analysis of what she observed, but what the observer perceived and inferred.
The entire plot line of the dream is enticing and examines the effect of the beauty the flower shop has on people, and how it allows the imagination run wild and the flower shop’s beauty to linger in the mind.
The pictures greatly add to the description of the flowers, as well as their fictional transformation into fairies. The perspective of the pictures increases the role of the girl who is probably eye level to the flowers. Their enlargement through the camera lens helps envision these flowers in fairies.
The use of color in her text as well as font size display the feelings in the text better. The word “enormous” in large pink text and the glimmer of light allow for the mind to imagine it better. The excerpt, “shook a little, and winked,” with the increasing “o” sizes and the winked in bold and italics help the words roll of your tongue in a way the author made intentionally as well as allow the reader to better envision the actions of the characters.
The pictures are extraordinary!