“Savi! Run down to the florist and buy a bunch of carnations for me, please,” said her mother.
“Oh ma, I’m busy at the moment.”
“I want it now. Now, move…”
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Grumbling, Savi put aside her drawing material and went to collect the money for the flowers.
“Try to get a mixed bunch…different colours. Paati is coming in the evening and you know she loves flowers…”
Savi stomped off to the florist disappointed that she could not finish her drawing and take it to school on Monday to show her art teacher. She burst into the florist shop and said, “Quick, give me as many carnations as I can get for this amount.”
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The girl behind the counter raised her eyebrows and looked at Savi strangely. Then she said, “Please wait, miss. I am attending to this customer.”
Curious
Savi looked to see a girl younger than her, in a rather untidy dress and uncombed hair, handing over a dirty rolled-up note. The shop assistant looked askance at the note but shrugged, as she took it.
Savi and the little girl looked around. There were flowers of every size shape and colour. The shop itself smelled like a perfumery.
“Hmmm… Mala, for this amount, I’m afraid you will get only these white flowers. They came in this morning but are already drooping… so I can give you a discount.”
The raggedy girl seemed disappointed and asked if she could add “…at least one coloured flower. You see, my mother loves colours.”
“Hmmm,” said the shop assistant thoughtfully. “Let me see what I can do.” She hummed a merry tune, as she checked the vases displaying the flowers. “Last week I gave you some orange flowers, if I remember right.”
“Yes, you did. My mother loved them.”
“Okay, here you go. I can add these lovely irises to your little collection.”
The girl was overjoyed and thanked the shop assistant.
Savi’s interest was piqued. “Do you come here every week to buy flowers?” she asked.
Mala did not look rich enough to buy expensive flowers regularly.
“Oh yes… every week. I am here without fail. You can ask this akka. She knows me.”
“And every week you buy flowers for your mother?”
“Yes, I do,” said the girl and smiled, as she clutched her flowers and went out.
The shop assistant smiled at Savi and said, “That little girl does odd jobs around her place to make enough money to buy flowers to place on her mother’s grave.”
Savi was so shocked she did not know what to say. She quickly bought her flowers and went home.
These days, when her mother sends her to the florist, she doesn’t grumble and makes it a point to leave a little money with the florist so that Mala can get an extra flower for her mother.