In the midst of the busy city and it’s hurried atmosphere, there was a calm and beautiful place filled with flowers. In that place, there was a person who was watching how people pass by. His name was Leigh. As there weren’t many customers in the flower shop, he was just resting on a chair. It was his mother’s favourite. Leigh didn’t remember much from when his mother was alive, because she died when he was little, but he knew that they always spent much time in the garden, playing and taking care of the plants. He didn’t go outside much, nor did he have any friends. His love for flowers was pretty much because of her. “Leigh, you can hear their voices and understand them. You are a really good child.” By “them”, she probably meant the flowers, which is weird, because flowers can’t talk. But he did know all their names and meanings, so you could say he knew their language. On the other hand, he couldn’t really understand humans. He thought that everybody loved flowers as much as he did, but he found out that wasn’t the case. Talking on their phone about some business, not even looking around, they request a random bouquet, the cheapest, or one of only roses and then leave. How disrespectful towards the beautiful plants. Do they even know how expressive flowers can be? They contain lots of words and feelings and are all different. Leigh couldn’t stand those people, but he had to fake a smile for them. They probably couldn’t even take care of them properly. He would find himself annoyed most of the time. Working started to become a hassle.
One day, a voice came out of nowhere. “Mister, this flower is withering.” Leigh didn’t even notice someone entered the shop. It was a kid. He had an alstroemeria flower in his hands and, as he said, it was withering. Wait. When did he last water the flowers? He looked around, just to be hit by the sudden realization. He didn’t remember. Panicked, he tried to save as many flowers as possible. “Why are you not taking care of the flowers? Don’t you like them?” the kid asked. Leigh looked at him. He seemed to care, unlike the other costumers. “I do. But not everybody seems to like them like I do.” he answered with a sad expression. “Some people don’t even deserve to touch them.” he continued. “Deserve? I thought people use flowers to say things.” “To say things?” “I love you, happy birthday, congratulations. Do you need to deserve them? Aren’t they supposed to make you smile?”
Ah, right. His mom said something like this before. “If people smile while looking at flowers, the flowers will smile back.” When did he stop smiling?
Sitting on his mother’s favourite chair, Leigh was watching how people pass by. He knew that he had to work harder from now on, to try to understand people. At least, he now had a friend.