Taylor had some time to kill till he could see his new place so he decided to take a walk.Wearing an army surplus green army jacket, black t-shirt, and dark navy jeans, & sandals he started off slipping on sunglass which he pulled from his pocket. On the top of his mind he had a plan to get some work, but in no rush to see it done. Taylor was use to big cities and all the people that they held, but New Orleans he had to admit had the most unique blend of people he had ever seen.The music of the street filled his ears and brought a smile to his face; he stopped to listen and dropped 2 bucks into an open guitar case as he continued on.
Taylor found himself smiling, and tried to remember back the last time it had happened.It seemed so long ago even though it was no older then a month gone when George had told him a joke that made him smile.That was last time he thought to himself, man he missed it.Walking down the side walk he walked by a couple flower shops, he paused looked at the outside at how large they were and looking at the employees inside all wearing their corporate approved polo’s and khaki pants they had no life in them.Taylor scrunched up his nose and walked on that was not where I want to be.To him working with flowers and plants was something close to a zen state. It brought peace to his mind, and also it helped with his problem, flowers were easy to reenergize so they looked fresh and new and didn't take much out of him.
Turning down a side street he came across (open to Laurel Richards name and description of her flower shop) with a nod of his head Taylor walks up to the front door and walks in.
The shop wasn't huge. It was an old, historical building that had been saved by several petitions from concerned citizens with a mind for preserving history. It had been saved, but was sandwiched between some more modern looking buildings that quite frankly seemed more out of place in New Orleans than the little shop snuggly in between. Laurel hadn't named the place, Forget-Me-Not Flowers, but the couple who'd run the business for thrity-five years before she'd bought them out so they could retire had loved the name and it had gained such a reputation through the years, it really would have been a detriment to change it. A string of bells jingled as the visitor made his way in, the strong floral scents creating a heady aroma that filled the small space. The showroom made up the front of the shop, fresh arrangements of both exotic and common floral varieties, stands and shelving holding cut flower arrangements as well as potted plants.
An ornate wooden counter separated the showroom from the work space, an open area with tables, sinks, refridgerated glass cases, and storeroom. Behind it were two women, one in the back working on a bouquet and the other ringing up a customer. "Thank you. Have a nice evening." A warm smile was offered as the man turned to leave with a bouquet of roses in hand, side-stepping around Taylor as he exited. The woman's brown eyes fixed on Taylor then, her smile widening a bit. "Good afternoon. I'm Laurel. Is there something I can help you with today?"
Taylor eyes and nose took in all the smells of roses, violets, & if he wasn’t mistaken honey suckles as well.It brought him home in his mind and with a big inhale and exhale he started walking up to the counter.Stepping aside to let the gentlemen by with a quick little hello, noticing the roses he picked and loving the rich reds.Looking up as the women behind the counter greeted him he put on his best smile.“Why yes, I noticed your shop here and I love the look and the feel of the place and I was wondering if you had any openings in your staff.”Walking up to the counter and picking up a small sunflower from one of the displays.He slowly spun it in his left hand between his thumb and pointer finger.If he got this job it could help with his….curse plants in his hands were easy to energize or de energized if need be, but he never liked doing that just didn’t feel right deep down.Just a little bit a day to release the tension and he wouldn’t have to worry about it building up on him.With his best smile he listened to her reply nodding his head as she spoke.
It wasn't often Laurel had someone walking in asking for work. She blinked in surprise, but recovered quickly enough with a smile. "Well, that would depend. What sort of work are you looking for? Full time, part-time, temporary?" She smiled and headed around the counter to converse more easily with him off to the side rather in the hub of activity from the back area that made it hard to hear or speak. A garden table and chair set was off to the side as a display area mostly, gesturing for him to take a seat in one of the chairs as she lowered down into the opposite one. "Tell me a little bit about your experience with this sort of work?"
He smiled following her with his eyes as she stepped from around the counter and walked the short distance to the table and chair.Picking up a discarded leaf from his chair he took a seat from across from her with his hands on his lap still spinning slowly the small sunflower.“Well I’m looking for full time or part time whatever is available.I’m new to town and wanted to get settled with a job I could really enjoy.”He said with a hopeful look on his face.“Well for experience, I’ve worked part time during high school at a Kroger’s floral area taking care of the flowers and setting up simple arrangements.When I went to college I studied botany at University of Tenn, but for personal reasons I had to drop out my junior year.And finally I’ve always had a really good green thumb I can promise you will never throw out another dead plant while I work for you.”He laughed.“I do have to say I recognize a good portion of your flowers but some like that one.” He points to a pinkish red flower.“I can’t place; you have a very nice collection.”“By the way my name is Taylor Adams; I seem to forget my manners at times I do apologize.”
Laurel smiled warmly and shook her head in response to his forgetting his manners. "Nice to meet you, Taylor. I'm Laurel." Her tilted slightly to the side in thought for a moment before speaking again. "Well, how about this .." Another moment to think over it before nodding, more to herself than to Taylor. "I'm more than willing to hire you on a part-time basis to start with. After you've been here a few weeks, we'll talk again and see if you're still liking it. If you and everything has gone really well, then we'll see about getting you working full time. Is that fair enough? What days and times are you available or does it matter? We're usually open every day except Sundays from 9 am to 9 pm. My part time people usually chose six hour shifts and work that three to four days a week. The pay is starting out as minimum wage, but if you get on full time, we'll talk about a pay raise then, too." She grinned and extended her hand to him. "Welcome aboard, Mr. Adams."
She paused and glanced around the shop and nodded her head. "Yes, we deal in the usual flowers, but I also like more exotic breeds and blends. Kind of makes us stick out from the rest. Oh, and also, we all do some charity work at a soup kitchen down in the Ninth Ward. I work there three nights a week and the girls each put in a couple of hours a week. You wouldn't be required, of course, but if you wanted to .. we tried to keep up a good community out reach." A slight shrug was given with a smile.
“Pleasure to meet you Laurel.”Taylor tensed as he listened to her proposal, work was so hard to find in this economy he would have taken almost anything...well maybe not “Anything” he had seen Dirty Jobs and he had limits after all.This however was something he could really enjoy and would help pay the bills, help with his whole ‘new start’ thing, and not to mention could be a lot easier to rid himself of the itches from his power.Ten times safer that way then doing a run in the middle of the night less chance of getting arrested or hit by a bus bringing a lily back to life.
As Laurel spoke he nodded his head here and there “that sounds like a good idea” he had done the whole trial thing before and hadn’t failed yet “ I’m available any day of the week, and every other Saturday.I do better in the morning usually but really whenever you need me works.”This really was working out he smiled, as she extended her hand to shake a look of panic flashed over his face.” UM sorry there is one thing I should tell you I’m kind of a mild germaphobe when it comes to shaking hands I hope that isn’t a problem”The lie seemed slimy on his tongue but what was he going to tell her Oh sorry I don’t shake hands cause I could rot your arm off if I wasn’t careful.Ya that would get him the job for sure and then also a nice white jacket in nice white room also.
Trying to swerve the conversation onto something else “I’ve never really done charity work before but I’m willing to try anything once.”It was true he had never volunteered before but he had however seen his share of soup kitchens before, a small shiver ran down his back as the memories slid in.Dirty beds, smell of piss, rooms full of smoke that if you inhaled you were sure to come out with a few bad habits all the darkness tried to rush over him but was pushed back as he saw her smile.. With a shrug to match her own he smiled as under the table he made the OK sign with his right and a soft silver light emanated from his left in count of 1, 2 then vanished as it seeped into the small flower making the flowers color brighter, greener and stem even straighten.“Well if that is all, I would like to buy my new good luck flower if I could.”Placing his plain left hand on the table with the new looking sunflower between his thumb and middle finger.“I really do appreciate this here is my number for the place I’m staying at, it’s actually not a far walk from here.When do you think I could start?”
