& the slipper still fits

MOOD BOARD #2


By the time Gran sent me upstairs to change, the flower shop was only a mix-match of empty vases and she was fiddling with a bunch of half wilted peony. With a slight caress of her caring hands, they would be brought back to their original beauty. That was her gift, to give dying things a renewed energy to live. She never liked anyone to watch her though, especially me.

It would take her all night to refill the store and start the orders for the week. She never asked for my help, it wasn’t her way. I collected the money, made the runs to the bank, and helped refill the store front if there were flowers in the back arranging room during the day. This unsaid agreement suited me just fine. I never questioned why I couldn’t help, or why I was never allowed to go through the port door to the alley garden. It was a secret and I respected secrets.
Excerpt from Wickeds (working title) Chapter 1
Image: Photographer Unknown