“I watched her shuffle around, reading tags and smelling flowers, laughing every time or smiling nice—what flowers were supposed to make you do.”

“The lady shuffled around, bending over to inspect the flowers and holding up one of the tags. “Oh nuts. Are these already sold?” she asked. I shook my head. “No.” “Goody,” she smiled, looking at a tag that said Adulescenita Deferbui, on the outside and The Fires of Youth have Cooled – But you’re still looking foxy!”

“The flower in the vase smiles, but no longer laughs.”

“When you smell a flower, where is the smell before you smell the flower? Think about that one.”

“People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower on a field, you will keep it forever, because the flower is part of the evening and the sunset and the smell of damp earth and the clouds on the horizon.”

“He put his arms around her. “Well, in my defense, then, whatever I did seemed to work, didn't it?”She sighed. “I suppose.”“You suppose?”“What do you want? A medal?”“For starters. A trophy would be nice, too.”She smiled. “What do you think you're holding right now?”