Page 56 of The Second Chance Bus Stop
My girl, I’m sorry you feel like this. I wish you would talk to me. Emails are for work, paperless invitations and mailing lists. Will you talk to me?
I think about different methods of communications, non-verbal people, and how they’re all valid and we all have a choice. ThatIhave a choice.
FROM:Sophia
SUBJECT:Re: Why I keep my distance
I too am sorry I feel like this. I can’t talk because I don’t find the words easily. This is how I find the words, so please just read them.
Best,
S
The next morning I wake up early, before the opportunity clock.
‘What are your plans today?’ I ask after my morning swim. The water feels even warmer than in Eksjöand I stayed there until I couldn’t possibly stay any longer. I can’t believe we lucked out and found another spot with a lake.A hundred lakes with you,Blade had said. But we’re running out of time.
I have the morning off since the market is finished in this town, and I’m determined to do something with it.
‘Research. Do you need help with anything?’ He gives me the impression that he’d drop said research, drop anything, should I need help.
‘I have some errands to run, some things I’d like to see in town. Perhaps you want to join me?’
‘Sure, I’ll come.’
I enter the address in the sat-nav and Blade drives.
‘So we’re going on a fun day out?’ Blade asks.
‘Yes, pretty much.’
When we arrive he looks at me doubtfully.
‘We’re going to a garden centre? On your one day off?’ Blade says.
‘You are hanging out with a florist. This is my idea of fun. Window shopping.’
‘Should have known it wouldn’t be laser tag or the movies, shouldn’t I?’
We walk down the aisles, and after I pick up what I need we browse plants. I mumble to myself as I walk.
‘Have you memorised the names?’ Blade asks.
‘Almost all of them, yes. I’d read the botanical encyclopaedia when I was a child. Kind of became a little party trick. My parents would ask me to name a flower in Latin, and Idelivered every time. They were very proud of me in those moments.’ I made the most of my entertainer role, revelling in the pride of my parents when I made their friends laugh or exclaimAmazing!
‘What about this one?’ He touches the leaves of a majestic green plant.
‘Hydrangea Mmacrophylla,’I say instantly.
He stops at another.
‘This?’
‘Rhododendron camtschaticum. This is an interesting one. It started out as one plant but was reclassified in the 1990s, because it was deemed to belong to a distinct genus.’ I look at Blade, never missing a botanical teaching moment for eager ears. ‘It happens sometimes. DNA research may find it belongs to a different family than initially found, or Latin language rules may change. So a flower can become something else. This one over here had its name changed fromRhododendron camtschaticumtoTherorhodion camtschaticum.’
‘It had its name changed in the 1990s?’
‘Yes. Like I said, it’s not uncommon, although it’s a struggle for plant-lovers to keep up with.Botanical Monthlydo include it in their news section but not everyone is a subscriber.’
