Page 39 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
Amber thinks about this.
‘See, there’s three schools of thought when it comes to alternative healing,’ she says, pulling her feet up on to the sofa and resting her chin on top of her knees. I notice she’s wearing pretty silver rings on some of her toes. ‘First, you’ve got the people who believe everything, whether it’s Reiki, homeopathic medicines, acupuncture – you name it. If the doc says it doesn’t work, they will argue to the death that it does.’
‘Go on.’
‘Second, you’ve got the type who pooh-pooh everything, and won’t give any of it a chance.’ She puts on a Deep South accent: ‘If ah cain’t see it or touch it, honey, then howcanit be doing me good, let alone, heaven-to-Betsy, actually working!’
I’m pretty sure I fall into that category.
‘So what’s the third?’ I ask quickly before Amber has time to make that judgement.
‘And the third… see, they’re the most interesting.’ She drops her knees and leans back against the multicoloured sofa cushions. ‘These folk don’t diss alternative healing. No, they’re way too sensible for that. They know it works, but the question is how?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The placebo effect,’ she says, pointing her index finger at me. ‘They don’t want to believe in all this weird stuff they can’t understand, but they can’t deny the evidence, especially when they find some of it actually works on them. That’s when they bring in the oldplaceboexcuse.’
‘The placebo effect isn’t an excuse,’ I tell her. ‘It’s a well-documented scientific reaction.’
‘So you’re taught to believe by those that can’t explain how the human body can supposedly heal itself,’ Amber says knowingly. ‘There’s all sorts of energies going on in and around us that are brought into play by our own bodies when necessary for healing and pain relief, and that effect can be intensified by specialist practitioners when our bodies need some assistance.’
I don’t want to get into an argument with Amber about the placebo effect. Especially as I think I might be able to see where she’s going with this.
It was actually quite worrying to me how easily I was able to understand Amber and her wacky thought processes.
‘Correct me if I’m wrong, Amber, but are you saying that the Daisy Chain is a placebo?’
Amber grins with delight that I’ve got it.
‘I am! Kind of…’
‘Kind of?’ Here we go.
‘Placebo, in that when people that come to the shop needing help – they believe the Daisy Chain is there to provide that help. Placebo, in that when the people leave they take something away with them that makes them feel like they’re going to get better – specific flowers.’
I nod. I’ve got it so far.
‘Placebo, in that it seems by the look of these notebooks –’ she holds the bundle up ‘– and I’m pretty sure wherever they came from there will be more like them – these people do get better as a result of visiting the shop and their lives improve and change for the good.’
‘I guess…’
‘They do, Poppy,’ she insists. ‘Look at the evidence.’ Amber taps the covers of the notebooks. ‘But not a placebo, if you’re suggesting that the change is only in their minds, and that the shop and what happens to them there is of no consequence.’
‘So whatareyou suggesting then?’ I ask, knowing what she’s going to say before I even open my mouth.
Amber’s bright green eyes light up.
‘I’m suggesting that with the knowledge these books contain, my legendary skills with flowers, and one magical little flower shop by the sea, we have got ourselves a wonderful opportunity, not only to help anyone that needs us, but also to put your grandmother’s shop back where it belongs: in the hearts of the visitors and people of St Felix.’
Fourteen
Passionflower – Faith
The big day has arrived at last – the grand opening of Daisy Chain.
It’s taken us just under a month to get the shop ready to open. After everyone had turned out to help us decorate – which I thought would have been the hardest part of getting the shop ready to trade again – it turned out to be an uphill struggle, on a gradient steeper than any of the hills you could climb around St Felix, to persuade suppliers to provide us with the flower knick-knacks and trinkets we wanted to sell as part of the Daisy Chain experience.
In the end I’d gone to see Belle in her studio at the end of Harbour Street to see if she could suggest anyone.
