Elegant Sale

at daly city BART there are two businesses located within the paid areas of the station. one is a flower shop run by an elderly asian women who's there every week day. a few weeks ago she wasn’t there but her husband was. a week later the shop closed with a sign reading, “Shop Temporarily Closed Due to Health Problems”. yesterday there was a new sign next to that one which read, “Flower Shop for Sale”.

i was tempted to call the number listed under the sign. i have no plans to sell flowers but i'm curious as to what happened to the woman who ran the shop. the shop has been there for at least a decade. did she retire? is she still sick? did she pass away? it’s not like i knew her. i said hi to her once because i almost ran into her.

on one occasion, my high school friends and i stopped by the shop on our way to go ice skating in the City. two of the guys wanted to surprise their special lady friends with flowers. one bought a large stuffed animal, flowers and a very large bow for the flowers (the bow was lost on BART later). the other bought a single flower because he wanted to keep it subtle. the flower shop lady worked pretty quickly and had both orders made up nicely. the girls were pleased with their flowers.

it makes me wonder how many other special occasions this flower shop took part in. anniversaries? welcome home? congratulations? birthdays? mother’s day? i’m sorry for being a good for nothing dog but please take me back?

but i guess i'll never know since the nice little old lady who ran it won’t be there anymore.