A Life Revisted

Childhood

Dominique and Terrance grew up together. They were raised in the country by parents who had a modest means of living. Even though they didn't have much, they loved their lives. Living in the country most of the time they had to find ways to entertain themselves. They accomplished this feat by collecting insects and wild animals. When they captured them they would keep them in containers to marvel over. Their favorite insect, the one they were most fascinated with was the butterfly. This was something that brought them closer together, and by the 3rd grade they had their first kiss. Terrance reminisces over these memories as he goes into the store buying gifts for Dominique.

"Come on slow poke, I almost got it," young Terrance calls out.

"Wait, don't leave me. I'm running as fast as I can," little Dominque yells back to him.

"Got him," the boy says excited.

"Let me see, let me see." She is excited and smiling as she finally catches up to him.

They both stare into the jar at the prize they just captured. We were fascinated as always. This wasn't the first time that we caught one of God's small but great creations. We continued staring into the jar watching it bounce around.

"You got it." She was happy. I could see the joy on her face as we both gazed at this amazing catch. "Thank you!"

"Terrance, Dominique, it's time to come inside. It's getting dark now." I could still hear my mom's voice calling us into the house but we weren't ready to leave just yet, but we both knew we had to go.

With a big smile on my face I handed her the jar. We both gazed at it a little bit longer then we dashed through the woods towards the house.

Now at twenty seven years old, Terrance is driving in his car heading to a store. He pulls is car into the parking lot and finds a parking space. He parks his car and turns the engine off. Terrance looks through his windshield at the sign above the store. SPECIAL OCCASSIONS FLORIST. He opens the door to his car and gets out.

He walks into the door of the flower shop and looks around. The place is filled with flowers of all kind. There are carnations all with various colors to choose from. He sees amaryllis, daffodils, dahlias, lilies, orchids, poinsettias and many others.

A florist walks up to him. "Good morning sir. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Yea. Actually I'm looking for these." He walks over to bundle of pink orchids. "These are her favorite flowers. She has loved them since we were kids."

"They are my favorite flowers too. I would have to agree with her on that. They are so beautiful. Do you know how many you would like to get for the special lady in your life I assume?"

He looked up at the florist for a moment. He had a look on his face as if saying, "If you only knew her, their situation and realized just what you said?" But he chose not to address that issue.

He picked up the orchid and looked at it. "Let me have a dozen of these."

"We have some that just came in that's fresher than these. Let me got to the back and get them for you. I'll be back in a moment." She turns and starts to walk off.

"Can you make sure that they are the best, brightest and prettiest ones that you have?"

She stopped and turned around. "Yes sir I defiantly will." She continued on to the back of the shop and disappeared.

A few moments later the florist returned with a bundle of beautiful flowers. They were held together in a gorgeous vase. "Perfect. She will love these." He took the flowers from the florist and sniffed them. "Thank you. How much for these?"

"That'll be $51.35 if you wanted the vase included."

"Yes I do. They go to get perfectly." He handed her the exact amount then left the store.

"You have a wonderful day sir. And I hope she loves the flowers."

"Thank you and I know she will!"

He walked out the door and back to his car. He sat the flowers down on the passenger seat and then got in. He glanced over at the flowers, smiled and his thoughts faded again.

We were nine years old and in the 3rd grade, both of us were in the same class together. We still spent most of our afternoons together after school at my parent's house. We loved playing outside, you know, running around playing and laughing together. Chasing each other around the house or trying to catch different insects to add to our collection. That sort of thing. By this time we sort of had our own little zoo going with all the animals we had caught. We stayed adding to our collection daily. Our favorite one by far though, was the butterfly. We became fascinated at how they would transform from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.

We spent all afternoon chasing after butterflies, until finally we caught one. We trapped it inside a large jar and quickly closed the lid tight. We both looked into the jar as I held it up. It was simply magnificent, especially to us at nine years old. All of the many colors and designs on the wings amazed us. I still remember seeing her smiling while she was holding a flower in her hand that she picked from a bush herself. It was an orchid.

"She is beautiful," Dominique said as she continued to gaze into the jar, tapping on the side of it.

"No, you got it wrong it's a he." I looked at her convinced it was a male butterfly.

"How do you know she is a he?"

"Cause he is. See don't he look like one."

"No she don't."

"Yes she do."

We started arguing back and forth, getting louder and louder. We were at the point we was screaming at each other trying to prove our case and pulling at the jar. She pulled it towards her, and then I would pull it towards me. It didn't stop until I pushed her down. When she fell, her hand hit a rock and caused a cut just inside her palm. She screamed and started crying. She dropped her flower and ran into my house. Moments later my mom came out the house yelling at me. I knew I was in trouble. That was the first time we ever fought.