Silly Daisy

I will never forget the year I met her.

March 2008.

No, April 2008 to be exact.  Although I don't quite remember the exact day. But I remember the month. It was the near the beginning of spring, very hot, which had us all thinking that it was going to be a smoldering summer.

I was riding the subway in New York, the orange M line to be exact, making my way up to a meeting in Manhattan on 14th street.  I was to pitch some products from our new line of nifty gadgets, and it would make us a fortune if only we could get the proper investors.

At the moment, I didn't need a fortune.  I only needed enough to buy a decent suit.  The tweed three piece suit that I wore was tight on me. It was ten years old and well past its prime.

And that's when I saw her, a lady in lavender, coming towards me, a bright smile lighting her face, her head crowned in a garland of flowers and lace.

She walked up to me, pulled a flower from her hair and stuck it the lapel of my suit jacket.

"A flower from Megan," she said, her voice light as silk.  "A flower for good luck."

I looked down at the slightly wilted flower, then back up at her. I pulled it from my lapel and handed it back to her. "No thank you."

"Oh no," she said. "No, you keep it. It is free of charge, for good luck."

I stared down at the flower in my hand.

"For luck," she repeated.  "For good luck."

"I need some luck," someone shouted from the seat behind me. "If he don't want it, I could use it."

We both looked behind us. The request had come from a disheveled man in bad need of a bath, some clean clothes, and a haircut.

"Oh," the woman, this Megan, said, her smile even wider. "There's enough for all to go around."

She handed the disheveled man a flower.  He stuck it in his matted hair and walked away grinning hard.

I smiled too, as I stuck the flower, the wilted daisy, in my lapel. I quickly made a mental note to throw it away before my presentation.

The woman continued down the aisle of the train, passing out silly daisies, imploring people to take them for luck.

I made it on time to my presentation and gave a spirited talk. The investors snickered continuously during my talk.  I thought it was because of how great my ideas were, but when I opened the floor for questions, one said...

"Why on earth are you wearing a silly daisy?"

My heart jumped. I'd forgotten to remove the flower from my lapel.

I peered down at the daisy. It was bigger now, petals strong and supple.

And now some four years later in 2012...

I smile myself at that very question.

Silly Daisy Gadgets were born on the day.

There's one or two in every household.

I wish I could find the lovely Megan properly thank her for the luck she brought me that day.

On a New York City subway.

From Women of Color Writing Workshop, May 18, 2012. 


10 minute Writing prompt: use the following 4 subjects in a story: 


Where: New York City Subway
When: April 2008
Who: Megan
Color: Lavender