SUNFLOWERS FOR THANKFULNESS

by Lindariel

Kipper groaned loudly once again as he stubbed his sore toe for the third time while carrying the large box of donated fabrics from Mrs. Draper’s thrift store to Mary’s chambers. Stupid shoes picked exactly the wrong time for the sole to split!

As he rounded the corner towards Mary’s chamber entrance, the split sole tripped him up for a fourth time, landing him on his knees right at Mary’s feet.

“Oh, my stars!” Mary exclaimed. “Kipper, dear, are you all right?”

“AAAAaaaaaa-ACK!” Kipper yelled. “That’s the fourth time my stupid shoes have tripped me up on this errand. Just LOOK!”  He stuck his left foot up in the air and showed Mary where the split sole had peeled away from the shoe upper, creating a definite tripping hazard.

“You poor thing!” Mary tutted. “Leave the box for now, and come inside so I can check your knees for scrapes.”

Kipper pulled off the offending shoe and limped into Mary’s chamber, settling himself in the comfy chair by her crafting table.

“I think my knees are OK.  My pants have two layers of patches, so I don’t think I’m scraped,” Kipper reported. “Can’t say the same for my big toe. I stubbed it every single time I tripped.”

Mary gently removed Kipper’s double set of socks, revealing a swollen, angry red toe well on its way to developing a spectacular set of bruises.

“Well, young man,” Mary declared. “You definitely need a new pair of shoes. These are practically worn out, and it looks to me like you need to bump up to the next size as well.  I’ll search out a few pairs for you to try after we get this poor toe bandaged and wrapped in an ice pack.  It’s mighty bruised up, but fortunately not broken or dislocated.”

Mary set some gauze and bandages from her emergency first aid kit on the crafting table and bustled off to William’s kitchen to fill up one of her ice packs. When she returned, she was surprised to find that Kipper had brought in the box of donated fabrics, pulling up the drop-leaf of her crafting table so he would have space to unpack the contents of the box into various stacks.  The box was still half full, but Kipper had apparently stopped his unpacking to admire a set of printed curtains featuring a profusion of sunflowers.

“Well, I see you’ve kept yourself busy,” Mary commented, as she pulled over her wash basin to bathe Kipper’s injured toe prior to bandaging it. “Thank you for starting to unpack the box. My! I see some wonderful denims and corduroys.  Those will certainly come in handy. What do you think of those curtains?”

Kipper blushed a bit. “Oh, well, I was just wondering if you needed to keep the tie-backs for these curtains.”

Mary considered the fabric for a moment while she finished up bathing and bandaging Kipper’s toe and then settled his foot on her step stool, covering the toe with the ice pack and wrapping the entire foot in a cozy bath towel to keep the ice pack in place comfortably.  She reached for the curtain ties to evaluate the weight of the fabric.

“I don’t believe I’ll need the curtain ties,” Mary finally responded. “This fabric is a good weight for blouses or napkins or quilting squares. Do you have a project in mind for the ties?”

Kipper blushed even deeper. “Yes,” he replied. “Flower day is coming up, and I have lots of good ideas for family here in the Tunnels, but I wanted to find a way to say thank you to Luz for helping Uncle Stan so much and for being a good friend and a Helper. When I saw these curtain ties, I thought maybe they could be sewed together to make a hat band with a bow. Sunflowers mean thankfulness, and they would look really pretty on Luz’s big floppy sunhat, don’t you think?”

Mary reached into her sewing box for her pin cushion, carefully pinning the two curtain ties together, then looping them once around her head and tying the ends into a puffy, floppy bow.  “Like this?” she asked Kipper.

“Yes!” he shouted. “Oh, that looks perfect! Thank you!”

“Well, Kipper,” Mary replied with a chuckle. “Since you need to rest that sore toe for a while, and I need to go find you some new shoes, why don’t you put your sewing skills to work and whip-stitch these curtain ties together right here where I’ve pinned them.  I believe I have the perfect shade of gold thread to match this fabric.”

* * *

Luz sank into her office chair with a sigh and a groan, kicking off her courtroom heels and massaging her sore toes.  It had been a long day of oral arguments before the judge sent the jury off to deliberate on the latest set of civil charges against Max Avery and his partners, this time for tenant’s rights violations. The man wasn’t going down without a fight – or several fights – but he’d lost every single court case so far, and Luz was determined to win this one as well.  Max Avery deserved to be put out of business in addition to going away to prison for a long time.  Thank goodness Cathy Chandler is handling the criminal charges!  The civil suits are bad enough!

She rolled her head to the side to check the time on her desk clock. 4:30 pm, and she’d been on her feet all day.  I’m calling it a day and going home EARLY!

She’d just changed into her comfy tennis shoes for the commute home when a soft tap on the door announced a visitor.

“Come in, but I’m getting ready to leave!” she called out.

“We’ll only be a minute,” announced Stan Kaczmarek, as he stuck his head around the door. “Long tough day in court?”

“Uck, YES!” she declared. “But the judge has sent the case to the jury, so hopefully we’ll have good news soon.”

“Well, I have a visitor for you, and I promise we’ll keep it brief,” Stan responded, as he pushed the door open, and Kipper sauntered through bearing a wrapped gift to go with the large arrangement of sunflowers Stan placed on Luz’s desk.

“Oh, my goodness!” she exclaimed, gaping at the flowers as Kipper placed his gift in her hands and dropped a smacking kiss on her cheek. “What’s this about? It certainly isn’t my birthday.”

“Well, open it, and I’ll explain,” Kipper answered with a cheeky grin.

Luz carefully unwrapped the flat gift box and whispered “Oh my!” as she lifted out the looped sunflower bow, looking to Kipper for his explanation.

“Every year on this day, our community celebrates Say-It-With-Flowers Day,” said Kipper. “It’s a time for us to give little gifts with a flower theme – a poem or story or drawing, really anything that can carry a flower message. Every flower has a meaning. Did you know that?”

“I’ve heard about the Victorian language of flowers, where people sent messages to each other using bouquets or nosegays,” Luz responded. “What a lovely idea! What do sunflowers mean?”

Kipper looked up at Stan, and Stan gestured for him to continue his explanation.

“According to Father, sunflowers mean thankfulness,” Kipper replied. “Mary helped me make this hat band for the sunhat you wore to our July 4th barbeque on Uncle Stan’s rooftop. I wanted to say thank you to you for helping Uncle Stan and for being my friend and for becoming such a great Helper.”

Stan patted the vase of sunflowers. “I thought it was a great idea as well.”

Luz teared up as she rose to give Kipper a huge hug. “You know, sweetheart, thankfulness goes both ways.”  She drew Stan into a group hug. “I’m so thankful to have two such wonderful friends who have shared a whole new community with me. What an amazing way to end a long, hard day!”

Stan grinned as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I know you were planning to go home, but I thought perhaps we could treat you to dinner up on the rooftop?  The weather’s perfect, and Charlie Klutz has some steaks marinating for me to pop on the grill. All you’d have to do is rest on your favorite deck lounger and be pampered.”

“I’ll serve your dinner myself,” Kipper added with a grin.

“Sounds fabulous!” Luz replied, dashing away her tears. “As long as we can make a quick detour by my apartment.  I’d like to change out of this suit and into something more comfortable.  After all, I have a newly decorated sunhat to wear!”