Tranquil Blossom

It wasn’t supposed to rain that day.

It wasn’t supposed to, but it did, and there I was in a white shirt and sandals splashing my way across the street. When a car driving too close to the curb missed drenching me by inches, I decided it was time to get off the main road.

The side street was residential. Not quite lined with trees, but it did have a few, and one of them was big enough to stand under while I squeezed water from my hair. Droplets left streaks across the tops of my feet, revealing glimpses of skin through the slime-tinted residue of whatever I’d just sloshed through.

A flash cut through the dark canary sky, with the thunderclap coming less than a second later. Not the best time to stand close to a tree. I was scanning the empty porches, wondering if any of these people would mind if I showed up at their door like a wet cat mewling for milk, when I saw the sign.

Vitamins.

No catchy shop name, no advertisements at all, just "Vitamins" in blue letters over white paint on wood sturdy enough to last however long it took to make that sign look ancient. The shop’s windows were dark, but that didn’t mean they were closed.

I really hoped they weren’t closed.

The sky crackled and cracked again as I squeaked in my sandals down the sidewalk. I pushed the heavy wooden door, and Vitamins opened with no resistance. Tinkling bells announced my arrival, and an old brown mat welcomed me with embroidered calligraphy.

The dim lights were only a hint brighter than the overcast sky, but the stillness of the air, deeply scented with the warmth of dried herbs, offered respite from the storm. I wiped the soles of my sandals against the mat. Seeing nobody around, I quickly did the same to the bottoms of my feet.

“Maybe you would like a towel instead?”

My cheeks flushed, and I offered a guilty smile to the woman who stepped out from behind the curtain. I shook my head.

“No. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”

Her eyes lit up with a twinkle as I stumbled through the words with all the confidence of a five-year-old child. With her loose silver hair and wrists heavy with turquoise studded bracelets, she carried herself like a grandmother who had never grown old. The kind who would laugh when she caught you taking candy.

“Suit yourself. No need to apologize, you probably took more dirt off that mat than you left on it.” She shrugged. “Were you looking for something in particular?”

I glanced around the shop. I hadn’t been expecting anything at all, but somehow this was not what I was expecting. Free-standing shelves displayed glass containers filled with loose supplements for sale.

“I’m just looking.”

Making my way through the makeshift aisles, I looked. Bright yellow capsules were labeled Liquid Sunshine, and a large jar at the end of the row held dusty orange pressed tablets that went by the name of Ultimate Root.

“I could help you better if I knew what was wrong with you.”

I turned to face her with my eyebrows raised. There was nothing wrong with me. Nothing aside from the cold I might have caught if I’d stayed out in the rain. But her eyes were watching closely, and I couldn’t look away. I didn’t know what to say. She approached me and continued to speak.

“I’ll tell you what you need to take. Twenty dollars. You get the diagnosis, and a sample to start you off.” She pursed her lips, looking me up and down before adding, “Cash only.”

I laughed and unzipped my purse. I couldn’t just come to dry off without buying anything, and something in her voice made the offer intriguing. Opening my wallet, I frowned.

“I only have twelve in cash. You don’t take cards?”

She held her hand out, palm up. Without thinking twice, I gave her all of my money.

“No cards. Twelve is fine. You’ll just get a smaller sample, but you also get a towel to use. Come.”

She left the money sitting on the counter near the cash register and pulled the curtain aside to escort me to the back room. I dried my hair with the towel she offered, and when I handed it back, she spread it over a low wooden table. She placed a purple velvet pillow on top and told me to lie down. I did.

My legs were bare under my denim shorts, and she poked her way up from my ankles to my thighs. I flinched when she got to my hip bones and laughed when her fingers pressed my stomach.

“Hm.”

The sound vibrated from her with the solemnity of a doctor in deep analytical thought. She touched the sides of my ribs for a moment before returning to my stomach. I couldn’t contain the giggle. The more she poked and prodded, the more ridiculous this whole thing seemed. She pulled her hands away.

“All finished. I see what you need.”

I sat up on the table and combed my hair back into place with my fingers before following her out to the main part of the shop. She opened a cabinet under one of the shelves and put three tea bags into a paper sleeve. She held the package out to me, and I took it.

“What is it?”

“Tranquil Blossom. It will help you relax. Drink it before bed.”

I laughed. The woman was eccentric, but she didn’t seem dangerous. Even so, I wasn’t going to drink some strange tea without knowing what it was in it.

“What is it really, though?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, and a chill crawled up the back of my neck. Her tone was brisk when she answered.

“You call it passionflower. Now, go. The storm is over.”

The shop windows were tinted enough to make it impossible to see the weather outside, but when I opened the door, she was right. Birds chirped brightly in their trees to proclaim the return of the sun.

I put the tea bags in a kitchen drawer when I got home and forgot they existed until months later, when I came across them while cleaning. They looked old and dusty, so I threw them away.

Something remained in my curiosity though, and I went back to the street where I thought Vitamins had been. It wasn’t there. I circled a few blocks, but it wasn’t on any of those either.

I couldn’t remember where that shop was located, so I gave up. But I found a box of passionflower tea bags at the grocery store the next day.

It really did help me sleep better.