Dancing Dandelions

Here is another fictional story written for a contest, with a spring theme. Hope you enjoy!

The meadow was cloaked in dandelions. Their yellow shine complemented the sunshine feeding their souls. Children and adults alike begged the flowers for dreams realized. Each petal had heard thousands of wishes, but still had room for a million more.

 

Elena didn’t know if the dandelion wishes worked. But she sure wanted them to. Her life had fallen to pieces in the past year. Although she had built her coffee shop to be the best in San Diego, once Coronavirus took over, the business took the same fate as restaurants across the country. Clients lessened, baristas quit, and bankruptcy knocked on the door.

 

So she hoped for some flower power. The hippies couldn’t have been that off, right? A while movement for the flowers. Elena forgot her bell bottoms and tie dye, but she could believe.

 

When she first saw the field, she felt dizzy. A rush of excitement mixed with desperation came over her. “Is this my last shot?” Elena thought. Run. Run. Run…..Elena started with nothing but running, running away from the pain, the fear, the anger.

 

Her parents faces flashed across her mind’s eye. That “I told you so” look all children yearn to avoid. They’d been more than miffed when she quit med school to work towards her dreams. Although she’d promised to pay them back in full for the wasted tuition, they still couldn’t take the fact that their daughter was “throwing away her future”. Elena hurt that she had disappointed them, but she knew living the doctor life would lead to the depressed life.

 

So she put all her chips on number 7, and WON. But then the world stopped, and so did her income. Although she knew this was happening to all business owners and most of society, she could kick herself for not choosing a more assured path.

 

Cartwheels. Elena started doing flips, somersaults, and cartwheels to fling off the trauma. Her body started to feel the endorphins, and freedom.

 

Once peace started to set in, thoughts of her now ex seeped into her brain. When they met, it was at the peak of her success. Voted Top Coffee Shop in San Diego Magazine, Ted just had to check out the place. A Grande Matcha to go, and it was Grande Matcha Love. Their romance was little more than a whirlwind. A week in, Ted asked to live together. Two months in, Ted proposed.

 

A month into the pandemic, Ted found Kate.

 

At that was the end of that.

 

Having pulled all of her troubles to her mind, Elena knew it was time to stop and connect with the dandelion spirit. She bent down, and summoned:

 

“He loves me, he loves me not.” She’d learned the mantra in second grade, watching the fourth graders chant and giggle, not really understanding what they were talking about.

 

Today, she knew it wasn’t enough.

 

“I wish I may, I wish I might, wish upon this dandelion tonight…” An even earlier rhyme, she knew she was still being childish. It felt childish, the whole event. Running through a meadow, banking on the power of a bunch of yellow flowers.

 

But it seemed like all she had.

 

She felt tempted to tear out each dandelion one by one. Angry, frustrated, fed up with the world, she wanted to express all of those repressed emotions by butchering the entire field.

 

But Elena knew that wasn’t right. The flowers were beautiful, a gift from the Earth. They were meant to be cherished, and used for nothing more than seeking dreams.

 

The broken woman didn’t know what to dream about anymore. So, she bent down, punched the dirt, and cried. Elena kept crying, just letting all of the pain from the year out and allowing it to seep in the ground.

 

This went on long enough that a puddle formed, and then a mini pond. The pond flew into a river. Suddenly, the Earth loosened. Elena felt like she was going to fall, but her feet merely sank to her ankles. She then heard voices, but the voices sounded likes elves. It sounded like a million elves.

 

Something brushed her ear, and Elena turned to look. It had been a dandelion, not just the petals or seeds, but a whole flower. Suddenly, the sad soul was surrounded by floating dandelions.

 

The flowers started to glisten and sparkle. Elena felt like she was in a dream. Then, the music started to play. Bongos and maracas was what it sounded like. Earth music. Like it was from the Earth.

 

And then, it got even more fantastic: the dandelions started swaying to the music. They looked like flower people. They were jiving and grooving to the beat.

 

Soon, the whole sky was full of the dandelions, and the Earth was bald.

 

Elena looked down. There were brown pebbles embedded in the soil. They smelled good, the aroma was intoxicating. She suddenly felt alive, awake, full of energy. Elena thought the smell was very familiar, then she realized it was…

 

COFFEE.

 

Underneath the dandelions, was a rare form of coffee beans. Now that the Earth had been uncovered, Elena was lucky enough to see what lay below.

 

It may as well have been gold, because that was the answer. The shop owner now had an endless supply, and it was rare, it was something not found in many places in the world. She could now sell her coffee to the planet, and her dreams would come true.

 

Elena took a whiff, and another. She could picture the new coffee machines, espresso, marble countertops, and velvet cushioned seats. She imagined the packaging style, a coffee pot designed box.

 

Elena imagined the orders rolling in, and being able to hire back all of her baristas. She imagined dressing them in only the finest of uniforms, giving them consistent raises and a fantastic workplace.

 

She imagined her parents flying in just to visit. Elena would produce the finest tasting of lattes, and they would be amazed.

 

She imagined her ex strolling in to the new shop, unknowingly, and realizing what he’d missed out on.

 

But mostly, Elena pictured herself happy. Dancing with the flowers.