A Misunderstanding

a short story

The only desire Ella had ever had was to be understood.

That day, she felt ready. She took her gun, put it in her vintage purse, and went to the flower shop around the corner.

A light drizzle turned her thoughts blue. Walking down the narrow staircase leading to the basement flower shop, Ella thought how wonderful it would be if someone filmed her feet moving fast and decisively in her black shoes. She always liked the sound of the click of heels on the floor in movies.

It was still early morning; the shop was empty. Ella took her little gun out and pointed it at the flower girl with the name Julie on her badge.

“So, Julie, huh?” Ella said.

“Can I help you?” Julie asked. She looked a bit worried, but not too much.

“I don’t like people laughing at me,” Ella said, her voice trembling a bit.

“When was I laughing at you?” Julie asked, and looked as if she were actually trying to remember.

“Just yesterday. When I told you that I was buying flowers for myself,” Ella said. The fact that the girl didn’t look very scared made her hesitate a little. But then Ella looked at her hand pointing the gun and saw the combination of the colors of the gun and the glove, and the shadows cast by the bright morning sun that suddenly appeared through the drizzle and now was coming through the small window near the ceiling. It warmed her heart. She imagined she was part of a movie again.

“What are you talking about? I smiled because I’m happy that girls finally understand that buying flowers for themselves is one of the best things they get to do!” Julie sounded very confident about what she was saying. Ella started hesitating even more.

“I don’t believe you. I’m going to count to three. If you don’t apologize, I will shoot. I swear,” Ella said. But she didn’t sound confident; her voice trembled, her hand shook.

She started counting.

“Sorry! I apologize, I’m sorry. It’s just a misunderstanding, okay?” Julie said. She knew Ella probably wouldn’t shoot, but she didn’t want to disappoint her more.

Ella ran away, and Julie closed the shop early that day.

She went home and searched for a gun online.

“I hate it when people misunderstand me,” Julie wrote in her journal.