FLEUR'S FLOWER SHOP 1
another children's story from
Rob Haywood
Short floral stories for 3 - 6 year olds
No 1. FLEUR AND FLOWERPUSS
No 1. FLEUR AND FLOWERPUSS
While she works at the flower bench, Fleur’s crazy cat, Flowerpuss, keeps her company.
"What ARE you doing, Flowerpuss?" Fleur laughs, as silly her cat races around all over the shop, just for the sake of it. "What a crazy cat you are," Fleur says, and she puts more lovely flowers into a very large bouquet.
Flowerpuss does not always run about in such a mad fashion. Flowerpuss is a beautiful cat, or at least, Fleur thinks so. Flowerpuss thinks so too. Well, with masses of fluffy, snowwhite fur and black feet, Flowerpuss looks as if she is the Queen of Shop Cats, and she normally goes about her duties very seriously indeed.
Her duties are to patrol every inch of the shop, and the workroom, and the the cellar, and the upstairs flat where Fleur lives, holding her head high in a most regal fashion. For, boys and girls, it is Flowerpuss' job to catch mice.
Flowerpuss hunts everywhere for mice. Upstairs and down. But she has a problem. A serious problem. She wouldn’t know a mouse if it crept up behind her and nibbled her on her fluffy tail! For Flowerpuss has never, ever, seen a mouse. She doesn’t know what a mouse looks like. For there are no mice, of any kind, in Fleur’s Flower Shop. All the mice much prefer the baker’s shop a few doors away, where there is plenty of something to eat for a hungry mouse. like bread. And cakes. And flour. Fleur's flower shop simply keeps the wrong kind of flower.
But all Flowerpuss' instincts are there. Instincts for chasing. Instincts for catching. But that is all. She wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do with a mouse if she caught one! She sniffs around her territory. She stalks anything that creeps and moves, including b-big h-h-hairy spiders. Sometimes, she even catches a spider. Which gives her another problem. For Flowerpuss hates spiders.
This gives Fleur a problem too. For the spiders that Flowerpuss catches, she presents them to Fleur, as a sort of gift. Fleur’s problem is that . . . she hates spiders too!
Because Flowerpuss cannot catch a mouse, and because there isn’t a mouse to be caught in the house, or in the shop, Flowerpuss tries to catch other things, apart from spiders.
Shops full of flowers, on hot summery days, attract all sorts of creatures. People to buy flowers, for one. And wasps for another. And bumble bees for nectar. Flowerpuss does her best to catch wasps and bumble bees instead.
She leaps and bounds all over the shop, just like she is doing today, just to try to catch one little solitary bee, that has probably never hurt anyone in its life. Flowerpuss prefers bees. They’re more colourful. They look more juicy. Though, she will go after a wasp if she is bored and there are no bees about. The problem is, she has never caught either a bee nor a wasp. Nor a mouse.
Of course, the poor bee gets very annoyed at being chased all over a shop full of flowers, all full of delicious nectar for making honey, that they buzz off angrily out of Fleur’s Flower Shop and straight into another nearby shop. And sting someone, probably a customer, in the bakers shop.
But Flowerpuss has a great time, chasing hither and thither all over the place, upsetting buckets and tubs and vases full of water. So that Fleur then has to get the big mop and sweep all the water out of her shop. While she works at getting rid of all the water, Fleur sings a little song to her cat.
Flowerpuss is a stupid cat,
Who chases wasps and bees.
She chases creepy spiders
And anything else she sees.
She brings me wasps and bees for tea;
She thinks that’s very nice.
But honey bee
Doesn’t quite suit me
I’d rather she chased some mice.
But Fleur loves Flowerpuss really, in spite of all the mess she makes, and the unwelcome gifts of large h-h-hairy spiders. She is such good company, and very good at keeping dogs away. Dogs are very wary of cats that can catch spiders, especially h-h-hairy ones.
Fleur does not mind too much that Flowerpuss only chases spiders. But she would much rather that her stupid cat would chase mice instead. Isn't that what cats are supposed to be for, after all?
Huh! Stupid Cat!!!
Every morning, bright and early, Fleur goes to the flower market to buy all the flowers she needs to sell in her shop. She likes all the colours, and couldn’t possibly say which she likes the best. But she knows all their names, and can easily help her customers to chose when they don’t know which they like the best.
Like Mr Stitching, who owns the cobblers shop next door to Fleur’s Flower Shop. He is always in a dither when choosing flowers for his wife.
"And what colour would you like this time, Mr Stitching?" Fleur asked him: politely, because all flower girls are polite.
"Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know what to take for the best . . . it’s TOO difficult . . ." he said with a sigh.
"Are you in trouble again, Mr Stitching?" Fleur asked him quietly, "you were last time."
"Yes, well, as a matter of fact, I am," the cobbler replied.
"Well, I think you should take her some red ones . . . how about these roses? They usually get you out of trouble," she laughed.
Mr Stitching nodded. "Yes, just the thing. Splendid!"
Fleur arranged a lovely bouquet of red roses for Mr Stitching, and wrapped them in a nice, see-through paper to take them home to his wife.
"Oooohh, they do smell lovely," he said, and gave Fleur the money. "I’m sure these will do nicely, and get me out of trouble."
"What kind of trouble are you . . . in," asked Fleur, for she did like to know just how her flowers helped. Besides, she was incurably nosey, and couldn’t help wondering about all her customers business. Flower girls tend to be nosey.
Mr Stitching looked at Fleur, and thought about whether he should tell her or not. It was most embarrassing, after all. "Well . . ." he began, "don’t say I told you, but Mrs Stitching has had her hair done. A week last Tuesday." He pulled a face.
"Oh, but why should Mrs Stitching having her hair done get you into trouble - wasn’t it very nice when it was done?" asked Fleur as she fiddled with some flowers in a tub.
"Oh, yes, I suppose it was lovely, really lovely," The old cobbler replied.
"Then, surely," said Fleur, "why the trouble?"
"Oh, I don’t know," Mr Stitching replied thoughtfully, stroking his chin as he left the shop, making the little bell ring, "perhaps it was because I didn’t notice until this morning."
Well, I never, Fleur thought to herself with a smile as she put Mr Stitching’s money into her till, some people do get themselves into deep water.
And these droopy flowers need some deep water, come to think of it, she thought. Fleur went into the flower room at the back of the shop to get some water to give all her flowers a good drink. Flowers like being in deep water, and a good job too.
And where’s that silly cat?
There is a lot of work to do before she even opens the shop to let in her first customer. First, every flower in every tub has to be given a fresh drink. Fleur fills lots of tubs with lots of water, and places big bunches of flowers in them. Red flowers. Yellow flowers. Blue flowers. She wonders, why there are no green flowers? Do you know why there are no green flowers? No. Neither do I.
Sometimes, Fleur overdoes it, filling all the tubs. The water slops over the top, down the sides, and gets everywhere. Then she has to mop up. Fleur’s little white cat, a crazy cat called Flowerpuss, can swim quite well, but it doesn’t seem fair to make her swim too often. Though, being a crazy cat, she cat can make a fair old mess too.
When all the tubs are full, Fleur has to sort out all the flowers that have died overnight. If they are not pulled out of the tubs quickly enough, they make the water very smelly.
While Fleur works, she often talks to her flowers, and sometimes sings to them as well.
Heads Up! My pretty little flowers,
Look your best, be bright and bold.
You won’t be here for very many hours
Make a smile and you’ll soon be sold.
That is one song that Fleur sings, quite a lot, because it keeps her bright and cheerful. As well as the flowers. Flowerpuss likes it too.
Once everything is ready, and looking its very best, it is time to unlock the shop door and let in the customers. Or sing another song.
Another song that Fleur sings goes like this:
There are so many flowers, in so many tubs, it is hard for her customers to see her when they go in the shop. When Fleur’s customers open the shop door, it makes the bell jangle.
"Hello! Is there anyone in?" call out her customers.
For a moment there is . . . silence, then a flash of brilliant white. Flowerpuss jumps right from out of the green jungle of all the flowers in the shop, just to greet the new customer, and startles him clean out of his boots. Flowerpuss is a playful cat, and today, she is playing at tigers.
"Mee-eeooww," she roars at anyone who comes into the shop.
"Don’t be a silly puss," shouts Fleur, "put that gentleman down and let him come in! Perhaps he wants to buy some flowers."
Fleur has to be very strict with Flowerpuss, or else the playful pussy would frighten most of her customers away, and she would never sell any flowers at all. The crazy cat is always trying to catch things. Flowerpuss shows her friendliness to all Fleur’s customers by giving them presents, of the spiders she has caught. Of course, Flowerpuss would much rather give Fleur’s customers some mice. But she can’t catch any. She’s never even seen one. What a crazy cat!
The shop next door the other side sells ladies hats, and is owned by Mrs Titfer. She also has a pet - a dog - but Mrs Titfer’s dog will not go near to Fleur’s Flower Shop when Flowerpuss is in a playful mood. Mrs Titfer’s dog does not much like playing at tigers, for some reason.
"Fleur! Please do come out and tell your cat to put my dog down, will you!" Mrs Titfer has to shout to Fleur, who is making a bouquet in the back room. "He doesn’t like being chased about like that, especially by a cat - it upsets him. And he doesn’t like spiders. They frighten him."
Mrs Titfer’s dog is a very nervous dog. Mrs Titfer is a very nervous woman. She only comes to Fleur's Flower Shop to get some flowers to help her relax. Her dog only comes for the walk and, well, to relax. But by the time they leave, after they have both been startled by the silly antics of Flowerpuss, both Mrs Titfer and her dog are in need of something to calm their nerves.
The dog has a pee up a tree; we don't know what Mrs Titfer does . . . don't ask!