The morning was very bright and warm. I was sitting on a wooden bench inside a big shop that sells beautiful green plants and colorful flowers. I love this place because the smell of wet dirt and sweet roses makes my heart feel very quiet and happy. I am not very good with my English yet because I moved here only one year ago, but I like to watch people and feel their feelings. On this day, I had my notebook on my knees. I have a very rare thing with my body. My left eye is split into two colors. One half of the circle is dark brown, and the other half is bright sky blue. Because people always stare at my strange eye, I like to sit in quiet corners where I can write and not be seen.
I was watching a small bee fly around a yellow flower when the front glass doors opened very hard. A young man walked inside. He looked about twenty-two years old. He had very shiny shoes and a gold chain around his neck, and his face looked like he was angry at the whole world. He was holding a soft blue bag with small holes in it. Inside the bag, I could see a very big orange cat with long fur. The cat did not look happy. It was making a low, sad sound because the young man was swinging the bag too much while he walked.
The young man walked straight toward the tropical greenhouse. There was a big red sign on the door of the greenhouse. The sign had a picture of a dog and a cat with a red line across them. It said that no pets were allowed inside because the special baby plants were very weak and some of them had wet medicine on their leaves that could make animals very sick. This is also a local rule by the city inspectors to keep the plants safe.
A worker at the shop was standing near the door. He was an older man with white hair and a very soft, kind face. He wore a green apron. When the young man tried to push the greenhouse door open, the older worker stepped in front of him very gently. The worker smiled and told the young man in a quiet voice that pets were not allowed inside the glass room. He pointed to the red sign on the door.
The young man did not smile back. His face became very red, and he lifted his chin up high. He told the worker that he did not care about the sign or the rules. He said that his cat was extremely expensive and did not have dirty feet like other normal animals. He spoke very loudly, and his voice sounded like he thought he was the boss of the whole store. I felt a very cold feeling in my stomach because I do not like when people are mean to gentle workers. The worker looked troubled but kept his voice very soft. He explained again that the law says no animals can go in there because of the special sprays on the leaves.
The young man laughed in a very ugly way. He said that laws were only for people who did not have money. He said his family bought many things from this store, so he could go wherever he wanted. He pushed his shoulder against the older worker to try and get past him. My heart started to beat very fast because I felt the sadness of the older worker. I wanted to go help, but I was too shy and my English was not strong enough to speak during a big fight.
Just then, the young man opened his blue bag to show how clean his cat was. This was a very bad choice. The orange cat was very scared by the loud voice of its owner. The moment the zipper went down, the cat jumped out of the bag like a flash of orange fire. It did not run away. Instead, it jumped straight onto a high shelf full of small ceramic flower pots.
At this exact moment, a very strange thing happened that made everything much worse. A small child on the other side of the room pulled a red handle on the wall. It was the emergency button for the automatic watering system. Suddenly, a very loud whistling sound started, and cold water began to spray from the ceiling in big clouds of mist. The water did not hit us on the bench, but it sprayed right over the young man and his cat.
The cat went totally crazy from the water. It started to run across the shelves, knocking down five or six red pots. The clay pots hit the concrete floor and broke into many small pieces with loud popping sounds. The young man started to scream at his cat, getting wet and looking very foolish. His expensive hair was now flat against his head.
The older worker did not scream. He stood very still in the light rain of the watering system. He looked at the young man and spoke in a very clear, calm voice that I had to strain to hear over the sound of the spraying water. He told the young man that only a person with a very high brain and great style would understand that keeping a pet out of the greenhouse was a way to show how rich and smart they were. He said that normal people do not care about their pets, but a truly important man would choose to leave his cat in the dry office area to show everyone how much he loved his expensive animal.
The young man stopped shouting. He looked at his wet shoes, and then he looked at the worker. His eyes were wide, and he looked like he was trying hard to think. He wiped water from his face. He told the worker that he was completely right. He said that he had decided himself that the greenhouse was too low-class for his cat anyway, and he had always planned to keep his cat in the dry area because he knew more about animal health than the store did. He looked very proud of himself, as if he had just solved a big problem all by himself.
Another worker far away shouted that she was calling the main manager and the shopping center guards to help with the wet mess and the broken pots. I knew it would take many minutes for any guards to walk from the far side of the big shopping village.
I looked at my watch and saw that my bus was coming in two minutes. If I missed this bus, I would have to wait two hours in the cold wind. I stood up quickly, putting my notebook into my bag. As I walked out of the glass doors of the nursery, the young man was still wet, trying to catch his wet orange cat under a table while the older worker watched him with a small, secret smile. I did not see if the guards ever arrived or if the young man had to pay for the broken pots because the bus arrived at the curb, and I had to step inside and leave them behind.
