She went in looking for a plant that would fill the gap on the back fence.
She entered the nursery and spent the first few minutes looking around. She was sure she would need some help. A young man loitered nearby. She couldn’t tell whether he was staff or a customer. He didn’t seem very interested in the hundreds of plants that filled the shed. Maybe he was just waiting for someone. She kept meandering up and down the rows. Finally, she decided to find someone. The few people wandering about were all customers; she could tell that. As she came out from the end of the row, she spotted the young man again. This time she could see his badge.
“Excuse me,” she started, “I’m sure I’m going to need some help.”
He sighed. “What kind of help,” he said, as though she was pretty dumb to be asking at all.
She looked more closely at his name badge. “Well, with plants. I need to buy a plant and just need some help choosing the right one.”
He shrugged. “What are you looking for?”
Encouraged by the response she said, “It’s something to fill a gap.”
“Gap?”
“Oh! Yes. A gap in the garden.” She looked around, smiling as best she could, she asked, “Is the tall woman with ginger hair around?”
He shook his head, “Not in today.”
“Oh! Pity. She’s a mine of information. OK. What about the girl then?”
“Not in either. Can I help you?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes. OK. I’ll tell you what I have in mind. I need a nice, bushy plant, one with small leaves, preferably blue. It needs to be sturdy because the spot it’s going to is fairly windy. It doesn’t need to be tall, say, a metre tops. It will have to be something that doesn’t need a lot of direct sunlight. It would also be nice if it doesn’t require much water.” She nodded to herself. “It really must be low maintenance,” she finished. She gave him a hopeful smile.
He seemed to go blank for a moment, then said, “Oh! Yes, of course. Let me see. Give me a minute.” With that, he moved through to the back of the nursery and disappeared from sight.
She took the opportunity to have a further look around, while she waited.
After several minutes she began looking at her watch. She wandered around some more. When she looked at the time again she saw it had been fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes of waiting. It really was too bad. She decided to leave.
On the way out she saw him smoking by the hedge.