She was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she was going nowhere fast.
For some time now, she felt that her existence was becoming increasingly pointless. She knew this wasn’t good and that a change was needed. Maybe a change of job, although she was happy with that. A move to another town? A new circle of friends, possibly? It was during the evening when she was surfing the internet, in a hopeful attempt to find some sort of solution, that she came across an article about the butterfly effect. It was certainly all about change and she found it fascinating. Of course, she’d heard about it before, but had never stopped to see the full significance of how powerful the idea could be.
She brewed a fresh cup of coffee and began reading in earnest. The notion being that a tornado can be brought about by a distant butterfly flapping its wings sometime earlier. This whole idea was kicked off by this guy, Lorenz. He was the meteorologist who dreamt the phrase up. He was involved in using computer weather models to make predictions about what the weather was going to do next, and how a small change here can make a big change there. It was fascinating stuff! This was what she needed, she thought. She needed a flapping of the wings. Just some small, insignificant even, change in her life. She sat thinking about it late into the evening, before turning in for the night.
The following day was a Saturday and she decided to take a trip into town. She just needed to get out. She’d been staying in and brooding a lot lately, she knew it would do her good to wander around the shops for a while. This, in itself would be a change, she thought. She had just got off the bus when the shop across the road caught her eye. She couldn’t remember seeing a jewellry store there before. It may be new, she wasn’t sure. It was the huge window display that really caught her attention. There were dozens of really pretty items in the window, including a number of beautifully coloured butterflies. Just for a moment, she thought she heard a flapping as her pulse quickened. She went in.
The shop was quiet as she approached the counter. She crouched down and gazed beneath at the attractive layout of jewellry. She had never been interested in items of this kind… that would definitely be a change, she thought. There was a lovely selection of delicately coloured butterfly broaches, rings and pendants. It was the necklace that really grabbed her attention. It was at the very moment that she decided to buy it that she saw the small card propped at the centre of the display. It read: Tornado Jewellry!
She gave a silent gasp as she took in the significance of what she was reading. The shock of it rippled through her body. She began to tremble and felt her knees grow weak. She clung to the counter top to draw herself up. She gasped again as she came face to face with the young man now standing behind the counter.
He smiled with a touch of embarrassment.
She could see he felt awkward about making her jump.
“I’m sorry, miss,” he said.
She blushed and shook her head, not quite knowing what to say.
With a larger smile, he straightened his tie. “How can I help you?” he said.