They stood looking, bewildered by the vast array of paint cans.
She had announced that their plans to redecorate had been put on hold for far too long. He wasn’t too sure what she had in mind, but it could be mostly doors, walls and ceilings. Although initially overwhelmed by the sheer variety of colours, she began working her way along the shelves, murmuring as she went. He noticed that she seemed to be placing a lot of emphasis on what they were called. Trying to help, he picked up a sample colour card. It was pale lemon.
“This might be a good colour for the door at the end of the hall,” he said.
She shook her head. “Not really, that’s a sour colour, don’t you think? Here’s a nice blue for the bedroom walls.” She held up a card.
It was a very strong colour, so he found something a lot lighter and softer. “This might be nicer.” The card read, ‘Blue Mist’.
She frowned. “Blue Mist, I don’t thinks so. I don’t like the cold or the humidity, you know that!”
“How about Lavender?” he said, holding up another card, not to be put off.
“Oh! No! Don’t you remember how I had that terrible fit of sneezing when we were at that lavender farm last year?”
Hiding his sense of confusion, he said, “That’s right, of course.” He was beginning to wish he was somewhere else. He decided to give it one more go. He found a very attractive, subtle orange. It was a gentle colour that he thought would look good in the kitchen. He waved the card. “This would be a nice colour for the kitchen, don’t you think?”
She came closer, nodding, looking interested. She took the card. Her nodding changed to shaking. She looked up at him with tears forming in her eyes. “Begonia,” she whispered. “They were my mother’s favourite.” She took a tissue from her bag. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“Sorry, dear,” he said in a low voice, “I might be better at checking out brushes and rollers and things…”
Taking out another tissue, she smiled and nodded.
With great relief he went off to lose himself among the brushes…