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“Close your eyes.”  Jackie bounced up and down on her heels, beaming.  Hiding a smile, Flora shut her eyes.

“Now hold out your hands.”  As ordered, Flora pulled her hands from her sewing apron pockets and extended them.  Something cold, hard yet light rolled onto her fingers.

“Open.”  Flora’s eyelids flew open and she gasped.  “Oh my.  Jackie, it’s too much!”

She had no idea what it was.  She stared at a clear glass container with a small gooey mass in the center.

“I knew you’d love it.”  Jackie leaped up and down, her entire face bursting with joy.  “It’s a red spotted purple.  They’re gorgeous–they remind me of you.  But the professor I work with at the Botanical Gardens for my internship is a butterfly fanatic and raises all sorts of species.  And when he said he had some butterfly eggs….”

“Oh!”  Flora sighed with relief.  “It’s a butterfly egg!”

Jackie bobbed her head.  “Of course!  What’d you think it was?”  She laughed at Flora’s expression.  “This is just for the egg.  In a couple days, I’ll come over and build a terrarium for the larvae.”

“The larvae?” Flora wrinkled her nose.  “That sounds disturbingly like maggots.”

“Well, butterflies are an insect, even if they’re a pretty one.”  Jackie pointed a butterfly landing on a leaf next to Flora’s cheek.  “Even this little one once looked like that.”

Flora gazed around the Butterfly Garden and smiled.  A large dome of glass and wood, the Butterfly Garden only housed butterfly friendly plants–and tons of butterflies.  Many floated freely, but the back held rows of terrariums and clear cases with every step of butterfly development.   Other butterflies lived in their own worlds, peering through the glass at the other butterflies outside but never joining them.

Flora knew just how they felt.

“Thank you, Jackie,” she said sincerely, hugging her friend.  “It really is beautiful.”

Jackie’s face nearly cracked from smiling.  “I knew how much you loved the butterfly plants I put in your garden.  And you’re always talking about them.  And then there’s your necklace…”

Flora’s fingers flew to the tiny glass butterfly she wore around a thin silver chain.  Most of the time, she kept it tucked underneath her collar or hidden behind the strap of an apron.  “I’ve just always loved them. They’re just so beautiful and carefree and…”

“Free,” Jackie whispered, watching a blue butterfly.  “No restrictions, no boundaries, no worries.”

In silence, they watched the butterfly leap from leaf to leaf, flower to flower.  With a sigh, Flora tucked the container carefully in her apron pocket.

“I better go.  I got to buy Mom’s lunch.”

Jackie frowned.  “What’s she want this time?”

“Pizza.  A whole one.”  Flora made a face.  “And she didn’t offer to share.”

“I’ve got a better idea.”  Jackie’s eyes glittered wickedly.  “I say we eat the pizza and bring her a salad.  I haven’t eaten all day, have you?”

“No, but…”  Flora rested her hands on her ample hips and bit her lip.  “I really shouldn’t.  It’s not as if I need the calories…”

“No one needs the calories from pizza,” Jackie cut in, ignoring her own slender frame.  She slung her arm through Flora’s elbow.  “What we need is the comfort and the sheer delicious cheesiness.  The wonderful taste of bread and marinara sauce with thick slices of meat and tart olives that explode in your mouth…the hot fresh cheese sliding down your tongue…”

Flora’s mouth watered and she laughed, holding up her hands.  “Ok, ok, you got me.”  Her lips curled up as she brushed her friend to the side.  “Last one there has to tell Heather where her pizza went!”

Even with a head start, Jackie beat Flora, as she knew she would.  But that was all right, she thought, panting and sweating as she hurried into the icy Italian restaurant.  She wouldn’t really want Jackie to have to face Heather.

It was a death sentence she wouldn’t have wished on her worst enemy.

Six slices and one thick round of cheesecake later, Flora waddled back to the shop.  In one hand she held a brown box, while the other rested in her apron pocket on the tiny container.

“Just a few more hours,” she whispered to the tiny egg.  She couldn’t bear call it a larvae or pulpe or any other of the scientifc terms Jackie had rambled on about during lunch.  “I just have to finish Laurel Rawn’s dress for prom and then we can go home. And I’ll show you my garden.  Would you like that?”

The egg listened as she slipped inside the shop, opening the door softly so not to ring the bells dangling from the glass.  “I have all sorts of gorgeous flowers Jackie planted for me.  And the woman next door, she gave me”–

“Talking to yourself again?  How quaint.”  Her sneering mother loomed in the doorway, her fat fingers wiggling.  “Gimme my pizza.  And get in there.  You’re late to meet with our new client.”  She snatched the box out of Flora’s hand, tossing it on her desk.  “Don’t even bother thinking about taking lunch now.  What took you so long?  Did you have to fly to Italy?”

Flora pressed her lips together and shoved past her mother, hurrying into the parlor they reserved for first time clients.   She couldn’t hide the grin that bloomed when she heard her mother’s horrified shriek.  “FLORA!”

Ignoring her mother’s outrage, she hurried through the door with her hand extended.

“Please excuse my tardiness.  My name is Flora, and I’ll be your seamstress.”  The rest of her planned speech died on her lips.  The most gorgeous woman she had ever seen stood before her.  It was though every princess from every storybook had melded together into one perfect being: hair like spun gold, eyes crystal blue and luminous porcelain skin on a figure that every Victoria’s Secret model would kill for.

Suddenly, the joyous six pieces of pizza felt like lead in Flora’s belly.  As the girl shook her hand, she winced as she noticed the marinara sauce staining her cuticles.  Either the girl was unfailingly polite or blind.

“I’m Astrid, the newest Princess Rose.”  The girl grinned as Flora sucked in her breath.  “And you’re going to make my coronation dress.”

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  We have a new Comfort and Whimsy tomorrow and more whimsy next week!