《Selling home defense and bouquets》


 Buying An Old Store

    My grandfather was a florist. He was a kind man. As a kid, he''d plop me on the counter and I''d hand flowers to the customers. some sweet old ladies would ask if I were for sale. I got some flake from kids, they thought It was girlish that I wanted to be a florist like my grandfather.


    Time flew by and Grandfather passed away. His shop closed and after a few years, it became an old rundown building no one wanted. But I wanted it.


    For years it sat there. The land value increased over time but it was never bought.


    I don''t know how the shop ended up in someone else''s hands. Maybe my family sold it or Grandpa had rented it. What I do know is the seller had caved and was willing to sell it dirt cheap. Everyone who visited the property gave up after one step through the doors. the seller was practically convinced it was cursed.


    Cursed, no is been waiting for me. After walking in it felt like home. Then the doors and shutters slammed close and refused to open.


    Maybe it really was cursed. A scratching sound came from the store counter. My already fast-beating heart had gotten faster. Paint and spackle chipped off the counter. it was as if a ghost were gougingsomething into the counter. A tree in a wheel. it was the logo of Granpa''s store. It was also a perfect-sized slot for a necklace my grandfather gave me. one I wore everywhere.


    It fit in like a glove. no better than a glove. The wood of the counter and the necklace were flush and it felt magnetic. The necklace practically slid itself into place from my hand.


    The store was renovated before I bought it and all the work that was put in started to come undone. The paint-peeled, cabinets fell off the wall and crumpled to dust then shelves came out replacing them. the store counter lengthened.


    Soon the store smelled of freshly cut wood and lacquer and it was clean. No dirt dust or paint chips. Not a speck of paint could be seen. everything was lacquered wood even the floor was replaced. i quite liked those tiles.


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    It looked just like grandpas shop again. Just a lot emptier and with a new door. Grandpa''s shop never had this door. it shouldn''t lead anywhere except the brick wall of the neighboring store.


    Do i accept the crazy and go in or... I went through the crazy door and was immediately blinded by the sun. Hedges twelve foot tall at the least, framed a small square garden. A garden that hadn''t seen care in a decade.


    Any plant that was here withered away a long time ago. Except for what may have been a bush. It''s so dry you could ignite with a spark.


    Whatever had been here outgrew their pots or they cracked in winter. let''s not jump to conclusions. Wait! how is this here!. I try to peer through the hedges. It''s like trying to open a door with someone pushing back. I get a peek, it''s another garden. wheres the street? wheres the stores? shouldn''t I be in the neighboring store right now?


    I rush back into the store and try to open the door. till won''t budge. I go to remove the necklace and it shoots into my hand. The back door shuts and fades into the wall as if it were never there. The shutters open and the sun pours in. I put the necklace back and the shutters close and the door returns...


    I don''t know how long I stood there but my brain must have fried. When I left the sun had started to set, I started the car and remembered I forgot to shut the lights off and lock up. I look at the shop from my car. the light goes off and I can see the door lock itself. My heart sinks and I peel out of my spot. I had enough paranormal supernatural magic mobo jomo voodoo hoodoo juju ahhh! I want to go home.


    I knew i wouldn''t be getting much sleep. Who wouldn''t want a shop that cleans itself and saves on the electric bills if you forget to shut the lights off? just get past the possible curses or demons and ghosts that make it work and it''s ideal.


    I thought about asking an exorcist but decided against it. my family would think I''m crazy not to mention they might not be a real exorcist and if they are... They may make whatever''s their really mad.


    I tried to think of other things but the shop just kept coming up. i wondered if Grampa knew the shop was like that or if he made it and a bunch of stuff he may or may not have done or known.


    Then a few thoughts came to me. Where did grandpas flowers come from? I don''t remember him ordering or receiving flowers. Did he give me the necklace by coincidence? No, he wore the same one.


    I have to go back, don''t i?

 Not Enough Credit

    After dragging myself out of bed and downing a poorly brewed cup of coffee. I went to the store with a few sets of seeds, bags of soil, pots, and tools. I was ready to tear up that decrepit garden.


    Still, I felt strange that Grandpa had such strange secrets. I wonder if he wanted to tell me but never got the chance.


    when I entered the garden I took another look around. In yesterday''s excitement, I missed a lot of things. Decorations were scattered around the garden, bent, discolored, and shattered.


    I have to admit... Grandpa... had poor tastes. I found gnomes, statues of Cupid, and... flamingos? How on earth did he think these fit together? This was going to be a pain to clean up. I piled all the broken pottery and decorations in a corner.


    I tried to remove the bush but its roots burrowed too deep for me to pull even after I dug around them. I tore through the garden, mixed in the soil, planted seeds, and then watered and watered some more... the soil remained bone dry. I pushed away the soil and found roots. I tracked them back to the bush.


    It was alive, vibrant, and looked more like a small tree. I stroked its leaves. They felt nice and I thought I could do this all day. Then a screen popped up startling me.


    It was transparent white with a thin solid border with rounded corners. Establishing connection with root network. Welcome back, Mr.Potter... I don''t know what''s more shocking, a system interface out of a novel or discovering Grandpa''s increasingly poor tastes. You haven''t logged into the root network in ten Terran standard years. would you like to update your profile Y/N?


    It feels a bit creepy to just take Grandpa''s whatever account but I don''t see a logout anywhere. Yes. A profile page opened. I changed the user and bio. scrap detected, Mr. Planter would you like to recycle scrap? Y/N. I''m just as bad as Grandpa with names huh. I hit yes and immediately regretted it.


    The pile of broken pottery and decorations shrunk into balls of light and then flew into the tree. Along with my new pots and tools. ''Ding'' Balance updated, you have 92,250 credits.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Root Network regrets to inform you that you have unpaid debts. You owe Rootabanking 273,900 credits. With Mr. Planters'' inactivity and failure of contact, Rutabanking settled one outstanding contract in Mr.Planters'' stead to prevent further incurred damages. Rutabaking has also resolved seven order disputes. would you like to settle your debt now? Y/N...


    I don''t know the value of credits. I don''t know if I''ll need to buy something and I don''t know the consequences of going broke. I hit no. The screen opened to a desktop with several shop icons, a blog shortcut, and some chat icons. I wanted to snoop through the contacts and see what Gramps blogged about, but the accounts were frozen for inactivity. I likely won''t get access to that unless Grandpa left a password written somewhere.


    The shop icons all had a coin in the bottom right corner of their icons. There''s a Leaf, a Pot, a Bottle, a bag. A cog? and a gem. then there was a coin on a coin which I opened and it showed more shop icons, some already on the desktop. It took me more time than I''d like to admit to figure out how to close the tab, much to my frustration.


    I did figure out what the icons meant. Plants, pots, pesticides, fertilizer, and decorations that did more than sit still looking pretty. The gem was of course magic. I would have been more surprised if I wasn''t already exposed to the weirdness this place had to offer.


    After perusing the shops for a while I found some interesting plants I wanted to buy. I thought I''d grow them and sell them on the market page. They had brief descriptions and recommended conditions. How often they should be watered, and the amount of fertilizer, and things about their native climates. I saw a plant in there that preferred volcanic soil. Considering the soil glowed in the image I don''t think I''m quite equipped for it.


    Then the shop told me I didn''t have enough credit. I checked the price a few times before a dumbfounded expression came to my face. Where ever you go you can''t escape credit scores. I mean, to be honest, I was caught up in my own excitement, and trying to grow something so new to me would be bound to end in failure. So I bought some lilies instead.


    A bag of seed spawned out of the air in front of the... bush/tree? Bah, semantics. The thought only occurred to me after I had already planted the seeds. Can I sell whatever I grow here in the normal shop? I don''t think I should. I don''t want the government or scientists showing up after I sold a burping orchid. That said, how will selling plants on the market work? will they go into the tree or will an alien show up asking about flowers?


    I started imagining Grandpa stumbling across this place and asking the same questions. You left quite the surprise behind didn''t you old man?

 First Bloom

    last night I couldn''t stop thinking about the strange plants in the store. Where are they from? Are their other worlds, maybe alien, maybe alternate versions of the Earth? Maybe there are hidden land masses or secret dimensions on Earth? My brain went full conspiracy mode. Are the dwarves and lizard people? Do elves actually exist?


    My imagination was keeping me awake. I had to spend some energy, so I got up and returned to the shop. The seeds I planted sprouted. little shoots and leaves peered through the soil. Well, that was fast. Also, now I know I can grow plants that I bring in as well as the shop.


    With how fast their growing here I could open the store early. Shame theirs not enough space. I hope I can get to the area behind the hedges. My poor saw couldn''t make a cut. Rip Mr.Saw you''ll be sorely missed.


    The shop has some tools though I don''t know how much better they are than the ones I lost. At least it gave me some credits for them. The shop has quite a variety of tools. I don''t get why some are silver or have heated edges. Was steel not good enough?


    I got some regular old steel shears, a hand shovel and rake, and some gloves. I do have to say though. These gloves. They are amazing. it''s like I''m not wearing any at all. snug, flexible, waterproof, long, and thorn resistant. I don''t know how many times mud had soaked through my gloves or I''d pricked myself on thorns.


    I got around to making a chat account so I could save contacts. Not a fan of the name, chatter vine. should of gone with Grapevine. you know the saying. It has some features I like. I linked the account to the market and now I can take on personal orders and requests.


    I spent a good amount of energy messin'' about that by the time I left. I fell asleep in the car. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.


    I know I was expecting the flowers to grow quickly but. I was not expecting them to have already bloomed. Then I checked the time and realized it was 5 in the evening. that made more sense. But still fast.


    I spent a few minutes looking for the plastic bags I left in the store. Then I realized that they got ate when the store changed itself. I looked in the shops for some cheap baggies. but no. apparently plastic does not exist in the shop. I was torn between silk and paper. both look kinda like the stuff tea bags are made of and are biodegradable, which is neat.


    Also, there were a lot of choices for pots. Again no plastic. I got a few small thin ceramic pots. They aren''t painted but they do have engravings of vines. The ceramic is off-white like an egg. They were literally the cheapest item I could find but they still look fancy like I ordered them specially made.


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    I noticed that the shops don''t cut corners, everything looks nice.


    I packaged most of the flowers in paper bags and a few in pots to place in the window of the store. I went to put a few on the market and it asked me for my store''s name. I could use Gramps store''s name, Floraphernalia. ugh. Mr.Potters Floraphernalia. Hows about. Mr.Planters Seven Days to Bloom.


    I checked other stores on the market. there were a few interesting stores including a fruit specialty shop with a blog link. Of course, I had to check it out. The post was a short video and description.


    Jackamellons Fruit Emporium. Welcome to the store with the seventeenth-largest variety of fruit. we got vitriomellon, canaberry, bombagranite, Grapeshot, molten mango, fridged dates and so much more. if you can think it, I can make it. If you want it I will sell it. Want a tangerine with the tantalizing tingle of an electric current and three times its size? Want a plum that tastes like strawberry and grows on a vine? That might be hard, but I''ll breed you one! custom order prices and delivery time may vary.


    That was a lot... Also. breeding. I know I''m about to go down a rabbit hole. But I need to know what he means by breeding...


    Soo cross-breeding''s a thing. obviously, but like how. It defies common sense. You need two plants or animals of the same type. Like two different orchids or two different apple trees. you can''t just cross-pollinate apples and oranges, but he does it anyway and it works. He doesn''t get what he wants most of the time but the fact that it works at all is frustrating. not to mention he has no idea what he''s doing. he just throws it at the wall and sees what sticks.


    I could crossbreed better than him. That sounds dirty. I got some Lillies, some dahlias, and some bell flowers. Ok, I ain''t got much. But still. I could do way better. maybe I should branch out from just flowers though.


    I pollinated my flowers and sectioned off a space to experiment with cross-breeding. I went in the store and put my flowers on the shelves. White Lillies on top then purple red and yellow dahlias underneath. Pink and purple bells under those, and the empty pots on the bottom. I only filled the one shelf. I got another two and a few display tables. I remember Gramps shelves being stuffed with flowers, all upright nestled tightly. mine are just laying about. it looks quite pitiful right now.


    I had just shut the door to the garden space when.. yes, that''s what I''m calling it. The shutters opened. The windows frosted over, and a pale blue light filled the shop. Then the door opened with a chime. I stood their root to the spot. Its happening agaiiint!!