Elly gave another kind nod then waved him off again. Looking at the guy made her feel sorry for him. She knew the name of the business and it was very popular. Flower shops only saw tons of people at once for things like holidays, birthdays, prom, weddings or business socials. Plus, it was a Sunday. She would either have small orders or the occasional walk in where someone wanted to grab a quick bouquet for their love or dear family member. 

The door was still locked and no one was waiting out in front, which simply showed how slow their weekend mornings were. The bell chimed happily, the sign flipped back over to say that they were open. Elly reached out for her apron only to notice that she forgot to take it off. The peace and calm of the flower shop was something she knew she took for granted. There were days where it was tense but it was not near as bad as other places like restaurants or bars. People usually came and left unless they were picking out flowers for a wedding. Glancing over the store once again, she took her place behind the counter and pulled out some scissors and some paper. 

During slow days like this, she would make paper flowers. To the people who worked at the shop and saw flowers everyday, the act of receiving them as a gift seemed more like an act of laziness. It was always easy to buy flowers from work and give them to someone, but it often lacked a intimate touch. That feeling that the person really put a lot of thought into it before making the purchase. This was what drew Elly to making paper flowers. They required a lot of time and practice to make. Depending on what it was, the process would take days or weeks. Lately, she had been making small paper roses to give to the other people who worked with her. They could pin them to their aprons without fear of them dying or having to bear the putrid fake fragrance that was often put on plastic flowers.

Elly placed her iphone into a speaker system and poked at the screen until the internet radio turned on. The shop filled with the soft melodies of some new age song. She was a firm believer in mood music as well as vibrations from either talking or music helped keep plants healthy. The song picked up in beat causing her to hum along happily. What she wasn't aware of was the small bits of freshly cut paper were twitching and moving slowly across the counter. The pieces slid off the edge as if caught by a very gentle breeze, but there were no fans on or air conditioning on at the moment. The breeze seemed to have no origin, but it continued to carry the spare paper petals across the shop. Elly, who was cutting and placing the petals she was currently working with, was too preoccupied to notice the other missing petals.