[ WP ] Flowers grew where she walked , only to be burned away in the footsteps of him who followed .

Her Parents decided to name her Agnes. Agnes Butterbloom. In these times. What a stupid idea. And of course she was called a witch, and of course she was bullied. Aggy was a stupid nickname. But There were n't any good nicknames that were to obvious, so her fellow students called her Aggy. Aggy wanted to be a scientist and an astronaut and a cat and president. Aggy was beautiful, for someone from the country. Aggy was intelligent even for someone from the city, but above all: Aggy was kind. After all if you look into the mouth of the biggest evil in the history of the known universe: teenage kids, all you could take away from it was kindness. Kindness is a mushroom that grows in the desert at night. That and a few traumata involving several dozen rats and an oversized pencil. But now she was 21. And she left that behind her. 
 
 Aggy has had lesbian experiences. Aggy has had sexual relationships. Aggy did her own taxes twice a year and hated it, and Aggy jobbed in a train station flower shop on the weekends. Is was this flowershop where she met Vincent. they smiled at each other, like people do when they want to fall in love. They never really did. But they did other things. and the world was filled with gravy and pudding bags of shit. In the end they split with a crack and heavy breathing. There was another woman. She was better looking. And cooler. And, to Aggys dismay, a wonderful person. Aggy cried. She did not know if Vincent cried. She wondered about that a lot. 
 
 When she finished College she wanted to travel, but then she met Sophia, who bought Lavender. And Sophia was glorious and witty and could do things with her hands, other people needed a screwdriver and two electric milk frothers for. She did n't travel. She moved in with Sophia. And it was wonderful. Sophia died when she was 27. She was killed by a fanatic who called her a fag and then shot her. Aggy always made sure to smell of Lavender, to remind people of Sophia. And it only made her more careful and kind, she knew that carrying on was important. The desperate die. The kind live. And every life is a life worth living. And the Flowers she tended only got brighter after that. 
 
 The recession came, of course. And because of a bad investment her Boss lost the flowershop. Agnes Butterbloom had saved some money. And maybe the universe was telling her to travel now. She left for Japan only two months later. And Aggy saw Cherry Blossoms and Japanese Gardens, and she got bad food poisoning and had to go home three days later. Such is life, she thought. If the sauce is bad it does n't matter how good the potatoes are. 
 
 But she got money leftover. And property was cheap. She wanted to buy a flower shop. And on a drunken night she did. She Named it Sophia's. And her Cat she called Vincent, even though she was sure it did n't take offense. She grew catnip in the shop and the cat was n't that much into reality. And when the fall was wet there were beautiful tinder mushrooms growing outside the shop on the trees. Finally she thought, she was happy. 
 
 She was asleep when the fire started.
