Chapter 57 - Ephemeral Beauty

            Bularg sat alone in his restaurant, ‘Hello Jello’, with a big smile on his face.  It was quiet.  He was the first to arrive, as he always was.  No one else would be here for another hour.

            “Hi, Bularg,” said a familiar, sweetly musical voice.

            Yes, someone had interrupted his quiet solitude, but he knew the owner of that voice and she was one of his favourite people in the world.

            “Lyris!” he said, standing up and turning around.

            In the doorway, stood a beautiful girl, who was tall and slender, with long blonde, slightly wavy hair.  She was currently wearing a light, flowy dress.  She held a small cloth bag in one hand.

            And standing next to her was a goat.

            “I would ask you why you have a goat,” said Bularg, “But since you are Lyris, I’m not even surprised anymore.”  He began to walk towards her but she held up one finger, so he froze.

            Lyris looked at the billie goat and nodded (which seemed to mean ‘stay here’), and then she proceeded to walk deliberately towards Bularg, cloth bag in hand.  She was barefoot today, so her feet silently pacing on the wooden floorboards created such a dramatic effect.  When she reached the big space in the centre of the room, she stopped, looked Bularg in the eyes, flashed a smile (that sent an arrow of love into his heart!) and then began spinning rapidly in place!

            It was a beautiful, magical sight.  She spun just like a spinning top, if that the top happened to be a lovely girl.  Her flowy dress flew outwards as she spun.

            And then the flower petals!

            All around her, from high up in the air, pink rose petals were floating down all around her as gently as snowflakes.

            Bularg soaked in this sight, for he knew he was witnessing beauty.

            Finally, the spinning slowed down and Lyris bowed gracefully.

            Bularg clapped his two meaty hands together.  “Wonderful!”

            Lyris smiled and then came over to Bularg, who gave her a great big hug, lifting her off the ground.

            “Now, I don’t know what that was, or what I did to deserve that, but thank you, girl,” he said, “That is one hell of a way to start the day.”

            “I just wanted to do something memorable,” said Lyris, “Something you could remember me by.”

            Suddenly, the joyful feeling in Bularg began draining out of him.  “What do you mean ‘remember me by’?” he said.

            Lyris looked sad now.  It was very rare to see her like this.  She said, “I’ve been working here for a few years and loved every minute of it.  But I’ve decided to resign.”

            She said some more things, about how she wanted to pursue her passion for adventure and learning about ancient civilisations.  But Bularg was in too much shock to take it all in.  He felt like he had been hit in the chest with a hammer.

            “No, you can’t go!” he said.  But even as he said it, he knew he had to let her go.

            “I have to go, Boss,” said Lyris quietly.

            “Fine,” he said, “Follow your dream.  Do it while you can.  We’ll be okay here.”  That last part may have been a lie.  He wasn’t sure how he would go without this lovely girl brightening up his day and his restaurant.

            She hugged him.

            “I’ll always remember my time here,” she said.

            “Come and visit us whenever you’re passing through,” he said, “And I’ll even let you eat Jello at half-price.”

            Lyris laughed.

            It was the most beautiful sound in the world.

            “I’ll be sure to stop by then,” she said, “I love Jello.”

            “What about me?“ said Bularg.

            “You’re alright.”

            She started to walk away.

            “Hey, wait a minute!  Who’s going to clean up this mess you’ve made?” grinned Bularg.

            Lyris smiled and then looked at the goat, who had been wandering around the restaurant the whole time, and said, “Hey, Terry Haines!  Eat!”

            And the goat came bouncing over, and began eating the rose petals on the floor.

            Bularg laughed.

            “There’s no one else like you.”