The Power of Flowers

I received word that an acquaintance had been hospitalized. He was not the sort, in temperament or build, to fall ill easily, so I was a little shaken; but going to visit and seeing him chatting cheerfully with the person in the next bed, I felt relieved. By any reckoning he was a man with no connection to flowers, so I set on his side table a get-well fruit-basket arrangement I had thrown together in a great hurry. Though he still had a fever, he swiftly peeled a mandarin and tossed two segments into his mouth in no time—he must have been quite parched. Afterward he proudly shared the fruit with his neighbor. This man is truly a case of “dumplings over flowers” (dango over hana).

A few days later came word that he had been discharged. “Thank you!! The scent of the flowers around the fruit took me back. The fellow next to me was from Hokkaido too, and we got to talk about flowers for hours—it was a fine way to stave off the boredom.” At his unexpected words I discovered a new side of him, and reproached myself: you truly cannot judge a person by appearances. Apparently he and his neighbor are still in touch. Surely it was the flowers and the fruit that deepened the bond between them, and I felt an even greater pride in my work.