Vaulting Ambition
It was only once they’d gotten onto the M40 on the way to Sandylook Bay that Chris and Sophie Johnson realised that they’d forgotten to buy Sophie’s mother a bouquet for Mother’s Day.
Chris was rather nonchalant about the whole thing, but Sophie was in a panic.
“We can just stop off at the next services, Soph,” Chris said. “They’re bound to have some.”
“That just won’t do, Chris,” Sophie said. “My mother deserves the best. She brought me into the world after all. That alone should be enough for the world to thank her.”
“I’m sure she won’t mind whether they cost five quid or a hundred,” Chris said.
“Wouldn’t you have wanted to buy your mother the best flowers money could buy if she hadn’t been brutally murdered?” Sophie said.
Chris sighed mournfully.
”Yeah,” he said eventually. “But she still wouldn’t’ve cared how much they cost, as I’m sure your mum won’t.”
“Perhaps not,” Sophie said. “But I care, and that’s what matters in this situation.”
”If you say so, Soph,” Chris said.
They drove in silence for about an hour before Sophie suddenly shouted, “FLORISTS’ TULIPS!”
Chris jolted up in his seat.
”What?” He blurted.
”We should buy her florists’ tulips,” Sophie said. “They’re a very rare and extremely beautiful variety of tulip. She would love them.”
“Ok,” Chris said. “Do you know where we might get them from here?”
“There’s a high chance they’ll have them at the gardens at Kew,” Sophie said.
”But that’s well off our route, Soph,” Chris said. “Come on, let’s just go to the next services.”
”No. We must buy them at Kew,” Sophie said.
Knowing she couldn’t be beaten, Chris sighed.
”Fine, we’ll go to Kew,” Chris said.
And so Chris drove off toward Kew Gardens.
Once they’d arrived at the famous botanical gardens at Kew, Chris and Sophie spent a peaceful few hours wandering around them, examining the different plants in the glasshouses and the outside areas.
“I’m sure mother would love these,” Sophie said, admiring a Kaka beak in the Temperate House.
“I bet she would,” Chris said. “Shame they’re probably not for sale.”
“They’re probably in the shop,” Sophie said. “We should have a look for them.”
”Very well,” Chris said.
Eventually, after their impromptu garden excursion, Chris and Sophie finally arrived at their main reason for the visit; the gift shop.
“I don’t see any of that plant here,” Sophie said.
”Told you,” Chris said. “But there’s a Venus Flytrap. We could get her that.”
“I don’t think so,” Sophie said. “She should have something beautiful.”
“It would be an excellent alternative to a fly swat,” Chris said.
“I still think the Florists’ Tulips would be best,” Sophie said.
”Ok,” Chris said.
There was a vast array of specialist tulips in the shop, but none were what Sophie exactly had in mind.
“I specifically want ‘Lord Stanley’,” Sophie said. “It’s a deep red with yellow markings, like it’s on fire.”
“It must be here if we look hard enough,” Chris said.
But, unfortunately, the exact Tulip Sophie wanted wasn’t there, and she wouldn’t settle for the plants that were.
They left Kew empty handed, not even with a bottle of the garden’s signature Botanical Gin.
“Well, that was a wasted journey,” Sophie said.
“We still had a nice day out,” Chris said.
“We were meant to get mother a bouquet,” Sophie said.
”We could’ve done, but you didn’t want to buy any,” Chris said.
”Just drive, Chris,” Sophie said.
Without saying another word, Chris drove off onto their original route to Sandylook Bay.
Chris and Sophie were well onto the A27 when Chris needed to fill up with petrol.
Chris sighed with relief when he approached a Shell garage up ahead, although he was ashamed to admit that, considering their involvement in the fossil fuel industry and contribution to climate change.
Vowing to one day actually splash out on an electric car that wasn’t designed by anyone problematic, Chris filled the car up with petrol and went inside the small shop to pay.
As he went in, he spotted a bucket with a bouquet in it.
He picked one up. Sure, they weren’t much, and certainly not what Sophie wanted to give her mother, but they were enough.
He bought them whilst he paid for his petrol and walked back to the car.
Not surprisingly, Sophie was not best pleased with what Chris had done.
“We are not giving her cheap flowers bought at a petrol station!” Sophie said.
”It’s all we can do,” Chris said. “Just be glad we’re getting her something.”
”Fine,” Sophie said. “We’re far later than we planned, anyway.”
“Whose fault was that?” Chris said.
”Just drive, Chris,” Sophie said.
Sophie sulked for the remaining part of their journey.
At last, Chris and Sophie arrived at the picturesque regency seaside town of Sandylook Bay in Sussex.
After spending an hour finding a place they could park, Sophie knocked on the door of her mother’s stylish whitewashed regency house.
Amanda opened the door and was delighted to see her daughter and son-in-law.
She gladly accepted the flowers, whose origin Sophie decided not to disclose, and she let them in.
“Bad traffic, was it?” Amanda asked.
”Sort of,” Chris said. “We decide to take a bit of a detour.”
”Very well,” Amanda said. “At least you’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
Chris, Sophie, and Amanda relaxed in the living room with a cup of tea each, the bouquet nicely displayed in a vase in the corner of the room.
“Have you done anything for your mother, Chris?” Amanda said.
”I put a fresh batch of flowers on her grave yesterday,” Chris said. “Dad will check on them later.”
Amanda smiled pitifully before sipping her tea.
”To be honest, I almost thought Christoph might try his luck today.”
Sophie looked at her mother with shock and confusion.
”Surely he wouldn’t try to worm his way back into your life on this day of all days,” Sophie said. “That would be the height of cringe.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him, that’s for sure,” Amanda said.
Amanda continued to catch up with her daughter and son-in-law, before all three ventured out of the house for a peaceful sunset walk along the seafront.
The Robinsonverse 