mrs. brown was a a lovely lady. she had taken little maria under her wings for many years. maria was the daughter of mr. jorge and joana, both immigrants from the northside of brazil. little maria lost her mother one year after her birth in a car crash coming from west covina to inglewood. maria was now 14 years old and mrs. brown asked her help with her california bluebell garden. as the work went on the old lady said a few words to the young woman before her. she felt maria needed some words of wisdom so life wouldn’t take the gracious sparkles from her big brown eyes away from her. “sweetie, for the long time that i’ve known myself i think i’ve known too much too soon… i’ve realized so much so quickly that in a short period of time i had to distort my reality. what hurts me the most is to know that for some reason there are a lot of people like me that simply won’t take a stand for they’re too afraid of what they truly are… that’s why i’ve been taking care of these flowers, and of you! to allow what i know about myself its natural freedom. after all who a person is is just a blessing. and i’m telling you all this because i want you to let your blessing be heard! just keep it in mind, sweetie: allow your uniqueness to make the difference… we have a deal?” maria just stopped whatever she was doing and held mrs. brown’s hands for a while, she liked to see the freckles of her tiny hands. the bluebell flowers sang a song as the wind blew through those pretty women, living their lives in the pursuit of what everyone needs: love… 
