Four

Roots licked his fingers and awkwardly positioned himself behind the classic tube amplifier that was set up under his front desk. His hands groped in the dark for the copper wires of the speaker cable, finding the frayed wires he twisted them into a tight chord and inserted the chord into the appropriate hole in the back of the amplifier. Immediately a screaming guitar blasted out of the speakers set up on the desk, and Roots jerked up under the table, slamming his head, and scrambled out from under the table to turn the volume down on the amp. Annoyed roots stood up and rubbed his head, his frame swaying just slightly with the beat. As Roots rubbed his head the lateral motion of his hand slowly synced up with the music, his head began to bob, and his right foot almost imperceptibly tapped to the baseline. Roots noticed that something strange was going on, and looked down to see his free arm pumping of it's own accord. Roots immediately froze for a second, his head cocked towards the speakers, and then his entire frame lurched into dance. His head bobbed with great gusto, his arms swung wildly up and down, and his feet happily spattered all over the place like hot oil. It was in this mad jig that Mirela saw Roots when she entered the shop. Roots' eyes were squeezed shut as he careened musically about, and the noise was too loud for him to hear his customer walk in the door. Mirela stood just in the doorway shyly holding a flower and looking perplexed. The music kept playing and Roots' showed no signs of letting up, so she walked up to the desk and dinged the bell. This garnered no response from the groovin' clerk, so Mirela dinged the bell four times in quick succession. Roots dove under the table in mid jam without so much as looking at the source of the dinging, and Mirela heard the music dim down to a mere whisper. A distinguished Roots emerged from behind the table, and in a dignified voice asked,

“May I help you, Ma'am?”

“Um, yes. Well, maybe. I brought you a flower. I found it walking in a meadow and I thought you might know about these things...”

Mirela handed the flower over to Roots, who placed it on a stone tray and swung a large hinged magnifying glass over it. As Roots bent over the flower and examined it intently, Mirela stood politely, examining the jumbled shop. Roots ducked under the desk and emerged with a small wooden hammer.

“This is an excellent specimen of Blue Vervain, thank you very much.”

Before Mirela could answer Roots violently swung the hammer in a great arch and smashed the flower, hitting it again and again into nothing was left but a colorful pulpy mash on the stone tray.

Roots looked up innocently into Mirela's shocked face and said,

"Oops, will you look at that. Lunch break."