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 Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:55 pm
The winter was always the slowest time of the year.
Minny stood in front of her parents' usual spot at the market, dressed not in a sun dress. She had a problem with that. How was she supposed to be super cute when she was stuck wearing a big puffy jacket and boots? Granted, they kept her quite warm. But still! There were fewer buyers and sellers this time of year. Those who sold produce and flowers were normally not seen in the winter months, while the makers of artisan crafts remained to show their wares. Minny's family did both. Right now they sold candles and soaps.
The green eyes girl adjusted the blue scarf around her neck, letting the cold air get to her throat. It felt good, like opening a window in a stuffy house.
The table behind her was loaded with candles of various shapes, sizes and colors, though there were more of the medium sized standing candles than others. Two tags accompanied them. One said "Paraffin" and it sat next to the most diverse set of candles. The other said "Beeswax" and sat next to mostly tall, straight candles.
Minny smiled to a couple, asking them if they would like some candles. "For Valentines Day!" She said, making the woman laugh. They promised to be back around, so the young girl let them go without further pestering.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:14 pm
Among the people browsing the market today was Anming. During the warmer months, she liked to try to buy produce from the market when she could, as she liked the idea of supporting local growers, and it seemed like a nice thing to do, really!
Today in particular, she had decided to stop by and see if there was anything she could buy to give as a gift for her parents. While she never really formally did anything for Valentine's Day, given she had no reason, it seemed like an occasion enough to have an excuse, anyway.
Browsing through the booths and tables, Anming looked at the various wares up for sale, mentally calculating how much she had to spend, before stopping at the table Minny was at. Candles? Anming was never really certain what her parents liked, but they looked nice enough, and she was more than a little fascinated at the idea of people making their own.
Ahh... but what to get? Deciding was hard.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:09 pm
There were a few people stopping and looking, but they always seemed to wander off before mother could convince them to buy anything. She huffed, pushing her bangs out of her eyes and saw that someone else had stopped by their booth. Minny took a moment to put on her very best smile before walking up to the girl that had so far escaped her mother's vision and saying "Hiya! Do you want to buy a candle today? We make them all ourselves!"
She beamed. It was true. Minny and her mother both made the candles. It was like a bonding thing to them. Her mother talked about how one day wen Minny is older she will remember all of the fun times they had...but the child wasn't concerned with that right now. Right now she wanted to make candles in the shape of bumblebees! So the maturity was lost on the green eyed girl.
"I even help!" She said proudly, puffing out her chest.
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:00 am
Oh! Anming had almost forgotten she had seen a little girl standing in front of the table, and was almost caught off guard when Minny approached her. Rather than become alarmed or on the defense, though, she gave Minny a polite smile in return, though quickly, that turned to her looking very impressed (and curious) at the other girl's statement.
"Really?" Anming asked, looking back at the candles, "I was thinking of maybe buying one or two for my parents... You really make them yourselves? That's really..." What was the word she was looking for? English was not always her strong suite. "That's really amazing!"
Even more so at Minny's declaration that she helped.
"You do? Is it hard?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:42 am
Her pride swelled when the girl praised their work. She tried really hard to make the candles look as nice as possible. If they didn't look nice, well then no one would want them!
"Candles are nice for presents." she said, running a finger down one gently "Because they smell good and they are handy for when the power goes out." Their house was always popular when this happened. Neighbors came over in an emergency and bought them.
She nodded, pointing to the paraffin candles. "Those are made with..para..paraffin. That's why they can come in lots of shapes. These" she indicated the tall skinny ones "are made from beeswax. We don't really scent these ones because they already smell sweet! I get to pick out the colors and the scents and Mamma usually pours the wax." Wen it was poured, the wax was very super hot and her mother said she wasn't old enough to handle those kinds of things. "But the beeswax ones I get to roll!"
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:20 am
"They do seem that way..." Anming agreed, nodding. They didn't have the problem of the power going out too often at home, but usually they just relied on flashlights. Candles seemed much more practical, though she hated to think of burning one of the pretty shaped ones- she kind of wanted a butterfly shaped candle for herself, the more she thought about it, to display in her room. True, she was working on spending less on butterfly-related things, but as the pin she wore on her jacket was a reminder of, her love of butterflies still seemed to win out in the end.
Listening to Minny continue to explain, Anming was starting to make up her mind that she'd definitely buy a few candles, but which? It wasn't exactly as if she'd never seen a candle before, but buying homemade candles was an entirely new thing, and she really couldn't help but admire that this little girl helped her mother out with candle making. "It sounds like a lot of work," she remarked, "It's really nice that you help out your Mamma like that, though... I help my parents out, too, but I've never made candles before."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:13 pm
"It's a lot of work, but it is so much fun!" Minny almost forgot that she was trying to sell this nice lady some candles until she caught her mother's eye and smiled sheepishly.
"What kind of candles do you think you want? We have round ones in all kinds of smells like rose, sandlewood, apple, mint, berry, lilac.." She rattled of names, pointing to each of the candles in succession. They stood in groups ranging in size from tealight to tall table candles. Minny then indicated a small corner of the table where all the special shapes were. She got to pick the shapes, so they were all very girly. Bees, flowers, butterflies ans seashells in pastel colors were piled up according to shape. The shells were the most varied in colors, while the bees were all yellow. Price tags hung from each larger candle while the smaller had simple easily removed stickers on their sides.
"We have a special too!" Minny said, pointing to a sign to the right of her. "It's a buy on get one half off!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:53 pm
So there were butterfly candles! That made the decision process easier, especially when Minny told her about the sale. Looking over the price tags and the rest of the candles, Anming picked out a blue butterfly candle as well as one of the bee ones, before turning back to Minny.
"I think... I'd like to buy these two," she told the younger girl, "How much will that be?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:07 am
Minny paused to look at her mother, who mouthed out the price to her with care. She squinted at her mother's mouth, then smiled in comprehension and turned back to Anming, saying "For those it will be $8."
She waited patiently for the girl to pull out her money, then said "What's your name? Mine's Minny. I go to Knightside!" Green eyes did a quick once over of the teenager, and she noted that the girl had a really cool hairstyle. Minny was often jealous of girls with very long hair. They could do a lot more hairstyles and have pretty things put into it. And they could curl it! Oh how she wanted the ability to curl her hair!
"I like your hair." She said cheerfully. Her mother rolled her eyes behind the stand, figuring that the young girl was overdoing the sale. Minny didn't think so at all however. She took the money and turned to give it to her mother, who placed the bills in the lock box behind the counter.
"Thank you for buying from us today!" the young girl said, flashing another bright smile. "We hope to see you again soon!" Yes, the words were rehearsed, but that was what she was told to say, so say it she will!
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