Carol swiftly appeared to greet me.

Beaming her usual smile, her voice crackling with the giggling cadence of New Orleans English Creole, she said, “Hello there, Mr. Jim, what brings you to Mama Vermillion’s today? Is it an anniversary, a birthday or have you gotten yourself into trouble again?”

Laughing, she walked up to me and gave me a big hug.

Catching me a bit off guard, I sheepishly smiled and said, “I think you’ve got me pegged Mama Vermillion.”

Bursting into a beautiful, joyful laugh she said, “Oh, my, my, what have you done now? Let’s get you fixed up with some of my beautiful flowers. Mama will help you out just like she did the last time, Mr. Jim.”

Taking my hand she walked me around the glass-fronted refrigerator counter that’s filled with buckets of beautiful cut flowers, her “little friends” as she calls them, and directed me to a small round table that sits in a quiet corner in the back of the store.

“Sit down, sit down. What can Mama do for you today?”