Pages 294-295

         “'And you too look like you're doing well,' he says, with a kindly gaze.

         'Really? Well, there have been a few changes that have been good for me.'

         'You know, I didn't come back here to see the apartment or the people, here. I'm not even sure they'd recognize me; I even brought my ID card, just in case you yourself didn't recognize me. No, I came because there's something I can't remember, something that helped me a lot, already when I was sick and then afterwards, when I was getting better.'

         'And you think I can help?'

         'Yes, because you were the one who told me the name of those flowers one day. In the flower bed, over there”-he points toward the far side of the courtyard- “there are some pretty little red and white flowers, you planted them there, didn't you? And one day I asked you what they were but I wasn't able to remember the name. And yet I used to think about those flowers all the time, I don't know why. They're nice to look at, and when I was so bad off I would think about those flowers, and it did me good. So I was in the neighborhood just now and I thought, I am going to ask Madame Michel, maybe she can tell me.'

         Slightly embarrassed, he waits for my reaction.

         'It must seem weird, no? I hope I'm not scaring you, with this flower business.'

         'No, not at all. If only I'd known the good they were doing you...I'd have planted them all over the place!'

         He laughs, like a delighted child.

         'Ah, Madame Michel, you know, it practically saved my life. That in itself is a miracle! So, can you tell me what they're called?'

         Yes my angel, I can. Along the pathways of hell, breathless, one's heart in one's mouth, a faint glow: they are camellias.

         'Yes,' I say. 'They are camellias.'

         He stares at me, wide-eyed. A tear slips across his waiflike cheek.

         'Camellias...' he says, lost in a memory that is his alone. 'Camellias, yes.' He repeats the word, looking at me again. 'That's it. Camellias.'

        I feel a tear on my own cheek.

        I take his hand.

        'Jean, you cannot imagine how happy I am that you came by here today.'

        'Really?' He looks astonished. 'But why?'

        Why?

        Because a camellia can change fate.”

                                                                                     -Muriel Barbary (294-295)