The clock hits six.

"Look at that!" Gary says, motioning to the clock. "Six o'clock and we haven't sold so much as a fern." He bangs his hands down on the counter. "That's it! Forget it! Don't bother comin' into work tomorrow, either one of you."

"You don't mean …" Rod said, going to him.

"But you can't mean …" Nicky agreed, coming with the blue man.

"What? What don't I mean? I mean, I'm closing it. Kaput!"

"You can't!" Rod says, looking at Nicky then back at Gary.

"Kaput! Extinct!" He starts towards the door to change the sign to 'closed.' "I'm closing this customer and God forsaken place."

Rod looked at Nicky again, nodding and pushing him towards their boss and neighbor. Nicky clears his throat. "Gary Coleman, forgive me for saying so, but has it ever occurred to you that … maybe what the firm needs is a push in a new direction?"
"What Nicky's trying to say, sir, is that … Well, we've talked about this and we both agree …" He looks at Nicky confidently and smiles. "Nicky, why don't you run downstairs and bring up that … that strange and interesting new plant that you've been working on?' Nicky nods, leaving the two of them back to the workroom, as Rod continues. "You see, Gary, some of these exotic plants that Nicky's been tinkering around with are really unusual. We both think that maybe some of those strange and unusual plants would attract business if we properly displayed them in the window seat."

Nicky comes back up the stairs carrying one of the plants. "It's not feeling very well today."

"This is bizarre, isn't it, Gary?"

Gary looks at it for a moment. "What kind of plant is this, Nicky?"

"I think it's some kind of flytrap. I haven't been able to identify it in any of my books, though, so I gave it my own name – Rod Two." He looks down, then lifts his head a little to look at Rod like he was a toddler getting caught pulling a prank on his sister.

"After me?" Rod asked, moved by the name.

"I hope you don't mind." He clears his throat. "Well, you see, sir, if you were to put a plant like this one in the window, then maybe …" He trails off, uncertain of what to say next.

"Maybe what?" Gary sighs, shaking his head, as he goes back to his seat and picks up the abandoned newspaper on the counter. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous you're soundin' right now, boy? Just because you put some strange and unusual plant in the windowsill –"

He is interrupted by a man coming into the shop. "Excuse me," he said. "I couldn't help noticing that strange and unusual plant in the windowsill. What is it?"

"It's a Rod two," Nicky replied.

"I've never seen anything like it!"

"No one has," Gary agreed.

"Where on earth did you get it?"

"Well, remember that total eclipse of the sun about a week ago? I was walking in the wholesale flower district that day, and I passed by this place where this old Japanese woman, she sometimes sells me weird and exotic cuttings. 'Cause she knows strange plants are my hobby. She didn't have anything unusual there that day. So I was just about to, you know, walk on by... when suddenly and without warning, there was this total eclipse of the sun. It got very dark. And I heard a strange humming sound, like something from another world. When the light came back, this weird plant was just sitting there. Just stuck in, you know, among the zinnias. I coulda sworn it hadn't been there before... but the old Japanese woman sold it to me anyway. For a dollar ninety-five."

"Well, that's an unusual story, and a fascinating plant." He turns and starts out of the store, but stops and turns back. "While I'm here I might as well take fifty dollars' worth of roses."

"Fifty dollars!" Gary starts to the register. "Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

"You couldn't break a hundred, could you?" the man asks.

"Uh …" Gary stops. "No, sir. We can't."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to buy twice as many then, won't I?"

"Twice as many?" the three of them say, shocked.

A/N: I'm stopping this chapter there. I'm sorry I keep switching between present tense and past tense. I originally wanted to write in past tense, but I started typing one part in present and didn't go back and cahnge it. I'm sorry if it confuses anyone. Chapter three might be up later today. Depends on how much time I have and if I finish it before school ends. Hope you like it.