The Mystic Order of the Sunshine Princesses

Based upon a true story.

"Blah". That was how she felt. The sights of the city in ruins made her weep silent tears. She was unaware of them streaming down her face. Her nose turned a little pink as it ran.
It was all just a little much. The places she had grown up in, the world she was knew was virtually gone. The people, the culture, vanished in an instant of Mother Nature’s destruction. It was almost unfathomable how they would carry on. It was an almost insurmountable task that lay before her people. The task of rebuilding.
The streets rolled by, one after another. Houses in some blocks were entirely gone, while in others seemingly untouched. Her mind had trouble understanding everything she saw. As they moved into more inhabitable areas, she started to see signs of life. People were returning to their homes, accessing the damage and starting to make repairs. Neighbors were helping others. She started to see signs of the spirit that ruled this great city.
The truck slowed to a stop outside of an eatery that was open. The line was out the door and almost to the corner. People were desperate for food, but content to wait their turn. It was the only way that people could survive. If you broke the line, disrupted the order of things, then chaos ruled, these were a proud people that had come together as a community to support each other. Violence would not be tolerated.
She lifted her head from the cool glass window of the truck. It was expected of her to go inside, talk to people. She was so disheartened by the sights she had seen, she just wanted to mull it all over in her mind. She didn’t want to speak to people. Everyone was saying the same things, telling tales of woes and despair followed by vows to rebuild and be ready for the next time. It was saddening and inspiring at the same time. But it was also a huge emotional drain; one that she simply couldn’t deal with right now.
Stepping from the truck, she told her friend, the driver that she wanted to take some air, and walk just a little. Nodding his understanding, he let her go about her ways. He needed to speak with people inside, planning meetings were underway. No one was going to bother her here. She would be safe.
Idly walking down the street, she turned at the cross street and just walked for a while. This neighborhood hadn’t been untouched, yet there didn’t seem to be a lot of disaster here. She saw people in their yards, cleaning up. She also saw the houses where no one was cleaning, where no one had come back to; where people might not ever come back to.
Making a short loop, she soon found herself coming back to the eatery. So much blight, it was hard to imagine ever being able to rebuild this desolation. She found herself shaking her head, wondering what she could do to help. You could see the high water marks on nearly every house she passed. It had flooded deep here. She thought of all the toxins and bacteria that now infested the soil. She could already see signs of plants dying from the toxicity. Such travesty, that.
She wiped the tears from her eyes as she came near the establishment. Now was not the time for tears. Now was the time for kind words and helpful attitudes. People wanted to see concern on her face, not misery. They wanted to see a smile, even if it was a sad smile; they still wanted to see that smile. It gave them hope.
Greeting people with kind words, she entered the establishment. Soon she found her way to her friend, as he stood talking with the owner. The place was utter chaos. The tables for eating were converted into a meeting room, where aid was dispensed. The walls were covered in maps depicting variety of things, from clean, running water to electricity, to health concerns to areas still being searched for remains. Phones rang, and there was a din of people talking rapidly, taking calls and placing them. It was a beehive of activity.
But this was only the dining area. The kitchen was in full service doing to-go’s only. The people were paying however they could. If they had money, they paid money. If they had materials such as tools (paint brushes, hammers, saws, etc) that they could part with, that was taken too. She even saw birdseed in a corner. Passing by the corner, she paused, “That is a lot of sunflower seeds,” she thought.
Standing there looking at the hundreds of pounds of sunflower seeds, she found herself thinking of the properties of sunflower seeds. The memory came of a classroom, where she was studying botany. The instructor was pontificating the benefits of the sunflower, telling the history and the properties. She remembered him saying then that the sunflower would draw toxins out of the soil.
With almost a staggering effect, it hit her. She knew what she could do to make the city better. She knew how she could help. With a purpose, she turned towards her friend, a step in her stride now. She approached, and greeted the owner. After a few minutes of listening to how things were going, she steered the conversation to the method of payment for the food.
“Yes,” the business owner said, “I am helping people however I can. I have to pay for the food, so I can’t just give it away, but I will take what people have. They bring money, or tools they don’t need – but we do, they bring food in the freezer that they can’t cook, and will go bad. We take whatever form of payment they offer. As long as we can reuse it.”
She smiled at the owner, and commended him on the job he was doing. There were just not enough people doing things like this. Then she asked about the birdseed in the corner. He laughed, and told her how this one guy just brought it by. He had it left over, no longer having a pet bird, and didn’t want it anymore. The guy thought it would come to good use.
Her friend was watching her intently; he knew that something was going on with her. She rarely showed this much interest in something unless it was important. She turned to the birdseed while the owner was speaking, and then turned back and looked him the eye. Smiling sweetly, she offered to take the seed off his hand. She said she knew where it could be used to great benefits. The owner acquiesced graciously, glad for it to be gone from his store.
Later, after the seed was loaded, and their bellies filled, they drove off. Her friend turned and looked at her. “What is it you plan to do with the seed?” he asked. She smiled, and told him to take the next right. A few minutes later, they pulled up before an empty lot. One of the most devastated areas of this neighborhood. Getting out, she walked back to the back of the truck and pulled out the seeds. With a quick twist she opened the bag and started tossing the seeds out into the vacant lot. He watched her for a moment, and then climbed out to help her.
She stopped him from tossing more seeds. “No.” she said softly, “we must spread this sunshine around the city. Soon, the people that left will be allowed to return. They must not come back to complete desolation. We must spread the seeds so that they come back to fields of gold.” He nodded. She always made sense in these matters.
The next few days were a blur. She enlisted the help of a few of her friends and they dubbed themselves “The Sunshine Princesses”. Every time it seemed that the Princesses were going to run out of seeds, more seeds always seem to make themselves available. They drove all over the city spreading their seeds.
Weeks later, seas of sunflowers started appearing. The officials were baffled by it. They attributed it people’s birdfeeders being strewn about during the storm. It was if there were oceans of gold flowers everywhere. She drove throughout the city. A smile beaming on her face; this was her doing. She had accomplished something no one would believe.