shout out to lily

around the corner is a tiny little drycleaners/tailoring shop with a hand-lettered sign saying "Beverly Hills Cleaners". the shop is run by a teeny (i'm talking well under 5 feet) woman in her late 60s
named lily. she has a very cute and excited high-pitched voice and a broad smiley face, she has always been friendly but much more so since we had the kids. she would entice miles by flying out of the space where she somehow crams herself, lots of thread, lots of clothes, a stuffed clifford, a few sewing machines, and out into the doorway when she spotted us walking by. "oh, you come say hi to lily! lily loves you! come, come come," waving us into the store. she would then part the hanging drycleaning and emerge with some cookies or unidentifiable treats and put way too many of them into miles' greedy little hands. of course he learned to smile and wave each time we went by.

then one day lily was gone and the neighborhood gossip travelled fast. the star-trek lovin' older man (in his wierd drag--mostly he dresses like a man but sometimes throws you way off with some bright orange lipstick or big tall heels) who manages her building told us she had been assaulted in her store. soon our next-door neighbor whose friend works in the er at sf general told us more details. she had been stabbed repeatedly in the head, so hard her skull was fractured. she had been stabbed through the eye. she might die. the store hadn't even been robbed. it sounded like the work of someone mentally ill. we were all shocked and scared for a while. another older woman, nice but quiet and reserved tool over. lily's husband showed up occasionally but didn't speak english well enough to tell us how she was. just better, better.

then one day lily was back. her eye was permanently closed. her husband is now mostly there with her. her business survived and so did she. rich gets extra orchids from work and brings them to her in the shop. in return she won't accept money from us, which we wish she would. last week the zipper of miles' prize bright blue wool eagle sweater broke and he told us we would have to throw it away. but we took it to lily and she put in a brand new zipper. a better one, says miles, because now he can do it himself. free.

as far as i know they never caught her assailant.

thank you to lily. you are adorable and amazing.