The tea told me to

“I need it to be red,” Clara’s least favourite client booms from the speakers.

“I understand,” Clara starts to answer, “but I don’t think it will do your brand any justice. Maybe instead we could—”

“What Clara means to say,” her boss interrupts, “is we’ll take care of it.”

“I certainly hope so,” and then the call cuts off. Clara lets out a loud groan. Her developer job has lost all its fun these past few months; she needs a break.

Clara gets up and walks to the kitchen to treat herself to a cup of tea. The hot, steamy air coming from the cup always relaxes her. She picks up a bag of cinnamon tea and reads the text on the back of the tag: “Don't be afraid to try something new.” As always, she brushes it aside. Whoever thought of putting life advice on teabag labels must have eaten one too many fortune cookies.

When Clara returns to her monotonous work, she can’t help but think back to those words on the tag. Maybe it is time for something new, but she’s happy at her job, isn’t she? And the pay isn’t so bad either. I mean, she is living with two roommates in order to pay rent. But she’s been able to go on frequent holidays and save some money, so it can’t be that bad.

At five, Clara shuts her laptop and checks to see if her roommate Julie is back from work yet. Dennis is in the kitchen making a sandwich.

“What are you doing up?” Clara asks. “Thought you had a night shift later?”

“I do, but I couldn’t sleep through the sound of the roadworks,” he answers.

“Awh, that sucks. I hope at least you’ll have an easy shift tonight.”

“I doubt it,” Dennis says as Julie comes in through the back door.

“Hey, Jules!” they both say.

“How was work?” Clara asks.

“It was crazy fun!” Julie exclaims. “One of my students made all the teachers cupcakes for the last day of school.”

“That’s so cute,” Clara answers.

“It really is,” Julie says, “they were absolutely disgusting, though. But I can’t blame them; I was a shit cook when I was 15.”

“You still are,” Dennis says.

“How. Dare. You.” Julie replies. “You’re the one eating a cheese sandwich for dinner.”

“It’s my breakfast, I’ll remind you.”

“Oh yeah, good luck tonight,” Julie says to Dennis, “we’ll miss you.”

“You girls have fun, we’ll catch up in the morning. Maybe we can have breakfast together?” he says hopefully.

“Pfff, like I won’t be in a booze coma when you get home from your shift at 6 A.M. No, thank you,” Clara responds. “We can have dinner though, once we’ve all slept off our troubles”.

“It’s a date,” Dennis says.

“I’m in!” Julie exclaims.

***

Julie makes herself a cup of coffee and brings Clara some tea, while they get dressed for tonight’s party.

“What do you think?” Clara asks Julie. “Should I go with the emerald jumpsuit or the little black dress?”

“The dress is hot as hell, but I think the tea just chose for us,” Julie laughs.

“Why, what does it say?”

“‘Nature’s colours bring joy to the world’ isn’t that funny? You should go with the jumpsuit; it looks stunning on you.”

“Dude, these tags are getting weirdly accurate,” Clara says. “I’ll be more comfortable in something flowy anyway, so let’s roll with it.”

***

Once they arrive at the party, Julie is swept away by a group of people who look vaguely familiar to Clara. Sometimes she wishes she could be more like Julie. Jules can make friends with anyone, anywhere, at any time, Clara thinks. Whilst she would rather be at home right now, reading a good book and sipping on a cup of tea. Instead she reaches for a glass of wine and swigs it back in one big gulp.

“WOAH, someone’s ready to party!” A girl with beautiful dark curls comes up to Clara, “Come drink with us, we’re playing a game.”

“I’m Amy,” she says. “Join my team? We need a green.”

Clara hesitates, but before she can say no, Amy’s arm is around her, pulling her into a group of brightly dressed twenty-somethings.

“What game needs rainbow teammates?” Clara asks carefully.

“Oh, you’ll see!” Amy giggles as she takes a seat on an ottoman and pats the tiny space next to her. “Come, sit down.”

***

Late the next morning, Clara wakes up with a dry mouth and a dull pain behind her eyes. She makes her way to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water and spots Julie, cheery as ever.

“Good morning, gorgeous!” Julie says mockingly.

“Ugh, morning Jules. How are you always so chipper?”

“Coffee helps,” she explains. “Want me to make you a cup?”

“No, thanks, I’ll stick to tea,” Clara says, while she puts on the kettle.

“Your loss,” Julie says, “I’m proud that you made some new friends last night.”

“Yeah, what exactly happened?” Clara asks. “I don’t remember much after the third round of beer pong.”

“How can you forget making out with that bombshell? Amy, was it?” Julie asks in reply.

“I did what?!” Clara clutches her head with a groan. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“I thought it would be good for you to get over Kyle,” Julie explains. “But, let’s not go down that road. Go pick out a teabag, let’s see what wisdom it has in store for you,” she jokes. Clara opens her kitchen drawer and randomly plucks out a bag of tea.

“Let’s see,” she says, “‘The left way is the right way,’ what does that mean?”

“I’ve got no clue” Julie says lightly, “but can you get us a dessert at the bakery? I’ll get the veggies and do the cooking tonight.”

“Thanks, you’re the best.” Clara finishes her tea and makes her way to the bathroom for a long, healing shower.

***

Clara grabs her bag and heads towards the bakery. She wonders, carrot cake or red velvet. She can never decide on which she likes best. She prefers the fanciness of red velvet, but she knows Julie thinks it’s too sweet. As she enters the bakery, the bell rings and she is greeted by the smell of freshly baked goods. There are two registers, one on the left, that has a couple of people waiting in line. And one on the right, where there’s an old man chatting to his friend. Clara thinks back to the tea she had this morning and decides to take a harmless leap of faith. She joins the queue, and once she gets to the front, she sees a familiar face behind the register: Amy.

“Hey girl, it’s nice to see you’re still alive. How can I help you?” Amy asks. Clara blushes. How does she always manage to get herself into these situations?

“Three slices of carrot cake, please,” she answers before the silence becomes awkward.

“If that’s all, that will be €14.85 please. Bring your own bag?” Clara hands over her bag while she taps her phone to the card machine to pay. Amy bags up the carrot cake and adds a red velvet cupcake.

“On the house,” she says with a wink.

“O-oh, thank you. That’s very sweet of you!” Clara replies. She takes the bag and marches out the store before Amy can see she’s turned beet red. The walk home feels like an eternity, pondering over this strange coincidence.

***

When Clara gets back home, she rushes into the kitchen and asks Julie, “Have you been touching my teabags?”

“No… you know I only drink coffee,” Julie looks at her, puzzled. “Why? If you’re out, I can pick some up when I’m at the market later.”

“No, that’s okay, thank you though.”

Clara goes to her room. She needs to chill out before she drives herself crazy. She sits down at her desk, unwraps the cupcake, and takes a large bite. The sugary sweetness rushes to her head. You know what would go perfectly with this? Clara thinks, a good cuppa Earl Grey.

***

When Clara returns to her room with her – almost black – cup of tea, she’s afraid to look at the label. She knows she’s being irrational. There’s no such thing as fortune-telling teabags. Right? She takes a deep breath and turns over the tag.

“Trust Gary.”

Who the hell is Gary?!

She rips off the tag and dashes to the kitchen, opening teabag after teabag. “Good thing Julie’s at the market — she’d think I’d lost it,” Clara whispers to herself. The next bag she opens freaks her out even more.

“You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.”

Clara yelps and drops a handful of tags. She quickly swipes them up and puts them in the back of her phone case. She runs out the door and heads to the bus stop. She needs to find Julie and put an end to this joke. Now.

***

Clara stares out the window at the passing cars, desperately trying to make sense of it all. Across from her sits an elderly woman with an elegant purple scarf and matching shoes. She looks like the kind of woman that knows exactly what she wants. Clara feels a tinge of sadness. Her thoughts go back to all the times her indecisiveness has cost her something valuable.

Like the time she couldn’t decide on a topic for her essay and ended up writing something shitty last minute. Or after graduation, when she didn’t know what she wanted with her life and went with the first job that she was offered. Or most recently, when she couldn’t decide if she should move in with Kyle and they broke up over it. She’s so lost in thought that she almost misses her stop. She jumps up and heads for the exit.

“Excuse me, miss, you forgot your tote bag,” the scarfed lady calls after her.

“Oh, that isn’t m-” as Clara turns to answer she notices one of the tags in her phone case.

“Claim what is lost”

“…that isn’t very smart of me,” Clara finishes her sentence as she takes the bag and gets off the bus.

***

As Clara walks to the market, the seagull’s cries grow louder. They circle the market, stealing food from anyone who leaves it out. Clara loves animals, birds especially, but seagulls have always made her uneasy. She brushes the thought aside as she makes her way through the market, (stolen) tote bag still over her shoulder. She doesn’t usually take what isn’t hers, but the tags are driving her crazy. She needs to find Julie before she does anything else impulsive.

Clara goes straight to the organic cheese stand. The owner often brings his goat, and Julie likes to pet it. As Clara approaches, she spots Julie in her usual spot, but something feels off.

“Hey Jules, what’s up?” she asks.

“Clara… what are you doing here? Never mind, there’s no time, we’re looking for Gary.” At Clara’s puzzled expression she adds “the goat, Clare! It ran off.”

“What? Are you messing with me?” Who names a goat Gary? Clara thinks.

“I wouldn’t dare joke about Gary. He ran off towards the water and I’m staying here in case he comes back. Please help us look for him.” Julie’s voice sounds pleading, and Clara jumps to action immediately.

She heads towards the side entrance of the market and jogs down the steps, looking for signs of a goat. She spots him near some fishermen and hurries over. Clara has no idea what is going on, but she does know that she should “trust Gary”. She looks around for something to restrain him with, but she doesn’t find anything of use. Then she remembers the tote bag; the loops should be big enough to fit around Gary’s neck. She empties the bag, stuffing the papers in her jeans pockets and disposing of the empty water bottle. As she reaches to put the loops over Gary’s head, a seagull flies by, nearly knocking the phone from her hand. She fumbles with it, spotting another tag, “… duck …” she squats just in time as the bird swoops by.

After leashing Gary she runs back up the stairs, looking white as a ghost. Clara wants to go right back to the stand where Julie is waiting, but Gary resists. He drags her to the side of the market, along the back of the stands. Suddenly, Clara spots her ex Kyle on the other side of the vegetable stand. In the exact spot where she would be walking if Gary hadn’t dragged her back here.

“Thank you, Gary,” she whispers.

She walks back to Julie, who is jumping up and down with joy that Gary is alive and well. After handing Gary over to his owner, they set off in the direction of home. Clara empties her pockets and finds a flyer. It's for a software developer job at an animal training center. Weird - but hey, the bag came in handy.

***

“Wait,” Julie says when they’re back home, “you are saying that all this happened because the teabags told you to?”

“I know, I sound insane,” Clara replies.

“If I wasn’t so tired from my back to back shifts, I would take you right to the psych ward” Dennis says with a grin.

Clara frowns, “I don’t know what to do, you guys.”

“You should go to the job interview, what’s the worst that could happen?” Julie asks.

“Yeah, we all know you hate your current job. You’ve already got experience in developing, and you love animals, what more could you want?” Dennis adds.

“Alright, alright, I’ll call them on Monday.”

***

It’s Thursday afternoon when Clara arrives at the animal training centre, feeling nervous. She couldn't figure out on the phone if she’s qualified for the job. And she didn't want to risk getting passed up for the interview by asking more questions. She walks in and is greeted by Liam, one of the managers of the training centre.

“Welcome,” he says. "We're excited to talk to someone with experience in software development and animal behaviour psychology." But before we get started can I get you something to drink?”

“J-just a water is fine, thank you,” Clara staggers. She doesn’t know a thing about animal psychology. While Liam is getting her drink, Clara pulls out her phone to look up some information. She notices a message from Dennis, “Haha, used one of your teas, this is crazy,” it says, along with a picture of a cup of tea. Clara can clearly make out the letters on the tag:

“Lie outrageously.”

Guess there’s only one thing to do, she convinces herself.

***

When Clara gets home, she recounts the disastrous interview to her roommates.

“…so I started improvising, but of course he saw right through me. I was asked to leave before I could explain myself.”

“Clare, this is so unlike you. You’re the most honest person I know,” Julie says.

Dennis chimes in, “I just don’t understand why you would do this.”

“You’re the one who sent me the photo of the tag!” Clara yells.

“Well, yeah, as a joke! How was I supposed to know you would take it seriously?”

“The only reason I got so far was because of those damn teabags,” Clara says solemnly.

“You know that is not true. The tags only gave you an excuse to stop doubting yourself,” Julie chimes in.

“Ugh, you guys have no idea what you’re talking about. I need some time alone.”

Clara grabs her phone and heads out the door, too frustrated to continue this conversation. Without thinking she wanders into the bakery. Someone in the back calls out, “I’ll be right there!” The bakery, once vibrant and bustling on a Saturday, now stands eerily quiet, except for a low hum coming from the ovens.

“What can I do for you?” Amy asks in her customer service voice as she rounds the corner. Followed by a casual, “Oh hey, it’s you. How ya doin’?”

“Honestly, I’ve had the most dramatic day and I’m looking to stuff myself with sugar until I feel better”

“I can arrange that for you.” Amy smiles and cuts off a slice of cake. They chat for a while, enjoying each other’s company.

***

Clara is in her room now, overthinking her response to Amy’s text.

“Do u wanna go out this weekend?” it reads.

Clara empties the box of teabags on her desk. She’s tearing through them one by one. All the tags are spread out in front of her. Yet, each one is frustratingly unhelpful.

“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”

“A river flows where it must.”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

“Always pack an umbrella.”

Pack an umbrella?! She’s trying to decide whether she’s ready to love again, not go for a walk on a cloudy day. What the hell is she supposed to do now? Clara leans back in her chair. Frustrated, she rips them up, collects the pieces and throws them in the trash. She’s done with them. She doesn’t need the wisdom of the teabags, she’s an adult, she can make this decision for herself.

“Sounds fun, I’m in!” she answers.

***

Three months later…

Clara is still smiling when she ends the video call, she loves her new coworkers. It’s five o’clock, she closes her laptop and starts packing the trinkets on her desk. This weekend she’s moving in with Amy. They got an apartment close to the market square, looking over the water (and the seagulls; fortunately there’s glass separating them). As she’s sorting a stack of papers that’s been on her desk for months, a small piece flutters out. She bends to pick it up and gasps. She is surprised, but happy she got to make the decision herself.

The tiny square tea tag reads,

“Trust yourself this time.”