BROOKLIN — Zeki Salah, a seventh-grader from New Orleans, was on a mission when he entered Betsy’s Sunflower on a recent afternoon.

The youngster painstakingly studied merchandise throughout the gift shop. After careful deliberation, he stepped up to the counter to pay for the two items he had selected.

“It’s my mom’s birthday,” he said as he placed a copy of “What’s Wrong with My Plant and How Do I Fix It” and a jar of Maine-made strawberry rhubarb jam on the counter.

Owner Betsy Doherty offered to gift wrap the boy’s selections. As she did, they chatted.

“She loves to make strawberry rhubarb pie, and she’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with her plants and keep them alive,” Salah said, adding that his mom was home in New Orleans and would receive her birthday gifts when he returned from his week on the Maine coast.

He was visiting Brooklin with his aunt and uncle, but had set out on his own that afternoon. Apparently pleased with the gifts he found and the service he received, Salah scooped up the books he had borrowed from Friend Memorial Library across the street, thanked Doherty and left the store.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Doherty said after the lad had gone. “The people part of it is what keeps you in the business.”

For more business news, pick up a copy of the Mount Desert Islander.

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