[Scene: A cosy living room in a small village outside Bath. Emma is arranging flowers in a vase when James walks in, holding a small bunch of white blossoms.]
James: (smiling)
Look what I found on my walk—hawthorn blossom! Thought it’d brighten up your place a bit.
Emma: (gasps)
James! Take that out right now!
James: (confused)
What? Why? It’s just hawthorn. Smells fresh, doesn’t it?
Emma:
Fresh? It smells like trouble, that’s what it smells like! You never, ever bring hawthorn blossom into the house. Everyone knows that.
James: (chuckling)
Everyone? Or just everyone who grew up listening to your gran’s stories?
Emma:
Laugh all you want, but my gran was right about a lot of things. She always said bringing hawthorn indoors brings illness or even death. And I’ve heard of people who did it and had terrible luck soon after.
James:
Emma, that’s called coincidence. People notice what happens after they do something unusual and blame it on that. It’s classic confirmation bias.
Emma:
Oh, here we go—science teacher mode activated. You can’t explain everything away with “confirmation bias,” James.
James:
Maybe not everything, but in this case, it fits. You know where that superstition came from? Medieval times. Hawthorn smells like decay to some people because it gives off trimethylamine—the same compound found in rotting flesh.
Emma: (grimacing)
That’s disgusting.
James:
Exactly! So people thought it brought death because it smelled like death. But it’s just chemistry, not a curse.
Emma:
Still, there’s something eerie about it. My neighbour Ruth once put a few hawthorn sprigs on her mantelpiece for decoration, and a week later her cat fell ill.
James: (smiling gently)
Poor cat, but I promise the hawthorn didn’t hex it. Maybe it just ate something dodgy in the garden.
Emma:
You always have a logical explanation for everything, don’t you?
James:
Well, it helps me sleep at night. If I thought flowers could doom me, I’d never relax.
Emma: (laughing)
Fair point. But some traditions survive for a reason. Maybe they remind us to respect nature or not meddle with things we don’t fully understand.
James:
That’s actually a good point. Folklore often came from practical lessons. Maybe “don’t bring hawthorn inside” really meant “don’t fill your house with something that smells awful.”
Emma:
(laughs) So you’re saying the superstition started because someone didn’t want their cottage to stink?
James:
Pretty much. Early air freshener advice, medieval edition.
Emma:
Well, I still wouldn’t risk it. You can keep your “scientific” blossoms, thank you very much.
James: (mock dramatic)
Suit yourself. I’ll just take them home and see if my flat survives the night. If I’m not at the pub tomorrow, you’ll know the hawthorn got me.
Emma:
(laughing)
You’ll probably just forget to water them and blame me for the bad luck.
James:
Touché. But if I make it through the week, I’m bringing another bunch just to prove my point.
Emma:
Over my dead body!
James:
Now that would really make it unlucky.
[Both laugh as James jokingly waves the blossoms like a wand before heading out the door.]
Science Vs Superstition 
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