I didn’t want my friend Leila (who is newly single) to go without flowers on Valentine’s Day, so I decided to send her some. Every florist I called in New Orleans (and I called about twenty of them) said they weren’t taking any more orders for delivery, but told me I was more than welcome to walk in and pick some up. I am five hundred miles away in Austin, so obviously I couldn’t do this.
Instead I called a local plant nursery and asked for advice on what to do. The guy on the phone told me he would be happy to put something together and deliver it to Leila’s house. He said he was going to “put two orchids in a pot and make it look nice,” and I said that sounded fantastic. He asked me if I wanted to include a card, and I dictated the following message:
To Leila—
Roses are red,
And ready for plucking,
You’re sixteen,
And ready for high school.
Love,
Ryan
Forty-five minutes later, the flowers were delivered to her house. She called me as soon as she got them and said it was the first time anyone had bought her flowers. Huh.