Flowers at the Base of my Tree

5:00pm
There have been carnations and roses and various other flowers from someone's bouquet strewn haphazardly at the base of the tree outside my apartment window. I have been wanting to go down and gather them up and bring them up to my apartment for the last two or three days...they have been there that long. They seemed to have been totally disregarded in spite of the extra car in the parking spot beside the tree...or because of...it was a mystery to me. People have been coming and going and nobody seemed to want them.

So it has turned out a neighbour, the one whose spot was beside the tree, is having an 80th birthday party shin-dig downstairs, just now, as we speak. 'A private party' , the sign says. Many people have turned up. A very young man talked to me as I limped in from work, hardly able to lift my feet or look at him as I checked for my mail, telling me who the dozens of people had come to feast. He thought I was a guest and so would want to check my coat. He was very polite.

I guess this person is very well respected in her 'crowd'. I guess she has many 'friends'. I guess she would be considered a 'piller of society'. I bet she got lots of presents.

I wanted to go up by the stairs and so avoid the huge crowd but my legs would not co-operate. I can hardly walk these days after being on my feet for so long. I knew I would never make it up the stairs.

I have just taken a peek out the window. It has been raining all day. The discarded flowers are still there. They will be very wet.

Maybe, if no one is around, when the crowd thins, I will go and see if any of them are good enough to salvage for a bouquet.