“If you like roses,” the cashier at Trader Joe’s in West Newton said this afternoon as she lifted the last bag of groceries into my cart, “you can select a bouquet to take with you.” On the floor at the end of her counter was a brimming bucket of flowers, and there were similar buckets lining the aisle to the exit.
“Leftover roses from Valentine’s Day,” I asked, the answer being obvious. “Yes,” she replied, “but you shouldn’t look at them as leftovers.” She’s exactly right. These aren’t this weekend’s trash but lonely flowers in need of adoption. Not being particular, I grabbed the first bouquet my hands fell upon: a double-dozen long-stemmed roses that would have cost a pretty penny a few days ago.
On my way to my car, I saw several women exiting the store with their carefully selected bouquets cradled like babies: one carried a mixed nosegay of roses and tulips, and another carried a small handful of still-closed rosebuds. Each woman was smiling, as I suspect I was, at her unforeseen good fortune.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Feb 16, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Next year I’ll try to make a trip to the grocery store a couple of days after Valentine’s day. What a lovely bit of luck.
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Feb 17, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Yes. And don’t forget the deals on Valentine’s Day chocolate you can get after the holiday, too.
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Feb 17, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Oh! Unexpected roses! And I like them when they are opened fully ….
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Feb 18, 2009 at 8:42 pm
They’ve really “come into their own” in that respect since I got them home & in a vase of fresh water.
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Feb 20, 2009 at 5:38 pm
That’s like some kind of floral windfall. They’re gorgeous.
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Feb 24, 2009 at 12:19 am
How very nice of them to do that. Most stores would just throw them away.
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