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| One day when I got home with the flowers, I asked her what was her favorite flower of all the flowers in the world. Being a little boy of eight, I didn’t know how many kinds of flowers there were. Surely, I thought, there must be three or four different kinds of flowers growing somewhere other than these wildflowers. Mama sat down at the table, placed me on her lap, and said, “Johnny, I guess the most beautiful flower that I like is the red rose.” “I ain’t seen no red rose around here, Mama.” She just smiled and said, “No, child, I haven’t seen any either.” “Why a red rose, Mama?” “When in full bloom, a red rose has a perfume that is . . . well, I can’t describe what kind of perfume it might be called, but it is like the smell of the air after a rainfall. The petals are soft to the touch, yet brittle if you squeeze them too hard, and the stem has thorns to protect the rose from harm. |
| “A red rose is a token of love between a man and a woman. The only rose I ever got was when your pa asked me to marry him, and that was fourteen years ago.” |
| “What happened to the rose, Mama?” She smiled. “I have it in the family Bible, of course.” “How much does a red rose cost, Mama?” “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe three or four dollars apiece.” “Wow! I have never seen that much money at one time.” Mama laughed. “Would you wait till I am older and get a job, Mama?” I asked. “Then I will buy you a red rose.” Tears came into Mama’s eyes, and she hugged me tightly, kissed me on the cheek, and said, “Surely I can wait that long.” We both laughed. |
| One spring day, as usual I stopped and picked some flowers to take to Mama. I was by myself that day, as Billy and Mary Sue were sick, or so I was told. I listened to a bird chirping high up in a tree, then another, and another and another. They were all chirping to each other. Two squirrels ran up and down a tree, chasing each other as if playing tag. I started skipping and whistling on my way home. As I got to the yard, I saw three cars parked there. I had never seen any big cars like these before. One was red and white with big red lights on top. Then I saw a star stamped on the side of another one and knew it was a police car. The third car was so long it must have carried ten or twelve people in it. I peaked in the side window, but there were no seats in the back. |
| I went up on the porch where Pa, Billy Ray, and Mary Sue stood waiting. “Hi!” I said. “I got some more flowers for Mama.” I ran into the house hollering, “Mama, I brought you some more flowers.” But Mama was not there. I ran back to the front porch where Pa was standing. “Pa, where’s Mama?” I asked. Pa knelt down and held his arms out to me. “Come here, child.” Billy Ray and Mary Sue knelt down with us. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s Mama?” Pa said, “Johnny you are a little young to understand all this, but Mama has been sick, and the doctors did all they could for her.” “Is that why Billy Ray and Mary Sue stayed home today?” “Yes,” Pa said. |
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| “Mama ain’t been sick,” I said. “She was here when I got home from school yesterday. She’s been right here every day.” “The doctor has been coming to give her medicine while you kids were at school ,” Pa explained. “She didn’t want you children to know about her illness.” “If the doctor gave her medicine, then she’s gonna be all right. Can I go see her? Is she in bed?” |