The Flower Boy

   “What are we doing here?” Alex raised his voice above the music, and looked around the packed bar.

   “We came here to make a purchase. It’s going to be the answer to your depression. Help you get over your separation. Make you feel good about yourself again.” Nick said, eyes focused on the door entrance to the bar.

   “I don’t want any drugs.” Alex said, sipping his beer.

   “It’s not drugs. And it’s not for you. There she is.” Nick waved at the bouncer who directed an elderly lady to go to his table. The elderly lady came up to them with a wicker basket of roses. “Hi, I want to buy them all. And I want you to give one to every lady in this place and tell them it’s from my friend here. You got it?”

   The elderly woman took Nick’s money and winked at Alex and went about her task.

   “Nick.” Alex balked.

   But Nick shrugged at Alex’s discomfort. They watched the flowers go out one at a time, but before the flower lady was done Nick was telling Alex, “I go to go. I told my wife it was just for one drink. You stay. You wait. They’re going to be all over you. You’ll see.”

   Nick left and Alex stared down on his drink too embarrassed to look at any of the ladies getting their flower. After a shaky few minutes a rose dropped down in front of his glass. Nick looked up to see a pudgy unshaven man in a leather jacket glaring at him.

   “What is this?” The man demanded.

   “Sorry, it was only supposed to be for the ladies.”

   “Yea, I know that. You gave this to my wife?”

   “No. No, I gave one to everyone. I wasn’t picking your wife. It wasn’t even me. It was my friend. Well, this guy I work with. He left. He’s not here anymore.”

  The man picked up the rose and threw it down on the table again. “Yea, thanks. Now I got to listen to my wife chew my ears about how I never buy her flowers. Thanks, creep.”

    The man left. Several women had formed a line. Two came up and put their roses down.

   “Were with our husbands. So, you should think about that next time. You know, that’s kind of embarrassing. You know? For you. Not for us.”

   They left.

   A couple were leaving and the man pulled the rose out of the woman’s hand and threw it on the Alex’s table. The woman glared at the man, looking at her hand as if a thorn may have scratched it. The bouncer stepped up to warn the man to chill, but the couple were leaving anyway.

   Alex looked away knowing they had all dodged a possibly bigger fight.

   Two very young ladies placed their roses down carefully on Alex’s table. Both they and Alex were equally embarrassed about their age differences. The girls went back to their own table.

   Three women were passing to leave the bar and one, Alex could hear, said, “Oh, I’m keeping mine, but he ain’t getting any.” Alex wished he had gotten a pitcher with his beer so he could hide behind it.

   Another rose dropped. A woman with tied back hair and glasses leaned over. “I just got out of a bad relationship. And I did not go out this evening to look for a hookup, so please spare me.” She walked away, defiantly.

   A woman texting on her cell, walked up and placed her rose onto the pile that was collecting on Alex’s table. She said nothing and walked away continuously texting.

   One rose flew across the room and bounced off Alex’s shoulder and dropped to the floor. He picked it up and placed it on the pile. He heard no one say anything and did not see the thrower.

   Two older heavy-set women placed their roses down and hugged each other and practically danced out the door.

   The last of the women in the bar looked around with their roses and decided they should not accept, either. Though they were unsure why, they went with the crowd and gave their roses back to Alex. It was unsure who was more embarrassed.

   Alex looked at the pile and got up to leave. The bouncer came over with some empty discount store shopping bag. “Hey, buddy, here, take them with you.” The bouncer started to fill the bag with the roses. “They’re more bars in the village. So, this isn’t the one for you. It happens. You know, maybe if you gave the roses out yourself. You know the flower lady ain’t there to do your work for you. You’re supposed to have the girl before you call over the flower lady. You know what I mean? You got to work things, man. You can’t just throw money at them.”

   Alex nodded with an understanding that he did not have, but he appreciated the bouncer’s attempt. He took the bag of roses and went out to the street.

   A couple of blocks down the street a few guys were hanging outside a donut place. “Hey, Flowerboy, you got some flowers for us?”

   Alex stopped and looked at the guy. “You got a girlfriend?”

   “What’s that suppose to mean?”

   “Do you have a girlfriend?”

   “I got a wife. You got a problem?”

   Alex handed him a rose from the bag. “Give her this.”

   “How much?”

   Alex shook his head. “Just give it to her.”

   “What are you doing?”    

   “I’m giving them away.”

  “Thanks. Respect. Henry, you got a girl. Get a flower. Can Henry have a flower?”

   Alex handed Henry a rose.

   “Cheers.” Henry thanked Alex.

   “See Henry? You get home she’ll be sweet to you.” The married man said.

   Alex went inside the donut place and handed roses to the girls behind the counter who seemed to understand he had no intentions beside a well wish.

   Outside the married man stepped aside for Alex to get by. “You have a good night, Flowerboy.”

   Down the street a well-dressed man called to Alex. The man and his wife were waiting in line to go into a restaurant. The man handed Alex a twenty and Alex gave him a rose. The man handed it to his wife. His wife lit up. The man confided to Alex, “You should get yourself a basket.” Alex nodded and decided he would pocket the man’s twenty.

   As Alex was walking away he could hear the man saying, “No, while we’ve been waiting I saw him selling them over there, at that donut place, but you can’t tell he had roses because of the bag he has them in.”

   Coming up on the next block Alex almost ran over the flower lady. He stopped and laughed and then pulled out the flowers he had left and added them to the flower lady’s new basket of flowers. He also reached into his pocket and gave the well-dressed man’s twenty to the flower lady.

   She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

   “You ever have someone give you flowers?”

   She leaned into him. “Oh, it happens a lot more often than people think. I always appreciate it, though. You have a good night, young man.”

   Alex walked for a while and then found himself going up to his rented room. It was almost midnight when the phone rang. He didn’t need to look to know who it was.

   “Hello?”

   “Alex? Alex, I…  Alex, I think I made a mistake.”

   “I know. I know, Andrea, I know. Let’s not do this anymore. Okay?”