legends · 4 min read ·
Order Book, Wreaths
A florist's order book receives paid wreaths for the living, each with the message "See you on Sunday."
**Petal & Thorn Florists — Order Book (proprietor: Iris Dunmore)**
*Date, customer, order, delivery address, message, paid.*
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**3 Oct.** Mrs. Hale, bouquet (roses, white), delivery to St. Mary's Hospital, message: "Get well soon, Dad." Paid.
**4 Oct.** Mr. Frane, birthday arrangement (mixed), delivery to 12 Cherry Lane, message: "Happy 70th, Mum." Paid.
**6 Oct.** Walk-in, funeral wreath (lilies, chrysanthemum), delivery to St. Cuthbert's, message: "In loving memory." Paid.
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**7 Oct.** Telephone order, caller did not give a name. Funeral wreath, white lilies, 60 cm, delivery to 41 Weir Street, for Thursday. Message: "With deepest sympathy."
*Note: 41 Weir Street is the address of Mr. Peter Gale, a regular customer. Mr. Gale is alive. He was in the shop on Saturday buying tulips.*
**Paid in advance. Cash, left in an envelope on the counter. Unseen.**
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**9 Oct.** Delivered the wreath, as ordered, to 41 Weir Street. Mr. Gale came to the door. He was in good health. He looked at the wreath and at me and said: "Who's died?" I said I thought the wreath was for him. He said, laughing, "Well, I'm not dead."
He took it in and put it on the hall table. He said he'd ask around.
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**10 Oct.** Mr. Gale phoned. He said that he had been asking around, and had found that nobody had sent the wreath. He said it was a joke in poor taste. I said I was sorry. He said: "I'm not upset. I'm only curious. The message on the card isn't what you said. It says, 'See you on Sunday.'"
I checked my book. I had written "With deepest sympathy." I do not remember writing anything else.
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**12 Oct.** Telephone order, no name. Funeral wreath, white lilies, 60 cm, delivery to 6 Quarry Row. Message: "See you on Sunday." Paid in advance. Envelope on the counter. £60.
*Note: Mrs. Joan Berrow, 6 Quarry Row, is eighty-one and recovering from a hip operation. I called to see if she wanted the wreath. She said: "Whatever for?"*
**13 Oct.** Delivered. Mrs. Berrow asked me to put it on the doorstep. She said: "I'm going to leave it there. I'm interested to see who takes it away."
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**15 Oct.** Seven orders for wreaths this week. All paid in advance, all unnamed, all delivered to addresses of the living. All with the message "See you on Sunday."
I have refused two. They arrived anyway, on my doorstep, in the morning, wrapped, with the address and the price pinned to the cellophane, and the money tucked into the card.
**17 Oct.** Forty-three wreaths on order. I cannot make that many by hand. I cannot buy that many lilies. I opened the cold room this morning. The buckets were full. Each lily had been cut and conditioned. Wired. Arranged in a ring. They were all done.
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**19 Oct.** Mr. Gale called in. He is the first of the recipients I have seen in person since the delivery. He was cheerful and pale. He said: "I've been to the doctor. They say there's nothing wrong. But I've been having an odd feeling that I'm expected somewhere."
I asked if he wanted me to cancel the Sunday service. He asked: "What service?"
I said, "The one on the card."
He said: "Oh. That. I think I'd better go."
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**Sunday 20 Oct.** I went to St. Cuthbert's at ten past eleven. The church was full. Every pew. All the people I had delivered to, and more. They sat in their best coats, with the wreaths on their knees, looking quietly at the altar. Nobody spoke.
The vicar was not there. The coffin was. It stood on the trestles at the front, closed, with a spray of white lilies on the lid, in my arrangement.
Mr. Gale looked round and smiled at me. He put a finger to his lips.
· · ·
**Order book, 21 Oct.**
The service was held. I do not remember how it ended. When I came to, I was in the shop, at the counter, with my coat on. It was Monday. Seventeen orders for wreaths on the book, with addresses of the living. I have not taken any of them.
At the bottom of the page, in a hand like my own: **Delivery: Petal & Thorn, 1 Church Street. Message: "Thank you for your help." Paid.**
The wreath was on the counter in the morning. White lilies, 60 cm. The envelope under it was thick.