Flower Feud Read Free Page B

said.
    Two or three?
“Are you sure, Mom?” I asked. “The prom’s in a couple of weeks. That doesn’t sound right at all.”
    Mom shrugged. “I’m sure all the kids are procrastinating,” she said.
    Hmm. Mom is the number one procrastinator in the world, so of course she’d choose that as the reason.
    “Well, I can work on the middle schoolers at least,” I said. “Some of them might not even know they should buy prom flowers. I’ll remind them where the best place in town is.”
    “Thanks, hon,” said Mom.
    “What’s a prom, anyway?” Poppy wanted to know.
    “Only the coolest thing ever,” answered Rose. “They’re held your junior and senior years of high school. You get to buy a gorgeous dress. A boy asks you to go. He buys you a corsage to wear on your wrist, and you buy him a boutonniere.”
    “That’s a flower to wear on the lapel of his suit,” I explained to Poppy.
    Rose continued. “Sometimes there’s a theme. Like Under the Sea, or A Night on Broadway.” She smiled. “That’s what I hope mine is.”
    Mom and Dad glanced at Rose, clearly amused by her enthusiasm for an event that she wouldn’t be attending for at least six years. Unless the middle school prom tradition continued … which meant Rose would get her wish in a mere two years.
    Ugh.
    “I don’t understand,” I said to Rose. “How do you know so much about proms?”
    “Totally obsessed,” explained Aster. She knows her twin better than anyone.
    Rose wasn’t finished yet. “You get your hair done. You should get a manicure and pedicure. You get beautiful shoes to match your dress. And some places, the prom is in a fancy hotel.” Her eyes were shining, as if this was the mostwonderful thing she could think of. Besides getting a standing ovation at curtain call, of course. “There’s a band or a DJ and they play all this great music and you dance the night away with your friends and you slow dance with your date. It’s a beautiful, romantic night,” she concluded.
    Mom and Dad looked like they were trying hard not to laugh.
    “So how were
your
proms?” I asked them. “Beautiful and romantic?”
    Mom grew up right here in Elwood Falls. Dad is originally from Long Island in New York. They met at a party when Dad was in grad school in Boston, and Mom was visiting a friend. Dad was standing in the corner when he saw Mom by the refreshment table. He walked over, picked up a piece of fruit and asked, “‘Do I dare to eat a peach?’” And luckily, my mom did not run screaming. Instead, she turned to him and said, “‘I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.’” Well, that was it for Dad. She was beautiful
and
she could quote from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” a poem by T. S. Eliot. They fell in love and a year and a half later they were married.
    “I actually never went to my prom,” Mom replied. “I boughtthis totally cool vintage dress and I borrowed some amazing rhinestone jewelry from Gran. And Gramps made me an extraspecial corsage as a surprise, which my date was supposed to bring over. So I was sitting in the living room waiting for my date to come get me. Finally, his mom called — he got food poisoning from some bad clams and couldn’t go.”
    “Ew,” said Rose, making a face.
    “Why didn’t you just go on your own?” I asked.
    Rose looked aghast at the very idea.
    Mom shrugged. “None of my friends were going stag and I didn’t want to be the only one,” she said. “What a waste of a beautiful dress. And I never got to see my special corsage, either.”
    Rose was frowning. Then she brightened and turned to Dad. “How about you?”
    I was fairly certain she was barking up the wrong tree. And I was right. Dad shrugged. “Who had time for proms? I had a big project due the next week. I spent the whole weekend in the library doing research!”
    “Oh, Dad,” Rose groaned. “Really!”
    “It was for extra credit!” he protested. “I graduated high