AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Garden story.1/6/2024 ![]() Sheridan assured her the order was correct. At first Laura assumed there had been a mistake in the sheer number of flowers that the florist had brought but Mrs. The florist had arrived with trays of pink lilies. Then all at once the house came to life, noise sounded from another room, the piano was being moved, the doorbell rang and Sadie, the maid, answered it. Returning the phone to its receiver, Laura sighed loudly and contently and listened to the beautiful silence of the house. Laura repeated her mother’s words and said goodbye to Kitty. Sheridan yelled down to Laura and told her to tell Kitty to wear the same hat she wore last Sunday. Only Laura’s end of the conversation was heard and she asked Kitty to come to lunch to eat leftovers of whatever Cook had made for the garden party. She gave her brother a quick hug and then answered her call. There she met her father and brother, Laurie, getting ready to go to the office. Laura ran up the path onto the veranda and into the house. Someone from the house yelled to Laura that she had a telephone call. She thought she would get on much better with the workmen than she would men of her own social class. Laura doubted any of the men she knew, the ones she danced with or had over for Sunday dinner, would have stopped what they were doing to enjoy the scent of lavender. Only one of the workmen remained behind, a tall man, he bend down and pinched a sprig of lavender from the garden and smelled it. The workmen decided the marquee would look best under the karakas trees and without any invitation from Laura they set out. Embarrassed, Laura said it was a small band but another of the workmen smiled and his easy and friendly nature put her at ease. She immediately regretted her words when one of the workmen sarcastically asked after the band. Suddenly shy and aware of how young she must look to the burly men she affected her mother’s high voice and asked if they would set up the marquee on the tennis court where the band would be playing. With a piece of buttered toast in her hand, Laura met the workmen in the garden. She loved to arrange things and felt she was better at it than everyone else. Laura was nominated and she practically flew out of the house in anticipation. Meg could not go outside to speak to them because her hair was wet. Sheridan declared she was not going to make a single decision, an unfortunate announcement as the workmen had just arrived at the front gate to put up the marquee. Still at breakfast, Laura, Meg, Jose Sheridan and their mother sat discussing arrangements for the party. Warm, windless, without a cloud in the sky, the Sheridan’s garden party was expected to be a great success. “They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden party if they had ordered it “ (38).
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |