ARR 1988 - Flipbook - Page 22
She went on to the park to rest and sit awhile. She set Ophelia-Joy and
the new pot on the bench and then carefully lifted the plant out of the old pot
and put it in the new one and sat back to admire her handiwork. Several of
the regulars came by to talk and Mary B. introduced each of them to OpheliaJoy and explained why she was out with her plant. None of them thought
it was at all strange and everyone commented on how nice the plant looked
in its new home.
Mrs. Rogers, from across the park, lingered for a time before she made
her daily excursion. Mrs. Rogers didn't think much of plants as she had more
important things to worry about than sitting around a park, but far be it from
her to say anything about it. Inside of her rattan handbag Mrs. Rogers
carried a dog collar and leash and took it out each day before she went
searching for her little white dog.
"Penny might come back today and I'll have her collar ready to slip
back on her," She explained to Mary B.
Mary B. nodded in sympathy and understanding as though she had not
heard the story a dozen times before and knew all the words by heart. Little
Penny had slipped her collar and wandered into the bushes by this same
bench and although it had been more than seven years since that fateful day,
Mrs. Rogers never gave up hope that one day her little dog would return.
Mrs. Rogers looked a bit disdainfully at Ophelia-Joy before she went
searching in the bushes and said in a rather petty tone, "At least you don't
have to worry about your pet wandering off and getting lost. You know it's
not going to go away."
Mary B. agreed and felt a bit of guilt for being irritated about the money
for the new pot.
On the way home she decided to stop at Angelo's even though she had
Ophelia- Joy along and didn't have much money left. It wasn't every day one
got to celebrate a new home. She put Opehelia-Joy on the bar and explained
to Angelo and the customers why she had a plant with her today. They were
all fascinated by Mary B's story of rescuing the bedraggled plant from the
trash pile and nursing it back to health with beer. They bought beers so they
could watch her take a sip and then pour a generous splash into OpheliaJoy's pot.
Angelo was a bit removed from the fun, though, and he commented
dourly when Ophelia-Joy's dirt was saturated with beer and the run-off came
out of the bottom hole and collected in a big brown puddle on his newly
polished bar. The customers howled at this and told Angelo he had better get
a special rag to wipe up plant pee. Finally, he too got into the spirit of things
and even gave Mary B. a free beer while she danced around the bar and sang,
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