Show fil ift ION CORNER 9 gardenias from irs mrs garrity by FRANK brookhouser III TARRELL D ARRELL MILLER the high powered scribbler and his frau the lovely marianne lane of the flickers are readying a sep arate mantel marital billing careers dont dons mix hs said mrs garrity read the item from hal boyd a gossip column in the blade for the fourth tune time staring at the paper which lay on the table in the supply room as she wrung out her mop she always read hal boyd his column kept her abreast ot 0 all the doings among the big people people she saw sometimes in the hotel when she had first read the item on the subway coming to work it had struck her with as much im pact as it if the two persons men tinned had been her own daughter and son in law and now she went about her work without spirit missing the warm delight with e 0 ss it 0 41 X 35 Y ejk p W e I 1 CA I 1 want seven dollars worth of gardenias mrs garrity told the florist he stared at her bewildered yes seven she repeated which she always contemplated cleaning their rooms such nice young people they were and after all she had known them since that first morning mr miller even longer and they had always been so happy together it didn dian t seem right she lifted the bucket tiredly and started walk ing to the rooms which had been mr miller s even before they mar ned ried everything in the bedroom was the same and the picture mingled with the implications of the item brought a sharp tug to her heart his coat was lying over the chair he must have worn the camel camels s hair this morning she thought well she supposed it was warm enough although the wind was sharp biting the coat had been there like that the first morning and she had put the bucket down yes right here in the bathroom with a dazed feeling unable to disguise her surprise at seeing the lovely lady in his room and then he bad had said mom he always called her mom I 1 want you to meet mrs miller isn t she a lovely things she is that mr miller marianne this is mom mrs garrity she s taken care of me for a long time ah ali youre you re always kidding mr ur miller I 1 just clean his rooms tor for him mrs miller and never touches any papers that t be touched he had said and always puts the slippers in the proper spot under the bed I 1 suppose now you 11 be needing a regular woman she was strangely frightened at the thought we wi I 1 not he had said and then mrs miller such a sweet kind girl had said of course not mom if you need extra time you take it and well we be happy to pay you for the extra work joy and good feeling and bright spirit had filled the room that morning and gardenias dozens of gardenias in m the pitcher on the dresser in another pitcher on his little bookcase mrs miller had listened almost enchanted by the story it seemed as he explained the reason for the gardenias they have a special sig ance 11 he had said I 1 it seems that I 1 was going into a flower shop and she was coming out and I 1 was going to buy gardenias and she had already bought them and we bumped and I 1 knocked them out of her arms and we had lunch and we got married and there s a gardenia for every day of the two months we were courting mrs garrity they bad had always been happy to gether you could tell that by the way their faces brightened when they looked at each other mrs garrity thought mrs miller had just been starting out then but now she was a big star and mrs gainty gunty went to the neighborhood theater both nights when she was playing in a picture and told mr garrity and her children how well she knew her and got autographs for them and she s as sweet and kind as you could find mrs garrity al ways said scrubbing the bathroom floor mrs garrity remembered all the dresses she had given her the rich perfumes books for the children and never forgetting to ask about mr garrity a health of course they couldn coulden t have a house hous not with her in hollywood so much but they had made the hotel rooms cozy and home like and when she slid was in the city they had such good times it had never occurred to mrs garrity to doubt the item in the column and she was not unduly surprised when she saw the su suit it cases in the bedroom that was why mrs miller had come back this time then to take the things of hers that were in the room there was a short note on the dresser please take the black dresses in the closet mrs garrity it said now wasn gasn t that just like her mrs garrity thought remember ing me even with all her sad ness and her heart must be so heavy today no it wasn gasn t right even if they were apart a lot it P probably had been some foolish urburn argument ent they would both get over in time hadn haan t she argued with mr ur garrity yes many times when they were vere younger and it was nicer than ever when you made up the idea of gardenias came sud denly to mrs garrity in the maze of memories that were flashing through her mind there wasn gasn t much time mrs miller was ably only out tor for lunch and would be back any minute mrs garrity reached into her pocket pulled out a small wad of bills she counted them carefully there were seven well the grocer would just have to wait she went down the service elevator and hurried to the flower shop on the corner I 1 want seven dollars worth of gardenias she told the florist he stared at her bewildered seven dollars worth she repeat ed looking at him sternly he shrugged his shoulders and started to work she walked rapidly back to the hotel with the large box in the rooms again she hurried to the typewriter and fingered the keys idly her rough gnarled hands looking strange in this po now what should she say it was very important what she said it had to erase a lot of things it had to say a lot of things she started to type with greal great care and deliberation BECAUSE THEY ABE ARE BEAUTIFUL YOU yes that was all right maybe he would be able to ta put it better him hirn being a writer but that is what he would mean AND TO WISH YOU HAP WHEREVER YOU GO yes that was all right she felt almost romantic reading it to herself again WITH ALL MY LOVE she smiled as she typed his name hurriedly she filled two vases with water put the gardenias in them placing the note auspiciously beside one and then she began to clean the rooms working spir feeling much better now she managed to finish her work before mrs miller returned beading reading hal boyd s column on the subway the next morning she felt her heart quivering with in tense happiness felt a lilt there that she could hardly believe waa was possible for a woman of her age her eyes glazed with tears as she read the item for the fourth time darrell miller and his missus marianne lane say it I 1 so that they are through and they have a message for mrs garrity the message IF YOU THINK ITS THAT IMPORTANT SO DO WE mrs garrity got off the subway her eyes dreamy walked proudly into the basement of the hotel |