With how much I’ve done around the place, I should have a plaque somewhere. Some of my loveliest flower arrangements have been around the entrance, so I’m thinking I’d like it there. ‘Dorothy Whittaker, she grew us some lovely flowers, and everyone just really liked her.’
Last week I graced everyone with some freshly-grown beauties from my dahlia mini marvel collection. Dahlias are something of a specialty of mine, so I like to have them displayed in a position of prominence. Janine at the front desk keeps saying that she’s allergic and they make her sneeze, so she’d appreciate me not coming down and putting vases of them on the front desk. I say that she’s just being silly, because no one is allergic to flowers. They’re flowers! There’s nothing bad about them. Besides, she’s only there three days a week, and people are using the entrance hall many times a day, so I think I’m more justified in this scenario. I think calla lilies are supposed to be lower in allergens, but that’s all modern silliness. My mother used to grow calla lilies and sell them at the market. Thousands of customers over the years, and not a single incident of anyone wanting a refund because they had a sneezing fit. People are just too sensitive in this foolish modern era.
It’s not just the entrance hall, of course. There are plenty of windowsills all around the apartment building, and my aim is to fill them all with colour. Not that anyone notices, of course. No one stops me in the hallways and says “Oh, Dorothy, your gerbera summertime flowers are lovely, such a burst of colour!”
Though when they finally do, I’ll modestly tell them that I’ve grown them for years. Gerbera summertimes are a specialty of mine. I have quite a few of those, but when all you do is grow flowers, you get to know a few varieties quite well.