WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 align:middle line:90% But let's get specific. 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:03.750 align:middle line:90% Let's draw blood. 00:00:03.750 --> 00:00:07.740 align:middle line:84% The history of innocence would be incomplete without this. 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:11.520 align:middle line:84% Christmas Eve, the final mad dash of the holiday, 00:00:11.520 --> 00:00:14.610 align:middle line:84% and we could count on some of our favorites showing up. 00:00:14.610 --> 00:00:17.790 align:middle line:84% These were men racing in from a quick stop at Frank Murphy's 00:00:17.790 --> 00:00:21.240 align:middle line:84% carrying shiny black boxes with big pink bows, the Murphy's 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:26.100 align:middle line:84% insignia, as ours was a silky powder pink box with the firm's 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:29.400 align:middle line:84% name cast across it in gold script like a line 00:00:29.400 --> 00:00:31.860 align:middle line:84% from the Declaration of Independence. 00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:34.170 align:middle line:84% These last customers of the holiday 00:00:34.170 --> 00:00:37.590 align:middle line:84% were classicists, men who bought cashmere cardigans 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:40.620 align:middle line:84% at Murphy's and roses and chocolates from us. 00:00:40.620 --> 00:00:42.817 align:middle line:84% They could leave their shopping to the last minute 00:00:42.817 --> 00:00:44.400 align:middle line:84% because their wives had already bought 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:45.870 align:middle line:90% everything for the holiday. 00:00:45.870 --> 00:00:47.580 align:middle line:84% All these husbands had to do, really, 00:00:47.580 --> 00:00:50.550 align:middle line:84% was make a lavish gesture for the wives. 00:00:50.550 --> 00:00:54.150 align:middle line:84% That we awaited them at the big marble tables 00:00:54.150 --> 00:00:58.230 align:middle line:84% with our pale green order books and our utter exhaustion. 00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:00.990 align:middle line:84% Latecomers, they were the easy ones-- 00:01:00.990 --> 00:01:02.760 align:middle line:90% they'd take anything. 00:01:02.760 --> 00:01:06.390 align:middle line:84% And in he walked, 15 minutes before closing, 00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:09.450 align:middle line:84% an officer of the Navy, shoulders 00:01:09.450 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:84% squared, commanding face, already slightly impatient. 00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:16.170 align:middle line:84% I'd never seen him before, and being in uniform, 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:17.760 align:middle line:84% he was certainly from out of town, 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.530 align:middle line:84% but he headed straight for our table 00:01:19.530 --> 00:01:22.470 align:middle line:84% as if he knew his way around, a man with a mission, 00:01:22.470 --> 00:01:24.030 align:middle line:90% my kind of customer. 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:25.860 align:middle line:84% I dipped around the table and made for him 00:01:25.860 --> 00:01:28.110 align:middle line:84% before anyone else could approach him. 00:01:28.110 --> 00:01:30.120 align:middle line:84% I didn't often get a chance like this. 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:31.800 align:middle line:84% The clerks didn't work on commission, 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:35.040 align:middle line:84% but none of the big customers, the happy spenders, came to me. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.110 align:middle line:84% If Ollie and Mrs. Butler were busy, 00:01:37.110 --> 00:01:38.880 align:middle line:84% their good customers waited for them, 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:42.330 align:middle line:84% wandering around, idly turning over Hummel figurines 00:01:42.330 --> 00:01:45.420 align:middle line:84% to check the prices, inspecting the candy counter, 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:48.840 align:middle line:84% putting their faces down to a gardenia's overpowering matte 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:49.680 align:middle line:90% petals. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.040 align:middle line:84% Then Ollie or Mrs. B would rush over and claim them, 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:54.750 align:middle line:90% apologizing for the wait. 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:58.170 align:middle line:84% Sometimes if a regular customer was in a big hurry, 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:02.040 align:middle line:84% he might turn to me standing at the table in my blue and white 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.500 align:middle line:84% serge convent school uniform and say 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:06.990 align:middle line:84% without disguising his disappointment, 00:02:06.990 --> 00:02:09.610 align:middle line:84% "I suppose you could take care of this." 00:02:09.610 --> 00:02:12.330 align:middle line:84% But for the most part, I spent my time on the one poinsettia 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:14.700 align:middle line:84% cash and carry crowd who streamed anonymously 00:02:14.700 --> 00:02:16.320 align:middle line:90% in and out during the holiday. 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:19.950 align:middle line:84% My father had told me, "treat everyone the same." 00:02:19.950 --> 00:02:22.440 align:middle line:84% He knew the arch ways of Ollie and Mrs. Butler, 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:24.370 align:middle line:84% and he didn't try to change them. 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:26.070 align:middle line:90% Maybe he didn't want to. 00:02:26.070 --> 00:02:29.520 align:middle line:84% The graciously run households of Crocus Hill and Summit Avenue 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.190 align:middle line:90% were our essential clientele. 00:02:32.190 --> 00:02:35.430 align:middle line:84% I adopted Ollie's hauteur, taking 00:02:35.430 --> 00:02:38.400 align:middle line:84% a mean-spirited satisfaction and grabbing the first plant 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.410 align:middle line:84% I saw on the floor, when the low end 00:02:40.410 --> 00:02:44.640 align:middle line:84% amateurs wheedled around asking me to pick the very best one. 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:46.140 align:middle line:84% In the lunchroom at coffee break, 00:02:46.140 --> 00:02:48.810 align:middle line:84% we disposed of this entreaty with withering contempt. 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:50.940 align:middle line:84% "Mrs. B, would you be sure to pick out 00:02:50.940 --> 00:02:54.780 align:middle line:84% the very best donut for me over there in that box Vic 00:02:54.780 --> 00:02:55.650 align:middle line:90% brought in?" 00:02:55.650 --> 00:02:58.830 align:middle line:84% And Mrs. Butler would pantomime an exaggerated inspection 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:02.400 align:middle line:84% of the donuts in the half sheet bakery box on the sink counter. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.920 align:middle line:84% She paused, shook her head, gazed intently, 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:07.260 align:middle line:84% an expert's discerning frown on her brow 00:03:07.260 --> 00:03:09.330 align:middle line:84% as her hand dipped and rose, dipped 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.630 align:middle line:84% and rose over the glazed zeros before her until finally, 00:03:12.630 --> 00:03:13.320 align:middle line:90% finally, "ah! 00:03:13.320 --> 00:03:18.000 align:middle line:84% Here it is," she cried, lifting the very best one aloft. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.780 align:middle line:84% No such fool, this Navy officer who strode toward me now. 00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:22.920 align:middle line:90% I could see that. 00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:26.730 align:middle line:84% He was handsome in a craggy, can hold his alcohol kind of way, 00:03:26.730 --> 00:03:29.640 align:middle line:84% modern, not a man with the smooth matinee 00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:32.760 align:middle line:84% idol looks of my earnest father, who belonged, 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:34.650 align:middle line:90% I knew, to another age. 00:03:34.650 --> 00:03:36.480 align:middle line:84% This man had been around, you felt, 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:38.340 align:middle line:90% had seen the world, been marked. 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:40.080 align:middle line:90% It was part of his handsomeness. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.410 align:middle line:84% He came forward resolutely, a man with better things 00:03:43.410 --> 00:03:46.080 align:middle line:84% to do with this time, ready to hand over his gift list, 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.840 align:middle line:84% ready to trust me with the details. 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:51.540 align:middle line:84% I approached him without my order pad. 00:03:51.540 --> 00:03:53.940 align:middle line:84% Ollie and Mrs. Butler greeted their good customers 00:03:53.940 --> 00:03:56.220 align:middle line:84% like friends for whom a purchase was somehow 00:03:56.220 --> 00:03:58.530 align:middle line:90% a given and yet also secondary. 00:03:58.530 --> 00:04:00.310 align:middle line:90% "How may I help you?" 00:04:00.310 --> 00:04:01.560 align:middle line:90% Another Ollie touch. 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:03.150 align:middle line:90% Don't say, "May I help you?" 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:05.670 align:middle line:90% Say, "How may I help you?" 00:04:05.670 --> 00:04:08.400 align:middle line:84% "I'm looking for a lot of roses," he said. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:09.510 align:middle line:90% I didn't blink. 00:04:09.510 --> 00:04:10.230 align:middle line:90% "Red?" 00:04:10.230 --> 00:04:12.030 align:middle line:90% I asked professionally. 00:04:12.030 --> 00:04:15.270 align:middle line:84% He looked at me, took me in for the first time, I think, 00:04:15.270 --> 00:04:18.329 align:middle line:84% as if I might be a tricky one, but this passed instantly. 00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:21.029 align:middle line:84% He smiled, a surprise, and a charm, that radiant 00:04:21.029 --> 00:04:23.490 align:middle line:84% smile coming from that stern face. 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:25.530 align:middle line:84% "Yes," he said, right into my eyes. 00:04:25.530 --> 00:04:27.480 align:middle line:90% "Red, for Christmas." 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.120 align:middle line:84% We had a small laugh over this meeting of minds. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:34.290 align:middle line:84% At this season, what other color could a rose be, after all? 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:37.320 align:middle line:84% I led him to the display cooler, which wasn't the real cooler-- 00:04:37.320 --> 00:04:39.310 align:middle line:90% that was in the basement-- 00:04:39.310 --> 00:04:41.910 align:middle line:84% but the one meant to tempt people with possibilities. 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:43.590 align:middle line:90% Slim pickings there. 00:04:43.590 --> 00:04:45.810 align:middle line:84% A bucket of long stemmed red roses 00:04:45.810 --> 00:04:48.098 align:middle line:90% stood at attention, two dozen. 00:04:48.098 --> 00:04:49.890 align:middle line:84% There wasn't much else left in the cooler-- 00:04:49.890 --> 00:04:53.190 align:middle line:84% a few buckets of lemon leaf and winter greens, holly and cedar, 00:04:53.190 --> 00:04:55.170 align:middle line:84% with several bunches of chartreuse cymbidium 00:04:55.170 --> 00:04:57.720 align:middle line:84% orchids slashed at the throat with maroon 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:01.500 align:middle line:84% that would require the rare customer with daring taste. 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:04.440 align:middle line:84% "Those," he said pointing to the roses with the resolve 00:05:04.440 --> 00:05:05.940 align:middle line:90% I expected of him. 00:05:05.940 --> 00:05:07.530 align:middle line:90% Then, he surprised me again. 00:05:07.530 --> 00:05:09.510 align:middle line:90% "Any more?" he asked. 00:05:09.510 --> 00:05:11.260 align:middle line:90% I could look downstairs. 00:05:11.260 --> 00:05:12.870 align:middle line:90% "Do that," he said. 00:05:12.870 --> 00:05:14.640 align:middle line:84% But downstairs, the designers wouldn't 00:05:14.640 --> 00:05:17.280 align:middle line:84% let me touch what was left in the big walk-in cooler. 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:19.165 align:middle line:84% "There are still funerals to think of," 00:05:19.165 --> 00:05:20.790 align:middle line:84% they said, with the annoyance of people 00:05:20.790 --> 00:05:22.140 align:middle line:84% who have to remain at their posts 00:05:22.140 --> 00:05:24.270 align:middle line:84% no matter what crazy illusion the rest of the world 00:05:24.270 --> 00:05:25.140 align:middle line:90% is off to. 00:05:25.140 --> 00:05:27.150 align:middle line:84% Christmas or no Christmas, you have 00:05:27.150 --> 00:05:30.510 align:middle line:84% to keep some stock back for death, our bread and butter. 00:05:30.510 --> 00:05:32.737 align:middle line:84% "And you can forget about the greenhouse," 00:05:32.737 --> 00:05:34.320 align:middle line:84% they said, as I went to the telephone. 00:05:34.320 --> 00:05:37.220 align:middle line:84% "They've been out since yesterday."