Read Online The Day the Flowers Died by Ami Blackwelder - Free Book Online

own
mind to do things.  But your mutti is just trying to do what
she thinks is best for you. You might not think about such things,
but these are worrisome times and she doesn’t want to see you get
hurt. She does love you, dear.”
    Mildred rubbed her calloused hands over Rebecca’s thick hair and
then left the room.  Rebecca fell asleep with those words on
her mind, worrisome times.
    The morning whistled into Rebecca’s room with the curtains drawn
by Mildred and the birds singing songs for the new day.  “It’s
time to get up dear.  You don’t want to miss opening the
presents,” Mildred urged.  Rebecca yawned, lifting her arms
above her, and nestling her head in her warm silk sheets once more
before pulling herself off her bed and into her bathroom where
Mildred had drawn the bath.
    “I’ll see you downstairs for breakfast.” Mildred’s words muffled
behind the closed bath door.  Rebecca heard her bedroom door
shut and Mildred’s heavy walk down the steps.
    When Rebecca made it into the dining room for breakfast, she
found her parents already there, eager to start their day.
    Ralph walked over to his daughter and placed a small pink box in
front of her after she sat down.
    “Daddy,” Rebecca’s stern face, kept that way from a night of
anticipating her mother’s conversation the next morning,
soothed.  “You didn’t have to do this.” Rebecca caressed the
package with her fingers, investigating with tactile
concentration.
    “Well, go ahead, open it,” her father said. Rebecca loosened the
thread of pink ribbon to undo the bow and then lifted the box
lid.  She peeked inside, noticed a metallic key and then
closed the box to keep the gift safe.
    “You didn’t, Papa!” Rebecca leapt off her chair and rushed to
hug her father.  Ralph let out a guffaw at being squeezed.
    “You need a new car.  You have no way of getting around in
that big city and we worry about you.  Besides, now you have a
way to visit us more often and we won’t need to hear anymore of
your mother’s bickering to come see us.” Ralph glanced at Deseire
at his last words and winked.  Deseire smiled.
    “Thank you so much, Papa!”
    “Well, let’s go see it.”
    Rebecca sprinted out of the dining hall, past the butler holding
open the front door, and to her new car.  The blue Audi
tickled Rebecca to uncontrolled elation as Ralph and Deseire caught
up to Rebecca. Even Deseire smiled at her daughter’s
enthusiasm.
    “Adorable!” Rebecca became giddy, swinging the door open. “Can I
drive it?”
    “Of course.  Take it for a spin and then head back for
breakfast,” Ralph said in a fatherly tone. Rebecca jumped into her
new car and heard her mother say, “You shouldn’t spoil her like
that. It was her decision to go off to University.” But the wind
from the rolled down windows brushed over Rebecca’s hair and face
and her mother’s words, like the wind rolling off of her, blew
away.”
    Rebecca returned to the dining hall with breakfast already
served on the large burgundy breakfast plates. They ate breakfast
without the daunting conversation Rebecca had been waiting for, but
her mother’s eyes had peered at her more than once during the
morning meal.  Rebecca knew she would not return to Munich
without speaking to her.  The three of them left the dining
hall to enter the living room where the tree and gifts
waited.  Rebecca’s cheerful demeanor from receiving a most
unexpected gift in the morning spread to her father and the
servants, leaving everyone, except her mother, in a jovial
mood.
    Four presents sat under the tree for Deseire and Ralph. 
Her parents opened them, revealing a pearl necklace and a broach
for her mutti and a silk neck tie and a leather wallet for her
papa.  One last gift remained for Rebecca from Deseire. 
Rebecca opened the silver wrapped present to find a small white box
much like the box her father had hidden the Audi key in.  She
opened the lid and found a small silver band