Jesse Lives! - Pg. 7

“Michael, Jane. Isn’t new love grand? How about a rose or two to celebrate it?”
 
“Johnnie-boy! How’d you get you a fine woman like Sarah? Bet you brought her flowers, right? Just about time you sealed the deal, don’t you think? Right, Sarah? How about a rose?”
 
“Hey Sharleen! Hasn’t Joe’s bought you a rose every Saturday for a month now? How about buying him one?”
 
“How about a rose, Miss Claudie? There’s no shame in buying yourself roses.”
 
“I’ll take half a dozen if you tell me how it is that you speak German.”
 
“How it is? I speak it badly, that’s how. Learned a bit of it when I was in the army. Of course, I’ve forgotten most of it now. Louisa! Won't this pink rose’ll look grand on your new dress?”
 
The woman he had addressed as Louisa was alone. “Jesse,” she said (Now I knew his name!) “how do you do that?” She took the rose Jesse offered and held it against her dress, appraising her reflection in the nearest store window. “It does look good at that.”
 
“Louisa, I don’t know how I do it. I just look. You walk different when you’ve got a new dress on I guess, especially one you designed.” My jaw dropped. The street vendor I had hesitated to associate with was introducing me to a real fashion designer! Seeing the look on my face, Jesse added “Louisa’s a designer at Halston’s. Miss Louisa, this is Miss Claudie. She’s new around here.”
 
“Rosa, actually,” the woman said, offering her hand. “Only Jesse calls me Louisa.”
 
“Another old song,” Jesse murmured.