Flower power

This afternoon, I happened to be looking out of the window of my front door when a guy on a bicycle rolled by. He was wearing a pointed plastic helmut, and his pant legs were bound with rubber bands. He was staring at my door. As he wheeled on by, he craned his neck, still staring! Huh?

So I opened my front door, and the screen door, and peered outside. What was the guy looking at?

Oh! I'd forgotten. There, hanging on my doorknob, was a paper basket, with paper flowers (with pipe-cleaner stems) growing out of it. The message glued to the basket from a grade school a couple of blocks away said: "We're celebrating the return of Spring! It's a beautiful day in our neighborhood and we're glad that you're our neighbor! Have a happy May! From the Students and Staff at Central School."

Sure, now I remembered. Central School does this every spring. A May Day basket!

Of course, I realized that the timing isn't exactly a random thing. As it turns out, voters will turn out tomorrow to vote on the latest school levy.

But I prefer to think about a little girl, whose name is Auriana (it was printed, in a childish hand, on the basket), sitting at her desk with her tongue sticking out of one side her mouth, carefully cutting colored contact paper to make a flower. For someone like me.