The Price of Flowers
"The Price of Flowers" is a story written by P.K.Mukhopadhyay. Gupta was an Indian living in London. Once he met an english girl in a vegetarian restaurant. Her name was Alcie Margaret Clifford. She was called Maggie. She was thirteen years old. She was working as atypist in a nearby office. She belonged to a poor family. Shw wanted to know if Gupta was an Indian. Her brother Frank was in Military service in India. India was supposed to be a land of tigers, snakes and fevers. So her mother was anxious about her son.
Gupta offered to go with Maggie to her house to meet her mother. He told the mother that she need not worry about her son's safety in India. He was shown a crystal ring sent by Frank. The mother and the daughter wanted him to look into the crystal ring and say how Frank was. But Gupta told them that he would not see any thing. Later he became close to the family. He took Maggie out several times.
One day Gupta received news that Maggie's mother was not well. He went to their house immediately. Maggie told him that her mother was worried about her son and hence sick. She wanted him to gaze into the crystal again and say that the son was safe. Gupta did not hestitate to tell such a lie to the mother. The mother soon became well.
Later Gupta was shocked to learn that Frank had died in the war. He had died even before the false information was given to the mother. Gupta felt very sad about it. He was leaving for India to take up anew job. Maggie met him before his departure. She gave him a shilling to buy flowers and place them on her brother's grave in Punjab. After she had gone Gupta wiped the tears from his eyes and went upstairs to pack this bags.
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