"Ah, no!" said Biggs. "It is every color but green! Colors by which we designate objects are not their true colors. Quite the reverse. They are the colors those objects reflect.[6] Under the Hertzian wave this precious bud—" He caressed it fondly—"apparently reflected all colors save red. We therefore thought it a normal red rose. But now that we see it under ordinary light, we realize it absorbs the red range as well as all others save the blue."
He shrugged. "So—there you are! And now, darling, if you will allow me, I would like to give you a little anniversary present. The first blue rose ever to be grown—"
But Cap Hanson snatched the bud from his hand feverishly.
"Oh, no, you don't! That there thing goes right back into your fish pond and keeps growin' until we get back to Earth. Which is goin' to be as quick as we can make it, or maybe more so. If you two gotta have an anniversary treat, I'll see to it that Slops whips up a special banquet tonight, complete with champagny-water an' everything. How's that?"
And from the look in Diane's and Lancelot's eyes as they moved toward each other, I guessed it would probably be all right. For when a man and a woman feel that way about each other, they don't really need special dates to celebrate.
Anyhow, Lancelot Biggs had warbled his song of love. "Love sends a little gift of roses." Yeah—blue roses! But what did you expect? That whacky wingding of the spaceways never does anything in a normal way.
Or—does he?
[1] "Every reader possibly knows of the 'Tulip Mania' in Holland (1634 to about 1638 A.D.) when speculation in bulbs became as wild as speculation has been at other times on the Stock Market. A record price of 13,000 florins (equal to about 260,000 florins today, or $104,000 American money) is reported to have been paid during the mania for one bulb of the variety Semper Augustus." Gager: The Plant World.—ED.
[2] For stories of Sparks' experiences with Lancelot Biggs' inventions, see copies of Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories, 1940-1-2.—ED.