petal

To the side, women wailed, beating their chests or throwing fistfuls of rice and rose petals.

But everyone is at least a little insincere, even the killer, whose mocking arrangements of rose petals and dismembered organs resemble a high school promposal.

In between the customers, vendors were constantly on the move, expertly shifting buckets of flowers from nearby coolers onto the floor or stripping faded petals and leaves from new bunches of flowers.

Its deep crimson color and complex bloom — a crowded whorl of ruffled petals that coalesce in the center to form a heart — add an element of visual intrigue.

It is time, once again, to test the mettle of those petals.