The pace was frantic, although nothing close to that at the big flower factories across town. That's all right with Alice Umeda, a co-owner who has been in the flower business for "only 35 years."

She knows Valentine's Day can be a demanding lover.

"Not that I hate it, but it's a lot of trouble," Umeda said. "Sometimes it's stressful. Three nights up till midnight. One thing's for sure, we put in a lot of hours."

Umeda got to the shop a little early today, 6 a.m. instead of 6:30 a.m., and figured on working for 12 or 13 hours.

After the post-Sept. 11 depression, people are beginning to feel more romantic, she said.

"I'm glad," she said, an honest smile pushing away the bags beneath her eyes. "It boosts up the morale."

To deal with the crush, she had a full crew, with extra help from Mama.

"My mother is 93 and she's still helping," Umeda said. "My mother keeps telling us to retire. Someday, but I don't know when."

Hanako "Mama" Umeda smiled. She's not the fastest florist, but every stem she slowly, deliberately stuck into a green foam block was perfectly placed.

Everywhere in this tiny shop on Pi'ikoi Street, there were flowers, almost all of them red roses. In vases on the floor. In vases on counters. In vases on shelves.

They came from Monterey, Calif., and as far away as Ecuador, via Miami.

Back in the work area, scraps of baby's breath and leatherleaf ferns littered the worn gray-and-pink-flecked tile floor.

Even as Chunky Yamamura kept cutting stems and arranging flowers, calls came in from men trying to re-define procrastination.

"They just keep calling," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Every year, last minute."

The first delivery went out at 7 a.m. to a banker's wife on Tantalus. Ron Tokuda, a 61-year-old retired meter-reader supervisor for Hawaiian Electric Co., did the honors. He's been helping out with deliveries for about two years.

"People say I have the best job in town," he said, as he loaded the van. Each vase was wedged into a square of foam with a hole in it.

"People are always happy when you bring flowers," he said.

Everett Lau nonchalantly loaded his van. A 23-year-old college student and Hawai'i Air National Guard electrician, Lau is a veteran delivery man.

He said girlfriends always expect more from a guy who works at a flower shop.

"I just tell my girlfriend, the more you ask, the less you get," he said. "But she already got hers."

Of course, she received one-dozen red roses. She got them yesterday, Lau said.

"Since it was on my route."