ecargo13 Feb 2006

Not that it matters (because you wouldn't--and shouldn't--reference it so explicitly), but Valentine's Day, the giving of valentines on Feb 14, has been popular for a long time. (I used to collect ephemera--vintage postcards, paper, etc., and Victorian valentines were popular w/ a lot of folks.) So they would have known of the custom--and the significance of the sweetheart holiday--in all likelihood (even gangsters have to impress the dames with a little romance--initially, anyway).

GW gave you some good crit, and I think she's right that if you wanted that V-day connection, that sense of offering, it's not quite there. But I think even a single, subtle line would do it. (The reader has to be responsible for getting some of it, too.) I think it's what you tried to do in the "lacking even the dignity" line, no? But it got lost in there somewhere.