There were many warnings from every adult in sight about rose thorns, about avoiding the rose bushes and not touching the rose cuttings. And the admonitions did their work, because Mabel did not get poked by any thorns. All the same, this aura of forbidden danger made the roses seem supernaturally alluring to her. Which meant that the pleasure of being allowed to help Grandma make a small rose arrangement (in a new vase that Mabel had seen unwrapped as a Christmas present earlier in the season) was extreme.