When the end of the school day arrived, but flowers had not, Manchester teacher Carolyn Phillips figured her husband would bring them home instead.
And she had just a moment to wonder if he forgot about Valentine's Day for the first time in their 22-year marriage, when a dozen North Carroll High School singers skipped into her fourth-grade classroom to serenade her, courtesy of her husband, Carroll Phillips.
For a $20 donation to their trip fund, the North Carroll Ensemble will deliver a singing telegram. Anywhere from four to a dozen of the 20 students in the ensemble will show up in red sequined dresses, tuxedos and white gloves for an a cappella medley that starts out festive and ends on a sweet note.
It has to be after school hours, and they have a small repertoire. But they offer a love song for Valentine's Day or an anniversary, and a birthday medley.
"We were high school sweethearts at North Carroll," Mrs. Phillips said, still holding a bunch of red and white balloons the students handed her as they sang "When I Fall in Love" and "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," the latter with the boys on bended knee.
Then they danced out to the same song they entered on, "Celebrate," the one performed by Kool and the Gang.
Mary Alice Steger, first-grade teacher and Mrs. Phillips' cousin, was in cahoots with Mr. Phillips, and had a video camera ready to tape the serenade, because he couldn't be there. "He says his brownie points are good for at least 10 years," Mrs. Steger said.
"Definitely," Mrs. Phillips said. "But he's a special husband."
The ensemble has been singing for hire for two years, and is banking the money toward travel expenses for a show choir competition in Williamsburg, Va., in April.
Members got the idea from a student whose brother attended a university where student singers delivered telegrams for a fee, said Chuck O'Day, choral director for North Carroll High.
The idea seemed like a good one, and more relevant to their love of singing than selling candy and pizzas. Parent volunteers Lynn Sanders and Linda Dearing schedule the serenades and drive the students. Mrs. Sanders' son, Scott, graduated last year from North Carroll, but she has stayed with the project.
For junior Jamie Bolster, delivering singing telegrams is gratifying when the recipients appreciate them, though they're often embarrassed. "Usually older people can handle it better than younger people," she said. When they delivered a birthday telegram to the father of one of the ensemble members, he was moved to tears, she said.
Yesterday, the students split into two groups to fill as many requests as possible. They had to turn down about four people, and still hopped from one destination to the next from 3:30 p.m. into the late evening, but not too late.
"It is a school night," Jamie said.