The Hours Chapter 16: Mrs. Dalloway Summary

  • We're back in New York City again, but, this time, we find ourselves in a strange apartment with Clarissa's partner, Sally, who is having lunch with Oliver St. Ives and Walter Hardy.
  • Oliver has invited Sally and Walter over so that he can pitch an idea for a movie he wants to make.
  • Sally isn't sure if backers or critics will go for it. Oliver's idea is to make an action thriller with an openly gay hero, whose "companion" would also be his sidekick.
  • As the lunch meeting wraps up, Sally realizes that Oliver and Walter will probably go ahead with their plans without her. She doesn't feel too glum about it, but it makes her feel a little abandoned all the same.
  • Walter and Sally walk out together when it's time to go, and, as they make small talk, Walter stops in front of a high-end clothing store. He decides to go in to buy a shirt for his partner, Evan, and he drags Sally along with him.
  • After watching Walter shop around for a few minutes, Sally makes her escape and leaves.
  • Sally decides that she'd like to find something for Clarissa while she's out, and so she stops at a flower stall on her way home. Eventually, she settles on a bouquet of yellow roses.
  • When Sally gets home, she finds Clarissa sitting glumly on the living room couch. She wonders for a moment if she's done something wrong, or failed to do something that she was supposed to, but things become clear when Clarissa tells her that Louis Waters, Julia, and Mary Krull have all been to visit that morning.
  • The women laugh together when they realize that they've both brought yellow roses home, and Sally thinks happily of all the years that they have gone on loving each other.