The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree

“Well, I guess a little sun won’t melt us,” Ophelia answered. “Beulah got a good do on your hair,” she said. “Looks pretty.” She was rewarded with a tart smile.

In the kitchen, Ophelia saw that Florabelle had finished and gone home. She glanced at the clock. It was only three. She needed to telephone Bessie Bloodworth and tell her that she’d be glad to help out with the garden work the next day, morning or afternoon, whatever was best for Bessie. She wouldn’t ask her about that ghost, though. If she did, everybody listening in on the party line would hear it. She’d ask her tomorrow.

And after she finished talking to Bessie, she’d make some tapioca pudding and open a jar of those spiced peaches she had put up last summer. Peaches and tapioca pudding—Jed’s favorite dessert, to go with his sandwich. It wouldn’t hurt to be a little nice to him, after his disappointment.

And while she was at it, she’d make some peach cobbler. It was her turn to host the Monday night game of hearts, and the Dahlias loved her cobbler.





EIGHT


Verna Tidwell, Amateur Sleuth Verna and Lizzy ate their Monday lunch on the courthouse lawn, as usual, under the chinaberry tree. Today, they were joined by Alice Ann Walker, an enthusiastic Dahlia and one of the two cashiers at the Darling Savings and Trust Bank. Alice Ann’s husband, Arnold, had lost a leg in a railroad accident and was now permanently disabled, so Alice Ann was the family’s chief breadwinner. She’d been at the bank since she graduated from high school and was a more-or-less permanent fixture there. A few moments later, Myrtle Suggs sat down with them. Myrtle worked in dress goods at Mann’s Mercantile and did Mr. Mann’s bookkeeping. She brought a cheese-and-bacon sandwich and a hard-boiled egg. Alice Ann had brought her usual peanut-butter-and-grape-jelly sandwich. She had a grape arbor in her garden and made enough jelly to give every Dahlia a jar at Christmastime.

Since the four of them worked around the square and could see what was going on with Darling’s businesses, their conversation was a little gloomy. Verna (from her vantage point in the probate office) said that property tax collection in Cypress County was down and the county commissioners were wondering where in the world they were going to find the money to fix the bridge over Pine Mill Creek that got washed out in the April rains.

Alice Ann said that it had been an unusual morning at the bank. “Seems like half the town is taking their money out of their accounts. When I left, there were three people waiting in line.” She leaned forward and added that foreclosures were up and about to go higher, and that if she named names, they would all be surprised at who was about to get foreclosed. But they wouldn’t have to wait too much longer to find out, because the list of properties the bank intended to sell would be in the Dispatch at the end of the month. Everybody would get to read it.

Myrtle, not to be outdone, said that if she told them who in town was so far behind in what they owed at the Mercantile that Mr. Mann wasn’t letting them have any more credit, they would probably have a big laugh, because it was good comeuppance for some who lorded it over others. But of course that list would never be in the newspaper, so maybe she should just whisper a few names— Lizzy said no, she shouldn’t, because things were hard enough for people without having their dirty laundry hung out all over town for everybody to see and point fingers, and anyway, judging from the number of bankruptcies that Mr. Moseley was filing, lots of folks were in the same sad situation. At which Myrtle had the grace to look ashamed and say that she was just having a little fun but maybe it wasn’t funny after all. She changed the subject.

“Anybody goin’ to the Elks’ picnic on Saturday?” she asked brightly, and the conversation moved on to other things while they all finished eating, then folded up their lunch bags and got ready to go back to work.

“I wonder where Bunny is,” Lizzy said to Verna as the others left. “You know, I think I actually miss her. I get impatient with her because she’s such a silly kid, but when she’s around, she keeps us from getting so down in the dumps. She always finds something to tease us about and make us laugh.”

“I’m curious, too,” Verna said. “First time she’s skipped lunch in quite a while.” Verna agreed with Lizzy about Bunny. Her perfume and makeup and flouncy ways were sort of silly, but it was a youthful silliness that livened you up when you were feeling dark and gloomy. “Maybe she just got busy at the drugstore. I’ll drop in and say hi.”

Lizzy nodded. “See you at Ophelia’s tonight for hearts?”

“I’ll be there,” Verna said. “What are you bringing?”

“Haven’t decided,” Lizzy said. “Cookies, I guess. That’s easiest. I’ll have time to bake after work. See you tonight”