The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star

This is getting to be quite a habit—having books written about our garden club, that is. And a very pleasant habit, too, we must say!

But we’re not one bit surprised that Mrs. Albert has decided to write another book about us, because every flower has a story to tell. And the story of the Texas Star (that would be Hibiscus coccineus, according to Miss Rogers, who is such a stickler when it comes to Latin names) is more sensational than most. Who could have guessed that the Texas Star herself, Miss Lily Dare—the fastest woman on earth, faster even than Amelia Earhart!—would have chosen our little town to show off her Dare Devils Flying Circus. Or that Miss Dare might be the object of so much envy and hate because of the way she lived her life and . . .

But then, we’d better not say any more about that, because we might steal Mrs. Albert’s thunder and we certainly wouldn’t want to do that. Of course, we were understandably uneasy about a story that involves the secret shenanigans of the husband of one of our very own members. We don’t like to embarrass people we care about. So we sat down and had a serious discussion with Mrs. Albert about whether she ought to write this particular story or go find something else to write about.

But as Mrs. Albert herself is fond of saying, a little truth never hurt anybody very much, except where it ought to. And since everybody in town already knew all there was to know about the situation by the time the Dare Devils flew away, we decided that it was a story that ought to be told. We understand that this husband—whose name you will learn later in this book—has apologized to all concerned and promises to behave himself from now on. (We also hope that all our Darling husbands will profit from seeing his transgressions written up in a book and think twice before they stray too far from the straight and narrow.)

In our garden club, we all love flowers. But we have also planted a big vegetable garden. It is true that flowers are comfort food for the soul. But a big plate of green beans and fatback, stewed okra with tomatoes, buttered corn on the cob, and potato salad can go a long way to comfort a body, especially these days, when jobs and money are scarce as hens’ teeth and everybody’s got something to worry about.

And yes, it’s a sad fact but true: there is just too much grief and too many crooks and cheaters in this world. (We’re not naming any names—we’ll leave that to Mrs. Albert.) But we agree with a French fellow named Marcel Proust, who wrote, “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” So if you’ll excuse us, we’ll pay attention to being happy and hope that our souls will bloom.

And just to make sure, we’ll plant a few pretty flowers along with the beans and okra.

Sincerely yours,

Elizabeth Lacy, President

Ophelia Snow, Vice President & Secretary

Verna Tidwell, Treasurer





The Darling Dahlias Club Roster,

July 1932

CLUB OFFICERS

Elizabeth Lacy, club president. Garden columnist for the Darling Dispatch and secretary to Mr. Moseley, attorney-at-law.

Ophelia Snow, club vice-president and secretary. Linotype operator and sometime reporter at the Darling Dispatch. Wife of Darling’s mayor, Jed Snow.

Verna Tidwell, club treasurer. Acting Cypress County treasurer, manages the Cypress County Probate Clerk’s office.

Myra May Mosswell, communications chairwoman. Co-owner of the Darling Telephone Exchange and the Darling Diner. Lives with Violet Sims and Violet’s baby girl, Cupcake, in the flat over the diner.

CLUB MEMBERS

Earlynne Biddle, a rose fancier. Married to Henry Biddle, the manager at the Coca-Cola bottling plant.

Bessie Bloodworth, proprietor of Magnolia Manor, a boardinghouse for genteel ladies.

Fannie Champaign, proprietor of Champaign’s Darling Chapeaux. Sweet on Charlie Dickens, editor and publisher of the Darling Dispatch.

Mrs. George E. Pickett (Voleen) Johnson, president of the Darling Ladies Guild, specializes in pure white flowers. Married to the owner of the Darling Savings and Trust Bank.

Mildred Kilgore, married to Roger Kilgore, the owner of Kilgore Motors. The Kilgores have a big house near the ninth green of the Cypress Country Club, where Mildred grows camellias.

Aunt Hetty Little, gladiola lover, town matriarch, and senior member of the club. A “regular Miss Marple” who knows all the Darling secrets.

Lucy Murphy, grows vegetables and peaches on a small farm on the Jericho Road. Married to Ralph Murphy, who works on the railroad.

Miss Dorothy Rogers, darling’s librarian. Knows the Latin name of every plant and insists that everyone else does, too. Resident of Magnolia Manor.

Beulah Trivette, artistically talented lover of cabbage roses and other exuberant flowers. Owns Beulah’s Beauty Bower, where all the Dahlias go to get beautiful.

Alice Ann Walker, grows iris and daylilies. Her disabled husband, Arnold, tends the family vegetable garden. Cashier at the Darling Savings and Trust Bank.





ONE




Liz Lacy Is in Charge

Monday Evening, July 11, 1932