The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star

The Boss took his cigar out of his mouth. “My gawd a-mighty,” he blurted out in his gravelly voice. “Just like they do it in the movies.”


“The fastest woman in the world,” Roger Kilgore said. He sounded almost reverent.

“What’s she doing, Daddy?” Sarah whispered fearfully. “Why is she upside down?”

“She’s looping the loop, Sarah,” Jed Snow replied.

“She’s doing an inside loop!” young Sam Snow shouted, hopping from one foot to the other. “An inside loop!”

“Is she going to crash?” Anxious, Sarah reached for her father’s hand. “Daddy, is she going to crash?”

“Not a chance,” Roger Kilgore put in. There was a note of pride in his voice. “You are watching the number one female stunt pilot in the country. In the world, by damn. She’s done this maneuver a thousand times.”

Lizzy watched, her heart in her mouth, as Miss Dare flew the Jenny upside down for what seemed an endless stretch of time, then pulled the nose down into a steep vertical dive, down and down and down until it seemed that she was aimed straight as an arrow at the earth.

The men gasped. Sarah turned and buried her eyes in her father’s sleeve. “She’s going to crash!” she cried. “She’ll be dead!”

But she didn’t crash. At the very last moment, Miss Dare pulled up from her dive, leveled out at the southern end of the field and brought the plane to a perfect landing as a great shout went up. While Lizzy had been keeping her eyes on the skies, a cheering, noisy crowd of fifteen or twenty men and boys had materialized as if out of nowhere—actually, they had run over from the fairgrounds, where they were working.

As the plane taxied up and Miss Dare climbed out, they stampeded onto the airstrip and she was surrounded. There was so much commotion, it looked like Charles Lindbergh had just dropped down out of the sky, and that the crowd had mistaken Miss Dare for Lucky Lindy and the Mystery Ship Texas Star for the Spirit of St. Louis.

But that was not the case, for a chant went up as Miss Dare climbed out of her plane. “Lily Dare! Lily Dare!” some people cried, pushing forward, while others chanted “Texas Star! Texas Star!” A lesser woman might have been frightened, but the aviatrix was handling her adoring public with confident aplomb. Dressed in a sleek leather jacket and white jodhpurs, white helmet, and red scarf, she stripped off her gloves, signed a few autographs, allowed several snapshots, then made her way toward the small group waiting in front of the shed, the crowd parting to let her pass.

And then what did she do? She walked straight up to Roger Kilgore, put both hands on his lapels, and kissed him on the cheek. In a low, sultry voice she murmured, “Roger, my dear, it’s oh, so good to see you again,” as if the two of them were utterly alone.

Roger might look like Clark Gable, but he didn’t act like Gable. Suddenly red-faced, he took a clumsy step backward, grasped Miss Dare’s hands and pushed them away.

“On b-b-behalf of the Lions of Darling,” he stuttered, “w-w-welcome to our little town.”

“Yes, welcome to Darling,” Sarah Snow cried, rushing up to her with the lilies. “These are for you, Miss Dare. And I’m so glad you didn’t crash!”

“Why, thank you, my dear,” Miss Dare said, smiling. She took the flowers. “Lilies—how very sweet of you. And no, I never crash. It’s bad for business.” She smiled at Sam, who squirmed and blushed to the roots of his hair. “And what a swell sign, young man. I am honored.”

Then came the introduction to Mr. Tombull, who clutched his straw hat to his stomach and gazed soulfully at her, stumbling all over his short welcoming speech. The Boss was clearly and totally smitten. And Roger, too, Lizzy thought. The flush had ebbed from Roger’s face and he was quite pale. But although he was standing well back from Miss Dare, he watched her hungrily, as if he couldn’t get enough of looking at her. As if, Lizzy thought, he wanted to reach out and pull her to him and never let her go.

Then Miss Dare saw Charlie and turned eagerly toward him. “And here’s my old friend Charlie Dickens,” she cried, blowing him a kiss. “Hey, Charlie, it’s swell to see you!” She pulled off her leather flying helmet and shook out her very dark hair. She stepped close to Roger, smiling and posing prettily. “Be a peach and take our picture, won’t you, Charlie? I would just love to have a photo of Roger and me together.”