The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star

“That’ll be the day!” Bessie Bloodworth hooted.

“What I want to know,” Bettina said, “is what’s going to happen to Miss Flame. Is it true that she’s in jail in Pensacola?” Peering into the mirror, she patted Aunt Hetty’s white hair. “What do you think, Miz Little? Does it look all right to you?” She brushed the back of Aunt Hetty’s neck and took off the cape with a flourish. “Here. Tell me what you think.” She handed Aunt Hetty a mirror.

“Looks just beautiful, child,” Aunt Hetty said, turning so that she could see the back of her head. “Real professional.”

“Professional.” Bettina beamed. “Thank you, Miz Little. I just love to hear that word. I try so hard to be a professional!”

Verna took Aunt Hetty’s place in the barber chair and Aunt Hetty went to sit where Verna had been sitting. “To answer your question, Bettina, Buddy Norris took Angel Flame—Mabel Hopkins, her real name is—down to Pensacola on the Greyhound. They put her through the lineup and she’s been charged. And yes, she’s in the jail, for now.”

“Mr. Moseley says that Angel will probably hire a lawyer who will try to get her some sort of plea deal,” Lizzy added, as Beulah wound another curler. “Whatever happens, she won’t be performing with the Dare Devils again. And Miss Dare said that if she has anything to do with it, Angel won’t be wingwalking with any of the other flying circuses. She’s going to spread the word that Angel can’t be trusted.”

Roger and Mildred had already talked to Mr. Moseley about pressing extortion charges, but they hadn’t yet decided what to do. If Mr. Moseley could get Angel to give back the nine hundred dollars she got under false pretenses, they would probably let the matter drop. But of course, Lizzy didn’t say any of this out loud, since it was a legal matter and she never talked about what went on in Mr. Moseley’s office.

“I thought Mildred’s party was a great success,” Bessie Bloodworth remarked, from her place under the electric permanent wave machine.

“Yes, it was,” Verna agreed. “A complete success. The weather, the food, everything.”

Beulah started on the hair at the back of Lizzy’s head. “You looked just beautiful in that gray dress, Liz. And your hair—well, it was just gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I got a really good do on you that time.” She smiled at Lizzy in the mirror. “It was a dang shame that Grady Alexander wasn’t there to see you.”

Lizzy returned the smile. “Poor Grady. I can’t believe that DeeDee Davis did that to him—and she was Miss Congeniality, too!”

“What did DeeDee Davis do to Mr. Alexander?” Bettina asked curiously. She unwound the pink towel from Verna’s head. “I don’t think I heard about that.”

“Why, she stood him up for her old boyfriend, Tookie Turner,” Aunt Hetty said. She was leafing through Verna’s magazine while she waited for Bettina to do her manicure. “Grady showed up all decked out in his black tie to take her to the party and DeeDee’s mother told him that she had eloped with Tookie Tucker just that afternoon.”

“Eloped!” Bessie Bloodworth exclaimed. “With Tookie Tucker?” She rolled her eyes. “She’ll rue the day she said yes to that young man, you all mark my words.”

“Eloped,” Bettina murmured. “Poor Mr. Alexander. Must have spoiled his evening.”

“Spoiled it so much that he decided not to come to the party,” Verna said with an ironic laugh. “Went home and took off his dinner jacket and sulked, was the way I heard it. Doctored himself with a big dose of Mickey LeDoux’s medicine.” Melba Jean, one of the women who worked in Verna’s office, lived next door to the house where Grady lived with his mother, and she and Mrs. Alexander were back-fence buddies.

“A nice piece of humble pie won’t do Grady Alexander one bit of harm,” Aunt Hetty said firmly. “Don’t mean to be hard on him, but that young man thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”

Lizzy wouldn’t have admitted it, but she was glad that Grady hadn’t shown up at the party with Miss Cotton of Monroeville. It would have completely spoiled what was an otherwise very nice get-together, with great food (the ladies from the Darling Diner had come up with an amazing assortment of tasty dishes), and pleasant company. There was even dancing, to the tune of the Kilgores’ Victrola rather than the band Mildred had originally planned to hire. (The cost of the party had begun to worry her, apparently.)