The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star

Lizzy made another checkmark. “Mildred, you’re next. What’s up with the Odd Fellows? I truly hope they haven’t booked the same carnival they brought in last year.”


“Amen to that,” Aunt Hetty said fervently.

“They wouldn’t dare,” Verna said in a dark tone.

“They didn’t,” Mildred said. “They’ve booked an outfit called Tinker’s Traveling Carnival. The hard times have driven a lot of the smaller carnivals out of business. But they finally located Tinker’s, and they hope it will work out.”

“Tinker’s Traveling Carnival.” Lizzy made a note. “When are they getting in?”

“Thursday night, on the railroad,” Mildred replied. “They’ll set up on Friday and open in time for the Family Fun Night Friday evening.” She looked around the table. “And yes, there will be a Ferris wheel, which the Odd Fellows guarantee will not break down.”

Verna chuckled. “Can the Odd Fellows put that in writing?”

Mildred ignored her. “There will also be a merry-go-round, a pedal-car ride for the kiddies, and games for everybody—shooting gallery, high-striker, baseball throw, coin toss, and darts. Oh, and the usual cotton candy and hot buttered popcorn machines.”

Aunt Hetty shook her head. “Lots of ways for young people to spend money they don’t have, just for a little fun.”

“But people need fun,” Mildred protested. “Especially these days, when everybody is worrying about something.” She sighed heavily.

Lizzy doubted that Mildred had anything to worry about. She and Roger lived a picture-perfect life. They had a beautiful house, a lovely young daughter, and financial security. But now that she thought about it, Lizzie believed that Mildred had been looking a bit wan and worried for the past couple of weeks, as if something serious was bothering her. This was unusual for Mildred, who was usually a happy-go-lucky, carefree person.

“People don’t short themselves where fun is concerned,” Verna put in. “Mr. Greer says movie attendance is better than ever.” Don Greer and his wife Charlotte ran the Palace Theater on the courthouse square. Even though it cost a quarter to see a movie, it was one of the most popular places in town. “He says people would rather skip a meal than miss the latest Gable or Garbo,” she added.

“Well, people won’t have to skip a meal to come to the festival,” Lizzy said. “Admission is only fifteen cents, and that includes free watermelon. Of course, there’s another dollar a car for the air show, and the airplane rides cost a penny a pound per passenger. But people who don’t have a dollar to get onto the airstrip can watch from the fairgrounds.”

At the mention of the air show, everybody brightened. The Darling Lions Club usually sponsored an exhibition golf tournament the same weekend as the Watermelon Festival. But it was hard to entice competitive golfers to Darling and attendance at the tournament had been declining. So this year, the Lions had decided to try something different, in the hope of drawing people from as far away as Mobile and Montgomery.

The new and very exciting event was Lily Dare’s Dare Devils, featuring the gorgeous Texas Star herself, Miss Lily Dare, and her partner, handsome Rex Hart, “King of the Air.”

When the announcement was made a few months before, the people of Darling could scarcely believe their good luck. Miss Dare was one of the most famous female pilots in the country, almost as famous as Amelia Earhart. Airplanes seemed to be on everybody’s mind these days. Just two months before, Miss Earhart had flown solo from Newfoundland to Ireland in 14 hours and 56 minutes—the first woman and only the second person to fly alone across the Atlantic. The first was Colonel Lindbergh, of course, just five years before, in 1927. Miss Earhart looked so much like him—the same cool, direct gaze, the same wide forehead and freckled nose, the same shyly engaging grin—that the newspapers had taken to calling her Lady Lindy.