The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady

And yes, things were already happening, interesting or not, depending on your point of view. Next door to the diner on the east, J.D. Henderson, who helped Mr. Musgrove in the hardware store, was burning trash in an old metal barrel behind the store. Across the alley and two doors to the north on Robert E. Lee, Mrs. Vader’s rooster was letting Mr. Vader know that it was high time he jumped out of bed and started for his foreman’s job at the Pine Mill Creek, where another big lumber order from the new CCC camp down by Briar’s Swamp was waiting to be filled. In fact, Camp Briarwood had placed so many orders recently (construction materials for officers’ quarters, a headquarters building, and a mess hall) that Mr. Vader had to get up extra early to supervise the three new men he’d just hired. But he didn’t complain. Everybody was happy that the sawmill was hiring again.

On the other side of Robert E. Lee, Bill Board, the milkman, was whistling as he delivered two quarts of Board’s Best milk and a pint of Board’s Best cream to Mr. and Mrs. Hart and the three little Hart grandchildren, who lived next door to Hart’s Peerless Laundry. Bill Board was whistling because the Harts had not only doubled their dairy order but paid their bill, to boot. The laundry business was flourishing, so much so that the Harts had had to hire two colored girls from Maysville to help with the extra washing. More jobs!

And from the diner’s kitchen window came the not-so-melodic sound of Myra May Mosswell singing along with Bing Crosby’s rendition of “I’ve Got the World on a String.” The song made Violet smile as she bent over and began filling her lard bucket with fresh green beans for the noon lunch. Actually, she thought, she’d better fill two buckets while she was at it. Now that the CCC camp was shifting into high gear, business was picking up nicely. In fact, it had gotten so good that she and Myra May were finally able to pay themselves a halfway decent salary. Under her breath, Violet hummed along with the radio. She had the world on a string and the morning was off to a glorious start.

Which was exactly how she felt for the next, oh, ten minutes or so. After that, the storm clouds began to gather (metaphorically speaking) and the day went downhill in a hurry.


*

In the sunshine-filled kitchen, Myra May glanced up at the clock over the sink. It was six thirty, and the diner would be open for business in a half hour. Violet’s sourdough bread was baking in the oven, and it was time to get the breakfast items started. She opened the refrigerator and took out eggs and milk, in preparation for stirring up pancake batter. On the menu, the pancakes were paired with her mother Raylene’s Southern fried apples and bacon or ham. Raylene’s fried apples had become a big hit with the Darling Diner’s breakfast customers.

Over in the corner, three-year-old Cupcake was dressing her Patsy doll and warbling gleefully with the radio. “Sittin’ on a rainbow, gonna make the rain go!” she crowed, and danced the Patsy doll up and down in time to the music. Seeing the morning sun glint off her soft strawberry curls, Myra May thought that Cupcake was much cuter than little Shirley Temple, the child movie star. She was an even bigger hit with the customers than her grandmother’s fried apples. In fact, she was such a popular little girl that she had been selected as Little Miss Darling for the town’s Fourth of July celebration coming up next week.

On the other side of the kitchen partition, behind the diner’s long counter, Cupcake’s grandmother, Raylene Riggs, had just finished making a pot of coffee, and the aroma of fresh coffee filled the air. Myra May could hear Raylene singing along, too, in her odd little tuneless way: Life’s a wonderful thing as long as I’ve got that string.