With a cup of tea and two of her own cookies, Bessie settled herself in Beulah’s haircutting chair. “That’s wonderful news, Fannie!” She chuckled wryly. “It sure took that man long enough to see the light. What finally brought him around?”
“I think Verna had something to do with it,” Fannie said. “She and I had a little talk, then she had a little talk with him, and then he—” She stopped, coloring. “Well, you know. I really shouldn’t say another word.”
“I’ll have pink,” Earlynne said. “No, do me in red, Fannie. A girl has to live dangerously every now and then.” She smiled. “And maybe I’ll have you make me a red newsboy cap, like the one you made for Verna. Myra May and Violet said that Mr. Duffy fell head over heels for her the minute he saw her in that cap.”
“Red it is,” Fannie replied, uncapping the little bottle of nail polish. “And haven’t I always said that hats can work miracles?”
“I’ll tell you what would be a miracle,” Earlynne said knowingly. “If Verna fell for Mr. Duffy, that’s what. You know how unsentimental that woman is.”
Fannie lifted an eyebrow. “Stranger things have happened.” She looked down at Earlynne’s hand and clucked her tongue. “What have you been doing to your nails, Earlynne?”
“Digging in the garden.” Earlynne made a face. “I hope you can do something with them.”
Beulah lifted the metal hair dryer bonnet off Aunt Hetty and felt to see if the curls were dry. “That’ll do you, Aunt Hetty,” she said and turned off the dryer. Going back to Alice Ann’s question, she added, “Liz promised to be back in time to start the planning for the Dahlias fall flower show, Alice Ann. She may be back on weekends, too. Her mama’s not just real good. She’s taken to her bed.”
“Her mama’s sulking about Grady Alexander,” Aunt Hetty said darkly. To the group, she added, “Ophelia is acting president while Liz is in Montgomery, so if you’ve got any flower show questions, you can ask her.”
“And while Liz is gone,” Earlynne put in, “Ophelia is also working half-time for Mr. Moseley. She’s doing the typing part of Liz’s job.”
Aunt Hetty got out of the hair dryer chair and stretched to get the kinks out. “Well, if you ask me,” she remarked, “it’s a good time for Liz to get away, with Grady Alexander getting married and buying the old Harrison house and installing his new wife there.” She paused. “His pregnant wife.”
Alice Ann met Aunt Hetty’s eyes in the mirror. “So you know for sure that the new Mrs. Alexander is pregnant?”
Aunt Hetty nodded. “That’s what Grady told Liz and Liz told Verna and Verna told me. The baby’s due in six months.” She counted on her fingers. “That makes it mid-October.”
“They ate their supper before they said grace, as my grandmother used to say,” Alice Ann remarked.
Beulah went back to the chair where Bessie was sitting and shook out a pink cape. “I don’t think anybody from Darling went to the wedding,” she said, “out of respect for Liz.” She tied the cape around Bessie’s neck.
Bessie put her teacup on the counter and adjusted the cape across her lap. “I don’t know what Grady Alexander is thinking, moving his new wife here to Darling. You’d think that man would have better sense, wouldn’t you?”
Aunt Hetty gave a snort. “Well, my daddy always said that somebody who pets a live catfish ain’t crowded with brains. I guess that goes for Grady.”
“I can’t imagine anybody will want to make a friend of her,” Alice Ann said. “That would be an insult to our Liz.” She sniffed. “And really, we just can’t have that kind of behavior right here in Darling.”
Beulah cleared her throat and everybody fell silent. They knew there was a limit to the amount and kind of gossip she tolerated at the Bower. Beulah—who believed that you couldn’t be truly beautiful on the outside if you weren’t beautiful on the inside as well—wanted all her clients to think beautiful thoughts whenever possible. She always said she just couldn’t do much with a person whose thoughts were mostly mean and ugly, because her hair wouldn’t behave right. It would be all snarled and snarly.
Aunt Hetty went over to the table and refilled her teacup. “I think if folks had a choice, they would’ve rather gone to Rider LeDoux’s funeral than Grady Alexander’s wedding. I did.”
“Was it good?” Bettina picked up the clipper and ran it up the back of Alice Ann’s neck. “Were there many there?”
“Why, half the county,” Aunt Hetty said. “I went ’cause Mrs. LeDoux is a second cousin on my mother’s side, but I would’ve been glad to go, even if we weren’t kin. It was a grand funeral, with all kinds of music—fiddle and banjo and harmonica, accordion, too. And hymns, of course. Oh, my goodness, the hymns! ‘Life’s Railway to Heaven’ and ‘In the Sweet By and By’ and of course ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Rock of Ages.’ And then we all went to the graveyard, which is right out behind the church, and after Rider was in the ground, we had potluck.”
“Somebody said there was a lot of food,” Beulah said, combing out Bessie’s thin gray hair. “Bessie, you need to work on your hair, hon. Before you shampoo next time, just beat yourself an egg until it’s nice and bubbly and add a spoonful of honey and stir it in. Then wet your hair and massage the egg and the honey in just real good, all the way to the ends, and wrap it up in a towel for ten minutes or so. Then shampoo it out.”
“I’ll do it, Beulah,” Bessie said. “I’ve been a little worried about the way it’s thinning out on top.”
“Food, oh, my, yes.” Aunt Hetty nodded emphatically. “There was more food than you could shake a stick at! Rider’s daddy roasted a pig and there was baked turkey and fried chicken and potato salad and so many cakes and pies you couldn’t count them. Rider would have been proud to see so much food laid out and his friends all dressed up in their Sunday best. And of course, Mickey and Tom-Boy were there. They set a few jugs on a bench out behind the barn, so the men who wanted could have that last swig of moonshine. It’ll be a while before Mickey makes any more.”
“Mickey and Tom-Boy!” Bettina stopped in midsnip. “I thought they were in jail!”
“They were,” Earlynne said. “But they got out on Friday night, just for the funeral.”
Bettina’s mouth fell open. “You mean, they escaped? There was a jailbreak?”
“Well, sort of.” Earlynne laughed. “Actually, it was Deputy Buddy Norris’ idea. He knew they wanted to go to that funeral in the worst way, and Judge McHenry had already told them they couldn’t. So he let them tie him up to a chair there in the jail and stuff a gag in his mouth, which is where the sheriff found him—after Mickey and Tom-Boy called in a tip to the Telephone Exchange a couple of hours later.”
“And then,” Aunt Hetty continued the story, “when the funeral and the burying and the eating were all over and done with and everybody went home, Rider’s daddy drove Mickey and Tom-Boy to the jail and they went in and locked themselves back in their cells. That’s where they are now, waiting for the circuit judge to come and hear their case. They’ll get two years, likely, but they’ll be out in ten months, is what I heard. The state doesn’t like to buy groceries for moonshiners.” She laughed a little. “And then they’ll go back to making moonshine, most likely.”
“Not if Agent Kinnard has anything to say about it,” Alice Ann said. “He was in the diner, talking to Mr. Musgrove. Myra May overheard him say that when Mickey got out, he—Agent Kinnard, that is—was going to hound him to the end of his days. He means to make sure there’s gonna be no more moonshine.”
“Speaking of Mr. Musgrove,” Bessie said, “I heard that he figured out who bought that red barn paint that ended up all over the Johnsons’ front porch. And that Artis Hart at the Peerless Laundry took in four white sheets with mud all over them. Sheriff Burns has the list of names. He told Mr. Musgrove he thought he’d have them repaint the porch and scrub the walk and fix up Mrs. Johnson’s garden.�
�
“That ought to teach them,” Bettina said with satisfaction.
“Well, if I was Agent Kinnard, I would watch out for myself,” Aunt Hetty said. “There are plenty in Darling who think Mickey hung the moon, so to speak. They’re counting the days until he’s back in business.”
Blowing on her bright red nails, Earlynne said, “I didn’t go to Rider’s funeral because I don’t know the LeDoux family, but Mr. Johnson was a deacon in the Methodist church where I go, so I went to his funeral.” She rolled her eyes. “It was so solemn and just lovely. There were banks of flowers all over the place, and the choir wore their white robes and sang ‘Shall We Gather at the River’ with Mrs. LeVaughn at the piano and Mary Lea Gerard singing the high soprano part. Voleen Johnson made such a beautiful widow, dressed in a new black suit and a gorgeous black hat with a black veil that she got in Mobile, I am sorry to say, Fannie.” She nodded apologetically at Fannie Champaign. “I’m sure you would have made an even more beautiful one for her, dear. But you know Voleen. She’s got to get her hats in the big city.”
“Everybody’s going to miss Mr. Johnson,” Beulah said sadly. Then she cheered up. “But I think it’s just wonderful that Mrs. Johnson and Miss Tallulah LaBelle are going to be partners in the bank. Have you heard that?”
Aunt Hetty frowned. “Has that news got out already?”
“Well, it’s nothing official, the way I understand it,” Beulah said. “But Verna told me that Mr. Duffy has talked to both of them. Mr. Moseley has drawn up the paperwork for them to sign, and the bank in New Orleans has agreed. Maybe there’ll be a piece in the Dispatch on Friday.”
“Well,” Aunt Hetty said in a knowing tone, “things are likely to be a little bit exciting when those two women start working together.”
“Why, how’s that?” Bettina wanted to know.
“Because . . .” Aunt Hetty stopped. “Well, it’s a long story, and it goes back quite a ways. We’ll just have to hear it another time.”
And with that, the Dahlias had to be satisfied.
Recipes
In the 1930s, many Southerners lived where fresh unhomogenized, unpasteurized milk was readily available, and many households produced their own butter, buttermilk, cream, and naturally soured cream. Many recipes from the period call for sour cream. The Southern cook would have understood that soured “top milk” could also be used. (When unhomogenized milk was allowed to sit, the cream rose to the top and was skimmed off. The layer just below the cream was “top milk,” and had slightly less butterfat than the cream itself.) Now, sour cream is commercially produced and is less often used as an ingredient in baked foods.
Raylene’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie
Most Darling cooks would never dream of using coriander in a pie. But that’s what makes Raylene Riggs’ cooking so special. She does the undreamed of—and everybody raves.
3 cups fresh rhubarb, thinly sliced, or sliced frozen rhubarb*
1 pint fresh strawberries, halved
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon coriander
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
TOPPING:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup cold butter, cut in small pieces
Sour cream for serving
Preheat oven to 400°F. Put rhubarb and strawberries in a large bowl and gently stir to mix. In a medium bowl, beat egg and vanilla. Beat in sugar, coriander, and flour, mixing well. Pour over fruit and stir to combine. Pour into pie shell.
For the topping, mix flour, brown sugar, oats, and nutmeg in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
*If you’re using frozen rhubarb, measure it while it is frozen. Thaw in a colander to drain, but do not press out the juice.
Mrs. Meeks’ Rhubarb-and-Sour-Cream Cake
Mrs. Meeks runs a boardinghouse for men only near the railroad tracks in Darling. She likes to make hearty desserts that go a long way. She says, “This cake can be made with either fresh or canned rhubarb. If you use fresh, be sure and slice it thin. If you run out of rhubarb and your zucchini plants have started producing, you can substitute 3 cups of sliced zucchinis and 1 cup of canned pineapple and a teaspoon of powdered ginger.” Mrs. Meeks says there are lots of ways to skin a cat.
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sour cream
4 cups sliced rhubarb (½-inch pieces)
⅓ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter an 8-by-5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment or waxed paper. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3–4 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Fold in flour and baking powder alternately with sour cream and rhubarb. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and sprinkle over cake mixture. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into middle of cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before turning out.
Bessie Bloodworth’s Sour Cream Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ cups chopped pecans
TOPPING:
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease baking sheets. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and sour cream; mix well. Stir flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into shortening mixture to make a stiff dough. Add chopped pecans. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. For the topping, mix sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Lightly grease the bottom of a small drinking glass. Dip it into topping mixture and gently press cookies to flatten balls of dough slightly. Bake at 350° for 10–15 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on rack.
Sally-Lou’s Pecan-and-Sour-Cream Coffee Cake
This recipe uses pecans, a favorite that is readily available everywhere in the South, and sour cream. Soured top milk or even buttermilk could also be used. This cake, baked in a tube pan, was often served for breakfast or as a teatime treat.
TO DUST THE TUBE PAN:
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
TO MAKE THE CAKE:
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, mix ½ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. To prepare tube pan, butter it well and coat
it liberally with sugar-cinnamon mixture.
To make the cake: Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Blend sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with sour cream. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.
To make the topping: Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Cut in butter. With your fingers, rub ingredients into a sandy, crumbly mixture. Add pecans and mix. Sprinkle mixture over cake batter.
Bake until risen and browned, about 35–40 minutes. Let cool in pan then turn out. You may need to run a thin knife around tube to free up cake. Serve topping-side up, in slices.
Twyla Sue’s Moonshine Mustard
In a time and place where moonshine was locally produced, many cooks made use of it in everyday cooking. Twyla Sue’s mustard is a good example. Moonshine was also used to flavor cakes (especially holiday fruitcakes), cookies, pies, and meat dishes.
½ cup yellow mustard seeds
½ cup black mustard seeds
4 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons flour
½–1 teaspoon chili powder or cayenne (optional)
⅔ cup cider vinegar
⅔ cup whiskey
½ cup honey
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon salt
Grind mustard seeds to a powder, using a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle. In a nonreactive bowl, mix mustard powder with water and leave for half an hour. Add flour with cayenne or chili powder (choose how much heat you want) and mix well. Add vinegar, whiskey, honey, nutmeg, and salt and mix until well blended. Cover and let stand overnight. The next day, check for consistency: if dry, add more honey, if thin, add a teaspoon of flour. The mustard will continue to thicken. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Put in a cool, dark place to mature for 2–3 weeks. Refrigerate after opening.
Raylene’s Sautéed Liver, with Apples and Onions
Many Southerners like their liver breaded and fried, Louisiana style, or boiled and made into “liver mush” (a liver paté made with cornmeal), which is sliced and fried for breakfast. Raylene prefers to sauté her liver and serve it with apples and caramelized onions. This recipe will serve two.
The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush Page 27