That night as Della and Bob Rigsby sat in front of the tall, arched windows looking down on the empty streets of that almost-gone little town, every now and then they heard a swish and a flop as the petals of the full-blown roses turned loose of their stems and spilled onto the shelf.

“I love that so much,” said Bob Rigsby. “Probably the last thing in her whole life she will get right—the name of a rose.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my friends at National Public Radio for their encouragement and generosity through the years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BAILEY WHITE was born in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1950, and she still lives in the same house in which she grew up—on one of those large tracts of virgin longleaf pine woods. The daughter of a writer (her father) and a farmer (her mother), White graduated from Florida State University and was a first-grade teacher for many years before devoting herself to writing and gardening full time. She is a regular commentator on NPR’s award-winning newsmagazine All Things Considered, and she is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers Mamma Makes Up Her Mind and Sleeping at the Starlite Motel.

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