Op-Ed

The Red Dahlia

By Mary Foreman - In a small, suburban Iowa town whose idyllic cornfields roll gently over the fertile countryside, lurks an unexpected and vicious perpetrator.  He has mastered his disguise and hides, unsuspected, within the home of an Iowa family, until such time as he can reveal himself and unleash a holy torrent of chaos upon the land.

It may sound like an apocalyptic Stephen King novel, but this perpetrator is very real, as real as the havoc he leaves in his wake, and within his family he is known as the Red Dahlia. 

Named for the infamous "Black Dahlia" mystery of 1947, the "Red" Dahlia is better known as Graham Foreman, a mild-mannered child of only four, often seen sporting a grape jelly Glasgow smile and a twinkle in his eye that suggests his young mind knows more mischief than his unassuming visage would suggest. 

The depth and depravity of that mischief may never be revealed, but for his parents, a series of unexplained and anonymous crimes point to the Red Dahlia and the sticky jam clues inadvertently left in his haste to destroy.   

At this point, no concrete evidence exists to convict him, a fact that troubles this small Midwestern community and confirms the ineffectiveness of our justice system.  So to those who rely on that system for the safety of themselves and their own homes (and the expensive, water-sensitive items within) the case of the Red Dahlia continues to lie cold in the annals of history with the other forgotten mysteries of the 20th and 21st centuries.

 Seriously, everything is sticky, as are the legal and emotional trials to come in the Foreman family.

5/7/2014

Mary Foreman is a tired and shockingly pregnant housewife in eastern Iowa.  Her blog, "It Is What It Is" used to draw heavy traffic from those looking to read her sarcastic banter, but as of late has dropped significantly as the author has chosen sleep or laundry over the strong pull of writing.  Visit Facebook, Pinterest or your local obstetrician's office for further examples of her work.