The Flower Sisters

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical abuse, rape, and addiction.

The narrative shifts to the night of the explosion in 1928, as a secretly pregnant Violet falls asleep on the couch while waiting for her twin to return from the dance. Rose is attending the dance and pretending to be Violet; she has cut her hair short to match Violet’s as well. Violet dreams of a red lily that keeps escaping her grasp and wakes up when she hears her sister’s screams in her dream.

There is a rumble and a flash outside, and Violet’s mother wakes up to investigate as well. A naked and shaken Smiley turns up outside their door with news of the dance hall explosion. As Mrs. Flowers takes care of Smiley, Violet runs to the dance hall.

Violet remembers the time she taught Rose to dance and confessed her plans to have sex. A blushing Rose rejected this idea for herself; her beau, George Steinkamp, had only kissed her once on the cheek so far.

Now, Violet arrives at the now-destroyed dance hall, calling out for Rose. She has always felt a connection with her sister, and she is worried because that connection is absent now.