by Julia Watts
“Good god, Mother, how much did you pay for all that crap?” Ben asked.
“Now, Benny Jack, don’t you say a word. A mamaw’s got to splurge on her only granddaughter a little bit. We just went over to the Little Princess shop in Callahan, and then after that we stopped at McDonald’s for a Happy Meal.” Jeanie scooped Mimi up in her arms. “And Lord, you shoulda seen this girl put away them Chicken McNuggets!”
“She’s...she’s never eaten meat before.” Lily had pledged to raise Mimi a vegetarian, at least until she got old enough to make her own dietary decisions.
“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Jeanie said. “She eat them Chicken McNuggets like she was going to the chair.”
It was so easy, Lily thought, to plan how you would raise your child — to say with absolute certainty the things you would and would not do. But once the child got exposed to outside influences, all those plans were shot to hell. “Well ... Mimi, I guess we’d better get you home for your nap. You’ve had quite a day.” She picked her daughter up. Her new dress must have added five pounds to her weight. Or maybe it was the Chicken McNuggets. “Thank you, Jeanie, for taking her shopping and ... taking care of her.”
As they walked out of the building, Ben said, “You look like you’ve been poleaxed.”
“I’m just overwhelmed. The house, the car ...” When she set Mimi in her car seat, Mimi’s lacy petticoat flew up high enough to obscure her little face. “And Mimi ... god ... leave her with your mother for two hours and...”
“She becomes a meat-eating femme fatale?”
Lily’s laugh gave way to an uneasy sigh. She leaned against the car. “Maybe having the Maycombs over for dinner will work things out. I just want this whole custody thing taken care of as soon as possible. It’s scary how fast stuff can change your life, y’know?” She wiped away a stray tear, missing Charlotte.
“I know.” Ben gave her a little pat before he headed to his car. “I’ll see you back at the house, okay?”
“Okay.”
Lily slid into the driver’s seat. “So Mimi-saurus,” she said, “how ’bout we go back to the house and take a nap?”
“No nap!” Mimi screamed from her car seat. “Go McDonald’s!”
CHAPTER 8
When Ben, Lily, and Mimi returned to the big McGilly house, a huge black animal was sprawled on the porch. “Oh, shit,” Ben swore. “Mordecai’s gotten out of his pen again.”
“Excuse me?” Lily said.
“The dog. Mother and Daddy’ve been keeping him in the pen out back since we got here. They were afraid he’d scare Mimi.”
Lily paused before opening the car door. “Is he dangerous?”
“He was when he was younger, but now he’s just old and cantankerous. He sleeps and farts most of the time. He’s always been good with kids, though, and if you call him by his name, he knows you’re friendly and won’t bother you.”
Just to be safe, Lily carried Mimi extra high on her hip when they reached the porch.
“Mordecai!” Ben called when they approached the door.
The rottweiler raised his huge head, glanced at Ben, and lowered it again.
“Cow!” Mimi exclaimed delightedly.
“He’s a doggie, sweetie,” Lily corrected her, “but he’s just about big enough to be a cow. His name’s Mordecai.”
At the sound of his name, Mordecai looked up at Lily and wagged his stumpy tail.
“Wow,” Ben said, unlocking the front door, “that’s the most energy I’ve seen him expend in years.”
When they walked into the house, Mordecai followed Lily close behind. At the stairs she said,
“You wait here, Mordecai. I’m gonna put Mimi down for her nap.”
When Lily came back downstairs, Mordecai was still sitting there dutifully. When she sat on the living room sofa, he joined her there, his bulky body occupying the length of the sofa, his huge head in Lily’s lap.
“That’s amazing,” Ben said. “I’ve never seen him act that way around anybody.”
“Well,” Lily said, stroking Mordecai’s huge head. “I’m afraid he scores more points than you do in the doting-husband category.” She sighed at the thought of having to contact the Maycombs. “But if you want to improve your score, you can hand me the phone. I believe we have a dinner invitation to proffer.”
Lily dialed the Maycombs’ number and waited nervously for an answer. After three rings, Charlotte’s mother trilled a melodic “Hello.”
Shit, Lily thought, before she dialed, she should have figured out what she was going to say. “Um, hi, Mrs. Maycomb? This is Lily.”
“Lily Fox?”
How many Lilys do you know, old woman? she thought, but she said sweetly, “Yes, although that’s not my last name anymore. I...married recently.”
“Married?” Ida Maycomb squawked like a mynah. “To a man?”
Well, sort of. “Why, yes, of course. I’m Mrs. Ben McGilly now,” Lily said, gagging slightly. “The thing is ... Ben, Mimi, and I are living up in Versailles now, and his family and I wanted to invite you to dinner some night. You could spend some time with Mimi, meet her other grandparents ... and we could talk. I know we’ve had our differences in the past, and I was hoping we could sit down to a meal together and maybe straighten things out.”
“Well...um, I don’t know, Lily.” Ida’s voice quivered with the uneasiness of a person who never makes her own decisions. “I’d have to ask Charles, of course. And Mike ... would he be invited?”
“Sure,” Lily said cheerily, even as her stomach lurched at the thought of this horrid gathering.
“And when would this dinner be?”
“How about Saturday at six? Ben can meet you at the interstate exit to show you the way to the house.” Ben glowered at her, and she stuck out her tongue at him.
“Well ...” Ida waffled. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll talk to Charles when he gets home and see what he says.”
“Okay, well, let me give you the number here.” Ida hung up the second Lily recited the last digit.
Two beers for Lily and three dog biscuits for Mordecai later, the phone rang. Lily had only gone so far as to say “Hel —” when Ida said, “We’ll be there — Saturday at six.” Click.
“Well, they’re coming,” Lily sighed.
Ben shook his head. “It’s kinda hard to figure out whether that’s good news or not, isn’t it?”
That night, Mordecai slept in the bed between Lily and Ben, taking up more than his fair share of room. Between Ben’s snores and Mordecai’s flatulence, Lily could scarcely sleep for the noise and air pollution. Soon, she comforted herself, they’d be in their shoe box of a house, where at least they could sleep in canine-free separate beds.
The housekeeper had dusted, scoured, or vacuumed every available surface of the McGillys’
colonial-antebellum-style home. In thirty minutes, Ben would be meeting the Maycombs at the Versailles interstate exit to escort them to the house. Right now, though, Lily and Ben sat on opposite ends of the slate-blue and mauve living room, dreading the evening ahead of them.
Jeanie strode into the room, nervously glancing at her gold watch. “Benny Jack, you heard me tell your daddy to be home by five-fifteen so he could change into some decent clothes, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Mother, I heard you.”
“Well, if you heard me, why the hell didn’t he?” Jeanie was wearing a peach jersey sundress and tan canvas espadrilles. A small strand of undoubtedly real pearls hung just below the hollow of her throat.
Her curly brown hair hung loose around her tanned shoulders. She looked stylish, comfortable, and very, very rich.
Lily was wearing a sky-blue dress she had borrowed from Jeanie. Except for her most faded pair of Levi’s, it was the lightest-colored garment she had worn since she was a kid. But for Mimi she’d suffer anything — even pastels.
Lily looked down at her daughter, who was playing on the floor and wearing a mint-green smocked dress. Lily watched as Mimi spot
ted Mordecai, a demonic gleam in her eye. “Mookie!” she squealed, then pulled herself to standing at the coffee table, walked three tentative steps, and fell smack on her diaper-padded butt.
“Omigod!” Lily yelled at the exact same moment Jeanie did. Lily picked Mimi up and swung her through the air. “Mimi-saurus, that was great! You’re a toddler now!”
“Did you see that, Benny Jack?” Jeanie was breathless with excitement. “Your little girl just took her first steps!”
“Yeah,” Ben said, sounding completely devoid of interest. “Well, I guess I’d better go pick up the Cobb County cretins now.”
As he headed out the door, Jeanie shook her head in exasperation. “Men. Sometimes I think they just don’t know what’s important in life.” She turned her attention to Mimi. “Now, I think a big walking girl ought to at least get a cookie if her mama says it’s okay.”
Lily smiled. “Of course it’s okay. This is a special occasion.”
Jeanie and Lily assembled a salad while Mimi nibbled her cookie. “It would be great if Mimi would walk in front of the Maycombs tonight,” Lily said, slicing a cucumber that she was secretly thinking of as Mike Maycomb’s penis. “That way, they’d see she’s developing normally in this environment —”
“You know,” Jeanie said, chopping a tomato, “Big Ben told me about Mimi not being yours by blood, but I’ve never seen nobody love a child the way you love her. If these people can’t see that, there’s something bad wrong with them.”
Lily felt her eyes fill, and it was carrot, not onion, that she was chopping. “Mimi’s the world to me. She’s all I’ve got.”
“Besides Benny Jack, you mean?”
“Yeah, right. Besides Benny Jack.”
Just as Jeanie had feared, Ida, Charles, and Mike Maycomb arrived at the house before Big Ben.
Big Ben’s absence made Lily nervous. She knew the Maycombs would be more comfortable if there was a patriarch presiding over the evening’s events, and as far as patriarchs went, Ben the younger didn’t quite fit the bill.
When Ben the younger walked in with Ida, Charles, and Mike, a rictus of a smile was frozen on his face — the kind of grin worn by a death’s head. “Come on in,” he said, through clenched teeth. “Lily and I would’ve invited you over to our new place, but you would’ve had to sit on unpacked boxes.”
The three Maycombs glanced around the living room— approvingly, Lily hoped. Despite the hot weather, Charles and Ida were both dressed for a Sunday service at Calvary Baptist. They looked as starched and proper as Dick and Pat Nixon in their heyday. Mike, however, was going for a more casual look. In his ridiculous fuchsia polo shirt with matching fuchsia and kelly green plaid pants, he was dressed for a day on the golf course.
Ida nodded at Lily and emitted a frosty “Hello.”
“Hi,” Lily said as brightly as she could manage. “I’m glad y’all could make it.”
Ida’s frostiness melted away when her eyes came to rest on Mimi. “There she is!” she whooped.
“Grandma’s little precious!”
Mimi stretched out her arms. “Gamma!” Ida picked up her granddaughter and held her close.
“She took her first steps today,” Lily said.
“She did?” Ida crooned, “Gwamma’s little angel’s getting to be a big girl. Charles, did you hear that?”
“Sure did.” Charles shifted his feet uncomfortably, obviously wishing he was in a setting where he would feel more comfortable, like a book burning or a Klan rally. He looked over at Mike for a cue. Lily had noticed how both Ida and Charles tended to follow Mike’s lead. To them, their son was one of the greatest minds of this, or any, century. Lily had no doubt that contesting her custody of Mimi had been Mike’s big idea ... and that he had convinced Ida and Charles of its wisdom.
“Hel-lo!” Jeanie half sang, emerging from the kitchen as though she was making her big entrance in a play. “Please, sit down, and make yourselves at home. I’m Jeanie McGilly, Ben’s mama.” She shook hands with her guests, who introduced themselves. “I am so sorry that my husband hasn’t arrived yet. I’m sure you know how hard it is to drag a man away from work, don’t you, Ida?” Jeanie’s smile was stunning. “Can I get you folks anything to drink before dinner?”
Lily saw Charles recoil slightly. The Maycombs were teetotalers who regarded anyone who drank so much as a beer a day as a hopeless alcoholic. Jeanie must have noticed Charles’s reaction, too, because she added, “Iced tea? Lemonade?”
They all sat in the living room, glasses of lemonade in hand, unable to come up with a single topic of conversation. Lily sat close to Ben on the couch, her hand in his. It was difficult to pretend to be in love. Real love was such a natural flow of feeling that it was hard to know how to fake it.
“So, Lily,” Ida said at the point where the sipping of lemonade was becoming a deafening sound,
“how did you and Ben meet?”
“Oh, we’ve been friends for years,” Lily said, trying to smile at Ben adoringly. “It was only recently that we started to become ... more.” She attempted a giggle, but stopped it when she decided she sounded demented.
“Yeah,” Ben added, “Lily and me together—who’d have thought it?”
“It’s just like that movie When Harry Met Sally,” Jeanie said, “where the couple’s been friends for years before they realize they were meant to be together. I just love mushy movies like that, don’t you, Ida?”
“We don’t see many movies,” Charles answered for her. “Too much bad language.”
Jeanie smiled politely “It is a sight, isn’t it?”
“Well, I think we all know who’s in charge of Hollywood,” Mike said “And it’s not the Christians.”
Lily squeezed Ben’s hand so hard she expected to hear the bones crack. They had been sitting in uncomfortable silence for a few moments when the front door swung open. “Oh, that must be my husband,” Jeanie said.
It was. Big Ben was wearing his customary plain white T-shirt, blue jeans, and work boots, but he was smeared from head to toe with what appeared to be axle grease. His lips looked startlingly pink in contrast to the black gunk on his face. “One of the blame machines at the mill broke down, and I had to fix it. You want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.” He nodded at the Maycombs. “I’m Benny Jack’s daddy, by the way. Ever’body calls me Big Ben.” He looked down at his grease-blackened paw.
“Don’t mean to seem standoffish, but I don’t reckon y’all’d wanna be shaking my hand right now.”
“Honey —” Jeanie’s voice was tense. “Why don’t you take a shower before you put the steaks on?”
“I reckon I will.” Big Ben wiped his brow, smearing grease across his forehead. “Think I’ll just grab me a be — a Co’Cola first.” It was Big Ben’s custom to consume a six-pack of Budweiser between the time he got home from work and the time he went to bed, but Lily had asked him to abstain while in the Maycombs’ presence.
Later, as they sat around the dining room table, everyone but Lily and Mimi slicing into huge, bloody slabs of steak, Ida chirped, “Lily, I just don’t see how you can stand to be a vegetarian. I mean, what do you eat?”
Lily smiled so tensely that her jaws ached. “Everything but meat.” She speared a forkful of salad.
“Well,” Charles began, “doesn’t it say in the Bible, though, that the Lord gave man dominion over animals?”
“Well, Lily’s softhearted when it comes to animals,” Ben said. “You know how women are.”
Charles, Ben, Mike, and Big Ben all shared a laugh about the sentimentality of womenfolk. While wringing her napkin under the table as though it were a human neck, Lily noticed that Jeanie rolled her eyes at the men, while Ida laughed right along with them.
They were very different women, Jeanie and Ida. While Jeanie might enjoy reading a romance novel while lounging in the pool, she definitely knew the difference between fantasy and reality. She never let a man have the final word just because of his gender, and as
a mother and a businesswoman, she exuded competence and confidence.
Ida, however, lived in a world in which she unquestioningly took orders from God and her husband, not necessarily in that order. No matter what her husband and son said, she smiled in agreement.
If Ida ever had any complaints, Lily was sure that she muttered them under her breath instead of saying them out loud.
“You know,” Charles began, “I was just saying when we were driving through Versailles how I kinda envy y’all for living in this small town. Some of the best folks anywhere live in small-town America—God-fearing, hardworking people who aren’t afraid to do for each other.”
Or to mind each other’s business, Lily thought.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Charles continued, “I like where we live out in Cobb County. I could never live right in Atlanta, though. There’s a certain element there I just don’t want to associate with. I think you know who I mean: the crack dealers, the prostitutes, just all the bla —”
