Benny Jack’s Granny McGilly.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. McGil —”
“Now, there ain’t no sense in you calling me Mrs. McGilly when your name’s Mrs. McGilly, too.” She grinned, revealing a mouthful of sparkling dentures. “Lily McGilly — that’s a real humdinger of a name, ain’t it? You must love my grandson something fierce to let yourself get saddled with a name like that!”
Lily laughed. “Well, that was the first thing I thought of when he proposed — if I could actually stand to go through life as Lily McGilly.”
The old woman smiled back at her. “Well, Lily McGilly, you just call me Granny, you hear?”
“I will. Thank you.” Granny McGilly was a stout old woman with soft white hair cut close to her head. She wore a plain blue T-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of expensive white running shoes. Far from being a prissy old lady, she had an easy, comfortable manner about her that was almost butch. Lily liked her immediately.
“Well,” Granny said, glancing over at the food table, “Wayne’s got the meat on the grill and everything else is ready. I reckon I could sit a spell.” She sat down at the table next to Lily and across from Sheila and Tracee.
Sheila and Tracee exchanged glances, and Sheila said, “Excuse us. I think we’re going for a swim.”
When Sheila and Tracee got up, Granny said, “Lord, Sheila, that bathing suit you got on’s crawling right up the crack of your hind end!”
“Everybody’s wearing suits like this, this season,” Sheila said defensively. She turned to go to the pool, revealing most of her tanned, taut butt.
“She’s just showing off,” Granny whispered to Lily. “She had that thing done where they take a vacuum cleaner and suck all the fat outta your butt — what’s that called?”
“Liposuction?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Granny grinned. “Of course, she didn’t have that much fat in her butt in the first place. If she’d had the fat sucked outta her head, that doctor woulda had a real job to do.”
Lily laughed and looked down at Mimi, who started laughing, too.
“You know,” Granny said, “you’re the first woman I’ve ever seen drinking a beer at a McGilly barbecue. I think I just might have me one, too.”
Granny grabbed a beer from the cooler while Lily watched Sheila and Tracee in the pool. They were staying at the shallow end — no doubt so they could avoid wetting their carefully coiffed hair. Of course, given Lily’s recent conversation with the other McGilly wives, she thought the shallow end was an appropriate place for them.
“What’s your baby’s name?” Granny asked.
“Mimi — it’s short for Artemesia.”
Granny looked down at Mimi. “That’s an awful big name for such a little-bitty girl. Benny Jack her daddy?”
“Uh-huh.” Maybe she’d have another beer. The alcohol seemed to make lying easier — and it also eased the awkwardness of social interaction. Before her normal life had been
