Lily hung a left as instructed and drove past barns and fields of cattle. This was her first real experience with country driving, and she had to admit it was much more pleasant than dealing with the stressful, stop-and-go traffic of the city.
“Now turn right at this church over here.” Lily turned right at the Free Will Baptist Church — a name which she considered an oxymoron.
“Now you’ll wanna go down this road a piece,” Big Ben said.
The road was a rural residential area, dotted with well-maintained brick ranch-style houses.
“Now turn at that mailbox that says 104,” Big Ben directed.
Lily did as she was told, but had no idea why she was pulling into a strange house’s driveway.
She didn’t begin to catch on until her hapless husband said, “Now Daddy, what have you gone and done?” At that moment, Lily saw the realty company sign in the yard with the banner across it announcing, SOLD.
“I know it’s nothing fancy” Big Ben said, “but it’s a good house — built solid — and it’ll do ya till you can build the house you really want.”
“But, Daddy,” Ben said, “we were just going to rent an apartment.”
“Now, Benny Jack,” Big Ben said, “you know there ain’t an apartment in Faulkner County that’s worth living in. And besides, you remember that broken-down old trailer you and your mother and me had to live in back when I was first starting the company?”
“No, I don’t remember it. We moved out of that trailer when I was two years old.”
“Well, it don’t matter whether you remember it or not. It was no place to raise a child. And soon as the money from the company started rolling in, I swore that no son of mine would ever have to live without a decent roof over his head.” He produced a house key from his jeans pocket. “So whaddaya say, kids? You wanna take a look at her?”
The house had a garage large enough to hold both Ben’s Lexus and Lily’s new monstrosity of a sedan. Architecturally, the dwelling resembled a brick shoe box. Everything about the house bespoke a normal, heterosexual respectability. Lily hated it.
Inside, the walls were white and the carpeting beige. Each room was square, pristine, and sterile.
The only thing Lily liked about it was that there were three bedrooms: one for Mimi, one for Ben, and one for her. “So what kind of monthly payments are we gonna be making on this place?” she asked.
Big Ben looked puzzled. “Payments?”
“Yeah,” Lily said. “I mean, you made the down payment, right, but then Ben and I will pay —”
Big Ben hooted. “You and Ben won’t have to pay a dime! I bought this house outright — with cash money!”
Lily leaned against a white wall to steady herself. She couldn’t imagine having the kind of money where you could just buy a house, any house, on the spot and pay for it all in cash. These people really were loaded.
“I know it don’t look like much right now, since there ain’t a stick of furniture in it,” Big Ben said.
