Lily had bought most of Mimi’s clothes at Goodwill, and her main criteria for selecting infant wear wasthat it would not be permanently stained by milk, cereal, spit-up, or pee. “I’m sure she would love to goshopping with you,” Lily said, against her better instincts.
At five after eleven, Lily and Ben pulled into the gravel parking lot of the Confederate Sock Mill.
As they went in the side entrance of the building, with Lily toting Mimi and a bag full of baby supplies,the all-female clerical staff descended on them and crowed, “Oh, is this the new grandbaby?” “I want youto look at her!” “Isn’t she the sweetest thing?”
When Jeanie rose from her desk and approached them, the other women cleared a path for her.
“There’s Mamaw’s little sunshine!” she called, opening her arms to receive Mimi. “Benny Jack, yourdaddy’s out on the floor if you want to go get him. You can take Lily, too — show her the production
The production area of the Confederate Sock Mill hurt Lily’s ears and nose. The clicking andchugging of the machinery was deafening, and the smell of the textile fibers caused her to have a sneezingfit. The two dozen mill workers, engrossed in their repetitive tasks, didn’t seem to notice the sounds orsmells at all.
Big Ben, who had been deep in conversation with a machine operator, spotted them and waved.
“Hey,” he yelled over the rumbling machinery “Y’all ready to go for a ride?”
As they walked to the parking lot, Big Ben said, “Well, I reckon we could go in Benny Jack’s caror my truck.” He grinned. “Or Lily, we could go in your car.”
“Excuse me?”
Big Ben cackled and nodded toward a long, shiny silver car parked in the rear of the lot. “That’sfor you.” He pressed the keys into Lily’s hand. “A little wedding present from Jeanie and me.”
Lily’s vocabulary failed her. “Uh...I...uh ...”
“Now I know it ain’t as nice as Benny Jack’s Lexus,” Big Ben apologized. “But you really sprungthis marriage thing on us, and a New Yorker was the best we could do on short notice. I tell you what,Lily. You stay married to this rascal a year, and we’ll get you any make of car you want!”
“Big Ben, it’s a beautiful car, I ... I just couldn’t accept it.”
“Of course you can,” Big Ben said. “It’s just our way of welcoming you into the family. This car’sa piece of shit compared to what we got Sheila and Tracee when they married our other boys. But we hada little more notice then, so we could go to Atlanta and pick out somethin’ nice, you understand.”
“Well, uh ... thank you.” Lily felt as though she were on some bizarre game show, an updated