“Oh, yes, that upstairs bathroom has that six-foot enameled cast iron tub!” Maggie exclaimed.

“How did you know it is six feet?” I asked incredulously.

Maggie burst out laughing and said, “Because the first time we visited there I lay down in it!”

I laughed because that was so Maggie and intuitively realized
Maggie had already said yes to the idea.

And then I said, “Okay, I’ll meet you over there around 5 then?”

“Sounds great!” Maggie said as we hung up the phone, and while sitting at my desk I was already beginning to imagine us living there.

It felt perfect to me.

Both Maggie and I arrived exactly at 5pm. I could tell by the expression on her face that she was as excited as I was about the possibility of buying Mama’s house.

We kissed as we met and, holding hands, we knocked on the door and entered the house. Mama had always insisted that we just come on in.

Her front door was never locked and we always found it so amazing that nothing bad ever seemed to happen to Mama Vermillion. If it did, she never talked about it. She was almost always in a cheerful, calm and steady mood.