WHEN Olivia got home the family was gathered. Five of Little Sun and Crow’s children were there. Sam, Roper, Creek, Mary Lily, and May Frost. Plus Roper’s wife, JoDean, and their teenage sons, Tree and Jimbo, plus May Frost’s children, May Light, May Morning, and the baby, Field. Plus Sam’s wife, Little Sugar. Creek’s wife had stayed at home because she had a stomachache.
There were cars all over the yard and along the side of the road. Mary Lily’s Pontiac was parked underneath the maple tree. Roper’s jeep was beside it. Sam’s pickup was in the driveway and his wife’s El Dorado and Creek’s Chevrolet. Roper and Creek were standing by the steps smoking. Little Sun was on the top step with Mary Lily. May Frost and two of her children were in the glider. Crow was holding May Frost’s baby.
“What is going on?” Olivia asked. She had parked the Mercedes by the El Dorado. She walked over to her grandmother and May Frost. “We’re rich, honey,” May Frost answered. “They found oil in the Craylies’ pasture and it runs under ours. We’re rich as Croesus. Come here and speak to Olivia, May Light, come show her your new dress.” A little black-haired girl wearing a pink denim dress came over to her mother and hid her face in her legs.
“It’s okay, May Light,” Olivia said. “I won’t look at it if you don’t want me to.”
“It’s because we went for the washer,” Crow added. “The clerk told May Frost he heard they’d found oil and were fixing to start drilling. Your granddaddy’s known about it for weeks. He wouldn’t tell them. So now they know.”
“Come have a beer,” Roper called from the steps. “Come celebrate with us.” He threw his arm around his brother’s shoulders and waved a beer bottle in Olivia’s direction. He was the oldest of the Wagoner children, almost forty-seven years old. In those forty-seven years he had never known a day he liked as much as he liked today. The only thing wrong with it was that he had to wait until eight o’clock tomorrow morning to quit his job. “I’ll tell that little son-of-a-bitch to stuff it,” he kept saying. “Stuff it, you little bastard.”
“Get your severance pay,” Creek kept saying. “Don’t be a fool, Roper. Make him fire you and collect severance pay and get some unemployment. Goddamn, it might be weeks or months before Daddy gets money from the well. It might be a year.”
“Stuff it,” Roper kept saying. “Stuff it up your goddamn ass.” He waved his longneck in the air. His wife, JoDean, was inside the house watching television with their teenage son. She came to the back door several times to see what Roper was doing. Then she’d go back in without saying anything.
“Momma and I were going to cook fish and vegetables,” Mary Lily kept saying. “But Denise and Arleen and them want to order pizza. What do you want to do, Olivia?”
“Bobby’s coming to dinner,” she answered. “Did everyone forget that?”
“Let them order the pizza,” Little Sun decreed. “We might as well spend some of the money.” He held out his hands to Olivia. “Come here by me. Don’t be afraid of this. It will not change the world. Only Roper gets to quit his job and now he’s getting drunk.”
“I’m not getting drunk, Dad.” Roper took his arms from off his brother’s shoulders and turned to his father. “I don’t have to put up with crap from you. This land belongs to all of us. It’s a trust. We all get to share whatever comes of it. You can’t be in charge of it.”
“It is for all of us. Good and bad. Go help them order pizza, Olivia. Go around and ask everyone what they want.”
“I’ll drink all the goddamn beer I want.” Roper walked up the steps and called to his wife and son. “Come on, JoDean. Goddammit. I’m leaving. If you want a ride home, come on out.”
“We’ll stay here.” His wife came to meet him. Everyone in the yard had grown very still. It was the same thing that always happened if they got together. Roper got drunk and left. So what, they were probably all saying. Who gives a damn.
Bobby drove up and parked behind Olivia’s car and got out and came walking toward them. Roper passed him without speaking and got into his truck and backed out of the yard and drove off down the road.
“What’s going on?” Bobby said. “Is all this for me?”
“We’re rich,” May Frost said. “They found oil in the pasture.”