My husband Mike and I have lived in downtown Atlanta for over 6 years. The crime is uncontrollable. Every night we go to bed and hear the sirens of another shooting or the cries from another mugging. Thanks to the recession in 2007, our house value dropped so much that we were trapped. We would lose too much if we moved so for the past 2 or 3 years we have been saving every penny, trying to get out of this town. We want to move somewhere open and safe. Finally, this might be the year we can escape.
My husband Mike is an Electrical Engineer. He helps plants and facilities lower their energy bills. Now that we have saved enough money to cover the losses on our house we are looking at some open spaces in Tennessee or Alabama. It really didn't matter where, just away from the city.
Mike immediately started hitting the online job searches and landed a job about 80 miles south of Nashville in an extremely rural area dominated by farmland and wide open spaces. We were so excited. My mother lived in that town and since we moved to Atlanta I had not spent as much time with her.
As soon as Mike accepted the job he turned in his 2 week notice at his job in Atlanta. With Mike at work I gave all my effort to find us a place near his new job where we could start the next chapter of our lives. I spent hours scrolling through the internet for properties that were for sale. No matter where I looked, there just wasn't anything for sale. It seems the people in Tennessee think that land is a huge investment. There are several people that own 100's of acres of property in the town where Mike's new plant is and none of them had any land on the market since property values were so low. As it turns out, there was not one single property within 50 miles of the plant that was for sale. Feeling depressed, I needed something to lift my spirits, so I called my mother to tell her the news. She was so excited. The idea of having her only daughter minutes away made her so happy. She even made a comment about grandchildren, since she knew Mike and I used birth control because we didn't want to raise a family in the middle of Atlanta. We talked for awhile before I mentioned the problem we were having searching for a place to live. Mom told me that her neighbor owned nearly half of the town.
This brings me to Alan. I had heard of Alan many times before from my mother. He owned most of the town because his relatives lived there when the town was founded. "Old money" as Mom called it. He owned several large plots of land with modest ranch style houses with beautiful yards and wide-open spaces. Alan had always asked about me to my mother because he had seen pictures of me when he visited her for cookouts or get-togethers. On more than one occasion he had asked her if I was still with my husband. After a quick phone call, Alan agreed to meet with me on Saturday. Assuming Mike would be off of work, I agreed to meet him at his house for lunch and discussions about the house.
Mike was late from work that night. When he came in he told me that they tasked him with numerous jobs before he left so that the new person that took over his job wouldn't have to worry about Mike's unfinished tasks to perform. When he told me that he had to go to work all weekend I gave him the news of the land that I had found and the lunch with Alan. Mike trusts me, so he told me to drive to Tennessee on Friday and stay with my mother and let him know how the lunch with Alan went. So, when Friday came I was on the interstate headed home.
When I arrived at my mother's house it was simply beautiful. I had not been there in so long I had forgotten the beauty of the farmlands. Rolling hills, green pastures and cornfields dominated the landscape. I was in a daze when I heard a door open and my mother come out of the house to greet me. We talked about the usual over dinner, kids, movies, news and weather before I went to my old bedroom to call it a night. I immediately noticed that my windows were open, letting in the cool Tennessee night air and the sounds of crickets and the breeze replaced the sirens and gunfire. For the first time in years I truly felt I was home. I made my mind up lying in my old bed, at my old home, that this is where I wanted to live.
The next day came very quickly. I awoke to my mother's eggs, bacon and homemade biscuits. Her coffee was super strong so I lightened it up with cream and sugar. She told me that Alan had called and told her to come to the lunch also. After getting cleaned up we made the short walk to his house.
When we approached Alan's house I immediately knew what my mother meant by calling him "old money." Alan's house sat upon a sprawling landscape of horses and cattle. It had to be at least 100 acres that I could see. His house itself was something you would see in Gone with the Wind. It was a three story colonial with a wraparound porch, hanging plants everywhere and a spacious back deck.
Alan, like my mother had described, was a very nice man. Younger than I expected, he looked to be in his 40's. He was also very well built. His arms and chest were not able to hide behind his Tennessee football shirt. He told us over lunch that he had too much land that he didn't use and that he didn't put it on the market because he knew people would bother him trying to buy it all from him. He didn't need the money, so he didn't see any real reason to sell it. Over lunch he kept stealing glances from me, and something made me feel uneasy about him, but aside from that he was a very nice man.
Soon it came time to discuss the specifics of money, land and houses so I was surprised when my mother walked home and left us alone. Alan made the comment that my mother didn't need to be here to discuss things like that because it would just be boring. I told him that I didn't mind either so he showed me to his study where he had all of his land plotted on a large map. Needless to say I was in awe. Alan owned more than half of this town, he owned all of it. It turns out he was family friends with the founder of the company that Mike landed a job with. As the company grew, Alan leased his land so that its workers could build houses there. He even owned the land the plant was built on.
He asked me to sit and showed me the places that were open that we could buy. The smallest lot that he would sell us was over 10 acres and secluded behind Alan's house where no one would bother us. I told him that it was perfect but when he told me a price it blew my dreams away. Even if we had not lost so much to the market in Atlanta we could not have afforded this place. I immediately started crying.
After calming down I explained to Alan our situation, budget, fear of Atlanta and even our lack of a home in less than a week. He leaned back in his chair and looked me over before saying "You are a very beautiful girl Lindsey."
From my tear filled eyes I looked at him questioningly.
"Let me show you why I am going to help you. Follow me."
With that I followed him out of the study and up 2 flights of stairs to the top floor of the house. He made a right turn and opened a door to his bedroom and my heart stopped when he turned to take my hand. I didnt want this. I didnt want to cheat on my husband. My mind was racing, trying to find a way out of this situation. Unexpectedly he kept walking past the bed to a set of French doors that were at the end of the bedroom. He opened the doors and the sight took my breath away. Connected to the bedroom nearly 30 feet from ground level was a private deck only accessible from the bedroom. From this high up the land seemed to roll on forever. It was truly breathtaking.
When I turned back to Alan he said to me, "For the money you have, you cannot build this. It is impossible. I refuse to chop up the open land I have left into quarter acre plots and make this place another Atlanta. If you keep the price higher to live here, the garbage stays out. Understand?" I nodded.
"And if I understand your situation correctly, your husband will have no job by this time next week, correct?"
I nodded again.
