Image by Steffi Timm from Pixabay
“No, sir, your unfortunate mistake was not checking the weather report this morning. Your bad business was your lack of quality control on that water main and the cleanup from that third break, and your lying to the Lofton Trust about all of it was your choice. Do yourself a big favor and tell your lawyer the whole truth; you need one good enough to have the self-respect to quit you when you lie.”
“You know,” seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow said, “since whoever Cousin Harry is on the phone with doesn't have sense enough to know not to even try to lie to him, I'm just going to be afraid for them, because they are not safe right now!”
“He's so quiet, and yet, so deadly,” Amanda's eleven-year-old sister Eleanor said. “It's like how all the stuff in your whole life that you thought you were getting away with is just sitting there the whole time, quietly waiting for its moment to fall all over you.”
The seven little Ludlows were listening to their cousin, Col. H.F. Lee, in his manifestation as trustee for the Lofton Trust, in the garage. Their grandfather was a basso profundo, and his no-nonsense phone calls seemed to shake the whole house, so they were fascinated by how their colonel cousin's tenor voice managed to accomplish the same things though not as loud (although the colonel's voice was full and resonant, and so carried just as well).
“I gotta be like Velma here – I've been telling y'all!” Eleanor's ten-year-old brother Andrew said. “I've been telling y'all he's the Angel of Death! He's angelic, but he will kill again, and he is doing it right now! We really shouldn't even be listening to this – it's dangerous!”
“Are you kidding? I love it!” Andrew's eight-year-old sister Edwina said. “Nobody asked them to break a water main three times and then turn Heroes Green and the whole low-lying area of the Veteran's Lodge into a muddy swimming pool! How are we going to meet with Papa and Grandma on Sunday now? I'm glad Cousin Harry is breaking bad, so I don't have to. I want him to give them all the smoke!”
“I keep saying they need to have me work on this stuff,” Edwina's six-year-old brother Grayson said. “I'm only in first grade, but, these people who went to big school aren't doing any better, so … .”
“And that's really the scary part,” Grayson's nine-year-old brother George said, “but we knew that from foster care, so … .”
“A lot of grown people are tall and all,” George's five-year-old brother Lil' Robert said, “but they have short souls. Even I know you gotta clean up your mud, because, see, you track that stuff through the house one time, and it can be all over.”
“Yep,” George and Grayson said.
“But see, everyone doesn't have our Papa and Grandma or our Cousins Harry and Maggie, and not everyone thinks God exists, so they are out here doing whatever they think they can get away with,” Eleanor said. “They also don't believe good is good and that there's a point to doing right, so they keep making messes.”
“And this is why they eventually get that phone call from the Angel of Death,” Andrew said.
“Yep,” said Edwina and Eleanor said.
“Well, the good thing is,” George said, “I'm going to be a lawyer, so I'm going to learn a whole lot about how to destroy people in court by what's going to happen to these people who made the swimming pool nobody asked for!”
“Take all their money, George!” Edwina said.
“They probably really need a blankie and a hug,” Amanda said, “but you know, sometimes you need to get grounded, think about what you are out here doing, and get your life together first.”
“And while they are getting their life together, they need to just hire me to fix it,” Grayson said, “because all my Lego builds come with a money-back guarantee.”
“Can you build a water main with Legos, though?” Edwina said.
“I just have to build something better than what they have,” Grayson said. “It's really not that hard, because their stuff doesn't work at all.”
“Well, yeah,” Edwina said.
“And the sad part about it is,” Col. Lee said when a laughing Mrs. Maggie Lee reported this conversation to him, “is that Grayson is right, and so is Lil' Robert. There is nowhere near enough soul and mind in these people making these messes.”
“At least Grayson stands by his work!” Mrs. Lee said.
“A wee little workman of honor, he is,” Col. Lee said. “Grayson is getting to be the bar over which I'm looking sideways at a lot of company owners!”
Yes, Grayson and Lil Robert are right but the others had good input also. Amanda with her compassion I'm just going to be afraid for them, because they are not safe right now!”
Eleanor, with her common sense “It's like how all the stuff in your whole life that you thought you were getting away with is just sitting there the whole time, quietly waiting for its moment to fall all over you.”
Andrew is wanting the others to be safe. “I've been telling y'all he's the Angel of Death! He's angelic, but he will kill again, and he is doing it right now! We really shouldn't even be listening to this – it's dangerous!”
George is taking it all in, making mental notes for his future, “I'm going to be a lawyer, so I'm going to learn a whole lot about how to destroy people in court by what's going to happen to these people who made the swimming pool nobody asked for!”
Edwina not feeling bad for shoddy work and glad she is not the one breaking bad. “Nobody asked them to break a water main three times and then turn Heroes Green and the whole low-lying area of the Veteran's Lodge into a muddy swimming pool!
You captured each ones personality in this one.
Yes, indeed ... this was the Ludlow grandchildren exposition ... a snapshot of them!