Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay
“What happened to you, Captain? I mean, what happened to you? Six months ago, you were a solid man for the election that the president could count on, and now you're an independent and you're not even showing up at the rallies online!”
“I grew and I healed and recognized that there's no one to blame for what happened to my children and my first marriage, and that nothing any race, creed, or group not me had to do with that. When there was no one else to blame, and no one else to be angry with, my reasons for hanging out with you disappeared. And then there was also Covid-19 to consider.”
Capt. R.E. Ludlow had taken a call from a fellow veteran, and Mrs. Ludlow was chuckling.
“Every other day,” she said to Mrs. Maggie Lee, “he gets a call like this!”
“It's a big loss,” Mrs. Lee said. “Robert is a dynamic leader, and Lofton County's Republicans, particularly the veteran core, really could have used him staying on board. But what I get from your husband is that when he is done with a thing, he's done.”
“Well, quiet as it is kept, he was never solidly over there,” Mrs. Ludlow said, “although he did have a phase because he couldn't harmonize how other people he was told were less than him were having so little trouble in their family while we were fighting hard for what was left of his – there had to be something wrong in the world, and that flung him back against what he learned in his upbringing. But then we moved next door to the Trents, and they pushed him through all that foolishness to the other side, because –.”
“Well, Lieutenant, I am all about family values, and here's what I have noticed in the past six months: all the Black, Latino, and Asian people I know are on the same thing, and all have wonderful family setups. All Democrats are not whatever left-wing stereotype we've been told to believe they are; they differ from you and me on some issues, but you know we fought to defend everybody's freedom to have a different opinion and be able to express it.”
“But Captain, you know that Joe Biden is Obama's vice president!”
“And also the student of Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, good, solid Dixiecrats, Lieutenant, with a record to match. I really do not understand, now that I am healed and calmer, what the rest of you are even afraid of. The fact that he was ever Barack Obama's vice president means this country is never
going to have a 'liberal commie Islamo-fascist' takeover under Democrat administration. Kamala Harris? My wife is from San Francisco where Ms. Harris started as DA. That was the toughest-on-crime attorney general in the country – I mean, ruthless.
“So, REALLY, Lieutenant, although appearances differ, you and I really cannot lose in this election – so now for me it comes down to who is going to have it so my grandchildren, already advantaged by being my grandchildren, enjoy their freedoms to be good and do good in the world. The only old man primarily responsible for them having those advantages is me. It's not President Trump's job. It's mine. When I gave up it being everybody else's fault and everybody else's job, I also gave up the politics of blame and idolatry.”
“Are you calling me an idol-worshiper?”
“No. I'm actually talking about me, and why I'm an Independent now. I can never be a Democrat, with their party plank, but I also can't be a Trump-worshiper, and that is the Republican moment we are in. I truly believe in and am taking personal responsibility – excuse me, Lieutenant – Edwina, suffer the little mice! If you dropped it, God had a plan for them to eat it! No, we are not putting mice traps out here! Just come get another sandwich wedge. There is plenty for all Creation!”
“Wait, Captain, that part you just said – do you really believe that, that there's enough?”
“I told you, Lieutenant. I've grown, and I've healed, and I've come to understand that God said He will provide all our needs. Now, He may continue to use President Trump, and He may choose to use Joe Biden in the future – but He is not going to stop taking care of all those Who trust in Him, and even the little mice and sparrows.”
“Oh yeah … we learned all that in Sunday School.”
“Lieutenant, God is merciful. I didn't get it until this year, and I'm 58. You're just 45. God suffers the little mice, and feeds the little sparrows, so it's not too late for you to get your life together.”
Mrs. Ludlow and Mrs. Lee both chuckled.
“Between Cousin Robert and my hubby Harry,” Mrs. Lee said, “President Trump may have trouble carrying this county, because folks keep calling and Robert and Harry keep getting to the root of the issues and pulling these men from relying on politics.”
“What they need to do is trick the Democrats into calling just as much – equal time – so they can get their lives together too!” Mrs. Ludlow said.
“What we need to do is get these mice's lives together!” eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow said as she bopped up to her grandmother to get another sandwich wedge. “If Papa is not going to let me hunt them down, then they need to stay away while we are eating.”
“Eddie,” Mrs. Ludlow said gently, “you know we are outdoors in their house, and they are not indoors in our house. Gotta be a good guest out here.”
“Are you telling me I need to get my life together?” Edwina said.
“I am,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Every day is an opportunity to build more good, such as honoring even the little mice when in their house. Stop running with your plate, and then they won't get your food.”
“I guess I could just sit down – well, okay,” Edwina said, and got an encouraging kiss on her forehead before getting a plate full of sandwich wedges to take to share with her siblings and friends.