9 January 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2612: the worst result

Image by Sabine from Pixabay

“So, the way you stay out of trouble is really think about what it is that you want, but also about the worst result that you can have. The Lord Jesus said it this way: count the cost.”

Nine-year-old Vertran Stepforth was interviewing ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow for his variety show, “Tell Us a Little Bit More About That,” but unofficially, the highly business-minded nine-year-old was deeply impressed by “Lil' Captain” Ludlow, the only person under 18 years old who could when necessary steer everyone younger than him in both the Ludlow and Stepforth homes out of trouble.

In the same way Vertran modeled himself after his billionaire grandfather, Thomas Stepforth Sr., Vertran recognized how Andrew modeled himself after his grandfather, Capt. Robert Edward Ludlow Sr., as the male family leader.

“But that's gotta be a heck of a lot harder when you are only ten,” Vertran said to him.

“Not really,” Andrew said. “We're all human. I watch my grandfather think. Every move he has made for at least 35 years, he has thought about what happens to his unit because he spent 33 years in the Army as an officer, and then picked us seven grandchildren up. What's good for the unit – us – is what he thinks about, all the time. I watch him, and I do what he does, like Eleanor watches Grandma.”

“Makes sense, because that basically is what I do with Pop-Pop,” Vertran said. “It's not just that he has a lot of money – you've really gotta do that right to not be an awful person with that much money. It's like you can buy pretty much everything else but favor with God.”

“Yeah, I can see how that can be a problem,” Andrew said. “There's a couple of guys in the Bible like that. Doesn't end well for them.”

“What I want to know is,” nine-year-old Milton Trent said, “what do people like Vertran and Andrew, and maybe even Andrew's baby brother Robert plan to do when they are really grown up, since they are already grown up?”

“Well, it's like Andrew says,” Milton's eleven-year-old sister Velma said. “We're all human. I think people like them, and maybe our little sister Gracie too, are just being who they are at that age, and that person is a grandparent.”

“OK, but, how do we tell the kids who are really grandparents from the grandparents that still aren't grown and act like kids from the kids just trying to be kids and the grandparents just trying to be grandparents?”

Velma thought about this for a few minutes.

“Well,” she said, “if you just watch them for a minute, you'll know. Old people who don't want to grow up are kinda obvious, because their life looks like you and George on a bad day with more gray hair – or Robert and Grayson that time they decided to have Amanda and Edwina tie-dye their blond hair red and green.”

“Yeah, that was a good idea, but the Ludlow grandparents are way too much into their grandparent bag for all that,” Milton said. “They are just like our grandparents. There is no doubt that we are the kids and they are the grandparents in their minds, except I think Gracie gets to Pop-Pop sometimes and both our grandmas accept that Gracie is a little version of them all over again.”

“And that's the thing, Milton,” Velma said. “If you are in your grandparent bag, you're supposed to be wise, and if you are wise, you see people for what they are.”

“That's kinda deep,” Milton said, “but I'm just nine, so, I'm going to go get George and see if I can get Vertran and Andrew to come back into being kids so we can play Go Fish or something.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Velma said.