11 January 2026, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2979: correspond

Photo by the author, Deeann D. Mathews

“No, see, this is why we are going to come back to this conversation twenty years from now and you are going to be all messed up in your life – keep giving people all these chances when they have shown you they are not ready like your being forgiving can make them ready.

“Or, actually no – we're not going to come back to the conversation, because the same way I blocked up Charles on social media I'm just going to block everybody out here defending him. My grandfather has people waiting on him to cross the line to defamation and our family lawyers will be on everybody's page that they need to be on – so you might want to tell Charles that because I'm not dealing with either one of y'all. Y'all can think and say whatever you want – you were never my friends and you were never that important that I have to be frustrated dealing with y'all ever again. You all deserve and can enjoy each other, and I'm just going to enjoy my new life in Virginia and you and all y'all are not going to bother me.”

“That's my granddaughter!” Gladys Jubilee Trent said happily to days-from-18-year-old Vanna Trent, who blocked everyone who needed to be blocked, and came out and fell into her grandmother's open arms, crying.

Younger granddaughters eleven-year-old Velma and eight-year-old Gracie Trent joined the hug, and then went to talk among themselves.

“It's a good thing Grandma Jubilee likes our friends,” Velma said to Gracie.

“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “It's a better thing for them that they like us.”

“Basically,” Velma said. “I think sometimes that Vanna has inherited the no-mess-taking attitude of both our grandmothers, but while Big Mama Velma will just leave you where you are standing not able to put your life back together, Grandma Jubilee is more of the mind that you don't need to have a life to put back together.”

“Vanna is definitely both,” Gracie said. “If I was on the wrong end of that phone, I might just die.”

“Yeah, what you don't want to do is call Vanna on any kind of foolishness,” Velma said. “She definitely is going to tell you off for the last time – the only person around here who is even worse is Capt. Ludlow.”

“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “The way Glendella's grandparents just ended up on Uppity Foolery Watch after messing with him, I think there was just an earthquake that just shook their minds apart – that super-deep voice just gives him a bit more power than Vanna.”

“Basically,” Velma said. “I mean, how else do you explain it? And with that, we also should give honorable mention to our Ludlow friends Edwina and Robert. Robert is a little sweetheart, but he can talk anyone half to death, and then there's Edwina on the phone telling folks she's going to learn some curse words and call them back.”

“I had to pray over the hose and flood out half their living room to get that phone disaster to stop,” Gracie said. “But hey, Eddie did scare her grandparents straight, though, because both are sober now, so God really did bless all that!”

“You know what is going to be a really bad day for somebody in this neighborhood?” Velma said.

“What?” Gracie said.

“Someone is going to come through here or get put on speaker phone,” Velma said, and have Capt. Ludlow, Edwina, and Vanna tell them off, and then they are going to ask Grandma Jubilee to put them out of their their misery and she's going to laugh and not do it because she doesn't defend fools from their folly.”

“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “No blood on these rugs just because folks come through here running their mouths in the biggest danger zone for people running their mouths in Lofton County – nope.”

“Stupidity on other people's part does not correspond to us catching a case on ours – nope,” Velma said.