19 January 2026, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2987: deal or no deal

As it happened, Mr. Thomas Stepforth was not a early riser in general. It just so happened that he noticed his nine-year-old grandson Vertran was up filming the sunrise with his early-rising Trent cousins eight-year-old Gracie, nine-year-old Milton, and eleven-year-old Velma under the supervision of their early-rising father, Sgt. Vincent Trent. The Trent children were Mr. Stepforth's grandchildren also, so he got drawn into what was going on, just in time for Capt. R.E. Ludlow to appear on his porch with his perennial grandchild coffee partner five-year-old R.E. Ludlow III, also known as Lil' Robert. Lil' Robert was curious about what his friends next door were doing, and his grandfather permitted himself to be dragged on over to find out, so the two grandfathers ended up having coffee together while the children watched the sunrise and learned about different ways to photograph and video a sunrise from Sgt. Trent.

Meanwhile, seven-year-old Amanda and eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow were up unusually early, and nine-year-old George noticed that they were at the window looking, watching Capt. Ludlow and Mr. Stepforth having coffee and conversation.

“I didn't know they were doing the deal today!” Edwina said.

“Yeah – there's stuff we still gotta get up in that!” Amanda said.

“I don't think – hey, Andrew!” George said, and went and woke up ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow and had him weigh in.

“No, the deal isn't going down today – they are just having coffee – there's no paperwork over there,” Andrew said.

“OK, well, we gotta get our paperwork together, and I'm getting the purple markers!” Edwina said.

Six-year-old Grayson Ludlow came out of his room with blue construction paper and crayons, and gave white paper to Edwina.

“Yeah, we gotta get some things settled,” he said. “Too many people are around here selling stuff and they don't even know if there's a creek looking for a place to sinkhole.”

“Wait, what – well, anyway,” Andrew said, “y'all go on if you feel you need to, but I'm going back to bed. It's a good thing you didn't bother Eleanor or Glendella, George – don't.”

So, ten minutes later, Capt. Ludlow and Mr. Stepforth were surprised to be overtaken by George, Edwina, Amanda, and Grayson.

“Hi,” Amanda said sweetly and smiled with all her cuteness while Edwina got her paperwork out, Grayson got his paperwork out, and George just handed his grandfather a basketball.

“There are just a few things we need to get into the deal y'all are about to make,” George said. “Grayson, you go first, because everybody stands on your stuff.”

“I just need y'all to sign off on the fact that we are selling the Ludlow Bubbly to people that are going to check the ground so they don't get washed out,” Grayson said, “and that, if new stuff is going to be built, either build it right or have me come to build it right if nobody else wants to do it.”

The two grandfathers looked at each other.

“This is kind of serious – but, we are staying in the present facilities,” Mr. Stepforth said.

“And, the present facilities – Rhodes Bottling and Gadsen Glass – were built by your great-grandfather Edwin Ludlow on solid ground,” Capt. Ludlow said. “There is something to be said, Mr. Stepforth, though, about the future, because I know that General Ira Hamilton is looking for a dedicated facility on behalf of the veterans' contingency among the workers.”

“I have the general's short list,” Mr. Stepforth said, “and he's with you, Grayson. The newest building he is looking at was built by your great-uncle, Edwin Ludlow Jr., because 1980-era builds are the last safe decade for light industry given what we have found out since.”

“OK, I'm good,” Grayson said. “Now I can finish first grade before joining my great-grandfather and great-uncle in building right in this county.”

“Yep, we're going to hold it down so you can finish first grade,” Capt. Ludlow said with a smile.

“OK, Amanda, your concerns are serious, too,” George said.

“OK, because I am the minister of snugglecouragement,” Amanda said, “I just need to know that there is more than money being made here, because you can't buy love, and you really shouldn't sell it, either.”

“Awwwwww,” Mr. Stepforth said. “If someone had told me that in my fifties, I would not have had one very unhappy decade of my life.”

“If only I had heard it in my twenties,” Capt. Ludlow said. “This is important, Amanda. So, here is what is going on: the workers at the Ludlow Bubbly want to buy the company, because they love working together and they love making our soda, and since a lot of them are veterans, General Ira Hamilton can access funds specifically to help them. Sgt. Trent and I need to sell the company because it is getting bigger than we and the Gonzalezes, Duboises, and Miyamotos can handle and still put the time in with our families, but especially me, because our family has been through so much, and I specifically failed my own children because I could not be there like they needed. But when I was a young man, I had a good reason: the U.S. military. I swore an oath and had to keep it. No business or amount of money is worth not being there for my family again. I started the company for love of y'all, and I am exiting it for the same reason.”

“OK, I'm good over there,” Amanda said, and then climbed up into Mr. Stepforth's lap. “So, why are you in it?”

“I love helping family men not make my mistakes, and exit before they lose their families for a decade,” Mr. Stepforth said. “The workers, even with the veterans' groups' help, do not have all the cash they need to buy the Ludlow Bubbly outright because the valuation is outrunning their ability to keep up. The Ludlow Bubbly is now the 25th best-selling local-made soda on the Eastern Seaboard, and is close to cracking the top 200 in the U.S. and top 100 in Canada – the Canadian Duboises have their hands full and the New Orleans Duboises do too, just like everybody here, meeting the demand.”

“Wow!” George and Amanda said.

“So, I have the cash to loan to even the cash price out so your grandfather and the others can make their exit cleanly, and then the workers will easily be able to pay me back from the veterans' group setups and the revenues,” Mr. Stepforth said. “Tarquin Ludlow IV, your big cousin, is buying the winery piece back because the other part of your family needs their legacy back even if it will now be the Ludlow Historical Soda Company and do sparkling juices with their grapes and also the deal with the Plumpepper Company.”

“It's actually all about love, all the way around,” Capt. Ludlow said.

“OK, I'm good then,” Amanda said.

“OK, then there's me,” George said. “I need y'all to celebrate by playing some one-on-one basketball, and I'm not trying to hear no, Papa, because you know you are a champion too.”

“Oh, really?” Mr. Stepforth said.

“I played at West Point,” Capt. Ludlow said, “and I was sixth man of the year, the year we won in our division. How did you find out, George?”

“So it's a long story, but there's this basketball nut who keeps track of how local athletes become successful in other aspects of life, and both you and Mr. Stepforth come up in that list,” George said. “I'd tell you about how we found that out, but we learned from Gracie that the first rule about quality eavesdropping is that you do not talk about quality eavesdropping.”

“We also found out that you, sir, like to play His Airness when y'all complete a deal, Mr. Stepforth, so I'm not taking a no on this because y'all are always the ones talking about people need to stop discriminating,” Edwina said, “and yeah, as a white girl I get it, but you need to put up or shut up on this, Mr. Stepforth, as a black man.”

“Well, OK – I guess we're going to do this!” Mr. Stepforth said as Capt. Ludlow put his head in both his hands. “We just got painted into a corner, Capt. Ludlow, with both black and white paint!”

“Edwina,” Capt. Ludlow said, “you are great at playing Uno, but racism is not an 'Uno Reverse' situation.”

“But fairness is!” Edwina said. “And, as long as we are on the topic, Mr. Stepforth, I just need to stand with Amanda and Grayson too about this needing to be right, because nobody cares about your three billion dollars and change, because you can't eat it, you wouldn't even have time to count it, and all that. You're definitely a person, and skin color ain't got nothing to do with changing that, but also, you're still just a person, and how much money you have doesn't make a difference either.”

“So, what is it that you want, Edwina?” Mr. Stepforth said.

“Nothing – I'm just here as the enforcer,” Edwina said, “because I was watching Shark Tank reruns, and I know that any time you don't like a deal, you can just blow it up, so, I'm here to make sure you understand that we either have a deal or no deal on our stuff, and we will blow it up if we don't get the deal we want.”

Mr. Stepforth thought about this, and grinned.

“You watch Shark Tank reruns and like all that?” he said.

“Oh, I love that stuff,” Edwina said. “Instead of breaking bad and not being afraid of prison, I'm thinking I might go into high finance and venture capital instead.”

“You are a whole Baby Shark!” Mr. Stepforth said, and started singing and picked up Edwina and danced her down the porch.

– while Capt. Ludlow, now the color of well-simmered tomato sauce, tried not to die from embarrassment and not laughing at the same time – but he couldn't take it when Edwina after all that said, “That was really nice, Mr. Stepforth – but do we have a deal?”

“If your grandfather does not fall off this porch laughing and die,” Mr. Stepforth said, “yes, we have a deal.”

“Papa, I need you to get it together as Grandpa Shark – we got a deal here!” Edwina said as she and George and Amanda and Grayson started high-fiving each other while Capt. Ludlow laughed uncontrollably and everyone came to see what was going on.