19 June 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2772: winging it

Image by Marco Eichnau from Pixabay

“The thing about Rob is, he kinda does know what he wants, but he's always winging it because at five years old we can't expect him to have the whole plane.”

“Yes, we can. We have enough paper for a bunch of planes. We just gotta make a blueprint.”

Eleven-year-old Eleanor Ludlow was talking with her little brother six-year-old Grayson Ludlow about their baby brother Lil' Robert Ludlow, and Mrs. Thalia Ludlow, their grandmother, quietly retreated for a moment to laugh at Eleanor's precocious but not quite accurate usage of idioms like winging it, meeting with Grayson literally applying the best solution he knew.

“Are we flying him to the White House today?” eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow said as she came into the conversation, “because I need to have cargo room for the purple paint and glitter we need to the White House into the Spiritual Purple House – Purple up! Stupidity down!”

Grayson considered this.

“I'll make a bomber,” he said. “We just fly over and drop the paint and the glitter, and done.”

“Won't all that soak through the paper?” Eleanor said.

Grayson considered this for a moment, and then came with the answer.

“Pre-mix the paint and the glitter and put it in water balloons, and done.”

“Hey, Andy – how soon can you get your pilot's license?” Edwina said to her ten-year-old brother Andrew.

Andrew and newly adopted sister ten-year-old Glendella were just passing through the living room on their way to the back porch.

“What are we flying?” Andrew said.

“Well, Rob is winging it out here, but he really needs a whole plane and at five, he needs our help,” Eleanor said.

“And I need to bomb the White House with purple paint and glitter so Grayson is building a bomber so I can get that thing into spiritual purple like it needs to be,” Edwina said.

Andrew and Glendella looked at each other.

“Next year, though,” Andrew said as he started walking.

“Gottagobye,” Glendella said as she left with Andrew, pitch perfect on Grayson's favorite phrase when the situation got too sticky.

Grayson looked confused for a moment.

“We just got gottagobyed and it wasn't even me who did it!” he said.

“We forgot to tell them we were going to use water balloons for thee paint part,” Edwina said.

“Oh – right,” Grayson said. “They don't get it, but that's OK. We'll explain it later.”

“Y'all do the blueprint with the purple enhancements and explain it to me when y'all are ready because, yeah, this didn't go quite the way – um – I'm confused but that's OK, too,” Eleanor said.

“It'll all make sense on the blueprint,” Grayson said.

“Especially once the purple glitter goes on it,” Edwina said.