21 January 2026, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2989: gradient

“So, Rob, I know that red is your favorite color, and you understand there's different reds – different hues that are still red, not orange, not purple, not brown.”

“Yeah, I get that it depends on how much blue and other stuff you put into real red to make different reds – that was fun with crayons, too.”

Eleven-year-old Velma Trent had come up with a smart way to help five-year-old Robert Edward Ludlow III understand how to blend colors – shading one over another and then backing up to see what the color looked like from a distance.

“OK, Rob, that was lesson 1. Now we gotta talk about gradient – shades of one hue, just lighter and darker. You can get all kinds of different versions of the same red if you be careful how much you use at once.”

“And this is how you get Lil' Robert Ludlow to settle down for a second afternoon in a row,” Mrs. Thalia Ludlow said to Mrs. Gladys Jubilee Trent as the Ludlow grandmother came to retrieve her baby grandson for dinner later on. “Your middle grandchild Velma is a natural-born teacher!”

“She is but she doesn't get it from me – that's Velma Stepforth's father, great-grandfather Valiant Moore, that you see in little Velma,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“Wait – even in San Francisco, those who follow early childhood education for real know about Valiant Moore's work,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Wow!”

“Mr. Moore is still alive, hearty and hale in his early 90s, and it's plumb hilarious when he and little Velma get on the phone or Zoom,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said. “She is a child, learning how to think about teaching children, and so applying it to herself and every child around her, just that quick – she doesn't know what she's doing but he knows exactly what he is doing with her.”

“Making sure the blessings get to the next three generations – that's a great thing to be doing as a great-grandfather,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Robert and I look forward to that stage of our lives, provided we make it through this one!”

“Ain't it the truth,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said. “Lil' Robert is a lovely handful, and he's not by himself.”

“Rob is actually one of the easier ones, except – well, watch this – Rob, it's dinnertime!”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” said Lil' Robert, and came running for a crash-hug into his grandmother. “But wait – I gotta tell Velma I gotta go – hey, Velma!”

And he ran back, and then crash-hugged into Mrs. Jubilee Trent – “I gotta go but I love you too!” – and then crashed again into Mrs. Ludlow.

“What have I told you about high-speed hugging, Robert?” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Remember, you're not a little boy – you have all the weight of your real tall soul, and remember, you are your grandfather's twin and we would all be on the floor if he did that!”

Lil' Robert instantly paid attention.

“I am so sorry – I gotta go tell Velma – hey, Velma!”

Off he ran, and then came back and gave Mrs. Jubilee Trent a gentle hug – “I am so sorry and here you go, Grandma Jubilee, the right way” -- and then gave his grandmother a gentle hug.

“Much better, Rob – but you gotta remember at the beginning, not the end,” Mrs. Ludlow said.

“Yes, ma'am, I will,” Lil' Robert said. “I can write a reminder in like eight different shades of red now, see, because I learned all about gradient today – G-R-A-D-I-E-N-T – see, because, you can take one red crayon and do all this different stuff with it, and if we have tomato sauce with dinner, I'll show you, see, because –.”

Mrs. Jubilee Trent exchanged a knowing look and smile with Mrs. Ludlow, and then the Ludlow grandmother and grandson went back home.

Velma came into the room a little later.

“Big Pop-Pop Valiant sure is right, Grandma Jubilee. There's no better way to really learn something than to teach someone else, and if the someone else is Rob, you really learn!”

“He seems to pick everything up really well,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“Oh, he does – and then runs with it, and that's the challenge, because – well, its like not going from crayons to markers to paint, but crayon straight to tomato sauce type of problems. Rob's mind is just way bigger than his brain is, but he can't help it; he's just five and he's got to grow into himself.”

“It's good that you know that, Velma,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said. “A lot of adults don't even know that about kids.”

“Ain't it the truth, Grandma Jubilee,” Velma said. “I just think when those adults were kids, nobody understood it for them, so, it's hard – but we gotta stop bad cycles somewhere.”

“Yep,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said as she opened her arms and gave her granddaughter a big hug. “We are definitely in the right work, Velma.”