6 May 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2728: don’t relax
“Look, you don't have to be worried because, see, ain't nobody gonna bother you because first they have to get through Papa, and Cousin Harry, and Andrew, George, Grayson, and me, and, see, ain't nobody gonna do none of that because, see, then, don't get it twisted with Grandma, Cousin Maggie, Eleanor, Edwina – especially Edwina – and maybe Amanda but she'll probably call the hospital for anybody who thinks they are going to mess with you because, see, we don't do that here! You're not going anywhere that anyone would ever hurt you again, because we're not going for it! You're safe now, and that's just it, and we're not going for anything else – that's OVER.”
“Man, if Lil' Robert Ludlow told me that about my life I'd probably believe it,” 16-year-old Tom Stepforth said as he watched the five-year-old talking with his ten-year-old cousin and soon to be adoptive sister Glendella Ludlow.
“And you just know that baby means it,” Tom's grandmother Mrs. Velma Stepforth said. “He's believable because he believes it.”
“He has a pair of steel-toed boots, too,” Tom's cousin eleven-year-old Velma Trent said. “Rob has been in some battles even here – his big brother nine-year-old George used to try to bully him, but then found out Rob ain't having it.”
“Wait – George is almost twice his age,” Tom said.
“Rob ain't having it,” Velma said. “He really is a little Robert Edward Ludlow – all that stuff he talks about the vests and stuff is real.”
“You mean this little boy going on about the Robert Edward Ludlowness vested in him has y'all convinced?” Tom said.
“Look, he walks up on you talking about we need to talk about stuff man to man and goes to see Melvin about how to be a beatillionaire and how to fix his beats like he knows what he's talking about,” Velma said. “He's basically Gracie as a little white boy.”
“Oh,” Tom said. “Never mind. I get it. Gracie is Gladys Jubilee Trent with Grandma Velma's style points – I get it.”
“Yeah, it's hard with these grandparent twins sometimes, Tom – Vertran your little brother is twinning on y'all's Pop-Pop like that, too,” Mrs. Velma Stepforth said.
“Yeah, I know … I'm beginning to get why Uncle Vincent can't do anything with Gracie and why my dad struggles with Vertran. How do you raise your own parent?”
“Why do you think Vertran is with us and we are with y'all this whole summer and Gladys – Grandma Jubilee to you, Velma – is moving down?” Mrs. Velma Stepforth said.
“Oh,” Velma said. “Backup.”
“Yep,” Mrs. Velma Stepforth said. “That's why, although the Ludlow parent stories are really sad, God already knew Lil' Robert and his siblings and cousins needed to be raised by the only other person who really can understand them: Big Robert, their grandfather. He was kind of already Glendella's grandfather too, as it happens, because really, Mosette Smith and her husband have really been kicking in everything for her, and Mosette Smith is Capt. Ludlow's stepdaughter through his first wife. Capt. Ludlow stepped up for Mosette when he found out, and Mosette stepped up for Glendella, and finally, Glendella is here.”
“That's deep,” Tom said. “But it just shows God knows what family you really need.”
“I wonder why the Smiths just didn't adopt Glendella,” Velma said. “I mean, I love all my grandparents, but it would still be kinda weird to not have a mom and dad.”
“From what I've read from Uppity Foolery Watch, the Smiths have actually filed a few CPS reports, but, the county was not trying to take on that branch of the Ludlow family,” Tom said. “Because the Smiths are not legal relatives, they have no standing at all to make that happen.”
“So, Glendella was right: Robert Edward Ludlow Sr. is the only person the other Ludlows are scared enough of,” Velma said.
“Yep,” Tom said. “He shut the Ludlow Winery all the way down in four hours after Astor Ludlow threatened him, and Astor Ludlow was off that board in 24 hours. Capt. Ludlow has been 'Hell to Pay' Ludlow since he was my age. His family ought to be scared of him when they are doing foolery. Lil' Robert is just chasing that same reputation.”
“Yeah, but Lil' Robert is a sweetheart, Tom, who has just been through some stuff,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “You haven't thought about having to defend your relatives yet, Tom, because your father is a whole major, and your grandfather my husband a whole billionaire, so, for you, that switch hasn't flipped completely on. But think about how you think when you find a story that shows some evil is being planned in Lofton County – that's the same instinct. It's just that Lil' Robert has had a harder life in his five years – you just don't relax out of that defense mode easily if that's your early experience.”
“Oh, OK, I get that,” Tom said.
“It's kinda too bad that Rob and Glendella are cousins, because that's just a match made in heaven,” Velma said as the two Ludlow cousins hugged and snuggled each other.
“Not really,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “You gotta give Lil' Robert about 20 years so his head is big enough so his brain isn't always falling out of his mouth.”
“Yeah, all that talking – I feel like I need to be more of the strong, silent type just listening to him,” Tom said. "That would get old real fast."
“Yeah, he's going to be about seven or eight feet tall when that's all done – Really Big Robert,” Velma said. “But hey: we can afford the box or courtside seats at the basketball games he'll be in, so it's all good.”