7 July 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2791: follow that cat!

Image by Steven Iodice from Pixabay

Henry Fitzhugh Lee rarely woke up not sure where he was, and if he did, he knew he was safe because he had gone to sleep without worrying about his surroundings. After 24 years on active duty in the Army, covering Special Forces, Judge Advocate General, and some other things even more classified, that was rare.

Second impression: well, of course. He was in the arms of Mrs. Maggie M.T. Lee, his second wife, and she in his, and safe between them was their child in her womb, still very, very early on, but still very much present … the gift of God to them both, having both been widowed and lost their child with the loss of their mates. He had lost an infant son and she an infant daughter … it just came to mind for some reason …

Frank and Francesca Wainwright, Capt. Ludlow's lost but then found youngest two children, were fraternal twins, and that popped up in the “Ainslee MacLee” line of the Lees-of-the-Mountain because Ainslee MacMurray Lee was the only single birth from the MacMurray parents who had five sets of fraternal twins that were each a boy and a girl … so although she was a “singleton,” and although she had no twins, the twinning seemed to come out in her great-grandchildren's children. Capt. Ludlow had produced his twins … so, maybe … it kept coming to Col. Lee's mind … he was exactly the same number of generations from Mama Ainslee as Capt. Ludlow …

Third impression: reveille was playing in the colonel's head as ever, and as ever when not ill, he obeyed it and got up after carefully releasing his also early-rising wife … it was still just a little early for her. So for him, on to the medicine regimen with the snack needed to get that down, putting out Mrs. Lee's tea and putting on her water for the tea, exercise alone and then with five-year-old cousin Lil' Robert Ludlow, who bopped in after exercising with Capt. R.E. Ludlow Sr. his grandfather to get in his second round with his big Cousin Harry.

“Because, see, we gotta stay ready so we don't ever have to get ready!” Lil' Robert said to his big cousin as they got ready to jump robe in synch.

“Absolutely,” the colonel said, and smiled at the intent expression of that little blond face below him.

After that, Col. Lee and Capt. Ludlow generally had coffee together while Lil' Robert had three drops of coffee in his warm milk and fell out asleep even faster now that he was exercising with both military veterans – but on this day, Col. Lee had warm milk with nine drops of coffee in it.

“Trying it Robert Edward Ludlow III style to see if I like my coffee this way,” he said, to Lil' Robert's delight and Capt. Ludlow's knowing smile.

Lil' Robert went on to sleep in short order, and his grandfather said to Col. Lee, “I am glad to see you preparing to go back to bed, H.F.”

“I have to take better care of myself – no point grieving Sandy Gebhardt and becoming another version of him from overwork,” Col. Lee said. “Not that next week I will not have to be back at it, but I really need to rest when not working and focus on putting that time in with Maggie. I can't be worrying her on the weekends – the weeks can get bad enough.”

“Good thinking, H.F. – I've been praying you finally make up your mind to be one of the longer-lived Lees,” Capt. Ludlow said. “You see my mind as a distaff Lee has been made up for me, eight times over, but … .”

“I wasn't sure I wanted that since Vanessa's death – in fact I was sure I didn't, but the Lord clearly has other plans. I started to notice I lost count of the situations I should have died in and came out without a scratch, so it is past time to agree with Him and stop acting a fool.”

“Lil' Robert is going to love you drinking warm milk with him on Saturdays,” Capt. Ludlow said.

“Let's hope it works – I'm a little bigger than him!” Col. Lee said. “Thank you, by the way – the way milk goes in your house, I appreciate you doing that.”

Capt. Ludlow laughed.

“I just was curious and filled a half-gallon with some water and left it where Lil' Robert could find it – this little boy can lift a half-gallon! Can't manipulate it well yet, but he just started working out with it since it was there! Get this warm milk while you can – this boy is coming to guzzle from our half-gallons!”

“Well, you know he needs to fill his hollow legs and get tall and broad and into your vest because of the Robert Edward Ludlowness also vested in him,” Col. Lee purred.

“Next week, though,” Capt. Ludlow said, pitch-perfect but two octaves down from his baby grandson, and then he and Col. Lee laughed all the more because Lil' Robert smiled in his sleep at hearing his favorite phrase in his favorite voice.

Capt. Ludlow took Lil' Robert to tuck him back in, and Col. Lee returned home to tuck himself back in after going by the kitchen and working with Mrs. Lee for a little while, plating dates and celery stuffed with peanut butter – their “power nibbles” for the day, enough for them and the little ones that were ever bopping through their open back door.

At the extension of his hearing, Col. Lee heard “the anthem of attention” – eight-year-old Gracie Trent was up early next door and singing “do do DOO do do doobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeeDOO!”

“Uh oh,” he said to Mrs. Lee.

“Go on back to bed, Harry,” she said gently. “It's not your problem.”

“Right,” he said. “Sgt. Vincent Trent and both Stepforth grandparents are over there – they have the situation under control,” he said, and then kissed his wife and went to his bedroom, got in bed, turned on the sound of heavy rain, and floated away, asleep, in just a little while … and thus did not know if he was awake or dreaming when sometime later he heard “Follow that cat!” He knew that sometimes he sleepwalked … so with the sound of a deep, sweet rain playing over a clear blue day full of golden sunshine, he found himself at the window to see eight-year-old Gracie Trent make for the fence and jump right over it in a form that would have made an Olympian long jumper proud – and then, the other eleven children between five and eleven years old all imitated what she did, and cleared it.

Lil' Robert Ludlow made it with an inch to spare, and that fence was about his height … but that boy loved leg day with his grandfather and cousin, and in trying to keep up with learning basketball had turned into a ferocious high-jumping defender – his big brother George once messed up and told him he was too little, and then could not get a shot off all afternoon.

“You're letting Rob look like Dennis Rodman out here on you, George,” the colonel had said.

“Who?” George said.

“Never mind – well, I'll show you, but the point is, it doesn't pay to rile everybody up.”

“Oh come on, Cousin Harry – it isn't that bad!” George said.

“Yes, it is,” Col. Lee said. “You wait until Lil' Robert tie-dyes his hair again and find out!”

George's eyes had gotten so wide … and Mrs. Lee had fallen out laughing in the background.

Meanwhile, the scene changed again – Capt. R.E. Ludlow in his car, burning rubber after those kids – going off-road to get to the next intersection in front of them while Sgt. Vincent Trent was burning rubber and and honking the horn, going to block off the other one until they could get all those kids out of the middle of the street.

Was any of it real? Col. Lee knew his mind could wander over centuries, and rarely was he relaxed, so there was no telling how his mind was reacting to that … but the scene changed again, and there was his wife smiling and saying, “Go on back to bed … it's not your problem.”

When Col. Lee woke again, it was a beautiful late afternoon, the golden sunlight flooding the room.

“Well, hey, Sleeping Handsome,” Mrs. Lee said, for she was sitting on the bed reading.

“Well, hey, Golden Beauty,” he said. “Is Gracie's cat missing?”

Mrs. Lee started.

“My, your ears – Gracie was in here talking about homing beacons for pets, and she was also saying about Goldie that any technology ready to follow that cat around probably was classified, but she wanted me to ask you when you woke up.”

“You would never believe the dream my mind spun up out of that,” he said. “Dennis Rodman made a high-stepping ball-blocking appearance right beside Lil' Robert and his tie-dyed hair.”

“Yeah, you need more rest, Harry – let's get you a solid dinner and come right back to bed,” Mrs. Lee said as she broke out laughing. “Your mind has to get used to its new day shift life, and apparently, that neighborhood is as interesting though less dangerous than the night shift!”

“Ain't it the truth, Maggie,” Col. Lee said, pitch-perfect but an octave down from Gracie Trent, and grinned as his wife laughed even harder.