@mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2029 -- Prompt: flood

Image by mike wolf from Pixabay

Gracie Trent, eight years old, observed six-year-old Grayson walking around his house, and then her house, and then his house, and then her house...

“What'cha doin', Grayson?”

“I'm trying to see something, but I'm going to need a shovel to really figure it out.”

The word shovel in the mouth of any Ludlow or Trent boy was an activity trigger for their fathers – so grandfather and adoptive father Capt. R.E. Ludlow and Sgt. Vincent Trent almost instantly materialized on their front porches to see what was going on.

Grayson finally stopped going around and around, in front of Gracie.

“So, I realized why our cityscape got wiped out the other day, Gracie.”

“Why?”

“It wasn't George and Robert, either,” Grayson said. “I mean, we saw what the hose busting did, but the flood wiped out our little city because the houses and stuff didn't have foundations.”

“Oh, you know that makes sense, Grayson,” Gracie said, “because you know my big sister Vanna keeps telling people that if you don't get your foundation right, it doesn't matter what else you do building on your face with makeup and stuff.”

Vanna was 17 years old to Gracie's 8.

“See, you just gotta have good engineering,” Grayson said. “It's like no choir sounds right without Papa, because, he's a bass and engineers the foundation of chords and stuff.”

“Right,” Gracie said.

“So,” Grayson said, “what I really need to do now that I know houses keep going past the ground is get a shovel and get down there and see what they have, and then next time we build a city I can get below the cardboard and make it work better.”

“You know what you really need?” Gracie said. “We don't have one here but I'm sure Dad knows a guy – you really need one of those Caterpillar thingies to just get the digging good and done.”

“Butterfly babies do all that?” Grayson said.

“I mean the ones you drive – the big yellow machines, Grayson.”

“Oh, those things – I'm not sure I can reach the wheel and the gas pedal and stuff at the same time, but I'm sure I could have Robert get down and do that, and you know if he hits the gas, I'll have plenty of power.”

Lil' Robert, Grayson's first cousin and baby brother by adoption, was five.

“Oh, yes, because Robert is so into everything he does, and at about the time you two are big enough to handle a man-sized shovel, you'll also be able to get your license and drive, so, that's all that,” Gracie said.

“Well,” Grayson said, “it's like Robert always says. We're just going to keep drinking our milk and exercising, and we'll get to all this next week.”

“Ain't it the truth, Grayson.”