@mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2035 -- Prompt: surgeon

Image by Hans from Pixabay

Capt. R.E. Ludlow was about as regular about his morning routines as he had been in the army, but with seven grandchildren in the house, some surprises were to be expected. His baby grandson, five-year-old R.E. “Lil' Robert” Ludlow III usually shared his morning with him, but occasionally Lil' Robert overslept because room was being made for a different little grandchild. On this morning it was eight-year-old Edwina, who in her forward way came right out, said, “Good morning, Papa,” and just climbed up and took over his whole lap.

“Bad dreams, my dear?” he said.

“Yeah, about you going away – what if you aren't the same when you get back?”

“Well, my dear, the point of inpatient therapy is to not be the same when you come back, but better.”

“OK, but I need to get a look at this person who is going to be taking care of you to make sure he has his life together.”

“Still thinking about kidnapping and hiding me, I see.”

“Yeah, still thinking about it, Papa, because Zoom isn't really enough. We need to catch this therapist on a day when he doesn't know we're looking at him to make sure he is dressed properly and knows what he is actually doing.”

“Wanna ride down with me and spy on him today?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do, because he needs to understand the situation. If he messes you up, he needs to know I'm gonna get my plastic knife back and go kill him, because you and Grandma are all we've got now, and nobody is going to be messing up half of all we have. I'm a Ludlow! I don't play about mine!”

Capt. Ludlow did not know if he should laugh or cry, listening to the sister he didn't know he had on his lap – the grandfather carried that same sentiment on the inside when it came to people messing with his wife and grandchildren, but hearing it aloud from that little dark-haired girl of eight was both hilarious and tragic.

“See, if he really doesn't know what he is doing, I'll just kidnap and hide you and then nobody needs to get hurt, but see, if he messes up, everybody's going down! We little Ludlows have been through too much, and I'm not scared any more of foster home or prison!”

“I take it you watched a lot of shows in foster care about crime and prison.”

“Oh yeah – Breaking Bad is my show, Papa.”

“I see that, Edwina – so, you need to check things out so you don't have to break bad on some people.”

“Exactly, Papa. I'm basically a sweet little girl, but I'm also like you – DON'T PUSH ME!”

“Indeed, that is just like me,” he said, and she suddenly smiled, feeling understood. “But that's also why I, 50 years older than you are going to get this work done, to get past it. Breaking Bad is only an hour a week … imagine living like that from your age onward.”

“I'm already there because the world is not a good place for people like us, Papa.”

“No, Edwina,” Capt. Ludlow said. “For a long time I thought as you did, but no, Edwina. We have a choice to live that way or not. Remember when you finally showed us the plastic knife and threw it away? That was a choice not to live waiting on the next fight.”

“Yeah, but I'm safe here,” Edwina said. “I know you'll do the fighting, but if something happens to you, then I have to go back to fighting.”

“Is that the only reason you are safe?” Capt. Ludlow said.

“No,” Edwina said. “There is a ton of love here, and next door with the Trents, too.”

“Do you think that maybe God loves and cares about you and will take care of you, too? Did you ever have to use that knife you had in foster care?”

“You know, Papa, I never did. I got scared, but it never really got that bad. And, I do think that God cares about me.”

“See, the folks on Breaking Bad don't know that, but we do, Edwina.”

Edwina thought about all of this, and then relaxed a little bit.

“Okay, okay, maybe I don't need to break bad on the therapist,” she said. “I still want to spy on him, though, to make sure he's acting right. I mean, if you were having surgery or something, I'd want to meet the doctor who does all that.”

“You mean the surgeon,” Capt. Ludlow said.

“Yeah, the surgeon – I mean, he gets to cut on people for real, so we just gotta be sure. People working on people's minds are serious business too!”

“I agree, Edwina. Tell you what. Spies need to be alert, so go on back to bed, and after breakfast, we'll go spy.”

“OK!”

Edwina skipped away happy, and Capt. Ludlow mopped his forehead from the sweat that had broken out.

“Lord, help me get better because the Ludlow edition of Breaking Bad now has a co-star and I didn't even know it! Help!”