23 December 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2595: don’t amputate

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

There are nightmares, and then there is the alarm clock from the Gracie Trent Experience.

“Doo-doo-DOO-doo-doo-doobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeeDOO!”

Eight-year-old Gracie Trent was up early and singing, and other people in her home woke up in cold sweats at the sound.

“I can't do no more downspout coffee!” Gracie's big brother 21-year-old Melvin Trent said as he fell out of bed.

When first coming to the Trent home to sit for his grandchildren, Mr. Thomas Stepforth Sr. had discounted the terror of his grandson. He had learned better since, and, since he was up, he went to see what little Gracie was doing in her room, only to find her in the living room fully dressed and just using a green crayon to make a list on a piece of paper.

“See, Pop-Pop, it's like this: we live with veterans,” he said, “and although Dad came home and your son my Uncle Major came home with all their hands and feet and stuff, a lot of vets don't and it's sad and I was watching some vet go by yesterday and looking so sad and I said to myself, there's gotta be something we can do and we can.”

“I'm listening, Gracie. I'm always interested in the next million-dollar idea.”

“Oh, Pop-Pop, I'm joining you as a billionaire on this, so just make a little room up there.”

(Mrs. Velma Stepforth, Gracie's grandmother, would be laughing about this scene ever after.)

“The thing is, we can't do anything about the cases in which somebody loses something in battle, but if it's an injury, we just need to get the wounds to heal so the doctors don't amputate, and you know how if you make gelatin stiff enough it pretty much acts like a piece of meat?”

“Yes.”

“That and some Ben-Gay rub and hot sauce to put on wounds, and that will take care of it.”

Mr. Stepforth considered this.

“Well, we do skin grafts and things like that, and Ben Gay does pick up circulation. So do things made with capsaicin, which is what makes hot peppers hot. So, that's not too far off.”

“But, Pop-Pop, we gotta get the clear gelatin, because everybody knows the cherry and strawberry flavors are red and that's a nice blend with muscles, but they also aren't going to grow anything, the way they smell, but cherry trees and strawberry plants, and I don't think that would be comfortable at all.”

“I agree – not comfortable at all.”

“But then, all we have is the red type, so I'm about to just put it in the colander and wash the red off –.”

Mr. Stepforth used to play basketball and had a vertical leap of about 40 inches. His whole body, at age 66, remembered that, and then also remembered how to run top speed to the kitchen, visions of having to pay to replace all the local sewer pipes behind Gracie rinsing gelatin straight into the drain becoming his waking nightmare.

But she hadn't gotten anything down yet because …

“Before I go up and get that down,” she said as she casually followed her grandfather into the kitchen, “I was just making a list because it really depends on who bought the hot sauce last month. Dad buys good strong hot sauce, and that's what we need, but Mom really likes sauce that tastes good with just a bit of hot, and that won't work.”

Mr. Stepforth opened the cabinet and pulled down the most generic store-bought brand of hot sauce in the cabinet.

Gracie threw up her hands.

“A billion-dollar plan lost,” she said, “because weak hot sauce was on sale!”

“See, Pop-Pop, now you understand what I go through!” Melvin said to his grandfather after the younger man caught up with the older one stirring both butter and honey into his Crio Bru. “Between Milton and George creating winter wonderlands with baking soda and Gracie about to rinse gelatin off into our drains – we are fighting for our lives over here!”

“Yeah, we would have been better off with downspout coffee than any of this,” Mr. Stepforth said. “Got me drinking cocoa brewed like coffee and making it into candy, and trying to find the Ben Gay because I don't do 40-inch leaps any more without real consequences. I explained to Gracie why we don't rinse gelatin in the drain and why we don't get food down without permission, and I've got her coloring books right now, but I'm still childproofing these cabinets before turning this house back over to your parents!”