17 December 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2589: set the clock

Image by Gabriela Janků from Pixabay

“OK. Set the clock. They're either going to be home by this time, or they're going to call us on your phone.”

Ten-year-old Andrew and eleven-year-old Eleanor Ludlow were getting ready for the return home of their grandparents and adoptive parents, Capt. R.E. and Thalia Ludlow.

“OK, so we have like 40 hours,” Eleanor said. “We've made it through all but 40 hours of all eight weeks – can you believe it, Andy?”

“I'm not going to lie,” he said. “I didn't know if we were going to make it, and then after Cousin Harry and Maggie swung into action, I was good but not really … I mean, I didn't know grandparent withdrawals are a thing, but they are.”

“I think it's called abandonment fears,” Eleanor said, “and there's a reason we're all staying in family therapy, because I think Papa goes through it too. He is doing extra work, but it's just kinda hard when your kids don't care enough about you and their kids to stay around, in the same way that we have to deal with the fact that our parents loved their drugs more than they loved us.”

“Or maybe … and I've been thinking about this, a lot,” Andrew said, “even though it is no better. I mean, really, Papa and Grandma are the only family members who have been there for us from the beginning – I just think something happened, and our parents had the choice between forgiving and healing and moving on, or going out with the drugs. I don't really think it had anything to do with us, because we were barely there the whole time, in their thinking. If your kids exist to you, you don't do the stuff they did.”

“That's a lot for a ten and eleven-year-old to take in,” Eleanor said, “but I don't think you're wrong, because we were just a check to most of our foster parents. I think a lot of this world is like that.”

The two Ludlow children looked across to the Trent home, where the the Trent little ones and their cousin Vertran were sitting and talking in the twilight with their grandfather, Thomas Stepforth Sr.

“See, it's like this,” Eleanor said. “When he and Papa were young in Lofton County, our grandfather could have had him killed for not being useful to him at the moment. That kind of stuff happened, because Papa saw stuff like that although he never did any of it, and eventually went and got our Slocum-Bolling great-uncles and turned them in. When their grandfathers were young, our Ludlow great-great-great-great-grandparents could have beat up, sold, or killed our friends for any reason they wanted. So if that's cool for that long, some people just haven't gotten out of practice, because the way our parents and foster parents treated us was that either we were a check or we didn't even matter.”

“Yep, that's a lot to take in,” Andrew said, “but, it is what I think is going on. People are passing down bad habits. It was all cool when it was just hitting people like Velma, Milton, Gracie, and Vertran, but now they are messing themselves up with their kids and their parents.”

“I think every generation just has to figure out if they are going to be like Jesus, or like the devil,” Eleanor said. “We're choosing Jesus, and our grandparents are too, so, it kinda all worked out the way it was supposed to. It doesn't feel any better, but I kinda see it.”

“Yep,” Andrew said. “It feels terrible, but, we can have a good cry about it when we talk about it with Papa and Grandma on Sunday … or maybe now.”

Andrew pulled out his handkerchief and wrapped his arms around his crying sister, and Col. Lee, who was quietly observing, came and put his arms around them both and let them cry, and then showed them his face, in tears.

“My parents,” he said, “were grasping millionaire heir socialites who didn't know not to drink and drive with their baby in the back. But my Lee grandparents had been chosen by Jesus, and my Slocum-Lofton grandparents were before the end too … and so have I, and so have you, and and so have your grandparents, so we are just going to stay right here, cry when we need to, thank God, and keep it moving, because it is all working out just like it is supposed to, even with grandparent withdrawals being part of the package sometimes. Your grandparents will be home in 39 hours and 47 minutes, and if not, they will call!”

He smiled, and then they smiled, and after that it was all better.