Because it was impolite to roll on one's back porch, laughing, and because they knew that it could be their day at any time given the three little ones they still had at home, Sgt. and Mrs. Trent stood and watched the latest Ludlow conundrum with supportive looks on their face.
Goldie the Trents' cat in the late evening light had confused Lil' Robert Ludlow – she was bright red-orange in a red sunbeam because she was a ginger cat, and he thought she was a red fox. The five-year-old had thus inspired his four nearest siblings to build the biggest Lego wall they could around their strawberry tree.
“So, Lil' Robert,” Capt. Ludlow his grandfather said when he discovered the building project in progress, “why are we doing what we're doing?”
“I remember,” Lil' Robert said. “I was real young then, maybe only three years old, when Big Cousin Archibald told us about the foxes that stole grapes out of the grape garden he had.”
Capt. Ludlow considered this … the child had a mind like a steel trap, and the other four were working like they remembered too. Cousin Archibald was one of the heirs of the Ludlow Winery, and for Christmas 2018 Capt. and Mrs. Ludlow had gone up with Lil' Robert, Edwina, Andrew, and Eleanor, the four grandchildren they had in their custody at that time. Robert was indeed three, almost four, and he apparently had been listening carefully as Cousin Archibald had described the high number of foxes that had damaged the vines that year. Capt. Ludlow then recalled the pictures that Cousin Archibald had gotten from motion-sensor cameras, capturing the foxes in the act.
Capt. Ludlow's eldest grandson, 10-year-old Andrew, was standing by him, and confirmed the matter.
“Yes, sir, I remember that as well,” he said.
The impressionable minds of little children … and, every reason why Capt. Ludlow had worked so hard to get his grandchildren out of foster care situations of varying suitability … and every reason why he was careful about what memories he made with them.
“All right,” Capt. Ludlow said. “Next question, Robert: that's getting to be a high wall. How do we plan to water this tree with that wall in the way?”
“Oh, that's easy – we'll just pour buckets over the wall with our little garden buckets – hey, let's do that now!”
“Yeah!” said George (9), Grayson (6), Edwina (8), and Amanda (7).
And what did these five little people do but form a bucket brigade? George didn't even bother to do anything with the hose but screw it on while it was still wound up, and Lil' Robert positioned himself with his little buckets at the other end of the hose.
Of course, screwing a hose on while it was wound up led to certain problems...
“It won't stay screwed tight!” George said as water sprayed out between the nozzle and the hose. “I'm going to have to hold it!
And he, as heroic as the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke, wrapped his little fingers around the nozzle and held on, with Grayson coming to put his hands around his brother's hands while both of them got sprayed in the face.
“It's coming through good now!” Robert said as he filled his buckets. “You're both doing a great job – but let's do this quick!”
Edwina and Amanda came to get the buckets and ran, spilling half the water as they did so, but eventually throwing it over the Lego wall to the bottom of the tree. This happened ten times, and then Robert reached up with both hands and cut the water off.
“Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” he sang to his grandfather.
“Uh, that's probably not the best way to do that,” Andrew said. “On a colder day, whoever has to hold the hose really isn't going to like it.”
Lil' Robert's blue eyes flashed, and his grandfather in the raw just stepped out of his spirit.
“You got a better idea?” he said, and got right up into Andrew's face. “Five plus five is ten, and I'm five and you're ten, so if you're going to just watch and not help, you better have a better idea.”
Capt. Ludlow became disoriented … it was like looking in a mirror in which he could see two younger versions of himself at the core … Andrew, the more mature one, knew he was just too smart to be brawling with the less mature younger one.
“Actually, Robert, I do. I fully accept the responsibility of being twice your age.”
“Too many big words – let's see it!”
Andrew considered what to do, and then took the hose and carefully unwound it. He then walked it out to the strawberry tree – “Yep, it reaches” – and then carefully began taking apart bits of the Lego wall.
“Don't break it!” Lil' Robert ordered.
“Not going to do that,” Andrew said, and carefully put down the pieces in order that he was removing them until he found the spot he wanted – he rebuilt the wall but left an opening in it. He then put the hose end through the opening, went back and made sure the nozzle was tight, and then turned on the water.
“Oh, that's brilliant, Andrew!” Edwina said. “Watering through the right spot in the wall – and then when we're done, we just put the Legos back in and the wall is totally secure again!”
“I'll say that's a great idea!” George said. “All that getting hit in the face with the water was not it!”
Lil' Robert forgot his anger with Andrew and tackled him in an embrace.
“It's the greatest thing ever – thank you!”
“Any time, Robert,” Andrew said gently as he hugged his little brother.
After a few minutes, Andrew went and turned the water off, then gathered up the hose while Edwina and Grayson put the Legos back in the wall and closed the hole.
“I think we can now call this a total success!” George said.
“I'd like to see those foxes get in there now!” Amanda said.
“That was probably Goldie that y'all saw,” Capt. Ludlow reminded.
“Just in case, Grandpa, just in case,” Lil' Robert said.
The five youngest Ludlow grandchildren ran back inside, well pleased with themselves, and Capt. Ludlow and Andrew lingered.
“So, you are more than half as tall as I am, Andrew,” Capt. Ludlow said. “Why not just put the hose over the wall?”
Andrew sighed.
“It's like this, Grandpa. They all worked hard on that. We both know that as soon as tomorrow afternoon, Robert and Grayson are going to forget all about this and want their Legos back, and then Grandma is going to clean them and we are back to where we were before Goldie prowled around. We both know that you could take the whole wall down now and dare any of us to say anything about your decision, and Lil' Robert will stomp around mad when he's out of your sight, but in two days will have forgotten all about it. But I notice you try really hard to be nice to us, so, I try really hard to be nice too. Yeah, I could have put the hose over the wall, but that would have looked like I didn't care about what they were doing.”
Capt. Ludlow embraced his grandson, and then they went inside the house.
Meanwhile, the Trents went back inside their home, went into their bedroom, got in bed (because their 21-year-old son and 17-year old daughter had taken the three youngest children on a hike, and they had just called to say they were ten minutes from the house on their way back), and laughed until they cried.
“I haven't laughed that much since Redd Foxx was on Sanford and Son!” Sgt. Trent said.
“Ludlow and Grandsons – especially that Lil' Robert!” Mrs. Trent said, and had to put her head back in the pillow for screaming with laughter.