Photo by the author, Deeann D. Mathews
“So, I do feel like Edwina is the perfect person if you need to be safe by means of getting good security, and also – what's that called again, Andrew?”
“Interior design, Amanda.”
“Yeah, that thing that's like fashion sense for buildings, but … but the problem is, you just know somebody is going to come say something dumb just one time, and, it's going to be over for them.”
“Ain't it the truth, Mandie, ain't it the truth.”
Seven-year-old Amanda and ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow were talking with eight-year-old Gracie Trent about a whole resort design that six-year-old Grayson Ludlow had done modeled on something they had seen in a magazine in Dubai. They were all chilling out in the home of the Ludlows' cousins the Lees, and this is where the quieter Ludlows tended to hang out and have the real conversations, sometimes with Gracie.
“Yeah, and that's definitely going to happen because of the design,” Grayson said. “There's a reason this thing was never built.”
“Well, spit it out, Grayson,” Gracie said.
“This thing is basically meant to float on sand,” Grayson said, “but it's not like what we have here that George and Milton proved you can't make a quicksand.”
“Yeah, with all the water main breaks and stuff, it's a good thing,” Andrew said. “I mean, we definitely have sinkholes over creeks that never should have been built over, but not quicksand.”
“And then there's San Francisco where Grandma is from, but at least there's some rock down there, somewhere,” Grayson said.
“Yep – the Millennium Tower just needed pylons the right length, and we would not be out here laughing at it,” Gracie said.
“But this here?” Grayson said. “This here? Just start laughing now. They built a whole neighborhood by dumping sand in the nearest sea, and then wanted to put this thing on top of it.”
“They basically built a sand castle – a sand neighborhood of sand castles – and then wanted to build real buildings on it?”
“Sooner or later, some of these people need to be arrested,” Andrew said. “Stupidity on this level should be a crime.”
“Which is why we definitely couldn't take Edwina anywhere near this,” Amanda said. “I'm telling you it would be all over for the architect, the mayor, whoever checks on them, or who isn't checking on them but needs to – just over!”
“Yeah, but that was going to happen anyway,” Grayson said. “At least Edwina is being raised with us. She's not gonna torture anybody. The sea waves and just takes your sand castle neighborhood away wave by wave.”
Andrew considered this for a moment, and then said, “But it is not like the sea is sneaky; it just is what it is. If you go out there doing dumb stuff, it's not like it sneaks up on you.”
“You know, I'm kinda understanding Edwina,” Amanda said, “because, whoever is checking on whoever needs to be checked on, needs to be checked on, and fired, and maybe even sent to their room without dessert!”
“Ain't it the truth, Mandie, ain't it the truth,” Gracie said.
Sending you some Ecency curation votes.
Thank you so much!