Image by Ylanite Koppens from Pixabay
Col. H.F. Lee was keenly attuned to the patterns and cycles of life around him, so, the fact that six-year-old Grayson, the most regular in habit of all of his seven little Ludlow cousins, had switched his whole day's activities was an alert that something was going on.
Grayson got his running and playing in like boys his age tended to do, but he also tended to spend a lot of his play time in the Lego pile, building and building and building, and sometimes even put Legos in his wagon and went to support his siblings and friends by building them things that went with their activities. Accounting for the medium he had to work with, some of his models were startlingly accurate, and some of them, if they were not toy plastic, would be at least marginally functional.
Grayson also enjoyed working with clay for a change with next door neighbor eleven-year-old Velma Trent, and the Trents sent out his best pieces along with Velma's to the local kiln, for his gifted hands showed promise in sculpture as well.
Every now and again, Grayson could also be found applying big engineering concepts to life, like when he discovered what a thermostat was, and loaded up his wagon with a bucket of ice water and bottled water so he could regulate the temperament of his siblings and playmates by pouring a cup of water on them or handing them a little bottle of water or both – however they wanted.
But for Grayson to just be out running and playing and not acting like the miniature of his great-grandfather, master engineer and architect Edwin Ludlow, was quite a change.
Also quite a change: nobody fussed about nap time when Mrs. Maggie Lee checked the thermometer and called an early halt to the Saturday afternoon play. Nobody, not even nine-year-old George, complained about taking a cooling shower and going to bed to nap out the worst of the heat. There was a complete lack of tension in the Ludlow home about it!
Grayson's explanation was, typical of him, short and to the point: “The thing is, Robert is right about naps and stuff today.”
Robert Edward Ludlow III was five years old, and despite being the baby of the bunch took so much after his grandfather, Capt. Robert Edward Ludlow Sr., that at times he became the leader of the seven Ludlow grandchildren.
The thing about Lil' Robert: he could convince you he made sense with his unusually precocious conversation – and sometimes, if you listened to all of it and remembered that he was just five, you would understand why his reasoning made sense to him and his fellow children.
“I mean, I don't know if that is exactly how that all works, Rob,” eleven-year-old Eleanor had said about it that morning after breakfast, “but we can try it.”
“It can't hurt,” ten-year-old Andrew had said about it. “I mean, it is like Christmas Eve, sort of.”
So, finally, Col. Lee sat down while Lil' Robert was waiting on his cool shower and found out what was going on.
“So, see, it's like when you really like the food, because, see, all the adults and even me can cook, but you want to get to it faster, so then, naps!”
“OK,” Col. Lee said. “I'm listening, Rob.”
“See, when you go to sleep – boom! – there you are at the next meal, so then, we get up and have coffee, I go back to sleep, and then boom! – breakfast, and then we play real hard outside and then boom! – lunch, but then you gotta wait for dinner but not really because naptime and then boom! – dinner, and then you play some more and go to bed and then boom! – coffee!”
“No wonder you never fuss about naptime or bedtime – you get to your next meal faster that way!” Col. Lee said as he broke out laughing.
“Boom! Magic, Cousin Harry – and it works!” Lil' Robert said.
“So then, where does Christmas come in, Robert?”
“Well, tomorrow is not really Christmas, but, see, it's just as good because Papa has a white beard and might wear red, see, because, he's coming home with Grandma and they are real although Santa isn't.”
“How do you know that?”
“See, because, nobody is going to fly anywhere after eating good cookies and milk, because, see, if you get good ones somewhere, you're not leaving, because, see, everybody don't know how to make those.”
“Really?”
“Look, I'm just five, but I know everybody doesn't know how to make cookies, see, because, one time we went to somebody's house and what Grandma said happened was they drank their egg nog before cooking, and, see, the eggs were bad that they drank because, see, when you make good cookies, you put sugar in them, not salt!”
“Oh no,” Col. Lee said. “Somebody put cups of salt instead of cups of sugar – oh no.”
“It was not good, it was fun, and it was not safe!” seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow chipped in.
“I suppose not!” Col. Lee said. “Folks are out here about to kill Santa from high blood pressure.”
“And that's how you know Santa isn't real, because he would never survive what is going on in people's houses!” eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow said. “We're not going to even tell you about the box brownies gone wrong, Cousin Harry – you may be a military veteran, but even Papa wasn't ready for that, and that's why he probably had to go away to get therapy!”
“Grandma says you can't eat everybody's cooking, and, see, she's right,” Lil' Robert said.
“OK, help me out here,” the colonel said. “What does all this have to do with Christmas, and tomorrow?”
“Well, we already had breakfast, and then we played and then boom! – lunch! – and now we are going to get our nap and then boom! – dinner, and then we're going to play hard and go to bed and then boom! – it's tomorrow and, see, we're getting the present we've been praying for like forever, because Papa, and Grandma!” Lil' Robert said.
“Papa and Grandma will be home tomorrow – got it,” Col. Lee said. “So y'all are speeding up the time – got it.”
“Don't even wake me until dinnertime,” nine-year-old George said as he came out of the shower. “Don't get me wrong, Cousin Harry. I love you and Cousin Maggie and I thank you for all that you have done for these eight weeks, but I need my grandparents home.”
“I completely understand,” Col. Lee said. “My grandparents are still almost all of home to me, except for your Cousin Maggie and the family we shall have.”
“Time for our shower,” Grayson said, and Col. Lee smiled and put out his hands for Grayson and Lil' Robert.
“We'll just get this done and tuck y'all in and then boom! – time speedup!” the big cousin said.
“Yep,” Grayson said. “See, I would build a time machine with my Legos, but Rob's way is faster.”
“Because boom! – Papa, and Grandma – tomorrow, though!” Lil' Robert said.
“Tomorrow, though!” Col. Lee said.
Wow. Thats yummy. Feliz navidad
Thank you so much -- and Feliz navidad to you too!
excelente post, Te deseo una maravillosa navidad para ti y tu seres queridos