Image by TyliJura from Pixabay
Six-year-old Lego engineer Grayson Ludlow took his giftedness in engineering and architecture seriously, although he, being of few words, would not have explained it like that.
“You gotta have blueprints,” he said, no matter what any of his siblings or neighbor friends asked him to build.
So, his nine-year-old brother George and George's best friend nine-year-old Milton Trent from next door knew they would just have to wait until Grayson was done with his white crayons and blue construction paper before they were going to get their project built.
“Grayson is way too much like Papa – you can't rush him,” George said. “I tried. He just looked at me with those big gray eyes and said, 'I'd beat you up like Robert does, but, I got better stuff to do, so, I'm putting your blueprint in the papier-mache, and when you ask nice next week, I'll start over.'”
“You know, Robert and Grayson are kinda rough … they may be your little brothers, but they are way too much like Gracie, my baby sister,” Milton said. “I think God gave them to us as anti-bullying training, because it does not pay to mess with any of them.”
“I can see that,” George said. “Even Edwina knows better now than to mess with Grayson!”
“You would think they had been besties forever now,” Milton said.
“Well, Edwina is like Papa too, though,” George said. “They see the Papa-ness in each other, now, and have worked it out.”
“I guess she sees the Papa-ness too in your lawyer plans,” Milton said.
“Yep. I'm non-violent, but hitting folks in the wallet is what really hurts anyway – I'm nine and I've figured that out about America,” George said. “You know how your ancestors were sold for money? Basically, a lot of foster care is the same thing – people just in it to get kids to make money. So, the way you gotta stop them is taking all their money, so, just call me George 'Taking-All-Their-Money' Ludlow, Esq. Show me the bad guys. I'm taking all their money. Problem solved.”
“You know, that's actually about right,” Milton's grandfather Thomas Stepforth Sr. said. “I'm a billionaire – that's actually about right. I've been very successful with that technique. When you get ready to open your law firm, call me.”
“Will do!” George said.
“Oh, here comes Grayson at last!” Milton said. “We just gotta get our space vessel built first, Pop-Pop, and then I'll have George back here to go to law school next year.”
“Right,” Mr. Stepforth said. “Priorities.”
“Right,” George and Milton said.
Grayson came with his blueprints and a report after Mr. Stepforth left to observe from greater distance.
“So, yeah, I can build what you want, George and Milton. I will do a small model and then have Papa put in an order for some more Lego sets. But first, you need to look at these blueprints, because I gotta build this too.”
“Oh, yeah, we do need a landing pad, for sure,” George said.
“Yeah, because it's like putting on the parking brake: you gotta click your Lego landing gear in right,” Milton said.
“Yeah, because there's no point in living in the best place in the universe and having your ship falling over just as soon as you come back from everywhere else,” Grayson said. “That's bad engineering. You gotta click in the landing gears, so you gotta have somewhere to click them in. Gotta build the pad first. It's like your papa said: priorities.”
“How many Lego sets do you think it is going to take to build the real thing?” George said.
“Papa is just about to put in a new order of Lego sets, so, next month,” Grayson said.
“That'll work,” George and Milton said.
“Give us time to pack,” Milton said. “Are we doing Venus or Pluto first? I gotta know whether I need my summer clothes or winter clothes.”
