Image by Greg McMahan from Pixabay
Mrs. Maggie Lee knew she had been warned; her husband had told her, straight up: “If the forces of hate ever think of touching you or any of these little ones, you will see old warlord Lee come out of me again.”
So, she expected to see what the first Mrs. Lee never had when the other birth family of eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, the colonel's cousin, decided to ignore every warning and reach out to harass the Ludlows again, not knowing that Col. and Mrs. Lee were temporary legal guardians of the Ludlow grandchildren. But they, too, had been warned.
So when Edwina had a complete nervous breakdown and handed it right back to the people in her family that were triggering her (because it ain't every day that an eight-year-old lets you know she can skip trace your phone and knows how to grow not daisies, but a daisy cutter), Mrs. Lee already knew that time it was even as her husband was calm and caring as they worked together as Edwina cried herself to sleep … it took an hour, and two hours for her to stop waking up from nightmares yelling, “But you didn't care!” and start telling folks off all over again.
“Look,” five-year-old Lil' Robert Ludlow said, speaking for himself and the rest of the Ludlow man-training unit, six-year-old Grayson, nine-year-old George, and ten-year-old Andrew, all of whom were in their hard hats and tool belts and ready for action, “we're not going for it. Our sister is not going through this again! We gotta go take care of these people!”
Lil' Robert was Edwina's baby brother … so now there were two members of the family ready to take the adults out … but they heard exactly what Mrs. Lee had heard in her husband's voice.
“That will not be necessary. Your grandfather and I will discuss this today, and by Monday, there will be no further problem. I will take care of this.”
“Well, Edwina's mother's family can just cash it all in,” eleven-year-old Velma Trent said. “They just woke up the Angel of Death.”
Mrs. Lee just watched … this was as close as anyone would ever get to watching Robert E. Lee planning how to take out thousands and thousands of the enemy. He was preternaturally calm as he called Edwina's grandfather, Capt. R.E. Ludlow, and his calm kept Capt. Ludlow calm. They already had decided what was to be done if Edwina's mother's family persisted, and Col. Lee simply began implementing it … lawyers, judges, other law enforcement … because Col. Lee knew people who thought annoying eight-year-olds for money also didn't have boundaries in other sections of their lives, and he just pushed every button there was.
The Ludlow man-training unit just sat down and waited on their report by Friday evening.
“By the time we finish eating dinner, eight of the 20 people involved will be in jail on various warrants, and the other 12 will be in court on Monday for me to get what are called restraining orders. Six of them will be arrested there. The other six will quietly accept the restraining orders, and that will be the end of all that, because now they will know that their life and freedom can be taken from them in crossing lines your grandfather and I have set down for them. There will be no further trouble.”
Edwina was awake and was listening and came running.
“All of you are my heroes!” she cried, and burst into tears as she hugged and gave kisses to Col. Lee and her brothers. “My heroes!”
And this led to another bawling session, but it was all right this time. Her big cousin was as good as his word. No member of Edwina's mother's family ever dared call the Ludlow house again; her other grandparents called Capt. Ludlow on his cell phone when they needed to talk with him, but Edwina would never be troubled with them again until she was ready to initiate contact with them.
“See, the thing is,” eight-year-old Gracie Trent said about it on Monday evening, “some people think they are big and important, but they are plastic people in a world in which people like Col. Lee, Capt. Ludlow, and my dad and granddad wear full steel boots and boxing gloves. Mess with the kids, and they will beat, kick, and stomp you and your whole life until you learn that ain't what you're supposed to be doing.”