Image by Dinar Aulia from Pixabay
“May I have that big piece of cardboard, Cousin Harry? Thanks! Hey, Grayson – you know that cities aren't built inside, but outside, right?”
“You know, that's why six-year-olds need eight-year-old sisters – thanks, Eddie!”
Eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, having settled into her calling in life in the great outdoors, put down a big piece of cardboard for her little brother Grayson Ludlow to bring his Lego pile outside, and together, the two future civil engineers would spend time in their family's garden or those of their friends the Trents whenever it was not raining, learning how to integrate the structure of building-focused development with the need for parks and wild space.
“Because, see, everyone needs a place to live, but they also need spaces to keep people like me calm,” Edwina said.
“Well, from what I can tell about big builds, you gotta be real dumb and want big trouble not to put in parks and water, and leave space to not have sidewalks inside and outside your city,” Grayson said. “My name is Grayson, but I'm more than my gray eyes – you gotta have more colors than gray to look at.”
“How are those two smarter than most people in development nowadays?” Mrs. Velma Stepforth said to nobody in particular.
“Well, since you're not particular on who answers,” Mr. Thomas Stepforth said, “the triple billionaire who almost didn't catch up in time with what his grandchildren know about what's important will answer it: Grayson and Edwina don't know or care about real estate values and cap rent, and don't have to sell it all in advance to even get it built.”
“Thomas, is it really that bad nowadays?” Mrs. Stepforth said.
“I'm going to borrow from a wise woman I know: 'I've beeeeeeeeeeeeen tellin' y'all,'” he said, and smiled as said wise woman rolled laughing.
“The challenge really boils down to this: kids like you and me were raised with big dreams but also the reality of surviving a deeply racist world – so, in my case, Velma, I got stuck between not wanting me and mine to ever be thrown back to living in that struggle and also proving to the ones who put us there that they were wrong and we never belonged there and thus my personal vindication. But, kids like Grayson and Edwina are from the side that doesn't have to care and has no one to bring consequences into their lives above them, since men like their grandfather run the whole system and have since the beginning. Capt. R.E. Ludlow's family is a who's who of Virginia founding history – Ludlows, Ludwells, Lees, Madisons, Bollings – so those types don't get consequences until you hit something like, say, the American Civil War.
“What that also means is that at my level, though from two different reasons, men like me in the face of money are going to do the same thing: the one to prove that he can and show he will not be forced to accept less than those who are going to go for the money any way they want because there are no consequences for them doing so.”
“That's scary, Thomas,” Velma said. “It helps me understand why Black people 'sell out,' too … and it also helps me understand how you made it all the way back from the brink and are now pouring into your family and young people all around.”
“I was raised right,” he said. “I had a foundation of people who knew what was truly important. It did not hurt that I married a wife who had been raised just as well and was having zero nonsense from me in my time of slipping. But you've also picked up on the big thing: I made it back because I was raised right. If we don't make sure our grandchildren and their Ludlow friends get the foundation right, they are going to do what humans do in a nation in which getting money is all that matters, and selling the lives of human beings is no obstacle to the pursuit.”
Nine-year-old Milton Trent walked up.
“Do you think a water hose would be a bit too much for a Lego river, Pop-Pop?”
“Well, you really need to get to college and do a course on hydrodynamics to fully understand, but in the meantime, Milton, let's go look at what Grayson and Edwina have built, and then we can figure out how much water we can put through there without washing everything away.”
“All I'm saying is,” eight-year-old Gracie Trent said as she came in after her brother, “is that you probably should have asked the question before turning on the hose, because Edwina is looking for you now.”
“Hide me!” Milton said, and ran into his brother Melvin's music studio and locked the door.
“Look, you can either come out of there and help us find these Legos you washed all over the yard, or you can stay in there forever, because if you don't help and you come out having not helped whenever, I'm coming for you regardless!” Edwina bellowed from the yard.
“Excuse me, what, young lady?” Col. H.F. Lee said as he came across to see what was going on.
“Why don't you go help,” Mr. Stepforth said, “and I'll watch your back, Milton.”
“Do you even know what regardless means?” Mrs. Maggie Lee said as she arrived.
“Well, it's what they say on television when they mean business!” Edwina said.
“You know,” Mrs. Stepforth said as Milton ran into his grandfather's arms, “our work is ever before us.”
Mr. Stepforth smiled and turned to Gracie.
“Hit it, Gracie!”
“Ain't it the truth, y'all, ain't it the truth.”
