Image by kp yamu Jayanath from Pixabay
One of the things a man could get used to in eight weeks of time: five-year-old Robert Edward Ludlow III, patiently waiting on his three drops of coffee in his warm milk, his disheveled blond head contrasting with the intentness of his little face.
Lil' Robert was used to getting up with his grandfather, Robert Edward Ludlow Sr., for coffee at reveille, and he kept up the habit all eight weeks while his grandfather was in intensive mental health therapy and cousin Colonel H.F. Lee had charge of him and his siblings.
“Because, see, this is just me now and I'm glad you have good habits too, so, I'mma get my coffee with you and Papa when he comes home, and then I'mma workout with you, and then I'mma come back over here, and then have breakfast, and then I'mma workout with Papa, and then have breakfast again, because, see, that way my muscles will come in and I can get tall quicker, because, see, next week, though!”
“That's right, Rob,” Col. Lee said as he poured Lil' Robert's milk. “I'll be here next week, and we'll start your new morning regimen. Your Cousin Maggie makes me good warmup snacks too, so, maybe you can snack with me and then go have breakfast.”
“That's even better, because, see, you're smart, and we're smart, and, see, we got this!”
“Of course,” the colonel said as he carefully put three drops of his coffee into Lil' Robert's milk. “You may need four drops of coffee – next week, though.”
“Next week, though!”
Mrs. Maggie Lee found her husband reading the newspaper with Lil' Robert napping on his lap fifteen minutes later.
“The cuteness overload,” she said with a gentle chuckle. “See, our big Ludlow cousins should have just told us the truth and told us we would never be able to leave these kids after eight weeks, because, see, this isn't fair!”
“Next week, though,” Col. Lee said, as he and his wife gently laughed.
“I do have to say that you are very much different, eight weeks later,” she said. “Your calm and self-control and love have always been amazing, but there is a deepening of your peace.”
The colonel considered this.
“The thing about little children,” he said, “is that like all other humans, they live in their own world, but they are not dishonest about the fact. Lil' Robert is not going to be tall and muscle-bound next week, but he honestly doesn't know that, so when he says that, we understand that he is five, and not delusional, and not intending to deceive. He's five. It's the fifty-year-olds like him that I have a hard time with, who just don't seem to get that at the point the contradiction of lies they are trying to make real hits reality in my presence, I have to make their life much less pleasant than it would be.”
“Yeah, adults are rough in a society trying to chase and live in a dream,” Mrs. Lee said, “and I know military life can be really rough. Police life was rough, too, even up in the clerical department, so I really can't imagine the whole thing you were going through as a captain."
“I expect I am going to miss my time there as much as you are missing it,” he said with a smile. “I will miss the officers I've trained, and I will miss certain aspects of the work … but after 24 years of military and para-military life I am ready for a change.”
“Over at the Lofton Trust dealing with people who can't get water mains shut, though,” she said.
“Well, I'm not opening a daycare – a man like me gets restless if he can't use certain of his skills,” he said, “although the plan is to scare those miscreants so bad that nobody else tries the foolishness on the Lofton Trust for a good while. But it really is a situation of looking to build good just like our darling little cousin Edwina is trying to learn how to do … we recovering warriors need situations like that.”
“Edwina, someday, would be a heck of a trustee for the Lofton Trust,” Mrs. Lee said. “She and Amanda both.”
“I know,” he said. “Andrew, too, and, actually, Lil' Robert too … the little Ludlows are taking after their responsible grandparents.”
“And have reeled their highly responsible Lee cousins right on in,” Mrs. Lee said.
“They do have power, these seven little Ludlows,” Col. Lee conceded, with a smile. “We just have to do what Lees are famous for doing, and surrender.”
Mrs. Lee suddenly just beamed.
“Can you imagine their joy to someday to meet their future little Lee cousin?” she said.
“If the Lord be merciful and the surgeon reversing my vasectomy be skilled,” he said, “we shall be ready to find out – next week and a half, though!”
“Ten days, though!” Mrs. Lee said.