Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay
“So, I'm going to ask him, because my dad is Sgt. Vincent Trent who served with him and is still alive, so yeah, I'm just going to ask him.”
Eleven-year-old Velma Trent listened to what her best friend ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow said about his Lee cousin having the nickname “Angel of Death,” but had questions and was not afraid to get the answers.
“Yeah, the Big Mama Velma is definitely coming out in sister Velma,” Velma's big brother 21-year-old Melvin Trent.
“Yeah, but we kinda knew that,” Velma's big sister almost-18-year-old Vanna said. “Velma is just like Grandma Velma: quiet until she is ready to move, and then she does whatever she wants to do. Grandma Velma walked out on our billionaire grandfather and made him get his life together so she could come back. Nobody saw that coming or going. Heck, between our parents' more obvious divorce we didn't even realize they were divorced at holiday time for five or six of those years!”
“Yeah,” Melvin said. “I wonder if Grandma Velma was giving Dad pointers on what to do.”
“Probably,” Vanna said. “Our in-law relationships in our family are weird … the in-laws actually like the married-ins and help them out. Great-Grandpa Valiant never stopped talking with Pop-Pop even though Big Mama Velma is his daughter, and Dad and Pop-Pop have always gotten along really well even though Dad divorced Mom.
“Well, maybe it's not as weird because clearly all these people really want to be together because we are all back together, divorces put aside,” Melvin said.
“That's weird too,” Vanna said, “but good weird, which is also kinda like Col. H.F. Lee, Andrew's big Lee cousin.”
“So, yeah, Velma's used to good weird so he doesn't scare her!” Melvin said.
“Look, she's Sister Velma, mini-Big Mama – not much is going to scare her anyway,” Vanna said. “Frankly, all of us are pretty forward.”
“Yep,” Melvin said.
“So, Colonel, I've been thinking about your nickname, and thank you for being so angelic around here, and we're glad you're moving in,” Velma was saying to Col. H.F. Lee. “I just have a question: do you think people might be afraid of you because they don't understand your sense of humor?”
Col. Lee considered this and smiled.
“Lees do have a very different sense of humor, coming from so far back that half the family still spells it humour,” he said.
“Oh, British humor is totally different,” Andrew said. “Without a laugh track on British comedy, you really can't figure out where to laugh.”
“And, it may be that the comedy writers are not sensitive enough to the needs of ten and eleven-year-olds,” the colonel purred with a gentle smile.
“Oh, definitely not and I'm going to write PBS and the BBC about it,” Andrew said.
“To get back to your question, Velma, my family does still have a bit of the subtler humor of British aristocrats, mixed with a great deal of mountain wit, and neither are well-understood by most people. But the reason I think people are afraid is more about having to do with their measurement of what someone they don't understand well can do to them. People are OK with having people very different from them around them as long as they feel like they are equal or strong to those different people – but it all goes out the window when they realize a person who thinks differently from them can have his way with them.”
“Dad kinda gets this too,” Velma said. “He's Black, so of course people assume things … but the thing about Dad is, people soon find out that underestimating him is a mistake.”
“Basically, people make the wrong assumption and then get scared when they find out their imagination is wrong,” Col. Lee said. “They still don't know that much about the actual person.”
“They basically are going in circles,” Velma said.
“Yes,” Col. Lee said. “People can stay in fear like this for years and even decades, though.”
“Yikes,” Velma said.
“See, you came and asked,” Col. Lee said. ”As long as you keep communicating honestly, you can find out what you need to know and not get stuck.”
