Calstanhope, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
(This apple really was grown in Virginia in 2022, but in real-life Rockingham County -- so, we are transplanting it in fiction to Lofton County!)
Before leaving home for eight weeks, Capt. Robert Edward Ludlow dug deep into his family background on his mother's side … a special thing that he knew his grandchildren had never seen and would never see if he did not do something about it. Grandmother Hilda 'Grandee Lee' and Mother Helene were gone to be with the Lord, and he had no sisters – his brothers felt it beneath them to do women's work, but 'Baby Bob,' being beloved and snatched up by Grandee Lee at her will, was always wherever she was, learning the work of everyone in the Appalachian community.
One of the things Grandee Lee and her nephew Henry W. Lee cooked together was the purple apple pie in the late summer … Henry had an apple tree he had brought at Fruitland Memorial Park that was a scion of trees brought from Arkansas called an Arkansas Black – a tree with exceptionally dark-skinned fruit that was dark red or purple with lenticels – breathing pores – that appeared as golden spots.
Every year Henry brought and cut dozens of these apples from his trees for Grandee Lee to make Purple-Lee Pie for special occasions – just an apple pie with any remaining late-season blackberries and raspberries, but because of the depth of the color of that peel not being entirely peeled out, it came out as an amazing color. Henry would also take his greater strength and make applesauce from slices that included the peel and then use that to make ice cream that was pale purple to eat with the pie.
So, Capt. and Mrs. Ludlow had worked together -- frozen apples from last year's crop of Arkansas Black apples from Fruitland Memorial Park had been available -- and put pies in freezer made according to the family recipe before going, and so the Ludlow grandchildren and their Trent and Stepforth neighbors were shocked when the results came out of the oven eight weeks later.
“It's a purple apple pie – what in the world – and I've never tasted any ice cream like this – this is a whole story and I'm not even working for the right paper because we don't cover stories like this!” 16-year-old Tom Stepforth said when he tasted it.
“This is good and I need more!” five-year-old Lil' Robert Ludlow said as he finished his little bowl.
“OK, Capt. Robert Edward Ludlow Sr.,” Mr. Thomas Stepforth said after he tasted the pie and the ice cream. “We need to talk. I'm a billionaire. I know money when I taste it, but I've also matured to understand that the reason this tastes so good is because I taste generations of love that you just extended to your grandchildren and their friends and me. Your soda is just that, writ large – you have no ambition to dominate the world with these recipes, but you are working to love your beloveds.”
Capt. Ludlow stood for a moment, and then was interrupted by his seven-year-old granddaughter Amanda plowing into him with a hug – “Best purple pie eveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!” – and Mr. Stepforth's eight-year-old granddaughter Gracie Trent following up with “Ain't it the truth, Amanda. You did good, White Grandpa, you did good!”
After that, the captain did not even bother to try to hide the tear that had burst loose from his eyes.
“You are correct, sir,” he said to Mr. Stepforth. “The growing fame of the Ludlow Bubbly is not something I need for my ego and my fame. I need my grandchildren to know that I love them, and so not go the way of my children who did not know soon enough. Everything I have, including all my family recipes, is for that – my life itself is here so that my wife and my grandchildren never have to wonder if they are loved and provided for in every way.”
The captain paused, and then went right on.
“I was raised by my father's family, and most of my mother's father's family, to believe that being a man was chasing glory and being over the top of the beasts of the earth in dark skin. My father would have slapped me for even considering doing a deal with you, and my uncles would have and did do worse to me and men like you for even daring to occupy the same space with us for too long. It was all a lie, and I can afford no lies if my family is to live and thrive. You're a billionaire. Your family is set to the tenth generation. If you think we need to talk, and you see the value in that, I'm listening, Mr. Stepforth. I'm listening.”
Mr. Stepforth considered this a long time.
“I already knew you were serious about your family, Captain,” he said. “I hear you.”
Mr. Stepforth put out his hand, and Capt. Ludlow shook it – and then their twelve combined grandchildren under 18 years old combined their strength to push them into each other all the sudden for a grab to stay upright.
“Y'all just needed to go on and hug and stop being old and stuck on this color stuff,” Gracie said.
“Yep, because we remember from six months ago that you need a little help too, Papa,” ten-year-old Andrew and eleven-year-old Eleanor said.
“We don't even get to be old any more?” Mr. Stepforth said as he removed his nose from the much-taller Capt. Ludlow's shoulder.
“Well, you have to admit this is a good deal,” Capt. Ludlow said as the two grandfathers started laughing in their awkward embrace of the other.
“Yes, because I can't even buy that – or the other part – with a billion dollars! I guess we gotta take it!” Mr. Stepforth said, and then he and Capt. Ludlow stepped back and shook in a more friendly way while their grandchildren danced for joy around them.
“ 'And a little child shall lead them,'” Mrs. Velma Stepforth said to Mrs. Thalia Ludlow, “but if they are really stubborn, the Lord still knows how to find twelve disciples to help out!”
“I couldn't believe Tom got involved!” Mrs. Maggie Lee said to her husband, Col. H.F. Lee.
“Something we do to Black children without always knowing it – growing them up too soon,” the colonel said. “Tom is still a child, though clearly maturing into a fine man, and it takes the humility of a child, sometimes, to give us hardened adults that extra push. He felt the call of the Spirit and went with his nine-year-old brother Vertran – thank God he is still too young to be so much in his ego that it was too silly for him to be involved with that move!”
It was a nice read 😊
you have no ambition to dominate the world with these recipes, but you are working to love your beloveds.
If more people would stand by this, we could live in a better world.
!LOL
!ALIVE
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Capt. Ludlow got there how most of us do: it cost him A LOT to realize God's position is not open for him to rule the world. But, he learned, to the point that now, Mr. Stepforth, who also has learned the same lessons, can see him, and others can see them.
If vision is blurred or the mind is fed with ""the right", there is no need for thought.
More don't count, if a few rule.
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It is good to read Bout the family again. Have a great Sunday.
Thank you ... good to write about them -- you have a great Sunday too!