Image by WikimediaImages from Pixabay
It was good to see eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, the most intense of the Ludlow grandchildren, just rolling around laughing and having a good time … but like it would be if her intense grandfather, Capt. R.E. Ludlow, was in a similar state of affairs over anything but his grandchildren's antics, you had to look twice.
Capt. R.E. Ludlow was actually laughing with a coupon in his hand for the same reason, while Mrs. Ludlow just shook her head.
“See, this is what happens when people get jealous and show why they had the blessing pass them by in the first place,” she said. “I mean, if you give me a recipe, I can make gumbo, but why would you do that when Dubois on the Road is on the road?”
“That's what I was saying,” Mrs. Velma Stepforth from next door said to her. “We all know the Duboises, and it's not just a question of our families all doing business with them. They are from Black French Louisiana. They know how to do this. They are never going to put out a coupon offering Slocum's Fried Chicken Gumbo when Admiral Solomon Slocum, crazy as he was, would have lit some of that eighth-strength dynamite underneath the Slocum Fried Fabulous shop for putting buckets of his chicken in anybody's soup!”
“When you are trying to be an imposter on the throne,” Mrs. Ludlow said, “and the only throne you are going to be master of is sending people to the porcelain one after they try that mess.”
Capt. Ludlow just got down on the floor with Edwina … the two of them loved some crispy fried chicken, and that last idea was too much for him.
“Let's ask Lil' Robert,” Mrs. Ludlow said, and Capt. Ludlow sat up for a moment.
“My namesake is not going for this!” he said.
“Robert is smart – he's not eating soggy fried chicken!” said Edwina, and she and grandfather fell out laughing again.
Sure enough, five-year-old Robert Edward Ludlow III was not going for it.
“Why would anybody do that?” he said. “Fried chicken is supposed to be crunchy!”
“And then,” seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow said as she joined the conversation, “why would you put a chicken through what a chicken has to go through to get crunchy, and then put it in some soup? Only naked chicken is supposed to go in soup!”
“That's right,” Mrs. Stepforth said and grinned as both Edwina and Capt. Ludlow turned red as they hit another level of being tickled. “Teach the people, babies, teach the people!”
“'And a little child shall lead them,' the Bible says,” Mrs. Ludlow said as she opened her arms to Robert and Amanda, “and now we see why that is necessary because some grown people don't know how to act like adults who aren't jealous on the playground.”
Six-year-old Grayson rolled up with his little red wagon full of Legos and blue construction paper in his other hand.
“We may need a new chicken shack,” he said, “because what I'm hearing ain't gonna work. I'm going to start on a blueprint.”
“Yeah, because, see, if they don't know fried chicken is supposed to be crunchy, and I do, and I'm five, what else do they not know?” Lil' Robert said. “I can't even reach the top of the stove and I know that!”
“Yeah, because we all need to be eating cruelty-free – how else might they be tormenting those poor chickens?” Amanda said.
“It's OK, y'all,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “Mr. Stepforth and Mr. Dubois are on the phone – we are just going to buy Slocum's Fried Fabulous after they crash out after this foolery, and I came to offer y'all the opportunity to invest too. My grandchildren are eating popcorn listening, and y'all can come.”
“Popcorn – where – cuz' I'm there!” Lil' Robert said.
“Yeah, because Vanna knows how to do that,” Amanda said, “and she would never put it in soup!”
“If y'all don't need me to build something right now,” Grayson said, “I think I'm gonna get some popcorn too.”
“Y'all go on,” Mrs. Ludlow said, “tell your three siblings beside Edwina, and bring some back for Edwina when she and your grandfather are done breaking their ribs and living their best tomato life down here.”
There was a lesson in it for Edwina.
“See, my dear, I am older than you, and I know the quality of Slocum Fried Fabulous has been going down for years … but see, if you wait long enough, people will break bad on themselves, and we do not have to get involved.”
“Oh yeah,” Edwina said. “That right there is some self-breakage baddage that we could never!”
That was too much for Mrs. Ludlow, who finally got down on the floor and joined the laughter.
I loved the humor and wit in the dialogue, especially since the kids were more aware than some of the adults.
Often it is like that ... I teach children ... they do not know yet how to be dishonest with themselves or anyone else at those ages. If they are being raised honestly, they will be honest!
Congratulations @deeanndmathews! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP