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“See, I don't really like watching Uppity Foolery Watch, because I really am trying to be a sweet little girl and that stuff just gets me mad. Folks with way too much time and money should be keeping their own kids out of bad situations, rescuing kids from bad situations, and figuring out stuff like a cure for cancer – but no, all they are on is some uppity and foolery, and I'm sick of people like that! I wish your Bad Grandma would come around here again acting a fool! I keep an eye on where Andy's bat is, waiting on it – but I really am trying to be a sweet little girl, and I just don't need to know how many of these people there are, where they live, and what they are doing, because that's not good for them or me because I'm tired!”
Eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow was tired, far more tired than an eight-year-old in a perfect world would ever be, talking about why she just wasn't crowding around people's phones to see the latest dumb thing new adopted sister Glendella's biological family was doing. She was talking to ten-year-old Glendella about it.
“Yeah, I get it because I was there with it every day and I had to run away – because, no,” Glendella said. “I kinda care about Grumps and Bad Grandma a little, though, so I gotta keep up a little bit like Uncle Vanderbilt does.”
Eight-year-old Gracie Trent walked up with some small bottles of water.
“Gotta stay hydrated and cute,” she said. “These aren't big, so, we need to drink all of each them."
“Thanks, Gracie,” the two Ludlow girls said and gave her a hug, drank their bottles of water, and then changed the subject.
“See, I'm telling y'all, when you pray about what you are doing, everything becomes holy and it works!” Gracie said to her siblings nine-year-old Milton and eleven-year-old Velma.
“Yeah, that was kinda amazing – Edwina calmed right down and that's next to impossible!” Milton said.
“Well, what it is, is, I talked with Grandma Jubilee [Gladys Jubilee Trent, her paternal grandmother], and she explained a lot of stuff,” Gracie said. “She told me that some people are just warrior-born, like most Jubilees and a lot of Lees, too, and because Edwina's great-great-grandmother was Hilda Lee-of-the-Mountain, she's probably just warrior-born and we can't change that, but we can love it right.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Velma said, “because Grandma Jubilee and Dad are definitely warrior-born, and over there Col. Lee and Capt. Ludlow who is Edwina's grandfather are definitely warrior-born, so of course.”
“So then Grandma Jubilee said, a big glass of water saves a lot of people's lives," Gracie said, "because if you can get somebody to drink that, their blood pressure goes down and they calm down automatically. That's the whole thing about the water – but she also said that any time you do stuff because of the love of God in Christ, it's a holy thing so although there's no special holiness in the water just because we've been praying over it, it's close enough.”
“So, you're telling me all we gotta do is make sure Edwina stays hydrated at the right times, and we can have peace around here?” Milton said.
“Yep,” Gracie said, “but, it's like this: you gotta pray first and do it in Jesus's name, because calming Edwina down means you gotta go in love and you gotta have backup!”
“She really is trying to be a sweet little girl,” Velma said. “She comes over and gardens with me back home and it really is great because she loves it and she's not bothered and she is really happy.”
“And that's the other thing: we gotta get these adults to get us back to the Veteran's Lodge so she can garden, or we gotta start something here,” Gracie said.
“We're supposed to be able to go home next week,” Velma said.
“I'm going to miss running up and down the stairs in this two-story house,” Milton said, “but I'm not going to miss being yelled at about doing that! I'm learning that you gotta take the good with the bad in life!”
“Ain't it the truth, Milton, ain't it the truth,” Gracie said.