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Seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow did her best to understand what grown-ups were going through because as an empath, she cared about the feelings of everyone around her. But even for her, there were limits.
Mrs. Thalia Ludlow, Amanda's (step-) grandmother and adoptive mother, had gotten a call from a niece who had left her husband, who had then hit rock bottom because of gambling situations – and Amanda had heard the niece screaming, “He threw his life away over some penny slots!”
Amanda reached into her little pocket, got a penny out, and then put it into the only slot she knew about; her piggy bank.
“Well, that can't be it – I mean, money piggies aren't trying to kill us or anything,” she said. “Hey, Andy!”
Ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow, Amanda's big brother, was a most dutiful big brother, always available to his younger siblings and their also dutiful big sister, eleven-year-old Eleanor. Both of them stopped what they were doing to receive Amanda with a hug.”
“Hey, Ellie, I thought you were over with Velma, but can y'all help me look up something, because, Grandma's niece is our cousin and her ex-husband just tripped on some penny slots and died!”
“What – OK,” the two elder siblings said, so Eleanor pulled out her phone and Andrew went to get the Encyclopedia Americana. They did some work online and off, and then came to some conclusions to share with their little sister.
“First, Mandie, our cousin's ex-husband probably isn't dead, but a lot of people see their life as their money,” Eleanor said, “so, he probably just went broke on gambling.”
Amanda considered this.
“OK, they're both in big trouble, because there's life, and then there's money, and they are not the same,” she said.
“But if you mishandle money God gives you to take care of your family, it can cost you a lot of your life,” Andrew said. “And, we don't know he is alive, because our parents spent money on drugs instead of us, and that cost them their lives.”
“You know … .” Eleanor said.
“This is why we gotta figure out how to help them!” Amanda said.
“OK; let's keep going,” Eleanor said. “Penny slots are a kind of slot machine – you can play pennies or any coin or even dollars, but penny slots are the least expensive. What you do is put pennies in the machine for the chance to spin the wheel, and if you get matching numbers, the machine pays you out all the money in the machine.”
“You put a penny or whatever you have in and either pull the crank on the old ones or push a button on new ones,” Andrew said as he pointed to the pictures in the encyclopedia, “and if you get three or more, you hit the jackpot.”
Amanda considered this, the wheels in her little mind going.
“It's not like dominoes where you have to count and actually learn stuff?” she said.
“Well, people can gamble on dominoes, but you do need to have skill to play dominoes,” Andrew said. “Slot machines are basically games of pure chance: everything depends on how much money you have to spend, and how close the machine is to rolling a match. I mean, there's odds and stuff, but it really depends on when you show up.”
Amanda considered this a long time, and then sighed.
“I just grew up a lot, right now,” she said. “I cannot help everybody! This makes no sense! When I put money into my piggy bank, when it's full I get the money from my piggy bank, not yours too! When we go to church and I put money in the offering plate, they don't hand me all the money everybody else put in there no matter what time I show up! Our cousin's ex needs a whole new brain, and I can't do that – I'm just gonna go pray, get some lemonade, and go sit down!”
“I'll get you some lemonade,” Eleanor and Andrew said together, so Andrew got the cup down and Eleanor got the lemonade and poured it, and by that time Amanda came back from praying in her room, took her lemonade, thanked her siblings, and went to go work in the Lego pile with big sister Glendella (10) and little brothers Grayson (6) and Lil' Robert (5).