Single Prompt Option CONTINUATION - The Weekend Freewrite - 8/28/2021: An aha moment (again)

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

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Although it happened later in the day than it had for Sgt. Trent, Capt. R.E. Ludlow had his aha moment about life at the Veteran's Lodge, and it was the same realization..

Capt. Ludlow knew his family could not live in the idyllic beauty of the Lodge forever, but that he had to find means to go somewhere like it so his family could continue to flourish in the peace of it. He also realized his present retirement check and his job would never allow that move, but Ludlow Bubbly Inc. would, and that was what he needed to lean into at the appropriate time.

Yet there was a wrinkle to unique to the realization for Capt. Ludlow, who was more ferocious in temperament than his neighbor Sgt. Trent.

That job he had working in veteran's housing for the Veteran's Lodge – oh, he was marvelous at it.

Therein lay the problem … as a certain ancestral Lee uncle on his mother's side had once said while overlooking the evidence of his victory at Fredericksburg: “It is a good thing war is so terrible, else we would love it too much.”

Robert Edward Ludlow Sr. loved days at work and calls like this one far too much, and he knew it.

“You can't do this to me, Ludlow!”

“I'm doing it.”

“But you can't do this to me!”

“But I'm doing it.”

Capt. Ludlow's army nickname had been “Hell to Pay” Ludlow, and he had loved that too – since blossoming into a six-foot-three inch hunk in manhood, with an intellect to match, messing with him generally led to the outcome his nickname suggested.

But Capt. Ludlow was no brawler. Oh, no. An army colleague had explained his way of dealing with peacetime battles in this way: “Look, man, you better leave Ludlow and anybody he is concerned with alone. You are about to be a nut – and only a nut would mess with Ludlow – in Ludlow's production of 'The Nutcracker,' and he's going to enjoy that so much more than you are.”

Landlords who kept messing with veterans kept putting themselves into the queue to have their moment to be in Capt. Ludlow's Nutcracker, and he loved cracking them just like he loved taking an afternoon cracking and eating pecans.

“You've sold my entire propertyall my properties – out from under me!”

“Yes, sir.”

“You can't do this to me!”

“I'm doing it.”

Capt. Ludlow had been to see this particular former landlord five times while doing the research to find out he was in foreclosure and figuring Covid-19 would let him get all the tenants out and then sell to solve his problems. Capt. Ludlow had brought checks to make up for veterans' rent, and so the landlord in question had thought messing with a new veteran every month would keep that money going until the property had been sold.

The thing was, the Lofton Trust, the Morton Consortium, and Lofton National Bank had teamed up.

The Lofton National Bank, backed by the Morton Consortium, had bought up the mortgages in question, and then sold them to the Lofton Trust.

The Lofton Trust had foreclosed on all of them, in one day.

Hence, the phone call.

“I was very clear with you sir, about what needed to happen, on five occasions. You needed to honor the moratorium around evictions from the federal government, and you needed to stop harassing the veterans that live on your former properties. You made your decision about that. You now have learned the consequences.”

“But you can't do this to me!”

“But I'm doing it.”

“I'm going to find out where you live and come shoot you, Ludlow!”

Captain Ludlow smiled, a smile as dark as his deep, dark voice.

“I'd tell you, but you would be Swiss cheese before passing the gate, and I like a clean kill without mess, so I tell you what: I'll meet you halfway and leave your body in reasonable shape for your funeral so your daughter will at least have people be able to say to her, 'Doesn't he look like himself'?”

That stopped the yelling.

“Yeah,” Capt. Ludlow said. “Now you understand who you are dealing with. We veterans kill the enemies of our nation and of each other for years and years, and you little civilian petty-bourgeois slum lords think you are big and bad enough to boss us around and that you won't face consequences. Spread the word about what you learned today, sir. Be grateful the veterans had me to call and handle things so that they didn't plead PTSD after filling your carcass with bullets. I just saved your life, and you're complaining!”

Silence, befitting a man who had just realized: he had truly dodged a hail of bullets, but that might still only be temporary.

“There's a pandemic going on. Your new landlords aren't going to put even you outdoors, so call the Veteran's Lodge office and get clear on your rent and when it is due. Don't be late. Too many people are going to come around reminding you of how you treated them if you start getting notices on your door. Too many eyes are going to be watching you like a hawk to make sure you are a good tenant. And by the way, the next time you call me, remember to speak with the respect a landlord is due.”

“Yes, sir, Capt. Ludlow.”

“Now that's better,” Capt. Ludlow purred, purred like a big, BIG cat playing with a terrified mouse he was not interested in eating. “You have a wonderful day in your new life as my tenant.”

35 minutes later, Major Gordon called from the office.

“Ludlow, what did you do to that man?”

“Who, me, sir? I ain't doing nothing but cracking nuts over here!”

“Ludlow, you ain't never lied, because the cracks were obvious! I could hear that man's knees knocking through the phone – I could hear the bass knocked out of his voice and the ten years you snatched from his life!”

“Well, Major, it was like this … he called here all upset about the situation with us owning everything but the clothes on his back and clearly needed my help with an attitude adjustment, so I thought I could help him, and so...”

Major Gordon hit the floor laughing, outdone by Captain Ludlow's angel-from-the-bottomless-pit innocent voice.

“Boy, was that an adjustment!” the major at last cried. “That was an adjustment like peanuts with a peanut grinder – cotton at the cotton gin – olives at the olive press –.”

“And fools in the face of the consequences of their folly,” Capt. Ludlow said.

“Exactly! He needed it! He deserved every bit of it and got it!”

“I still consider myself in the service of our countrymen, whenever they are at need.”

“And boy did you serve today!”

And Capt. Ludlow had … but as he got off the phone with Major Gordon, he realized: a great breaker and a great builder had to cultivate different habits, and as much he loved a day like this, it was not a day in which he built the habits he was going to need.

Baby grandson Robert peeked in.

“Done working soon?” the five-year-old asked. “Our new Lego sets came today and I want you to build something with me!”

Robert Edward Ludlow III, and the six other grandchildren his grandfather had custody of and was adopting, needed the great builder. Lil' Robert's excited little face peeking around the door was all the confirmation his namesake needed.

“It's 2:50pm, Robert – ten minutes for me to wrap up here, and I'll be right out to see what we can build.”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

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