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“So, what's in the bag, Amanda?”
“It's my Bible and schoolbooks and stuff, because I was thinking about the guy that grabbed Goldie by the tail today, and while Gracie is making sure Goldie doesn't get alcohol poisoning from licking off the blood and stuff, I was thinking that I heard once that people drink too much and take drugs because they are not happy, and we know he's not smart, so I was thinking that if we went to the hospital and took him books and a Bible, he could get happier and smart and get to know Jesus too, and then be all better.”
“So, what are you going to do when you need to read your Bible and do your schoolwork tomorrow, Amanda?”
“Well, Cousin Harry, you have a big Bible and I know you would share, and, see, I've already graduated from pulling cats by the tail, so, he needs more help than I do.”
“If you're in second grade, he's kind of struggling with kindergarten, huh?”
“Look, Robert is in kindergarten, and he wouldn't do that, Cousin Harry. Robert is real smart. This guy – see, cats have all these pointy ends and so, yeah, no.”
Mrs. Maggie Lee was smiling through her tears at one of the favorite parts of her life while caring for her husband's seven little Ludlow cousins. As ever, Col. H.F. Lee was being the perfect straight man to whatever hilariously ridiculous idea his baby cousins had, but there was just something special about him interacting with his fellow true empath, seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow. No matter how ridiculous her ideas were, they came from that place of empathy for other people that the colonel also shared, so, watching him honor her always sweet intentions while helping her get a better understanding was always moving.
“Hmmmmmm … you know, since Robert already gets it, maybe it's not a schoolbook kind of a problem, Amanda.”
“Well, maybe.”
“When we are in pain, do we feel like reading a lot?”
“Not really.”
“OK, so, I think you are onto something – he needs to learn about all the things you said he does, but maybe we can pray for him, and then write him a get-well letter, because sometimes people are in pain because they feel nobody cares about them.”
“I've been there,” Amanda said. “Adults go through foster care stuff?”
“Amanda, adults can go through no care at all if they have no family and community, and they do not know our Heavenly Father.”
“Well, that's not cool.”
“That is what you were saying earlier … why people drink and take drugs and try to catch cats of other types … sometimes it is to try to stop being lonely.”
“OK, so, we gotta really think about this, Cousin Harry, and we really gotta pray.”
And then Amanda showed that she was the granddaughter of Capt. R.E. Ludlow, basso profundo – the same stupidly big voice in a child's treble.
“Hey, y'all – we gotta pray for the man who got scratched up because we know he needs real help!”
Every child on the cul-de-sac – Amanda's siblings Lil' Robert (5), Grayson (6), Edwina (8), George (9), Andrew (10), Eleanor (11), and Gracie (8), Milton (9), Vertran (9), and Velma (11) from next door came running, with all the adults in every household bringing up the rear.
“Oh yeah, we're gonna help him a lot!” Lil' Robert said.
“He needs it – and we ought to pray for Goldie too because she's the one that got her tail pulled!” Edwina said.
“Basically,” Velma said, “although really, Goldie kinda took care of herself on that one.”
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said, “but God can hear about both of them because there's enough room for prayer answering up there.”
“What have they done now?” 16-year-old Tom Stepforth III said as he came in from work at the Lofton County Free Voice.
“Oh, we're about to pray and with that attitude you need prayer too – come on,” Mrs. Velma Stepforth his grandmother said.
“Yeah, come on, Melvin and Vanna,” Mr. Thomas Stepforth Sr. said, “because it's all kid stuff to y'all, but we're all children compared to our Heavenly Father.”
21-year-old Melvin and almost-18-year-old Vanna stopped what they were doing and came on out, and Mrs. Lee had already come out with Andrew and Eleanor.
“I think that was one of the best prayer meetings I've ever been to,” Mr. Stepforth said to Mrs. Stepforth later.
“The only problem was trying not to laugh when Gracie went into sounding way too much like me and said, 'And Lord, we need you to smack the stupidity out of that man!' and Amanda saying 'Amen!' and Edwina saying, 'And a whole lot of other people, Lord.' ”
“Well,” Mr. Stepforth said, “I would have started singing 'Even Me,' but, we didn't call the meeting.”
Mrs. Stepforth laughed; meanwhile, Grayson handed Amanda some blue paper.
“I think what you are trying to do is great because that man needs help, and if you plan what you are going to say in your letter first, you'll have blueprints to help you really do it.”
“Thanks, Grayson!” she said, and then gave him a big hug, and then ran and gave Col. Lee a big hug, and then sat down and started working on her letter.
“When you have thought of everything that should go in there, I'll look it over, and add anything that you might need help thinking of, and then we can write it, and I'll make sure it gets to the man in the hospital,” the colonel said.
“Thanks, Cousin Harry – I feel safe and he's gonna feel safe too!”
Mrs. Lee just dabbed her tears, and went back to helping Eleanor make the papier-mache of the day.