12 April 2026, Freewriters Community Daily Writing Prompt Day 3071: better lawyer up!
Nine-year-old George Ludlow sat thinking about the snacks that he had been given that had fallen off the truck because he had asked … and how they had turned out to be from the lowest-quality snack producer in southern Virginia. He had also heard that those snacks were basically sold in the poorest areas of Lofton County … and he had tasted them, and that was not a good thing. Yes, neighbor Vanna Trent had doctored them all up, and they were really good that way, but still: the Ludlow warrior spirit that he inherited from his grandfather suddenly rose up in him.
“No, this ain't right – that's false advertising because these are supposed to be good, entrapment because they should never have fallen off the truck and lured Papa and me in, and discrimination because they are trying to kill off the poor people with boredom while keeping the tasty snacks for the rich people. I'm saying no, from the middle position! We're not going to do this! They better lawyer up because I'm not going to be George 'Taking All Their Money' Ludlow, Esquire for no reason – they got until I get out of law school to get it together and I'm just going to be documenting their foolishness until I get there! We're not doing this in Lofton County any more. I was a poor kid in foster care and kids like that don't need this! The kids who have lost their homes in the last two hurricanes don't need this! This snack company better lawyer up! I'm coming!”
Whereupon his eight-year-old sister Edwina, also having spent time in hard foster care situations and never yet seeing a fight back that she didn't like, said, “Yeah, George – get 'em – and I'll make sure you have the most fashionable lawyer stuff so the judge, jury, and the media will immediately rule in or favor. Yeah, George, yeah – get 'em!”
Whereupon their neighbor and cousin, Mrs. Maggie Lee, went into her home from the porch after hearing these declarations to fall out laughing, and their grandmother Mrs. Thalia Ludlow chuckled as the local originator of the Ludlow warrior spirit, Capt. R.E. Ludlow, just started shaking his head.
“Why is it that Edwina never sees a fire she doesn't want to put dynamite on – wait a minute – George and Edwina, never let the enemy know you are coming – go sit down in quiet and map out your strategy!”
“Oh, yeah, right – we gotta get our legal briefs and stuff together,” George said.
“And I gotta find you just the right briefcase to put those in that matches your suits and stuff, yeah – oh, and Papa, legal stuff is expensive, so, you might want to find a few piggy banks to break,” Edwina said as she and George went inside.
“Of course,” Capt. Ludlow said, and that was too much for cousin Col. H.F. Lee, who knew that the captain had given the answer both of them would have given to the ancestor Edwina was just like: Hilda “Grandee” Lee, the captain's grandmother, the colonel's great aunt, and Edwina's great-great-grandmother.
“Grandee Leedlow hath spoken,” he declared to Mrs. Lee as he sat down to laugh by her. “So let it be written, so let it be done!”
“You're a good captain, Captain,” Mrs. Ludlow purred as the captain just shook his head again.
“Well, they can't help their natural belligerence: they get that from me, and they have been much abused,” Capt. Ludlow said, “so, the belligerence has been riled up much too soon and can be triggered.”
He paused and sighed.
“When you think of the substandard food many poor children eat at school and at home when they eat at all, it's easy to understand why George and Edwina, who have been through it, would get riled up. I get so mad when I think about those excuses for foster parents they had, and when I think about how I failed my first two children who then failed them – but I have channeled this anger productively into their care, and I think what I am going to do is create a project for them to run to help programs that help children who are struggling.”
“That's a great idea,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Cousin Harry is a trustee for the Lofton Trust, and they have some programs. Maybe they can take on some student witnesses or something. George and Edwina are too young to have a permanent position even in that, but I'm sure something creative can be worked out – and maybe add Amanda, who in her gentler way is always trying to make things better for everyone.”
“And, maybe this can be a family project,” the captain said. “I mean, this is a unit, so … .”
“Good thinking, Captain, good thinking,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “It will mean a lot to George and Edwina to see the source of their belligerence channeling it into doing even more good for kids like them, so they can learn by example.”
“You are the best adjutant I ever had,” he purred. “Believe I'm going to keep you around, Co-Captain.”
“Good thing I like it here, in this unit,” she said as he kissed her on the forehead.