5 October 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2881: stuck in a refrigerator
“OK, so, winter is actually coming at some point, because it feels like we're stuck in a refrigerator out here.”
A surprise cold front had swung down over Lofton County with cold winds, and none of the Ludlow, Trent, and Stepforth little ones were happy about it, as voiced by eleven-year-old Velma Trent.
“Ain't it the truth,” Velma's eight-year-old sister Gracie said, “but I'mma need winter to back up for the rest of September, October, and November. We already know it's coming. It's called a calendar.”
“Yeah, but winter is like some annoying people,” ten-year-old Glendella Ludlow, recently adopted to her Ludlow cousins, said. “Smart people just do what they are going to do, but winter is just out here talking about what it is going to do and will be talking about it all through the fall before finally just wintering. It's like as long as I have known my grandparents, they were talking about leaving each other, but they had to burn the house down and end up in an insane asylum, and the way the paperwork is set up, they still may not ever divorce.”
Velma considered this.
“What in the prenup possibilities is that?”
“Wait a minute,” Glendella's six-year-old brother Grayson said. “What is a prenup? Is that a different kind of donut – maybe with pretzel on top?”
“Well, the pretzel part is right, sometimes,” Velma said.
“So,” Glendella said, “when rich people get married, sometimes they do what is called a prenuptial agreement, so they can write down what happens if they get a divorce.”
“OK, wait,” Glendella's nine-year-old brother George said. “People get married planning what they are going to do when they divorce?”
“If,” Velma said. “But that's when things get complicated, because like Pop-Pop says, you can write down whatever you want, but it's what you can prove in court. That's how it starts looking like a pretzel as people try to twist their way into the money.”
“And then there's you already being drunk when you write the stuff down, and then you can't read your own handwriting,” Glendella said.
“Oh no,” Velma said.
“See, what Bad Grandma wants is for Grumps to just go on and die, but they are the same age, and that's even-steven type of chances, and I know that because she's been saying it for years,” Glendella said. “Meanwhle, Grumps actually wants Bad Grandma to keep living and not divorce him because she's going to inherit more money from an aunt of hers who's like 80, but Aunt Betsy is out there running senior fashion shows and not trying to leave her money to anybody.”
“Your great-grand aunt is Betsy Voller, the Silver Fashionista?” Glendella's eight-year-old sister Edwina said.
“Yup,” Glendella said.
“No wonder you picked out such pretty clothes for yourself – style is in your blood!” Edwina said. “We gotta set up a meeting, though, because I am the fashionista queen of eight-year-olds, and I need tips!”
“She called me to make sure I was good after all the stuff started, and I forgot to tell any of y'all – I got her number in my phone,” Glendella said.
“Yeah, we need to get some tips on some cute warm weather clothes, now that winter is up here before summer is over, talking about what it's going to do,” Velma said.
“We also gotta tell her don't just die because other people are waiting on her money,” Velma's nine-year-old brother Milton said.
“Yeah, because that's not safe!” Glendella's seven-year-old sister Amanda said. “That's not safe at all!”
Five-year-old Lil' Robert Ludlow came out of the Ludlow house, all smiles.
“Grandma says we can all have some summer hot cocoa!” he announced.
“Well, winter's talking loud before the end of summer turned out to be a blessing – amazing how God does that,” Velma's nine-year-old cousin Vertran Stepforth said.
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said, “but I'mma still need winter to back up tomorrow and wait its turn. Ain't nobody trying to live stuck in a refrigerator world out here before December.”