9 June 2026, Freewriters Community Daily Writing Prompt Day 3129: over the edge

“OK, so, you probably are going to get the same answer from Grandma Jubilee that you are from your grandfather, but, let's find out.”

So eight-year-old Gracie Trent went to get her grandmother and bring her up to the Lee porch – “What are we doing – third space things? – OK” Mrs. Maggie Lee said and just went and got lemonade as ten-year-old Andrew brought Capt. R.E. Ludlow over to also sit down, halfway between the Ludlow and Trent homes.

“We just needed to borrow y'all for a minute because we were quality eavesdropping on what my brother was listening to and so we needed your opinions, but thought y'all could get some lemonade from Mrs. Maggie for your trouble,” Gracie said.

“Yeah, because Cousin Maggie's basil lemonade really has it going on today,” Andrew said.

“I love the way these kids are running the resources in all our homes, Captain,” Mrs. Gladys Jubilee Trent said to Capt. Ludlow.

“Chips off our block, for sure,” Capt. Ludlow said with a chuckle.

“So,” Andrew said, “we were listening to how toxic people try to create situations to push people over the edge and have power over their emotions … but we were thinking of all the people that we know, y'all probably don't have those problems.”

Mrs. Jubilee Trent and Capt. Ludlow both started laughing, and then high-fived.

“Ain't it the truth, “ Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“So true!” Capt. Ludlow said.

“Yep, you were right, Gracie,” Andrew said. “These two grandparents of ours are basically the same type of person. It's the laughing for me.”

“It's the high-five for me – they are not ashamed of not being bothered, so then why should we be?” Gracie said.

“Yep,” Andrew said.

Mrs. Maggie Lee came out with lemonade and a smile.

“The person like that in my marriage is definitely the colonel,” she said.

“And my sibling like that is Vanna just like your sibling is Edwina, and sometimes Robert,” Gracie said to Andrew.

“I feel like Rob is really a sweetheart,” Andrew said, “but then, he is Papa's twin so, the Robert Edward Ludlowness can jump out of him when necessary, whereas the breaking-bad-ness of Edwina is just a settled fact.”

“Well, there's levels to this,” Gracie said. “Rob comes to work, but Edwina lives it, like Grandma Jubilee, your grandmother, and Vanna.”

“Oh yeah – there's like your job, and then there's your calling, and some people are just called to help toxic people understand that they can't play their games everywhere and this ain't that space,” Andrew said.

Capt. Ludlow and Mrs. Jubilee Trent started laughing all over again.

“Right on!” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“I didn't know that was the definition, but I'm with it!” Capt. Ludlow said.

“Thank you so much for your time,” Gracie said, “and y'all enjoy that lemonade!”

“Thank you both, and thanks for the lemonade, too, Cousin Maggie,” Andrew said before he and Gracie ran off.

Capt. Ludlow and Mrs. Jubilee Trent looked at each other and started laughing all over again.

“It's amazing how our grandchildren know exactly who we are, without being afraid,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“They know as much as they can know,” Capt. Ludlow said, “and do not have the burden of understanding why we are afraid of coming out here in an increasingly toxic culture without checking in with the Lord first because we know what we are capable of. I pray for toxic people, that they not meet me!”

“Ain't it the truth, Captain,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said, “ain't it the truth. I pray they don't get within two country miles, because – well, you know the Jubilee story.”

“Educated properly by my grandmother, Hilda 'Grandee' Lee, talking about how Mahogany Mae Jubilee took out the Ghiliston Grabber with a shot from two miles off and left him for the vultures to pick over before law enforcement get there to identify him and be involved in decades of 'how in the world did this happen' – yes, ma'am,” Capt. Ludlow said.

“When folks push other folks to the edge and don't realize they are the ones going over,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said.

“Exactly,” Capt. Ludlow said. “I mean, there are easier ways to fulfill a death wish than trying that, but, hey: different strokes for different folks!”

And he and she cracked up laughing before a bow and a curtsy, a thank you to Mrs. Lee, and going to their respective homes.

All Col. H.F. Lee said when he heard about it from Mrs. Lee was, “Yep … the Lees-of-the-mountain and Jubilees-of-the-mountain who became tight friends across the color line all did so around the same ideas about community order. Be toxic somewhere else, because there are too many places in the Blue Ridge where the sun don't shine that you can end up in.”

Gracie's father and Mrs. Jubilee Trent's son, Sgt. Vincent Trent, said about it: “This is the reason the moonshining Trents never were able to establish anything on the Virginia side of the mountains, and why V.T. Trent's marriage to my mom put an end to the Trents trying to get to him for defecting. The Jubilees-of-the-mountain weren't having any nonsense that would embarrass Black mountain folks in the Blue Ridge on their side of the mountain, and the Lees-of-the-mountain backed them up.

All eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow said about it was, “Yeah! Yeah! We bully the bullies! Yeah!”