Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay
When Melissa met Thalia (again) …
“Oh, Robert – this is the angel who made sure I had what I needed while I was in quarantine housing when coming into Virginia from New York!”
Sgt. Vincent Trent and Captain Robert Edward Ludlow Sr., who had a rocky start to becoming neighbors, were surprised to find out their wives were fast friends!
Mrs. Ludlow and Mrs. Trent – who was reconciling her marriage with Sgt. Trent – had met in Tinyville because Mrs. Trent's father, Black billionaire Thomas Stepforth Sr., had seen which way the wind was blowing in the early winter and had bought up all the foreclosures across the state that he could quickly repair, upgrade, and market as comfortable, affordable places to spend two weeks in quarantine either because of travel requirements or because of illness.
Daughter Melissa, because of her household design skills, volunteered to do the personalized things that new travel arrivals often needed to feel right at home.
She had helped Mrs. Ludlow, and they had found great love and support in each other, across the color line.
“And you know what the best part is?” Mrs. Ludlow said.
“No, what?” Captain Ludlow said.
“Whenever we sit down as neighbors and can finally eat some meals together, Mrs. Trent makes sure to put salt, pepper, and butter on her grits too, and has brought her family up right.”
Captain Ludlow, caught completely by surprise, found himself rolling laughing.
“Woman, do you know me! I give anybody immediate points for knowing how not to abominate the greatest breakfast cereal – and lunch and dinner cereal, for that matter – ever made! I have become warmly attached to the Trents now, and am glad we will not immediately have to restart the Civil War over someone over there putting sugar on grits!”
Mrs. Trent was making grits for the family lunch, and smiled as she picked up the deep rumble of Captain Ludlow's laughter even at that distance.
“She told me he was a hardened old soldier, but if you could survive the initial impression, he had a good heart and was trying hard to heal underneath,” she said to Sgt. Trent.
“That's exactly right, Melissa – let me get the salt and pepper down – hey Trents, come get it!”
To whom it may concern: my camp on grits is NO GRITS LEFT BEHIND. I can eat them with salt and pepper, sugar, shrimp, or cheese, and I've probably done some things with cooked grits you may not have thought of! I do not participate in the argument about this, but I do acknowledge that it does exist, and that to a Southern family, it might mean a lot in how they consider another family!