The day finally came for the Lofton County Virtual Spelling Bee, first-grade division.
“Are you nervous?” eight-year-old Gracie Trent asked six-year-old Grayson Ludlow as he sat out in his Sunday best on the porch, relaxing a little while before going in to do his thing.
“No,” Grayson said.
“I want you to know I believe in you,” Gracie said.
“And I want you to know I'm not going to let you down,” he said, and came off the porch to give her a hug before getting called in to get in position.
All of the Trents, Lees, and Stepforths were quietly rooting for Grayson since they had no child of their own in the first-grade division, and a good number of them were on their porch to hear Capt. R.E. Ludlow, Grayson's grandfather, come out and announce in his resonant basso profondo: “Grayson has gotten through the first round … Grayson is in the quarter-finals … Grayson is in the semi-finals … Grayson is in the finals … Grayson is now in sudden death with the other finalist: last one to spell the word correctly wins.”
“OK … I'm going to need to pop some extra popcorn,” 18-year-old Vanna Trent said. “Consolation and celebration pop!”
“We already know he gon' win,” Vanna's paternal grandmother Gladys Jubilee Trent said.
“Yeah, we have been praying for that boy to get more comfortable speaking up and this is part of it,” Vanna's maternal grandmother Mrs. Velma Stepforth said.
“But do we need another Lil' Robert Ludlow, though?” 16-year-old Tom Stepforth III said. “I love Grayson's little brother but he talks enough to cover both of them.”
“That's like asking if we need another you eating everybody out of house and home,” Mrs. Stepforth said, and Tom jumped.
“Oooo,” Tom's eleven-year-old cousin Velma Trent said.
“There will never be another Robert Edward Ludlow III,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said, “but we need Grayson to find the voice that goes with his gifted hands, too, and this is part of him getting comfortable with speaking publicly.”
“For him to be sitting up without his Legos talking with anyone this long – Grayson has come a long way,” Sgt. Vincent Trent said as he received the baskets of snacks Col. and Mrs. Lee came with as they arrived.
“He's got this,” Mrs. Maggie Lee said. “Grayson knew all the words he was supposed to be getting months ago - – he used to spell them out in blocks, and when we were keeping him and his siblings while Capt. Ludlow was getting inpatient EMDR treatment, we used to scramble the blocks and remove some, and he could unscramble them and spell the words even with missing letters.”
“And, Grayson handles pressure well, especially considering his age,” Col. H.F. Lee said. “He is not likely to be bothered by people sitting up and asking him questions.”
“Well, yeah, he's in the finals already!” nine-year-old Milton Trent said.
While all of them were talking, Capt. and Mrs. Thalia Ludlow came out onto the porch with Grayson.
“You ready to tell them?” Capt. Ludlow said.
“Yeah,” Grayson said, and then just walked across the yard to all his neighbors to tell them, “I won with a perfect score. Come eat with us – bring all your food, too!”
There went up a whoop of joy that was heard halfway across Tinyville, VA, home of the Lofton County Virtual Spelling Bee first-grade division champion.
After dinner, Grayson went to sit down next to Gracie.
“I told you I wasn't going to let you down,” he said, and gave her a hug.
“I knew that you weren't,” she said, and hugged him back before he went and got her an extra ginger snap.
“Are we seeing the future?” Col. H.F. Lee said to his fellow presumed-clairvoyant, Mrs. Jubilee Trent.
“We are seeing right now,” Mrs. Jubilee Trent said, “which may develop into several beautiful possible futures.”