Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
“The thing that makes this time so hard to deal with is that there is just no border any more between the world just behaving rationally and total chaos – there's no way to mark when individuals, groups, and even whole nations are just going to cross over.”
“Granddaughter a few days from official adulthood, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, your observation about there being no border is correct. The bad news is, you live in a country that is the land of the free, but the song was written by a slave owner. There never was a border. We just get to think so, for a little while at a time.”
“Yeah … and Covid-19 means time's up again. Heck of a time to turn 18 years old and be put out there.”
“Vanna, you're my granddaughter. 'Out there' had better get ready for you to enter it.”
“And this is why I love you, Pop-Pop!”
And thus saying, almost 18-year-old Vanna Trent went to the comfort of her grandfather's embrace.
66-year-old Thomas Stepforth Sr., though he was a billionaire and was expected to talk big, knew that hug meant more to Vanna than anything money could buy.
“I see what you were talking about, Velma,” he said to Vanna's grandmother, Mrs. Velma Stepforth. “Being both available and present physically and emotionally is the thing. These young people who don't have that from the older members of their family truly have no border between themselves and the insanity of a chattel-making country. You look at the Ludlow grandchildren, and they are all white – but what they went through in foster care before their grandparents went and got them is just sickening. There's no exception made out here any more.”
“We have a system that pays bad foster parents to mistreat and neglect children,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “There's no border between good and bad there either. I see why the young people are discouraged. It's our job to counterbalance that.”
“Exactly – gotta live a long, long time,” Mr. Stepforth said. “This is a good day to do all that!”
“Yeah – all the little ones are with Mrs. Lee and the Ludlow grandparents down on Heroes Green and it is definitely time for a nap!” Mrs. Stepforth said.
“That other look you gave me when I said, 'Well, we've had little Tom and Vertran all summer – how much harder could taking on Gracie, Milton, and little Velma and their little friends be?' – you were right on that too, Big Velma.”
“And see, Big Tom, when you realize I'm right when I give you the look, not only are you going to be in the top 3 richest men in Lofton County, VA, but you're also going to be in the top 3 wisest.”
“I just said I gotta live a long, long, time, Velma … but at 66, I suppose I should be beginning to get with the program, huh?”
“Maybe, Tom! Just maybe!”