Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
“You know what I would really love to see?” six-year-old Grayson Ludlow said to eight-year-old Gracie Trent.
“What?” said Gracie.
“I'd love to see Legos that moved like your mother's clay, so we could get smoother shapes.”
Grayson had come over to watch Mrs. Melissa Trent with her clay wheel from the Trents' back porch, and Gracie was already there, drawing.
“You know, that would be a good idea,” Gracie said, “but I think the way clay works is that you can make bricks out of them of different shapes through using a frame, like a cookie cutter.”
“Oh, okay – it's more like cookie dough!”
“Yep, except although clay smells good, you probably don't want to eat it, and yes, you do need to put it in the oven. It's called a kiln.”
“Where does your mom bake her clay things?”
“We take her things up to the Lofton County Art Collective Kiln.”
“If I make myself some special bricks, could you ask her to take them up to bake them?”
“Sure!”
“It may take a while. I gotta figure out a lot of stuff.”
“There's no hurry, though, Grayson. There's always time for art and building stuff.”
“Use your modeling clay first, though, Grayson,” eleven-year-old Velma said as she came onto the porch, “and maybe ask your grandma how she makes cookies with a cookie cutter even before that.”
“Okay!”
And off Grayson ran, with Sgt. Trent smiling after him.
“When it comes to figuring in the Ludlow family,” he said, “that boy has first place.”
“Watch him come back here with some rounded bricks once he figures out that he can use his existing Legos as molds, and then add some clay to round off the edges,” Sgt. Trent's eldest daughter Vanna said.
“Oh, count on that,” Sgt. Trent said.
“You just think of the list Grayson has going on now,” Vanna said. “If the Lofton County Spelling Bee goes virtual, then he's probably going to win the six-year-old division. Then, there's always five or six Lego or mud projects he always has going, and now he is trying to build rounded Lego bricks in clay.”
Sgt. Trent smiled.
“But that's what we want, Vanna,” he said. “There are only two types of men in the world: those who love to build for themselves and others, and those who want to live off of what others have built.”
Vanna smiled.
“All the boys around here are definitely the building type,” she said, “and Grayson in the literal sense.”
“And that means Capt. Ludlow and I are doing a proper job,” Sgt. Trent said, “and why we will ask the captain's permission to take Grayson up to the Art Collective whenever it reopens for more than drop-offs.”
“I bet Grayson would be good with one of those little clay wheels they have up there,” Vanna said, “kind of in the way Velma is getting really good with hers.”
“Velma is five years older and so has the hand-eye coordination to keep the wheel going and work the clay; Grayson is not quite there yet,” Sgt. Trent said. “But, I'd be willing to wager that Amanda or Robert would be willing to help him. I'll speak with Capt. Ludlow about it.”
Vanna smiled.
“Capt. Ludlow is watching what you do closely, Dad,” she said. “He's getting to be a really good father in addition to being a good grandfather.”
“Thank you, Vanna. That means the world to me, that you see me.”