Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Sgt. Trent was startled to hear what he and his neighbors the Ludlows called “the anthem of attention” in the middle of the day... usually his baby daughter got up in the morning full of her latest ideas, but there it was in the mid-afternoon...
“Duh-duh-DOO-duh-duh-doobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeedoobeeDOO!”
Eight-year-old Gracie Trent was one of those grandchildren of billionaire Thomas Stepforth Sr. that had a copy of his mind … living in a personality that was the sweetest you could imagine and always working to make things better for those she loved and even others that she thought of in the world that needed care.
The problem was, Gracie was eight.
Sgt. Trent, nine-year-old Milton, and 21-year-old Melvin all bolted from their seats,
“Hide me!” Milton said.
“I think I'm going to be sick again!” Melvin said, recalling when his baby sister made the family coffee with God's own rainwater … collected from the downspout.
Sgt. Vincent Trent just started running, just like his wife Melissa did … Mrs. Trent was there the day Gracie got concerned about dreamweavers not making it through the night and the Sandman bringing good dreams to people … except she didn't have sand, so she took kitty litter from the clean side of Goldie's box to put in everybody's bed...
Sgt. and Mrs. Trent arrived to the spot of the anthem of attention just in time to see neighbor Capt. R.E. Ludlow – that tall, Virginian blue-blood of a man – being unceremoniously dragged to the spot by Gracie's best friends, eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow and her seven-year-old sister Amanda.
“Gracie has just had the greatest idea ever!” granddaughter Edwina was screaming.
“Yeah, Papa – it's going to change the world and a lot of other stuff, too!” grandfather Amanda said.
“I don't know about all that,” Gracie said, “but it will sell a lot of soda until it cools down.”
“Forget E.F. Hutton,” 17-year-old Vanna Trent said as she laughed quietly and went back into the house to let others handle things. “When Gracie sings, people listen!”
And there this little eight-year-old stood, looking like her mother Melissa, sounding like Sgt. Trent's mother Gladys, and talking like Melissa's billionaire dad...
“So, it's like big brother Melvin was talking about network effects and stuff,” she said. “There are a lot of people in the world that like soda, and don't know they like Insta-Resorts like Edwina makes for y'all Ludlows – but see, we Trents are in the same soda bubble with y'all Ludlows–.”
Gracie did understand about Covid-19, and how people who were not in the same “bubble” were advised to stay socially distanced from each other.
“ – so, it's OK for us to do all this great stuff together. But you know, any family or group of people in the same soda bubble could learn how to do an Insta-Resort, and all we need to do is show them how and sell them the soda that will make it perfect.”
“Or, maybe some of the Dubois food, too,” Sgt. Trent said.
“Yup,” Gracie said. “Even better. So, Edwina wrote down all the things it takes to make an Insta-Resort, and most people have these in their homes. What they don't have is the idea, the soda, and the right food.”
“A marketing package,” Capt. Ludlow said. “People are cooped up at home, bored – this is a perfect marketing package.”
“And so, when it is winter, you just need summer decorations if it's not Christmas,” Gracie said. “You can Insta-Resort any time, because Edwina takes advantage of all days when things are not loud and messy.”
“I sure do!” Edwina said. “Winter, spring, summer, and fall – you gotta have time to get your life together!”
“We just need one more location for people to use their Insta-Resort coupons – I'll call Sgt. Gonzalez!” Sgt. Trent said.
“Actually, no – let's do a conference call with everyone, and have Edwina and Gracie explain it, and record that,” said Capt. Ludlow. “The commercial's done!”
Much later on, when everything was afoot, Sgt. and Mrs. Trent smiled at each other.
“Well, we had to survive the not-so-good ideas to get to this one,” the sergeant said.
“Well, yes, but baby girl has come through for everybody this time, like she has always been intending to do,” Mrs. Trent said.
Sgt. Trent started laughing.
“That Gracie,” he said, “but you just gotta love her!”