Image by Lothar Baxmann from Pixabay
One thing that veteran's wives knew for sure, and if wise, instructed their children in the same: don't ask “what happened?” the instant men came in from battle.
Mrs. Linda Lee the eldest, Mrs. Thalia Ludlow, Mrs. Melissa Trent, and Mrs. Maggie Lee the youngest were all wise, and without having to say anything to each other about it led the children big and small into recovery activities.
Sgt. Horace Lee, Capt. R.E. Ludlow, Sgt. Vincent Trent, and Col. R.E. Lee had all gotten involved in a bear visit that had quite incidentally broken a trafficking ring that had taken root at the Veteran's Lodge. Every man put his hand to some aspect of catching of the bad guys that had gone to running.
Sgt. Lee was 87, and had been a medic. Much use for him when car crashes went wrong – including Capt. Ludlow shooting tires out as a reason. Sgt. Trent, though not a medic, lent his strength to the old medic's work.
Col. Lee, Sgt. Lee's grandson, had ruthlessly hunted down man after man in the ring – not one had escaped him with the team of help he had organized on the fly to make sure, across the Veteran's Lodge. One of those sharpshooters had been Capt. Ludlow.
When these four men at last returned to the homes of the Ludlows and Trents on the cul-de-sac past which a lot of the action had gone, every man smiled to see their wives bringing out food and smiling children, mostly unaware of all that had went on, to greet them.
Mrs. Maggie Lee had gotten her husband and her grandfather-in-law's and her grandmother in-laws musical instruments out of the truck, and Mrs. Trent had asked Melvin to bring out his father's upright bass and get it tuned... no campfire, but as the evening came on music was made as strength and comfort to the soul. Other people who lived at the Lodge and were traumatized by the day's events came by at a respectful distance to sing the songs they knew, or to listen, or to stream the healing to others.
Thus it was that the whole Lodge began its recovery that night, between the first two days of media and the mopping up that had to come, and the four veterans began their return from the mode of war that they had not meant to get back into, back into the mode of peace.
“Gen. Patton said in my day that war is hell,” old Sgt. Lee said, “and by analogy, having a good family to come home to is just about like heaven.”
“Ain't it the truth,” Sgt. Trent said.
“So true,” Capt. Ludlow said, and then added to Col. Lee his cousin, “you told us you married the right one, and you did – Mrs. Maggie was right there in the swing of all things!”
Col. Lee smiled.
“The Lord waited on me for 27 years before bringing her to me,” he said. “When I lost Vanessa at 18, with our beloved son Henry Victor, I never thought I would be able to heal enough to even think about remarriage. I didn't even know how I was going to live … but when I finally stopped long enough to attend to that part for real, and began making progress toward healing and peace, I was ready for a woman like her. She is a testimony to the Lord's mercy on me for which I thank Him every day.”
“Hear hear,” the other three veterans said.
“We're in your situation too, sir!” Sgt. Trent said.
“I've been in it longer than any of y'all have been alive,” Sgt. Lee said, “and I'm telling you: when you are about to hit your 70th anniversary and your wife still loves you, that's when you really start to think about how good and merciful God really is!”
“Excuse me, Sergeant – 70 years?” Sgt. Trent said.
“If the Lord grant that we see 2021, yes,” Sgt. Lee said. “When your wife knew you as a scrapping young boy, and now as a shadow of your former self, and still reveres and loves you, you are blessed.”
“I'm just having trouble with you being that old, Sgt. Lee. I mean, I know that you are Col. Lee's grandfather, and you have to be about that old, but you and your wife don't move like that at all!”
“Stay in love and move somewhere off the grid where weakness is not an option, young man, and find out what both of those things will do for you!” Sgt. Lee said, and his laughter spread around.
“We're trying!” the three younger veterans said as they laughed.
A couple of years ago my little town had a human trafficking gang working out of the Publix plaza. The women were giving "massages", I had even thought how nice it would be to be able to afford one. I am glad that I didn't, the women were forced to live there and do God only knows what.
It is much more prevalent around us than we think it is ... which is why my mind went that way for this mini-series in the lives of the Ludlows and Trents ...
I never knew how much it was around until my daughter was trained in it, to tell the truth, I did not know what it was until then. This was over 10 years ago.