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“But is Don Giovanni actually G-rated, though?”
“No, because Papa has not given us a libretto, and he is only doing one scene, and it's not translated out of Italian and he hasn't volunteered to do it for us.”
This was eleven-year-old Velma Trent and best friend eleven-year-old Eleanor Ludlow, thinking out loud about Don Giovanni.
“Oh, I see,” Velma said. “I was asking because my little brother Milton and I keep finding a lot of scenes that are the same from this opera, but our YouTube settings have a lot of full performances blocked.”
“Same over here. Papa's character initially dies defending his daughter from some kind of attack, so we know there's violence involved, and it's gotta be some kind of violence when you consider that it's Papa, after all.”
“Yes, but most men who play this are playing an older man versus a much younger man, and although Melvin messed around and found out over here today why that doesn't always work, often it does, because that's why people mug older folks. Not everyone is trained like my father and your grandfather.”
“Yeah, but, the Commendatore is a military officer too, Velma.”
“Yeah, but, most of his statues are older than your grandfather, and kinda out of shape, too, in the scenes I've seen. And remember: they do their best when they make your statue, so, if we can see it in the statue, you know the real man had to have let himself go.”
“You know, Velma, I hadn't even seen that – I mean, Papa is the ideal statue shape, and if he died suddenly and we had to make him in papier-mache or clay, we wouldn't have to touch him up at all.”
“Dad over here either, Eleanor, but even all the old veterans around here are not like that. A lot of them are, but, 50 percent of the time, not so much. General Hamilton keeps himself up nice, though, and so does Sgt. Lee your great-grand-uncle.”
“General Hamilton is not that much older than Papa – a lot louder, but not that much older. Uncle Horace lives in the mountains, so, he can't afford to get out of shape.”
“Maybe that's the thing, too, though – there are veterans and then disabled veterans, and we can't expect everybody to handle their age and disabilities the same way. All I'm saying is, that might not have been as fair a fight as it looks like between your grandfather and Lieutenant Truss here.”
“Gosh, Velma, I would hate to see them fight, because both of them are so handsome and Lt. Truss seems very nice.”
“It's all just make-believe – maybe – and besides that, they're only going to do the G-rated stuff in front of us.”
“Why do you say 'maybe,' Velma?”
“Kinda watch Lt. Truss relate to your grandfather for a little while. They are professional and everything, and that's a captain with a lieutenant, but, just watch. I don't like Lt. Truss likes your grandfather all that much.”
The two girls just watched the interactions between the men in silence for so long that Velma's baby sister, eight-year-old Gracie, came to see what was going on.
“What cha doing?” she said.
“We're just man-watching, trying to find out if Lt. Truss actually likes Capt. Ludlow,” Velma said.
“Oh, that's easy,” Gracie said. “He doesn't. He's scared of him.”
“How do you know?” Eleanor said.
Gracie became her grandmother Gladys, putting her hands on her little hips.
“Any time you are in a made-up story, and you keep jumping like the man playing the role is really going to drag you to hell every time he looks in your direction instead of knowing that both of you are going to laugh all the way to the bank together, you are scared.”
Velma and Eleanor looked for a good while longer, and then … .
“Well, I'll be,” Eleanor said. “You're right, Gracie. But then, why? I mean, they just met for the second time in person today!”
“You ever notice how some people are just scared because that's just who they are right now?” Gracie said. “Take your sister Amanda, Eleanor. She's shy and kinda scared because stuff happened in foster care, but your sister Edwina and I are getting her out of it. We're going to get her all the way out of it, too. Ain't no ands, ifs or buts about it. We're not having that for Amanda. But maybe nobody has done that yet for Lt. Truss.”
“I mean, he has a magnificent military record, according to Papa – you know Papa looks up everybody he works with, and you can't even get housing here unless you were honorably discharged,” Eleanor said.
“But Lt. Truss was a person before the military, and if he's retired, he's just a person again now,” Gracie said.
“Your Papa is kind of rough sometimes,” Velma said to Eleanor, “but underneath he is a lot like my dad, so, he would probably help Lt. Truss if only Lt. Truss wasn't so scared.”
“Well, somebody needs to help him, because if Gracie can see that you are scared, and you are a grown man, you need help,” Eleanor said.
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “It's just so sad, but I got an idea.”
“What?” Velma and Eleanor said.
“Let's pray, because Edwina and I pray for and with Amanda, and it surely does work.”
“Ain't it the truth!” Velma and Eleanor said, and all three of them laughed before getting down on their little knees in the grass and praying.
“I wanna come pray too!” Amanda said, and came and joined.
Meanwhile, the man being prayed for noticed, and was so shocked he forgot to be scared.
“Do they do that often?” he said to nobody in particular.
Capt. Ludlow and Sgt. Trent tracked his gaze and smiled.
“As often as they feel the need,” Capt. Ludlow answered.
“Both our households,” Sgt. Trent said, “act like God the Father is always around and available, because He is.”
“I haven't seen that since my grandfather, at any time that he felt he needed help, would just stop what he was doing and get on his knees,” Lt. Truss said. “It is so strange to see that in 2020!”
“Well, get a neighbor that has three little kids while you have seven little grandkids you are adopting, and you will be surprised what old habits you pick up and those kids pick up from you,” Capt. Ludlow said, “especially if you are married to the type of women whose attitude is 'you made these, so get on in there with them'!”
All the married men laughed hard.
“These wonderfully troublesome no-nonsense wives we seem to have!” Capt. F.D. Maynor said.
“Yep, that was Grandma, too,” Lt. Truss said. “I said I'd never have one like her, but here y'all are!”
Capt. Ludlow smiled gently.
“A lot depends on what you are called to in life, and who is qualified to go with you,” he said. “My first wife was what most young men would want at that stage of their lives. Big, big mistake – so as we mature, we do better.”
“The old and boring years, eh?” Lt. Truss said.
“I did not say older,” Capt. Ludlow said. “I said, as we mature. There are many young men becoming old fools, every day – maturity, however, is a choice.”
Lt. Truss subtly flinched, but held his ground, because it was like a cool breeze on an incredibly hot day had begun to blow over his soul.
“That sounds like something my grandfather would say,” he said.
“I'm glad to hear that, Lieutenant, because given your military record, I hope I can do as well with my grandchildren as your grandparents did with you.”
“Aw, shucks, Capt. Ludlow, I don't really talk about all that, but … .”
The other men just eased out of the picture, letting what needed to happen, happen.