14 April 2026, Freewriters Community Daily Writing Prompt Day 3073: fee for doing what?

Mrs. Thalia Ludlow chuckled darkly … the Tinyville Times' staff tended to avoid county politics when they could because they didn't generally have to get into all that, but the Big Loft Bulletin had been shamed into running deeper coverage of everything by the Lofton County Free Voice and Uppity Foolery Watch online.

“Listen, we gotta get the scoop sometimes – blast a pandemic!” J.B. Madison III had finally thundered to his newsroom. “We are the professionals – we cannot let this collection of Black community activists and kids with camera phones outdo us!”

So, the Big Loft Bulletin had been using its professional access and reputation to get off-the-record sources to point them to information they could put on the record … like the exact proposal coming up at the next county board of supervisors meeting with some supervisor's idea to get the money together to repair the damage from Hurricane Mneme.

“They want to charge a fee for doing what?” she said as she discovered this information, and then started chuckling.

“What's happening, Grandma?” seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow said as she stopped on her run by with a huge smile. “I can keep you company and laugh too!”

“People are hilarious,” Mrs. Ludlow said as she opened her arms to her granddaughter. “You ever notice how Grayson [Amanda's six-year-old brother] listens to the neighborhood cars and can tell who doesn't put enough oil and brake fluid in theirs?”

“Yep, and it's amazing,” Amanda said. “They all look like they are OK to me.”

“Right, but, it's the sound, Amanda,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “People are the same way; they can look OK, but as soon as they start talking, you hear it.”

Amanda considered this.

“Grayson does this to people, too,” she said. “That's why George and Rob and Milton next door get hit with the 'gottagobye,' and why Edwina can't get her stuff built sometimes. Grayson can hear the mess.”

“That's a gift indeed,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Most people don't have it at whatever level they are or want to be in life.”

“Well, but, sometimes, there's people like me who hear the mess, but want to help fix it,” Amanda said. “But I'm learning that sometimes you just can't. The mess is too loud.”

“That's a skill most people don't have, either,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “To understand that people are in a mess, but as long as they are listening to it, you can't help them because they will not hear you.”

“It's like the mudpies George and Milton are talking about today,” Amanda said, and her grandfather, Capt. R.E. Ludlow almost whiplashed his neck in the suddenness in which he threw himself into reverse to hear what his granddaughter was saying. “If you don't know that a swirl hurricane is not how you get high-quality mud to go with the ice cream, I can't help you!”

“Hmmm,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “We may need to whip up some real mudpies with chocolate to help them understand, Amanda.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Amanda said. “This is going to taste extra good because I don't want my brother George to be grounded until he is ten years old, and this may help save him and Milton!”

“Let's hope so,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “I'm not sure what we do with hurricane as mud mixer, but, we do what we can, not what we can't.”