The quieter you become the more you can hear ~ Ram Dass



Monday, January 23, 2012

Mrs. Dunkin #13

This is an ongoing story I've decided to write and put on my blog every Monday.   Please excuse the errors, I'm only doing limited editing.  Constructive criticism welcome.  I wish I had a cute button on the side where the story could go but I don't know how to make a button.  Even if I did I wouldn't know how to link up the story LOL.   So if you miss a chapter, you'll have to look at my sidebar for it.  The first chapter was written on October 23, 2011 so that should at least be some help, ha.


 13

Our trays were put in front of us.  We had pancakes, sausage, and cheerios; also, the usual liquids that I had at every meal so far.  “Boy, they don’t scrimp on the food or drinks do they” I said.

Clara answered “No, they sure don’t.  You would think by my weight I eat everything but I usually don’t.   I take what I can’t finish back to my room for later or give it to someone else.”

“Good idea.  Can I ask how you like it here?” 

“I like it okay.  There are plenty of things to do.  They have bingo, exercises, art and all kinds of other things if you’re willing to do them.   They have entertainment come in which I really like a lot.  They also have outings you can sign up for.

“Sounds like it’s up to the person to make of this place what they want.” 

“Yes, that’s exactly how I would put it.  While I can, I’m going to do everything before it’s too late.  If you know what I mean.”  I knew exactly what she meant.  I decided right then and there I would too. 

“Hey girlies.”  I turned around and smiled at Fred. 

“Don’t encourage him” Clara said. 

“I don’t want to be rude.” 

“The longer you’re here you will learn.  There are some people you just have to ignore.  He calls everyone girlie, even men” and she laughed. 

“What’s his story?”

“He’s a nice enough guy but if you get to talking to him you’ll never get away.  He was here when I got here.  He told me he’s got children but I’ve never seen them.  His wife is long gone.  He can get around pretty well but he’s always trying to get out of here and go back home to see her.” 

“I saw this morning that he tried to get out.” 

“Yeah, he does it like clockwork every morning.  I don’t know why only in the morning but that’s what he does.” 

“Around 10:00, they are going to be playing bingo would you like to play?” 


“Sure, it sounds fun.” 


“Hey Sheila” Clara yelled “mark me and Annie down for bingo this morning.”

“Will do” Sheila said. 



“They will come and get us around 9:00.  We get to get off this floor, thank goodness.  We’ll have something new to see.”

“Where is it going to be?”

“It’s on the second floor.  When they are going have something where a lot of people will attend it’s usually up there.”   

We were finished eating and I told Clara I was going to freshen up.  When I went back to my room, the phone was ringing. 

“Hello?”

“Mom where were you?  I’ve been calling for the last half hour.” 

“I was at breakfast Julie.  Is something wrong?” 

“No, not really.  I got concerned when I couldn’t get a hold of you.” 

“That’s exactly why I’m here Julie, so you don’t have to be worried about me anymore.  If you call and I’m not here that means I’m out of my room doing something.  In fact, I just came back to freshen up and then I’m going to be playing bingo.” 

“That’s nice Mom.  I wanted to tell you that Jerry’s going to be there in the morning tomorrow and I’m coming in the evening if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine; whatever you two decide is good with me.  I’m not going anywhere.I really have to go now, they will be coming to get me and I don’t want to keep Clara waiting.” 

“Who is Clara?”  “She’s the woman who lives next door to me.  She’s very nice and is showing me the ropes.” 

“Okay mom, have a good time at bingo.  Oh one more thing, Jill wanted me to ask you if you got whatever she needed taken care of. Whatever that means.”

“Tell her, yes I did and it’s waiting for her.”

“See you tomorrow mom.  Love you.”

“Me too dear.”  

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 


 

 

1 comment:

Ames said...

This is a good representation of life in a nursing home. I wonder how the people that work there really feel about working there and caring for the elderly. I'll be back next week for the next installment!~Ames