Mrs. Dunkin #6

 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.

Chapter 6

     I was already looking through the boxes when Julie came back to the room.  “Mom, you’ll never guess who I saw leaving the building. Do you remember Sally Baker?  Her mom’s here.  She had a stroke last year.”  “Why yes, I do.  You used to be pretty good friends, whatever happened to that?”  “I had some important things to get done; you know things like med school, marriage, starting a practice and having kids.  All my friends fell by the wayside.”  “That’s not good.  Women friends are very important to have.  You should really think about reconnecting with some of them.”  “Yeah, I guess.”  “How is Mrs. Baker doing?” “We didn’t have a lot of time to talk.  She had to go back to work.  She did say her mom’s in a wheelchair now.  Sally also mentioned that we should get together and talk.”  “Then you should do that.  Trust me you won’t regret it.”  “Okay, mom I will.   Your room is starting to feel kind of homey, don’t you think?”  “Yes, it’s getting there.  Now if you can just hang some of these pictures on the wall that would be great.”

     Julie started looking at the pictures and hanging them on the wall.  “Annie, your lunch is here.  I’ll put it on the table for you.” “Hi Cheryl, let me introduce you to my family.  This is Julie my daughter, son Jerry and grandson Joshua.” “Hi Cheryl” they said in unison.  “It’s nice to meet you all. I see you brought more stuff.  The room is starting to look very nice.   I’d stay and talk but I have other meals to give out.  Feel free to ask anyone if you have questions.  Bye.” “Bye” again in unison. 

      “She seemed nice but didn’t stay very long.”  “Son, she’s not here to entertain us.  There are other residents here.”  “I know mom.  Look me and Josh have to go.  He’s got rec basketball at 1:00 and if we leave now we’ll be able to make it.  Is that okay?”  “Of course it is.  You go and Josh I hope you win your game.”  “Thanks grandma” and he gave me a kiss.  Jerry hugged me for the longest time, I thought he would never stop and then said “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  “Uh no you won’t, I don’t want any visitors until at least Sunday.  I need to learn the ins and outs of this place and I’d rather do it alone.  And don’t get that look on your face.  I’m fine.  I wish everyone would believe me.”  “Okay, I won’t argue with you.  I’ll see you Sunday afternoon” and they left. 

     I sat down at the table and Julie peered over from where she was hanging a picture.  “Well mom, let’s see what you have to eat.”  I pulled the covers off the food.  There was fish with tartar sauce, french fries, green beans and a slice of chocolate cake;  glasses of milk, juice, water and coffee.  “I don’t know why they give me so much to drink.”  “I’m sure they don’t want the residents to get dehydrated.  You know just because it’s on the tray if it’s too much, don’t drink it all.”  “Is that your professional opinion?”  “Yes it is” and we laughed.  “Do you want some?”  “No, I’m stuffed.  I ate a big breakfast.  You go ahead and eat and I’ll finish hanging the pictures.  I’ve got to get back to the office in a while anyhow.  I’ve got a couple of women that are coming in that are past their due date.”  “You go ahead”.

     While I ate, I watched Julie.  She has her whole life ahead of her and she has made a wonderful life.  When the time comes, I know she’ll be okay.  She’s strong although I know at times she doesn’t think so.  That will be my job from now on, to make sure she realizes that.

     “I’m done Mom.  Does everything look okay?”  “Yes, it looks great.  Why don’t you go now, I’ll finish up with the rest of this stuff later.”  “Okay, if you’re sure.”  “I am, see you on Sunday.” “Love you mom, bye” and off she went.  

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