Sitting quietly on her sofa she waited for something to happen. It seemed that now she spent more time waiting than anything else. She looked at Roy.
He was a fuzzy lump in the bigger fuzzy lump that was his chair at the end of the sofa.
“What time is it, Roy?”
She saw him shift a bit as he reached for his watch on the end table. It was a familiar movement, for their 68 years of marriage, he would come home, take his watch off and put it on the end table near his recliner. He called back to her, “It’s eleven-thirty, Gal.”
She was glad of the fact that he had his hearing aid on. But wasn’t glad for his answer, it wasn’t lunch time yet, and she was hungry.
The nurse shifted around, she could hear that. Those women who came and sat all day, everyday, watching, making sure she didn’t fall or walk around unclothed. They had no manners. She couldn’t tell their names apart, they all looked the same to her, anyway.
The nurse got up and came near. She stands near and starts pestering her.
“Miz Lizzie, what’s troublin’ you? You need something? I’m here to help you, Miz Lizzie.”
Lizzie looked in her general direction, but she couldn’t see which one it was.
A knock at the door saved her from having to give the nurse something to do. The nurse turned and walked over to the door, opening it. Lizzie turned back to her contemplations. She waited for noon. Then she and Roy could go
to lunch.
The door opened wide, several more people came in. She heard her daughter Anna’s voice. And some fellow’s voice. Lizzie inched forward to the edge of the couch and pushed herself up. Her thin build from her youth had followed her into her late eighties so she was able to move around easily, though slowly.
Roy moved in his chair and looked around the side to the door. He recognized the grandchildren and called to them. He and Lizzie had experienced difficulty having their daughter, and in turn, their daughter waited until her late thirties to have children. Now, his grandson, Ted, standing there looking at him, was the age of the great-grandchildren of many of the other residents in the assisted living community.
Lizzie took hold of the smallest shifting colorful blob, and hugged her grandson. He was so much bigger than the last time he came to visit. She only had one grandson and one granddaughter. Ted squirmed a bit in her hug, just enough to let her know that he needed to go hug Grandpa.
She reached for the next blurry figure. “Hello Alyson, my, how you’ve grown.”
Alyson hugged her and asked how she was feeling. Oh, my, just like the nurse always does. Best to answer as she was taught by her own mother those many years ago.
“Just fine, darlin’ and how was your trip? Did the weather hold? How did you come?”
Alyson told her that they flew and things went smoothly. Lizzie cupped her ear and bent towards her. Alyson repeated herself.
Lizzie found her daughter standing next to her. She hugged her and yelled to Roy, “Here they are, our sweet children.”
Her daughter hugged her again and Lizzie asked her how the trip was. Anna yelled that it was fine, the hotel is fine, too. Lizzie asked her if they drove. Anna told her that they flew. She introduced the fellow who’d come, too, Rick. Lizzie asked Rick how things were in Virginia. He leaned near and said things were well.
Roy held Alyson’s hands in both of his for a few moments, looking at them as if they were birds he’d miraculously caught. Alyson shifted on her feet but stayed there for him. As a teen, it was hard to not go with her usual reaction and just blow him off when he got too close emotionally. She found Rick looking at her and smiling to let her know she was doing a good thing.
Lizzie asked Anna and Ted to sit on the couch and asked Roy loudly, “Where is Alyson?”
He told her that Alyson was by him and to just wait a minute. She asked what time it was. Roy told her it was 11:45.
Lizzie bade Ted to sit close and twisted a bit to hold Anna’s hands. She looked at Ted and said, “Just how old are you now, boy? What grade you in?”
Ted told her was eleven and in grade five. She nodded and asked Anna how work was. Anna told her things were fine, work was busy and she liked it that way. Lizzie looked toward Roy’s chair and asked hi, “Roy, where is my Alyson?” Roy told her that she was right by him.
Rick took a chair on the other side of the room to wait until he was needed. If Liz or Roy wanted to talk, he could get to them quickly. One thing he had already noticed was that thoughts flitted behind their eyes, but slipped away sometimes even as they started to act on them.
Ted stirred a bit, wanting to play outside or watch cartoons. Lizzie looked at him and asked about school. He told her it was going ok. He tried to tell her about his science fair project but she couldn’t hear him half the time and she would not understand some of the things he tried to tell her about it. He skipped the part about getting electricity from an apple and finally said he was finding new way to power a clock. She nodded and asked him how the trip was.
Anna interrupted and asked how her cousins were. Lizzie shifted back to her and cupped her hand around her ear and asked Anna what she’d said. Anna repeated her question. Lizzie told her that the cousins were fine last time she’d seen them. She looked toward Roy’s chair, “When did Kate and Gene come see us?”
Roy looked at her and asked no one in particular, “Someone talking to me?”
Anna repeated her mother’s question to her dad. “Oh, I don’t know, been a while I guess. Maybe it was when we still had the house.”
While he was answering Anna got up and came to his chair. She asked him to check his hearing aid, he was not hearing things that were said to him. He took one out a fiddled with it. Put it back. She asked him how he was hearing, he said he could hear her fine now.
Alyson took her mother’s place on the couch. Lizzie turned to her and asked her how old she was now. She told her, fourteen and in the ninth grade.
Lizzie nodded and put her hands in her lap. She elevated her chin a bit and shouted in the general direction of the recliner, “What time is it, Roy?”
He looked at her, jutted his lower jaw out and said, “Gal, you don’t have to yell at me. I can hear you. It is five minutes ’til noon.”
Lizzie looked at Alyson and asked her how the children minded the trip. Alyson looked perplexed and turned to her mother, who quickly approached. Alyson understood, she rose from the couch and her mother slipped in next to Lizzie. Lizzie appeared to notice but not understand, she just asked how the children were on the trip again. Anna realized that the way she framed the question, she was asking as if the children were still toddlers.
Rick approached Roy who was now sitting staring at the wall. “How are you getting along, there, Roy?”
Roy looked up and smiled, he said, “Now you are my Anna’s friend, right?”
“Yes sir, I have been somewhat smitten by your daughter, that is true.”
Roy sat a moment, then a quirky whine emitted from him. Rick bent forward and cupped his hand in front of Roy and asked him, “That your hearing aid, Roy? How about we take it out have it stop drowning us all out for you.”
Roy took the little device out and dropped it in Rick’s hand. Then he seemed to remember himself and took it back. He fiddled with it a while and put it back.
Lizzie looked at Ted and asked him, “So what grade are you in now, boy?”
Rick looked at Ted and gave him a warm smile. He then asked Roy how the fishing was in these parts.
Lizzie hollerd over, “What time is it, Roy?”
He told her it was noon. She stood up and said she was going to lunch.
The nurse settled Roy into the wheelchair and wheeled him on ahead. Lizzie grasped Rick’s hand and held tight for the slow walk to the cafeteria.
Anna told her mother that the children would like something out for lunch, so they would come back in a few hours. She knew their arrival after lunch would be a surprise as much as if she hadn’t told her their plans.
Lizzie leaned on Rick’s arm and bade him to lean close to her.
She said to him, “Please, don’t grow old.”
She then took her seat next to Roy.
Notes:
MJ
April 1, 2002
Reminds me of Hubby’s Aunt being in the nursing home. She was nearly blind, too. I always wondered what it would be like to know your great nieces and nephews only as blobs.
MJ
April 1, 2002
RYN: Yes, I would be tempted to let the kid get away with it and keep the GameBoy, but that would be setting a very dangerous precident. As per my later entry, now I am not sure if he did take it – but on the other hand the GameBoy is still missing and all the rest of Elmo’s friends are more priveleged and have more gadgets than he does, so I don’t see they would have taken it. I plan to phone around this evening to get to the bottom of it.
MJ
April 5, 2002
RYN about Palestinians: Exactly – I would probably react VERY extremely if someone came into my neighbourhood, bulldozed the houses, then erected a fortified settlement which totally excluded all of the former residents.
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