Well I don't know where my father is. How could he still be napping at 9:30 PM?. God forbid I go look. He lay down at 2:00. He's made three appearances out here since. I hear the clunk of the walker, a glass of juice being poured in the bar area, I call "Daddy, are you OK?" he says fine fine fine and clunks off again. I thought he was watching TV in the den in his chair. Three times I've been about to down tools and go see to his dinner. Now I guess I forget it. I bet he wanders out just as I'm closing up things for bed and suddenly I'm doing omelets and asparagus soup at midnight. Then have to keep him upright for an hour because of acid reflux. And of course him not being awake means I have not done his second nebulizer treatment. Not that this would kill him (she hopes) but I like to appear on top of things here for the Staff's sake, if nothing else. They have this great image of me being Miss Omnipresent Top Dog In Charge of The Works Who Can Do No Wrong. Hate to have to say Oops. Sorry. Forgot his pills again today, silly me--too often. Oh, and no dinner and forgot to empty his urinal, true, and yes, that's definitely his shoe under the counter, he must have lost it at dinner last night and no, I hadn't noticed, yes, am glad he didn't slip on the floor today too.
Odd has no track of time, is the thing, neither of them do. Peg called me at a quarter to seven this morning from the nursing home in a panic because no one had come to shower her yet "And Tina's coming at seven!"
"Tina's coming at nine Mother. Nine. Not seven."
"I thought she was coming at seven!"
"No. Nine. Tina is coming at nine. She was always coming at nine."
By the time I got over to Laurel Lake at 8:58, Tina was sitting by the bed and Peg was eating the homemade Italian chocolates Tina's husband Dante, a master baker, had made. Tina is Peg's hairdresser.
I got someone to open the beauty salon, got Peg down the hall there via her walker, me daintily carrying her catheter bag over my arm like my purse. Tina washed and blow dried Peg's hair, I did eyebrows and lipstick and got rid of about nineteen disgusting old lady hairs around her mouth, got her into a great outfit, chose necklace and earrings and---didn't have the heart to tell her that even though this was Skype, they were only recording the audio part for the interview. Anyhow she looked marvelous. And she stayed mostly on track, with the questions about her career, and when she didn't, at least she knew it and turned to me to say "What were we talking about?" or "That wasn't the story I wanted to tell, remind me."
I felt badly leaving her but had to get to Price Chopper to do The Weekly Shop and then home before Outside Bob left at 2:00 sharp. Off came the good stuff and back went the stretched-out stained turtleneck, off went the earrings and necklace. Like some prisoner I'd made up to look spiffy for the video telling the world how happy and well-treated the inmates are here then as soon as the red light's off it's back to the bamboo shoots under the fingernails and pajamas made of nettles. And she's so tiny now. Felt like I was undressing one of my dolls.
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STAFF ON CALL:
Bob, who did a magnificent job installing the new dishwasher.
It is with deep regret that I must inform you that the 4 x 6 horse pad made out of crushed tires that weighs a ton but I thought was going to be perfect to replace where the old dishwasher screwed up the parquet--will be delivered to Scott and Cindy in Middlefield to use under one of their horses, primarily because the thing reeks of old crushed tires and I wouldn't be able to enter the kitchen without heaving.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
- Washing and hoovering out the borrowed Saab which will be returned to its rightful owner on Thursday. I think the last time I washed a car I was in my teens. Didn't much care for it even then as I recall. And I should have been wearing rubber boots, not cowboy.
- Finished the final Peg Lynch Scrap Book, this makes Number 6, full of all the original stuff she destroyed Albums 3, 4 and 5 in order to xerox for her Blue Book Project, a pastime I believe I may have touched on in earlier posts.
- Phoned two more cousins who didn't know who I was, to confirm addresses before giving them great cause for rejoice by revealing that they would soon be a lucky recipient of a Blue Book.
- Found Script #42 ("Two Times Nothing") from the Ethel and Albert sketches from The Kate Smith Show, 1952, missing since January. It was hiding in "Old Time Radio Convention" scripts under catheter attachments and some dead light bulbs and in a folder marked "Buster The Neighbourhood Dog Thief", which is the title of a script. You have to stay on your toes around this place, let me tell you. I was so excited that I came running in to show Bob. He was excited too. That's life in Becket for you. It'll probably be in The Berkshire Eagle tomorrow.
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Still no sign of Odd and now scared to check. Will leave a banana on the bar and two cookies and go to bed. District Nurse Hargreaves, at your service. Actually, I had my heart set on becoming a doctor when I was little. My Great Aunt Elise--OB-GYN, who by the way delivered me, if you were thinking of blaming anyone--was Chief Resident at Women's Hospital in New York and I got to follow her on her rounds a few times. She looked spectacular with her blonde hair in her white coat and black high heels and I thought, yep, this is for me. It was only the maths, chemistry and physics part that put me off. Not to mention those latex models of fetuses and birth canals that lined her stairwell in Bronxville.
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