Thursday

Plans were put in place for the weekend today. Eldest Sister would be visiting with all three of her kids on Sunday. I let them know that we would be around to provide lunch before they headed back home. Well, we probably would. It would all depend on how Lesley’s dad was.

We had a message from Lesley’s dad’s cleaner this morning. She found him “quite muddled” and she thought he may have been covering up a fall. What he couldn’t cover up was evidence of s series of “Accidents” as she does his laundry.

When I got to The Home I found that everyone was fed up today. Well, the residents at least.

I reached the rear lounge as one of the night shift team was heading to the nurses’ office. She’d clearly left the lounge without permission because Audrey sent me back to go and get her. Noting that it was a good half hour before her shift was due to start I walked out of sight, counted to 10 and returned to tell Audrey that she was on her way. I didn’t hang around long enough to gauge whether that answer was satisfactory. On my way through to Mum I spotted Shirley hiding in Audrey’s room. She looked lost and unhappy.

It took two attempts to wake Mum up and she remained very drowsy all the time I was with her. The only words I could make out were “Are you staying here all night?” and “Don’t go home without me”. The only bright spot was when I asked if she wanted a drink. She must’ve been gasping to have been that keen. But she pulled a face when I sat her up and again when I put the cup of squash to her lips.

“What’s wrong Mum? Was that too much or was it not nice?”

I couldn’t understand the answer so tried the other cup. She managed two sips of water without further distress. She pulled a face when I lowered the bed again.

Mum was unresponsive when I asked if she wanted me to read so I did anyway. Three chapters in it looked like she was asleep so I stood up to leave. She was suddenly wide awake. Obviously.

On way out I heard Pauline complaining and Eleanor fretting about her Kids and asking for help.

It was late and I just kept walking.

Bibliography

Tales from the Parish: 31 humorous short stories about community, family and village life, set in the English countryside

Kindle Edition

by Stefania Hartley

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely