Friday

Today’s visit left me with absolutely no clue where Mum was in her Sleepy/Active cycle. I had expected her to be sound asleep and totally unresponsive yesterday. Because she wasn’t yesterday, she should have been today.

But she wasn’t. Today was a re-run of yesterday only less fidgety and she was lying straight on the bed instead of across it.

I couldn’t tell whether she was still on the way to full-on Sleepy & Unresponsive or whether this might be as sleepy as she gets this time around. She wasn’t properly awake or properly asleep either. The restlessness was still there but it was intermittent today and the slow-motion fidgeting was even slower. She made no attempt to hold my hand. 

She was awake enough to decline a drink and to indicate she was warm and comfortable. I couldn’t tell whether my offer to read was received positively or negatively so I did anyway. Halfway through the chapter I could hear Lily shouting at someone (Audrey probably) in the lounge.

At the end of the chapter I asked Mum if she was still awake. No response. Perfect. She was finally properly asleep.

That was when Lily started giving the door to the garden by Mum’s room a proper hammering.

“THAT’S WHAT YOU DO TO A DOOR THAT WON’T OPEN!!!” she shouted with a final flourish.

Then she stood outside Mum’s room and said loudly “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET TO WHERE I’M SUPPOSED TO BE!!!”

She continued to talk really loudly while I tried to work out where she wanted to be.

“Anyway,” she said at last, “thank you for your help. I don’t want to disturb you because, you know…”

She pointed at Mum then put a finger to her lips and went “Shhhh!!”

“It’s a bit late to be worried about that now Lily” I didn’t say.

The damage was already done. Mum was awake again.

Bloody hell

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