Tuesday

It was another long day for Lesley visiting her dad again today. He seemed to be continuing his run of decent days though.

Mum was sound asleep when I got to her. She had a row of untouched drinks on her table and I got no response at all to any of my attempts to let her know I was there.

Looking at the state of her bedclothes my guess was that she’d been active at some point during the afternoon but she was totally immobile while I was there. I reckoned she’d been out for the count for a couple of hours and would continue to be all day tomorrow too.

However, I wasn’t going to get away with a quick visit. Audrey and Eleanor had been seated in the lounge in chairs that had a view of the corridor and they’d both seen me go into Mum’s room. I received a summons to go and talk to them.

The only free chair was next to Audrey. When Eleanor saw that she wasn’t going to get the bulk of my attention she stomped off to her room in a huff.

Audrey described in great detail and at great length the trials and tribulations she’d had to endure during the day. I couldn’t understand enough of what she said to pick up the specifics but I sympathised anyway.

I was stuck there nodding along while Audrey talked so long that the night shift arrived and offered me coffee. I wonder what they think of me spending time with residents other than my Mum. All they do is laugh at me.

I still had to pass Eleanor’s room on my way out. She was sitting in her chair with a soft toy on her lap.

“Hello! Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry.” she said.

“What for?”

“All I do when you come here is moan”

“Don’t worry. I understand. But your Little Ones look alright.”

The evening coffee had been delivered and hers had come with biscuits. She had been feeding the toy on her lap a Bourbon and its face was covered with chocolate.

“Shall we get this Little Chap cleaned up?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what to do”

“Wait there and I’ll back in a minute”

I grabbed a couple of paper towels from the kitchen, dampened one and went back. Eleanor wiped away the worst of the mess and looked up at me.

“Thank-you so much. That’s much better. Will you take me home with you?

Bloody hell

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