Tuesday

Alarm bells started ringing early today. Reggie had a day off work from The Home had been to visit Lesley’s dad on the way home from the gym. He was so concerned at what he found that he phoned Lesley.

“I’m really worried. I can’t wake him up.”

“I’m already on my way. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Reggie is a prince among men. He comforted Lesley and went through what she could expect to happen next. He left and then came back briefly

“Don’t worry Young Lady. You can trust the nurses here. They’re good.”

Lesley still keeps in touch with two friends she made at school. The three of them would meet for coffee regularly. Not every Tuesday and always on a Tuesday. But Lesley had had to miss a few meet-ups recently. Now that Dad was in a home that boasted a coffee lounge her friends decided to meet Lesley there. One of her friends is a retired district nurse.

The friend took over. She directed the staff what to do. All useful stuff like reminding them that he’d been left in one position too long and should be moved, noting that his call button wasn’t actually plugged in to the socket on the wall. That sort of thing.

And then, almost in passing it sounded like, she said to Lesley:

“He doesn’t look very good does he? Have you spoken to the undertaker yet?”

“Er, no?”

“Do it today. Tell them 24 to 48 hours.”

“Oh!”

The staff at What Everyone Has To Refer To As The Hospital were also stirred into action and the GP was summoned. He said, quite independently, the same as Lesley’s friend.

WhatsApp took the news to Lesley’s sister several time zones away. She had just got to work when it arrived. She had already got a flight booked for next month but BA wanted to add almost twice the original price of the ticket to bring the outbound flight forward to today.

Bloody hell.

Author’s Note

My Mum was in a nursing home in the Thames Valley for a year and a half until she passed away in December 2024. My Father-in-law went into the same home the following January. But Lesley’s sister didn’t approve and made the situation so awkward that he had to be moved. The image is not of the home itself. I used AI to generate an image of a typical modern nursing home. Names and locations have been changed or hidden to protect the identities of those involved. Which, for the new home, is probably just as well.