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Totenglaut
01-17-2010, 11:59 PM
Esther in Room Nine
True story

To say the least I did not want to be here. Who in their right mind wanted to play Bingo with a bunch or drooling old people? Probably, not the most charitable thought. But I wasn't feeling charitable. This was my only free Saturday. I wouldn't be getting another for quite some time.

I'd like to think it was my terrible mood that caused my sister to forget to push the button. She set off the Manor alarm. Great. We'd been here how many times now? And we'd set off the alarm every single time. The nurses were used to it though. One lady efficiently bustled over and shut it off. "We have a new arrival. I think you ladies will like her"

I tried to keep the bored look out of my eyes. Honestly, I could rage inside about how I didn't want to be here but I didn't want to spoil the resident's mood with my own. So I smiled and agreed politely.

We tramped in and hung up our coats. There were very little residents out today. I couldn't help but feel for some of the regulars, they must be too sick to come out. They loved Bingo. I saw the new arrival almost immediately.

So, she wasn't pretty in the way that Lucinda the delicate Latina woman with early Alzheimer's was. Heck, she wasn't even pretty like Lavender the Manor's oldest resident was. Her white hair had gone wiry with age making me compare her mentally with Medusa. Again I had such uncharitable thoughts. I mentally slapped myself. She couldn't help it. She couldn't help her wiry hair, her sagging skin she probably couldn't even help the fact that she had no teeth.

She got up and grabbed her walker and toddled over to us. "I bet you're fifteen or sixteen" She said to me, suddenly. I blinked; I confess I was totally surprised she was so close, I was fourteen. She didn't give me time to reply. She turned to my little sister, Carrie, and said. "You must be eleven," She hit the nail on the head again. Then, she looked to my mom and rubbed her chin (which had a few white stubbles). "You must be twenty-six" My mother laughed. She was forty-three. The old woman was being kind.

"You're a sharp one." She said. Of course I had to wonder why the woman was guessing out ages. But I didn't have time to think about it much. One of the nurses hustled over and put me in a chair next to Laurie. She and I were Bingo buddies. She heard the numbers and could see them fine but her hands were so crippled with arthritis that she could not mark the numbers. That was my job.

When she won I was free to go around to any table and just watched. The old lady who'd guessed our ages so accurately had not won yet. She had four cards in front of her and was deftly but efficiently marking the squares. This, I had to watch.

So I took a seat at her table. She looked up and smiled her toothless smile. "I'm one away" She said.

I smiled. "I would never be able to play four cards at once"

"I bet you would. My name's Esther"

"Mine's Payton"

She smiled dreamily. "Beautiful name," Personally, I hated my name. But I wasn't going to spoil this old woman's fun. We talked as the caller rasped out numbers. We talked about the weather, we talked about school. Eventually she became easier to understand and it was easier not to stare.

Just as I was about to reply to some question she jumped up rather nimbly for a woman of her age. She was eighty-six she told me, however she said she only felt like she was twenty. "BINGO!" She called enthusiastically. The nurses came over with the prizes my mom, Carrie and I had bought. She picked a snowman with cloth legs that was supposed to sit on a ledge.

"He's cute," I commented. She grinned at me. The stone feet scraped across the table almost rhythmically. The all of the snowman jerked within her grasp, at first I thought there was something wrong but she still smiled. The snowman jerked again and again. It created a tapping noise bringing back the memories of tap recitals and tying red bows in black shiny tap shoes.

"He's dancing!" She said gleefully.

And that moment would identify Esther. The nurses came over to our table and set a glass of juice and a sugar-free cookie in front of each of us. Esther continued to play with her prize and eat at the same time. She even conned the nurses into giving her another cookie. We sat there and kept talking. All too soon it was time to leave.

I didn't want to leave. Esther suddenly grabbed my hand her rheumy blue eyes worried. "Come back and visit me please" She said.

My mother nodded trying to make an empty promise. But Esther knew what my mom was trying to do. "It's just. I never get visitors. I have a sister in Marshalltown, she's the one who put me in a nursing home, but no matter how many times I call she don't take my calls" I stared. How could any sister not take another's calls? Especially if it was a sister like Esther. "She's my only family"

Even my whirlwind mom stopped. She became serious. "We promise to come and visit what's your Room?"

Esther relaxed and let my hand go. "Esther Gerald in Room Nine,"

Note: This really happened and I wanted to write a short story about the woman who is now like a third grandmother to me. Grandma Esther is still in the State Center Manor and I still love her, this is my tribute to how things can change a person's life. Names have been changed.