(Page 2)
Mary [Ekholm] Francis
(c) 1997
Carolyn replied quickly, �I thought we could hire a live-in nurse or personal-care attendant so she could stay here a little while longer.�
�Wait a minute,� Carl frowned as he looked at Carolyn. �I thought we all agreed that the house should be sold and Mom moved to a place where she would be taken care of. Didn�t we?�
�I said that I wanted you and Connie to come and help me figure out what to do with Mom. I didn�t say that I wanted you to help me get her out of here.�
�Well, excu-u-use me!� Carl stared at Carolyn. Then he turned to Connie and raised his eyebrows. �Why are you here?�
�I thought Carolyn needed help convincing Mom to sell the house and move somewhere nice and safe and comfortable. I thought . . .� They heard the bathroom doorknob rattle as Ruth opened the door. �Oh, rats! How can we get her to agree to anything if we haven�t agreed on a plan?�
They listened to the walker�s front wheels squeak as Ruth slowly made her way back to the living room. Carolyn, the only child familiar with the sound and speed of the walker, recognized that Ruth�s progress was slower and noisier than usual. Because her aging body was too frail to put up a physical protest, Ruth seemed to be using her walker to express her resistance to whatever plan her children were about to spring on her. Carolyn almost laughed out loud. What plan? She wanted help keeping her mother in her own house. Her brother and sister arrived with the idea that she needed help getting her mother out of the house. Now what? She shook her head and sighed. Maybe she shouldn�t have asked Carl and Connie to come home. Maybe she shouldn�t have assumed they also wanted Mom to be able to stay in her own house. Maybe she should have spent more time on the phone listening to them instead of always talking or answering questions. Maybe . . . but it was too late now; they were here.
Ruth backed up to the sofa and began to bend her knees. When she was still about six inches above the cushion, her knees gave out and she plopped down. Andy tried three times to jump up onto the seat cushion, but slid backward each time. Carl finally took pity on him and gave him a boost. �That old cat must be on his second or third set of nine lives by now, isn�t he, Mom? How old is he, anyway?�
Ruth smiled and patted Andy, �I don�t know how old he really is. I�m guessing that he was two or three when he arrived on my doorstep, and that was fifteen years ago. It seems like he�s always been here.�
Carolyn stood up and walked around behind the sofa. She bent down and rubbed Andy�s head, �He�s a good old cat; that�s for sure.� Then she stood up and looked at Carl and Connie. �I�m going to make a pot of coffee. If you want cookies or something with it, one of you will have to come and help me carry everything back here.� She turned and headed for the kitchen. She was pretty sure that one of them would join her very shortly, and the other one would find some excuse to help, too.
Carolyn had barely had time to put a clean filter in the coffee pot before Connie cruised through the doorway. �What the heck are you up to, Carolyn? You aren�t seriously thinking of letting Mom stay here, are you? Why did you want Carl and me to come back if you didn�t want us to help you talk Mom into moving? And why didn�t you tell us how bad off she is?� Connie paused. When Carolyn remained silent, Connie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, �Carolyn-n-n!�
Carolyn put grounds in the filter and poured fresh water into the reservoir. She turned the pot on and pushed it toward the back of the counter, then turned toward Connie. Struggling to keep her voice low and calm, Carolyn said, �I figured that, if you really wanted to know how Mom was doing, you and Carl would come home and find out for yourselves. You and Carl expect me to take care of everything because I live near Mom and I don�t have a husband or children to occupy my time when I�m not working. Mom can stay here but not alone. She has to pay for the help she needs, and I figured you two would be more willing to chip in if you saw how badly Mom needs help.�
�You could have explained on the phone.�
�You don�t listen. The minute I say Mom has a problem or needs help, you want to sell her house and stick her away somewhere.�
�Look at this house, Carolyn. Why do you want to keep her here? The wallpaper is peeling. The plaster is cracking. The windows leak cold air all winter even with those new combination storm windows we put on years ago. The paint all needs to be redone, both inside and outside. Nearly everything in this house needs to be fixed or replaced! And then there�s the yard. And what�s the point of doing anything in a neighborhood that�s going downhill?�
�This neighborhood?�
�Yes. All I see is block after block of houses like this one, needing fixing, needing painting, needing to have sagging porches torn off, needing to have flowers weeded and grass mowed.�
�This is a stable, blue-collar area. Mom�s in no danger. She even knows some of the neighbors.�
�Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come back to Earth, Caro. Look at Mom. How can she take care of a house and yard when she can�t even take care of herself?�
�That�s why you�re here--to see what kind of help Mom needs so you�ll help me pay for it so she can stay here.�
�Carolyn, give it up. She needs to go somewhere to get good �round-the-clock care.�
�She�ll die if you take her away from her home. She�ll give up and die.�
�It�s time to let go, Caro.�
�She�s our mother, Connie. We can help her stay in her house.�
�Carolyn, you were Mom and Dad�s last baby so you are stuck forever with being the baby of the family, but that didn�t mean you couldn�t go off and have a life of your own. You chose to stay here and earn your degree. Then you chose to stay here to build a career. You�ve been Mom�s baby for fifty-four years; now, Mom is your baby. That�s not right, Caro. And it�s not good for you or her. Let her go to a nice place where you can visit her and love her and be her daughter. Wouldn�t that be better than feeding her and changing her diapers?�
�Stop it, Connie! Just stop it.� Carolyn struggled to hold back tears.
�What�s going on in here?� Carl stepped into the kitchen and put his arms around Carolyn. �What�s the matter, baby sister? Did the big, bad witch bite you?� He paused and winked at Connie before he added, �Again?�
Carolyn couldn�t help but giggle. How many times had her big brother come to her rescue with a hug and these same words? Even though he had gone off to college when Carolyn was barely seven, he had come home every summer, and his voice had hugged her over the phone when school was in session. Carolyn returned his hug now and stepped back to blow her nose and dab at the tears that she couldn�t quite blink away. �Thanks, Carl.�
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