My two neighbors, Mary and Dolly, have lived side by side for fifty years. They raised their children together, watched them move away, and then, later, they grieved the loss of their husbands. Mary, slightly older but much frailer, was the first to give up her car keys. From then on she depended on Dolly to bring her food. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known them both since we moved to Acton in 1983. Yesterday, I left work early to visit Dolly. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m here to see Margaret Smith.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The slim young blond woman with dark eye-liner scanned her list of residents. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see her.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I moved to the side of the desk for a view of the list and touched the correct name.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her. I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry, its Elizabeth, not Margaret. She\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been, Dolly.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Wing 1, room 422. Walk down that hall and take a right.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d followed those floor tiles quite a few times. Flo, Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother, rehabbed her hip in this nursing home and stayed in a room near Dolly\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. I pushed the swinging doors open and as I approached Wing One\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nurses station, I saw two choices. I could take a left or walk straight ahead. Acting as if I knew where I was going, and not wanting to be questioned by the nursing staff, I sped straight ahead, glancing about at women seated in chairs along the hall. I continued until the room numbers petered out at 406, and as I returned a woman wearing a blue striped shirt and pink-patterned pajama pants, with stockings bunched at her feet, piped up, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I said to myself, I know that man.\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, there you are.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, I am.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What are you doing here? And when did you move?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I sat down in the chair next to Dolly and her companion, a lady whose eyes had an odd, distant look, as though she could only focus on the past.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is my friend, Shirley.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dolly turned slightly to the woman sitting to her right.<\/p>\n
I stood up, introduced myself and then sat back down. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, why are you at Rivercrest?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. One day they moved me here. Debbie, my daughter, lives in Texas and I might move there, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. When I ask how long I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to be here they just say, ‘hmmm, hmmm.’ \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
Dolly always had good posture. Like the posters in Health class, you can see the beach ball sitting atop the tennis balls, all in a perfect column. When Dolly talks, she keeps her head straight and mostly moves her eyes, which gives her a regal bearing. Dolly looks better now than when she lived across from my house. She has lost weight, yes, but also those layers of pancake.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, you look great.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel okay, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing here, and its so dead. There is nothing to do. I just sit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard that before. Hey, lets walk around. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there a community room nearby?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think so. Its down that hall.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No. I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been there with Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother. I think its this way\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As we stood up Shirley said to Dolly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But your coffee is coming.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Save it for me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dolly replied.<\/p>\n
We shuffled along until we approached the end of the hall and the exit door, but no community room. “I guess you were right, Dolly.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We walked back past the nurses station, grabbed Dolly\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s black coffee Shirley had been protecting, and continued onto the community room, where we sat down next to a round table covered in blue Formica.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, who\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taking care of Mary now that you\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here? Remember, you used to bring her milk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, Mary is here too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She is? I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I saw her here one day. I think she\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the basement.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go find her. We can walk to the reception desk. They\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll know where she is. You lead the way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I thought Dolly might object to leaving her wing, but she appeared unfazed, and we chatted as we neared the blonde, who smiled as though old friends were approaching.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hi again. This time I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking for Dolly\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neighbor, Mary Hill.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
She’s in Wing 2, room 509. Go back down the hall past Dolly\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not in the basement, she\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right down the hall from you. We have to pass the nurses station and Shirley again; maybe she\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to come with us?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shirley declined our invitation, and as we shuffled into Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room, she turned and instantly seemed to recognized me. She smiled broadly and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be, aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you something?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We hugged, which wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a simple maneuver. Mary is now impossibly small, and if you painted her pink you could place her out on your lawn. Her legs are as narrow as croquet mallet handles, and the osteoporosis in her back has folded her into that pelican shape. It\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to know what to hug, but her eyes gleam, and she shows none of Dolly\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s irritation with her new home.<\/p>\n
Mary and Dolly sat together on Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bed while I sat in a chair facing them. Mary began again, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be,” and then followed with a string of unrelated sentences. If you locked her head in a vice and forced her to look only at you, she might stay on topic. But every time her eyes drifted she\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d add another thought. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe you came to visit, you know the lady over there just reads all day, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure about the person behind the curtain, and its not too warm out is it? Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t those trees lovely, and oh my, aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you something, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got things I have to do, and Dolly how many children do you have?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Each phrase delivered new and crisp, like a freshly starched shirt. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have one, and you have two children,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dolly answered.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well yes I do, and there is Bill on the dresser and my daughter Evelyn with her…, hmm, lover, and the boys and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about this new lady behind the curtain. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t this something? And you know what? I\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m almost ninety.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are not.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dolly looked down at Mary.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think I am,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mary replied.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly, how old are you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I asked. Mary had conveniently raised a subject I wanted answers to.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dolly said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you were born?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 1921.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That means you\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re eighty-four and so Mary could be ninety.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I suspected that I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reunited two close friends. Maybe Dolly would remember Mary lived a short stroll away, but I knew as soon as Dolly walked away, Mary would have no idea where she went.<\/p>\n
We talked for a bit longer, and then I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iv\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122e got to run Dolly, but why don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we all walk back and you two can visit with Shirley?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As we left the room with Mary in tow, I turned to Dolly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are we sure this is safe? That Mary will know how to get back to her room?”<\/p>\n
Dolly slipped me a very familiar, down-the-nose look. One I had seen moments before when she struggled to understand how Mary could be asking how many children she had. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry, Ill take care of her.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My two neighbors, Mary and Dolly, have lived side by side for fifty years. They raised their children together, watched them move away, and then, later, they grieved the loss of their husbands. Mary, slightly older but much frailer, was … Continue reading