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Bud Grossmann’s
Words of the Week
for the Week of
June 22, 2008
Previously unpublished fiction.
© 2008 by Bud Grossmann.
All Rights Reserved.
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Woman With Cane, 2007
© 2007 by Bud Grossmann
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LOSS OF AVERAGES
From: David C. Fischer <d—@juno.com>
To: "Louise Ann Albertini" <l—@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:59:22 -0500
Subject: All Is Well
Your steady friendship, Lou Ann, is a comfort to me. I am fine. I write in the moment, and the moments change. I like to record my highs and lows and not merely report an average to you.
When people (most people) ask me, How's your mother, I try to say, Oh, she's pretty good, thanks.
No sense in getting into the ups and downs, the tedium of meals where I have to spoonfeed her, the unpleasantness of doo-doo, the ever-present worry that this will be the day that she dies. But for you and my brothers I try to sketch a picture of the current moment, put a number on Mom's mental functioning, tell you how many Kleenexes she needed during lunch.
Today at my next-to-last Meals on Wheels delivery, I chit-chatted with the frail old man, bewhiskered and big-bellied, and his not-quite-as-frail nonagenarian mother. We talked about today's balmy bright weather and the storm that brought a big maple down in their yard a few days ago. Then I excused myself, saying, "My mother is with me today."
"That's good," said the frail old man. "Get her out, show her the countryside."
"Mm-hmm," I agreed.
My mother, totally blind, very nearly deaf, slept soundly through our entire journey.
Love, Dave
♦
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