As Young As We Feel
Page 27
"We'll still need to file a report," the female cop called out as Caroline pushed past them and onto the dock. "We need your information."
A report? Caroline tried to imagine filling out their forms with her frightened, naked mother in tow. Didn't they realize this would be tricky at best?
"All I ask is that you try to stay out of the way." Caroline directed this to Steve, since he actually seemed a bit infatuated with her, which might've been flattering under different circumstances. "Police uniforms frighten her," she explained. "And if she sees you two again, she might really jump, and I'm sure it wouldn't take long for someone her age to get hypothermia. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you?"
"We'll keep a low profile," he told her. "You just take your time and see if you can calm her down and get her safely out of there. Just yell if you need help."
Of course she needed help, she thought as she walked down the dock. As calm as she had tried to appear for the sake of the police, she knew her rescue attempt could go a number of directions. And so she whispered a desperate plea for real help. "Please, God, let my mother come peacefully." She was near the end of the dock now. "Peacefully and painlessly. Please!"
"Mom?" she called out in a sweet voice. Not that her mother normally responded to either Mom or a sweet voice, but it couldn't hurt to try. "It's Caroline," she called again. Still no answer. At least she wouldn't be catching the poor woman unawares. Her mother hated to be surprised.
Fortunately there was only one boat on the end of the dock, and since it was tied off close, it was easy to climb board. Caroline hopped onto the deck and called out in a pleasant tone, "Ahoy, Mom, are you aboard?" She heard a shuffling sound on the other side of the cabin area and suspected her mom had heard her calling, was fully aware that Caroline was there, and yet didn't want to reveal her whereabouts, which meant this was going to be a game of hide-andseek. It had been one of Caroline's favorite games as a child. Not that her mother ever had time for such games back then ... back when Caroline could've appreciated it. Now her mother liked to play it a lot. Unfortunately it was never much fun now.
"It's okay, Mom. It's just me-your daughter-Caroline." She noticed a dirty bait bucket and wished she had something to tempt her mother with, something to entice her out of hiding. If only she'd had the foresight to bring a Milky Way candy bar, which she tried to use only on the rare occasion when her mom was being completely unreasonable. The best way to her mom's heart was via a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries and, in really desperate situations, a milkshake. A vanilla shake would come in quite handy right now.
"Are you hungry, Mom?" she called out, hoping it wouldn't backfire on her when her mom discovered that Caroline had come empty-handed. "How about a cheeseburger and fries, Mom? And a vanilla shake too?"
No answer. Just the sound of a westerly breeze snapping the pirate flag on one of the masts. "Are you cold, Mom? I brought something for you to wrap up in." Now Caroline opened the bedspread as if it were a net, deciding to go ahead and make her approach. Worst-case scenario, she could wrap up her mom and forcibly remove her from the boat and herd her back down the dock, calling out for reinforcement from the police. Surely the three of them could wrangle her into the back of the SUV. Caroline tiptoed around to the side of the cabin, careful not to startle her mother by stumbling over the heavy ropes loosely coiled at her feet.
As she quietly rounded the corner and spotted the hunched figure of her mother, Caroline felt a shockwave of recognition run through her. Turned away from Caroline, the old woman was crouched in a fetal-like position with her arms pulled tightly together in front of her, fists clenched in a protective and defensive way. But her parchment skin was so pale and her body so skinny, with shocks of white fuzzy hair sticking off the top of her head, she almost didn't seem human. From a distance, and in a lesser light, she might've been mistaken for an alien.
Caroline felt a lump in her throat and a sickening in the pit of her stomach. Was this what it finally came down to? Was this how Caroline would end up one day? Naked, frightened, alone, and confused? Where was the purpose, the meaning in this? Why did some old people have to suffer so?
"Oh, Mom." The words came out in a quiet sob as she wrapped the bedspread around her mother's scrawny frame and held her tight. At first her mother struggled against her, but with little strength, she eventually gave in. She was obviously spent, too tired, too cold to resist. Caroline continued to hold her mother in her arms, pulling her close, hoping some of her own body warmth would soak through the bedspread and into her mother. Caroline rocked her gently as if soothing a frightened child. To the tune of an old seventies song she gently crooned, "It'll be all right, it'll be all right." Slowly, her mother relaxed.
The question now was how to get her mom off the boat, down the dock, past the police and curious crowd, and into her SUV. It seemed impossible. And her mother seemed very weak. How far could she realistically walk?
"Do you want to lie down and rest?" Caroline asked quietly.
Her mother nodded with damp, tired eyes.
"Yes." Caroline nodded too. "That's a good idea." She helped her mother to a vinyl-upholstered bench, which ran along the sunny side of the cabin. Grabbing an orange life vest to use as a makeshift pillow, she eased her mother down with the bedspread still wrapped around her like a shroud.
"Just close your eyes and rest, Mom." Caroline sat near her mother's head, tucking the bedspread around her bare shoulders and stroking the fine white hair, wishing for a miracle. Caroline took in slow deep breath in an attempt to calm herself so that she could think more clearly. She leaned her head back, feeling the warm sun on her face and listening to the sound of the water lapping up against the sides of the boat, the flapping flag in the breeze above her, and the haunting cries of seagulls nearby. Yes, it would be all right. Somehow it would be all right.
It wasn't long until her mother's even breathing assured Caroline she was soundly asleep. Quietly and almost reflexively, Caroline reached into her bag to retrieve her cell phone. But who to call? She wished she knew a big strong guy-someone who could simply pick up her mother and carry her to Caroline's car ... then perhaps he'd carry Caroline away as well, off to his palace perhaps. But this was real life. She needed real friends, and there listed first in her cell phone directory was Abby's name. Since Abby seemed to know almost everyone in town, she would be a good choice, except Caroline was pretty sure that Abby and Paul had a marriage counseling session today. There was no way she wanted to disturb that.
Marley was a possibility, except that her house was a ways out of town, and Caroline knew that Marley was working feverishly to finish a painting in time for a special exhibit at the One-Legged Seagull. Finally, Caroline decided on Janie. Although their relationship was sometimes strained, she trusted Janie. And having been a smart New York attorney, Janie should have some brilliant ideas for how to handle this.
"It's Caroline," she said quietly after Janie answered. "I need help."
"What's wrong?" Janie sounded alarmed.
"It's my mom." Caroline gave her a quick lowdown of her morning thus far and explained how she was now stuck with a naked and frightened mother on a smelly fishing boat with the police waiting nearby. "I asked them to hold off," she said finally, "but I don't know how long they'll do that. You know how police can be." Just then Caroline noticed her mother's bare feet and gasped to see they were bleeding.
"What is it?" Janie asked with concern.
"Her feet-she might need medical attention too."
"Okay," Janie said crisply. "I'm on it."
"Or just some flip-flops so we can walk her to my car."
"I'm getting in my car right now."
"Hey, could you stop by McDonald's on the way?"
"What?" Janie sounded incredulous. "Are you serious?"
Caroline quickly explained that fast food somehow soothed her mother. "You know, just in case she's difficult when she wakes."
"Okay, I'll call Abby and ask
her to pick up the food and to meet us at the dock, okay?"
"What about their appointment?"
"Oh, they should be done with that by now."
"We're on the wharf, out on the dock past the tuna boat. It's the fishing boat on the end with the pirate flag," Caroline said weakly. "You'll probably see a small crowd of spectators and police standing nearby."
"See you in about five minutes."
Caroline closed her phone and looked down to see that her mother was still soundly sleeping. She was probably exhausted from trekking nearly two miles with no clothes or shoes. Or had she slowly disrobed along the way, dropping clothing like Hansel and Gretel's crumbs, perhaps? Was she hoping to use them to find her way back home? And why couldn't she have left her shoes on? More than these questions, Caroline wondered why. Why, on a day when the temperature was barely sixty degrees, would an eighty-four-year-old woman want to walk naked through town? Why would she come clear down to the docks?
Alzheimer's was a mysterious disease plagued with a long list of unanswerable whys. Caroline hated to admit it, but perhaps it was time for her to seek some serious help in caring for her mother.
Also by Melody Carlson
Limelight (Multnomah)
Love Finds You in Sisters, Oregon (Summerside)
A Mile in My Flip-Flops (WaterBrook)
The Christmas Dog (Revell)
Table of Contents
BOOK ONE
=Chapter 1
=Chapter 0
=Chapter 3
=Chapter 4
=Chapter 5=
=Chapter 6=
=Chapter 7=
=Chapter 8=
=Chapter 9
=Chapter 10=
=Chapter 11
=Chapter 12
=Chapter 13=
=Chapter 14.=
=Chapter 15=
=Chapter 16=
=Chapter 17=
=Chapter 18-
=Chapter 19
=Chapter 20
=Chapter 21
=Chapter 22
=Chapter 23
=Chapter 24
=Chapter 25=
=Chapter 26=
=Chapter 27=
=Chapter 2&
=Chapter 29
=Chapter 30
=Chapter 31
=Chapter 32
=Chapter 33