She woke up with a start. The old woman had a vague impression of her age, but not much else to go on as the last clouds of sleepy disorientation left. A wave of panic set in as she had no idea who she was or where this was. Her eyes scanned the room looking for clues, but everything was blurry. She looked down and saw glasses hanging from a necklace. She struggled to put them on, crying out in frustration when her arms shook too much to make it safe to put them near her face.
A woman rushed in from a hallway and seemed almost thankful it was not something more urgent. She smiled broadly and helped with the glasses. The old woman looked around again, but saw nothing more helpful when things were in focus. The younger woman, ‘Terry’ on her large nametag, was still waiting, smiling.
“Where am...” the older lady began. “Park Meadow Retirement Home” said Terry, before the question was entirely out. “And...?” said the weak, seemly embarrassed voice. Terry pushed the old woman’s wheelchair to another corner of the room, startling the seated occupant as they had forgotten again about the chairs mobility.
“We’re not going far.” said Terry, stopping in front of a decorated mirror. Her reflection gazing back at her, wisps of memory finally coming back to her clouded mind. “Gladis” said the old woman, pointing at herself with unsteady arms. Terry flipped open the paper stuck to the mirror, showing her patient her name spelled out in large cutout letters. “Got it pretty quick today.” said the nurse, still smiling.
“Is there anything else Miss Gladis? Hungry?” “No, nothing” replied the old woman. Terry pushed Gladis back toward the middle of the room, smiling extra broadly as she waved goodbye.
Gladis looked around the room a third time, pieces of recollection slowly falling into place. She reached out toward a small table with a black remote on it. All of the buttons were taped over, minus the red glowing power circle. She stabbed at the only available option with sore bony fingers.
After a third painful press she realized that it wasn’t pointing toward the TV well enough and kicked her legs till she pivoted in the right direction. One more press and the small set roared to life, inane banter from an enthusiastic game-show filled the room.
