Appalachian Independent Living

Appalachian Independent Living

By Phil Ruby

Gladys Mitchell was anxious about moving day. She really did not want to leave the home that her husband Charles had built for them with his own hands some sixty years ago, but at eighty-three and beginning to have problems with the stairs, forgetting to turn off the stove, and so forth, she knew it was time. Everything was packed days ago, yet Gladys kept stopping and looking back, sure that she had forgotten something.

“Come on, mom!” her daughter, Anna said with a slightly irritated tone, “I have to be at the school to pick up Josh and Megan in two hours, and you know it’s going to take a while to get you settled in!”

Anna helped her mother out onto the stoop and closed and locked the door. The two stepped down the five steps that had become a bit of a chore for Gladys, Anna holding her mother’s arm. At the bottom of the steps, Gladys gasped, “I remember!” Then she bolted back up the steps as if she had suddenly shed twenty years of age, aches and pains. “Throw me the keys!” she shouted down.

“What the….?” Anna tossed the keys to her mother and waited impatiently. After a few minutes, Gladys came back out with a little bag.

“My pills!” Gladys said out of breath, “I almost forgot my pills!”

Anna shook her head, “Mom! You know we talked about this! They have a Nurse Practitioner and their own pharmacy on the property. They’ll have your pills!”

“But these were prescribed by Dr. Conley, God rest his soul! I couldn’t just throw them away. He’s been our family doctor since before you were born. I can remember…” Gladys began to retell the story for the hundredth plus time.

“Mom! You’ve told me this many times,” Anna interrupted, “Let’s get in the car!”

An hour later:

Anna’s black Ford Explorer pulled up to the entrance of Appalachian Independent Living retirement home and came to an abrupt stop, eliciting Gladys’ protests at being shaken up a bit. Anna got out and trotted around to help her mother out.

“This thing is so high off the ground!” Gladys said, “I’m glad it’s got that little step, but I can’t see where to put my foot!”

“Running board, mom, and I’ll help you. We have to hurry,” Anna coaxed.

Inside three smiling faces greeted Gladys and her daughter. Margaret Bledsoe was the head of the facility. The other two were Janice Bowen, and Judy Wright. Margaret walked to the door as soon as she saw the two. They had already been there twice before – once to get a first look at the grounds and rooms, and the next to fill out paperwork and secure living quarters.

“I have all her belongings in boxes in the trunk, if…” Anna said in an anxious voice.

Margaret motioned to Janice, who used her walkie-talkie to contact Rodney Richardson to help with Gladys’ things. Within minutes the front door opened and Rodney had already retrieved the boxes from Anna’s open back gate using a dolly.

“Now we can get you settled in, Gladys,” Margaret said with a huge smile, “Everything has been made ready. All you need to do is unpack your things and relax.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to really relax here,” Gladys said in a low voice that she thought no one could hear.

“Mom, I wish I could help, but the kids…” Anna said, “I’ll be back as soon as Daniel gets home. I love you, mom. You’re going to love it here!” With that, Anna disappeared.

Two weeks passed, and Gladys had done little but eat, sleep, and sit in the rocking chair by her window and gaze out. She purposely had not ventured out much to make friends. She wasn’t sure she needed or wanted new friends. The ones she had were fine, and they had come to visit a few times already. Anna, Daniel and the grandchildren had been there four times, but Gladys knew that wouldn’t last for long. The visits would become less and less frequent and eventually rare. She had seen enough people grow older and go to retirement homes in her lifetime to know how that works. People’s lives get busier and busier, and time to visit the elderly slides lower and lower down the priority lists. So one evening when the sun was shining bright, just before sunset, Gladys decided to go for a walk, and accept her fate. She would die here, after who knows how many years, alone except for the people immediately around her, so she may as well get to know them.

As Gladys made her way through the commons area of the facility to go out the side door, she noticed a few people shuffling things around as though to hide them, and long stares. It seemed they were as leery of her as she was of them, but Gladys had always been a bit of a social person in her younger days, so she would find a way to melt the ice. She smiled as she remembered being the hit of the ballrooms when Charles and she would go dancing. She lit up a room with her looks and personality as well as the way she moved. She had been the woman all the other women wanted to be, and all the men secretly wanted to be with. When Charles passed with colon cancer ten years before, she lost her desire to be the life of the party, or even go to any more parties. She became a bit of a recluse until Anna coerced her into moving into the home. Each of the rooms was a suite, or sorts. There was no kitchen, but there was a bedroom, a small living room area, and a private bathroom. Tenants could come and go as they pleased with the exception of a couple of older residents whom all the staff watched closely. They would be moving to an assisted living facility soon because of beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

As soon as Gladys exited the building and came into the sun, she heard footsteps toward her. She looked to her right and saw a short, silver-haired woman who appeared to be about her age, but was very quick on her feet. tap tap tap…

“Hi!” the woman said in a sort of squeaky voice, “I’m Dorothy, but every one calls me Dotty or Dot, but you can call me anything you want!” Then she giggled like a child as she put her hand out as far as she could reach as she walked. She seemed very eager to introduce herself.

Gladys, remembering her former socialite self, reciprocated with an outstretched hand and huge smile of her own. “I’m Gladys! I’m so glad to meet you!” she said in a sing-song manner.

The two new friends walked and talked until the sun had set and the cool air was getting a little uncomfortable to them. They talked about everything from their pasts to their current interests, their doctors, medicines they were on, and the other residents in AIL. Dot had self-assigned as a liaison among the residents. They were pretty secretive until Dot felt the newbies out and reported to them that they were a welcome addition to their community.

Gladys quickly made friends with everyone in the facility after that talk, and felt like her old self again. All the staff loved her, the other residents would wait for her to have dinner in the dining hall. She was always “fashionably late” because she loved the attention she got when she finally walked in, even though a few of the old men would jokingly jeer at her for making them wait to eat. She knew they would not take a bite until she appeared. The fact that her family and outside friends had become scarce didn’t even bother her anymore. Not much, at least.

Two weeks later:

Gladys was in her living room with the TV on low, but she had left the door open for any of her new friends who might want to stop by and chat. They often did. It was getting late – around 9:00 pm, when she decided no one was coming by, and got up to close and lock her door and get ready for bed. As she got near the door she could hear voices speaking just above a whisper. The sound was coming from the dining hall, even though dinner had been over for hours and the lights had been turned off except for a small one near the door. Gladys stepped into the hall and peeked into the dining hall, but did not want to let anyone know she was there. She didn’t want to disturb some sort of private conversation. As she slipped to where she could see, she noticed they had playing cards on a table, and there were things there also that they appeared to be using as poker chips – probably pieces of candy or nuts, but Gladys did not get close enough to see for sure. She grinned to herself and slipped back toward her room. “Poker game!” she thought to herself. “How cute! I may have to ask them if I can buy into the next game.”

Just then the voices got a little louder, and some of them seemed a little irritated.

“I tell you she’s all right!” That was Dot’s voice.

“If we get caught…” a male voice said, probably Earl Casdorph, one of the men she had met.

“Don’t worry about that! She’s cool!” Dot said a little louder, “We really need to tell her! It could help her out a lot! She told me she barely has anything left. They take it all for this place, like most of the rest of us! She could use the money!”

“What’s she got?” asked another man, who sounded like the more low-key and unshakable John Turner.

“Too early to be thinking about that,” the voice had to be Emmeline “Emmy” Jefferdson. “We first need to decide whether to let her in. Let’s vote, but of course Mary always has the final say because we always seem to be split down the middle on everything, and she gets the deciding voice.”

Gladys listened attentively, trying not to make a sound. “Who are they talking about,” she thought to herself, “and what are they talking about? Could it be about me? I’m the only one of our circle of close friends who isn’t in the game…or meeting, whatever it is.”

The discussion in the dining hall continued.

“I vote no,” Earl jumped in.

“Yes!” Dotty insisted.

“No, not just yet,” said a hesitant John

“I suppose it’s going to be up to Mary again,” said Emmy, “Because I say ‘yes’.”

A moment or two of silence passed, and Mary spoke, “We tell her, but we tell her in small doses. Don’t say too much at once. If she begins to get it, and gets too uneasy, we’ll play it off and forget about it. So I guess mine is a yes, but cautiously.”

Not wanting to chance getting caught eaves dropping, Gladys quietly slipped on into her room and gently closed and locked the door. She went to bed, but had trouble falling to sleep because her curiosity was getting the best of her. She tossed and turned, thinking about what she had heard, and trying to gather clues as to what the group might be into. She remembered them occasionally hiding something when she came by. She remembered a few young visitors coming in to see Mary. Mary had claimed they were nephews, but they never stayed more than a couple of minutes, and there were no hugs, kisses, or any kind of affection shown. They always visited Mary outside away from the building, usually near the old oak tree or by the pond. Gladys remembered that when they came, they always had a small paper bag with them, both coming and going. Were they bringing her something? Were they taking something away? Then she decided she would use an old trick she used in her socialite circles when she wanted to find out a secret. She would pretend she already knew, and someone would fall for it and spill the beans. She smiled at this plan and fell asleep.

At the breakfast table the next morning:

Everyone was sitting waiting for Gladys, as usual, but she didn’t make them wait long at all on this particular morning. She came in with a smirk, took her seat with her circle of close friends and quietly made an announcement. Her plan was going into action.

“I know what you all are up to,” she spoke lowly and mumbled a bit so others wouldn’t hear.

John and Mary got a solemn expression, eyes wide, about to choke on their food, while Emmy, Dot, and Earl acted as if they didn’t hear. John and Mary got the attention of the others, and Mary looked straight at Gladys. “Whatever are you talking about? Did you find out about our little poker game? Don’t worry about that! The staff knows all about we just play in here after hours to cover their butts in case someone comes in!” Then she smiled widely and laughed as if someone had just told a joke.

Gladys smirked, “I know about the poker game,” she said smugly. “I also know about the other thing - the money thing.” She had heard them talking about money, so thought mentioning it would help her credibility.

Mary swallowed, “Can we talk about this later, outside, please?” she said.

Not another word was spoken at the breakfast table and no one ate much except for Gladys, satisfied she was going to hear the whole scoop. After breakfast the group wandered outside and down by the pond one at a time and taking different routes so not to raise suspicion. Gladys showed up last, as usual, but this time to give herself time to think how she would approach them. She decided to just keep her mouth shut and listen until it was absolutely necessary for her to speak. When they were all by the pond, they all looked out across the water pretending to be having casual conversation. Mary spoke first. She was apparently the leader in whatever game this was.

“How did you find out?” Mary asked Gladys. Gladys didn’t respond. She just smiled. “It doesn’t matter,” Mary continued. “Look. We’re all old. We all gave up most, if not all of our savings and any supplemental income we may have coming in to be here. We can’t even afford to go to the movies except maybe once or twice a year. We can’t live with no money whatsoever, so…we came up with this idea, We were going to tell you about it. We already decided. You are in the same boat we are. Obviously you are interested, or you would have told the staff instead of coming to us. Right?”

Gladys just smiled.

“I wanted to tell you a week ago, but these worry warts wouldn’t let me!” Dot chimed in, “It started out as a harmless gesture. I had some pain medicine that I didn’t use, and my grandson’s friend had hurt his leg and the doctor wouldn’t give him anything that would really help, so I offered to let him have my pills. The next thing I knew, my grandson was coming back with a couple of hundred dollars in his hand to give me. He said the boy was grateful and wanted to show his gratitude. When I told the others about the money and offered to take them out to a movie, John said he had some sedatives he wasn’t using and wondered if the kid needed those too!”

Gladys was trying to keep her smirky smile, but was struggling as she listened to this tale of drug dealing right in the home!

“I knew right away,” John said, “I knew right away the kid hadn’t hurt his leg. He was just hustling for our prescriptions to sell. That’s where all that money came from. Sure enough, as soon as Dot told her grandson about it, another ‘friend’ of his came and paid cash for my scripts - five-hundred bucks!”

Gladys’ smile had turned into a look of astonishment, which Mary noticed.

“I see,” Mary said, “You suckered us! You pretended to know what this was about to get us to spill our guts.”

“What now?” Gladys asked calmly, “Gonna throw me in this pond and pretend it was an accident so I won’t blow your cover?”

“No,” John said, “We’ll just have to stop everything and this conversation never happened. If you do tell anyone, it will be your word against all of ours. I guess our little party is over, people.”

“Wait,” Gladys said, “You’re right. I don’t have any money, and it sucks. I just have a couple of questions. Don’t you hate that you’re helping young people get hooked on drugs? Also, I may be interested, because I’m broke as hell, but I’m not sure I get any medications that anyone would want to buy!”

The others were visibly more relaxed. They could see that Gladys was not a narc.

“First of all,” Emmy said, “They’re already drug addicts. They would get them somewhere. We may as well get a few bucks out of it!”

“What do you have?” Earl asked.
I take Percocet sometimes, and the doctor gave me some Klonopin to help me get to sleep, and …” Gladys began.

The others grinned.

Three weeks later:

Anna was putting in a load of laundry when the phone rang. The call was coming from the County Courthouse. She answered, “Hello?”

No parent wants to get the call that their children are in trouble. And no child wants to get that call from their parents.

“Anna! Anna, would you come bail me out?” Gladys said in a shaking voice, “I’ve been busted!”