[Critique Group 1] Fwd: reminder pieces are due today

[tuchyner5 at aol.com]

Sorry, This was meant to go to  group1 

Leonard


-----Original Message-----
From: tuchyner5 at aol.com
To: group3 at bluegrasspals.com <group3 at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent: Wed, Jul 21, 2021 11:21 am
Subject: reminder pieces are due today

Hi,Just a reminder. July piecews are due today. Plus my piece is below

1,376: word count
 
  
 
Last Battle
 
  
 
There was a knock at Dr. Franks’ door. It must be someonewanting to see if he needed any of his trees trimmed. If not, it would besomeone who wanted to convince him that his driveway needed resurfacing.  It couldn’t have anything to do with hisbeing a medical doctor. He’d been retired way too long for that.  He opened the door but was not prepared to seewhat was there. It was a man dressed as though he was on his way to a golfcourse.
 
“Excuse me, but can you tell me the way to Route 29?”
 
There was a lost look in his eyes.
 
“It’s just two blocks away.”
 
“Which direction?”
 
Dr. Frank pointed out the direction. He had seen that lookbefore. Many times. This man had Alzheimer’s disease.  “Are you new to the area?” he asked.
 
“No, just got turned around. Silly of me, I know.”
 
“Why don’t you stay a few minutes and get your bearings? Ifyou give me your telephone number, I’ll call your wife,” he offered.
 
“No! I’m fine.”
 
“Do you mind if I look at your driver’s license?”
 
“I assure you I am fine. But here.” He retrieved his wallet from his back pocket and handed it toFranks. The doctor took the wallet and found his telephone number, committed itto memory. Then he handed it back.
 
“Thanks for your help. Please don’t tell my wife about this.Goodbye,” Then he left in a hurry.
 
Doctor Franks was disturbed concerning his strange visitor’ssafety. He immediately went to his landline and called the number he hadmemorized.
 
“Hello,” a woman’s voice said on the other end “Who is this?”
 
“It’s about Tom. Is he your husband?”
 
Cara felt a deep dread at hearing that someone was callingher about Tom.
 
“Who is this?”
 
“I’m a doctor.”
 
At that pronouncement, her fear intensified.
 
“Does he have Alzheimer’s?” Franks asked.
 
“Yes, What’s wrong? Is he okay?”
 
“I’m a retired doctor, but I thought I recognized thesymptoms. Your husband just came to my door asking for instructions to Route 29.  He wouldn’t tell me his telephone number, butwas willing to give me his wallet, which had the information in it. He justleft here in a hurry. He wouldn’t stay. I called you as soon as he left.”
 
“Oh, God. Thank you. I’ve got to go.”
 
Then she hung up and started for her car to find Tom, butstopped herself.  Going after him was acrazy idea. She could easily miss him.  Instead,she called the Sherriff’s office.
 
“This is the Sheriff’s office. Is this an emergency?”
 
“Yes. My name is Cara Dooley, my husband is driving aroundlost. He has Alzheimer’s, and I just got a phone call from a doctor saying hecame looking for directions to get to Route 29. We’ve lived here for over adecade. I didn’t know he was this bad. I’m afraid of what will happen to him.Can you send out a warning to catch him before he gets himself in real trouble?”
 
“Is he at the doctor’s office?” the woman who answered thephone asked.
 
“No. No. He just happened to knock on the doctor’s door.It’s a retired doctor, but he managed to get his driver’s license and my numberbefore he left in a panic.”
 
“Let me connect you with Sheriff Tinsley.  Please hold the phone.”
 
Very quickly, Sheriff Tinsley got on the phone. “Hello,Mrs.  Dooley.  Let me get the essential information out to themen in the field so they can be looking for him.  What is his name?”
 
“Tom Dooley.”
 
“Describe the vehicle.”
 
“It’s a white Ford pickup. It’s just family sized. Itslicense is 24601. Please hurry.”
 
“Yes, Mrs. Dooley. I’m discharging the information now.  I’m also sending two officers to your home toget a detailed report and information. They should get there within 15minutes.”
 
“Thank you.  He wasgoing downhill, but I didn’t know he was deteriorated as far as he appears tobe.”
 
“Are you prepared to keep him from driving, Mrs. Dooley?”
 
“Definitely.”
 
“Do you need us to help you legally to do that?”
 
“No. I’ll be able to handle it. I want to protect hisdignity. If I can’t, I’ll certainly ask for help.”
 
“Don’t wait for too long. We don’t want him getting introuble.”
 
“I’m not even sure if we can legally keep him out of trouble.It is hard to tell how bad he is unless you know him.”
 
“I’m sorry. I just have to ask that. My men will ask yousome of the same questions.”
 
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll wait for the officers toget here.”
 
“Thank you for your vigilance. All the best. Can I hang upnow?” Sheriff Tinsley asked.
 
“Yes.”
 
A squad car arrived quickly after that.  Two officers out of Mayberry came knocking onthe door. Cara let them in and proceeded to repeat much of the informationalready given. They took notes.
 
“You say he is worse than he ever has been?” Officer Jonesasked.
 
“The doctor was very concerned. He has lapses. But he nevergot lost before.  He doesn’t accept thatthere is any problem with his mind. His mother had Alzheimer’s. We went throughhell with her. He said if he ever got as bad as her, he would kill himself. I’mafraid he would do that. I would rather control him until he gets worse.”
 
“Do you really think you can keep him from driving?”  the second officer asked her, his voice soundingcynical.
 
“I think I can keep the keys from him.  He can’t hold a thought long. I’ll call forhelp if I can’t.”
 
The officers looked at her skeptically, but there was notmuch they could do to restrict him without   Cara’scooperation.
 
At that point, Tom drove into his own driveway. 
 
“That’s him now. Thank God. Can you make an excuse for your being here? “
 
“Yes ma’am,” Officer Jones said, “We understand.”
 
Tom walked in, very curious as to why the police were at hishome.
 
“Hello, sir. We were just leaving. “
 
“What’s the problem, officers?” Tom asked.
 
“We were just checking out a complaint that one of yourneighbors had about mailbox tampering. You hear anything about that?” Jonesasked.
 
“No.  None that I knowof.”
 
“It’s probably just an isolated incident. Thank you, Mrs.Dooley.”
 
“Thank you,” Cara said warmly. She was thankful that Tomcame off so normal. However, she knew her life would be different from thispoint forward. Her mother-in-law had gone through a process that she could seeTom was moving through. He had passed the time that he could be trusted todrive himself.
 
Cara took his keys when he wasn’t looking. When he said hecouldn’t find them, which is something that had often happened in the past, shetold him she couldn’t find them, either. Then, with his waning power to keep a thought in mind, he simply forgotthe incident.  That would happencontinually for a while. Until things got really bad.
 
Cara knew that she was in for one of the worst problems ofher life, and the stress nearly killed her. She wondered why she had to gothrough this twice in her life.  But she survivedand eventually thrived. 
 
Some of the details of this account are not true, but thestory is basically correct.  It is asituation that too many people are facing every day. 
 
I had a close friend who had dementia.  Strangely enough, the quality of his poetryendured long into the illness, until he died. I don’t know if he had Alzheimer’sdisease, but the dementia was growing and he was well aware of it. He had an episodesimilar to Tom’s. He was driving and suddenly didn’t know where he was. He keptdriving until he picked up enough landmarks where he could re-orient himselfand get home safely. It was one of the most frightening episodes in his life, includinghis experiences in the Korean war. He had the presence of mind to throw awayhis license.  This man never lost isdignity. May we all be so lucky.
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://bluegrasspals.com/pipermail/group1/attachments/20210721/2d83f301/attachment.html>