Assisted Living

I visited an old aunt in her old room and she gave me an old smile which I tucked
Away inside my new coat pocket, before returning it to her.
Her black eyes were still purple with shades of blue and the bump above her left eye had stitches
Like little bristles found on a two day unshaven face, six of them in a jagged line sewn by a young
Doctor in a Lancaster hospital and he never asked for her name.
A cleaning woman had just left but the room was still messy.
I relocated the morning paper and sat near the small bed by a tasseled pillow.
My aunt complained, typically, about how her jaw was hurting and she didn't know
What she could do about it.  Tylenol?  She had just taken more Tylenol, she said.
She caressed her chin while she spoke.  I caressed my chin while I spoke.
She wanted to know how old I thought she looked!
I told her she looked 85 and she smiled around the facial bruises.
"I'm 89," she said matter-of-fact.  She thinks she
Has no skin wrinkles and can trick everyone into guessing she's a kid again.
All the residents and some of the staff have wrinkles, a few of which are in strange places.
I sat on her foot stool and elevated her right leg.
I tugged at her compression sock, finally removing it.
She said I was a little rough.
But then she bragged that I do the best job with her clippers and I made her promise
Never to tell anyone.  Ever.  No Matter What.
She told me she has a new neighbor, an old woman.  "Where did the former
Neighbor go"?  "He died.  But I never liked him."  "Who is the new neighbor?"
"I don't know.  She never leaves her room."  My aunt never leaves her room, either, except to
Eat.  She often skips lunch.
When I walk by the dining area during meal times, it is always full.
Most everyone visits the dining hall, and if a wheelchair or a walker is needed, so be it.  The
Food is not the important item on their menu.  Someone will see them.  In that moment, they
Are so much more than ghosts. And some of the old men can dance the Texas Two Step.
Some of the old women are incredible flirts, and they all believe I can't guess their age and I never can.
"Ouch!"  "What?"  "That hurt!" Darn, did I take some skin?
I finished the nails and struggled with the socks.  She complained I was too rough.  I said the socks are too small.  She said they're made to be small.  I said her feet appeared to be swollen.  She said they've
Always been swollen.  I asked about her jaw.  She said it was always sore.
No one seemed to notice when I left.