Blackout (4 page)

He greeted the two women warmly but with a special smile tinged with sadness for Lettie.

“Thomas,” Lettie said, turning up her face to be kissed. He bent down and gently kissed her cheek. She beamed at him and took his hand.

He looked at Betty over his wife’s head. “Can I talk to you later? In about an hour?”

“Of course,” Betty replied. One never turned down a family member, no matter how inconvenient. “I’ll meet you here at four fifteen?”

“Thanks,” he said, leading Lettie away. They always walked the halls together during his daily visit.

Betty went down the hall in the old part of the building. When she saw Donald tightening a screw on a door hinge, she stopped to talk to him a moment.

“Hi, Betty.” He grinned at her, as usual. “How’s it going? Enjoying the inspection?”

She made a face at him. “Sure, Donald. Did you do well on your part?”

“Oh, fine. No major problems. How was Alice’s first day?”

“I barely saw her. She went around with Nancy. But she did one thing right. Got Lettie back inside. Lettie took her armband off and was out wandering.”

“Oh, no! But Alice brought her in?”

“She sure did. Anyway, I have to run. Wanda’s probably wondering where I’ve been.”

“Okay. Can’t keep the inspector waiting.” He grinned at her again, and she stretched her mouth into a smile, then went back to the front rotunda, muttering to herself about people who were always so cheerful.

“There you are,” Wanda greeted her. “I’m getting set to watch a med pass.”

Good, Betty thought. While Wanda watched an aide distribute meds, Betty could get a couple of things done in her office.

“Okay,” she told Wanda. “By the way, I have a four fifteen appointment with a family member. Don’t know how long it will take.”

“That’s all right,” Wanda told her. “After the med pass I’ll check pharmacy records. That should take me up to quitting time.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Betty said as she turned to go back to her office.

Katherine almost bumped into her coming out of a resident’s room. “Betty, I need to see you a minute.”

Betty held back a sigh. It wouldn’t do to have the administrator think she didn’t want to talk to her.

Once they were in Betty’s office, Katherine closed the door behind them. Must be important, Betty thought.

After they sat down, Katherine started playing with the glass paperweight on Betty’s desk. “You know ordinarily I’d stay tonight, probably till one or two in the morning, because the inspection team will be back tomorrow. But I have a very important engagement I can’t cancel. I’ve decided to leave around six unless you know of any reason I should stay I’m unaware of. Everything in Administration is caught up. I imagine you’ll be here…” She stared at the paperweight, not looking at Betty.

Why is she asking me,
Betty wondered.
I’m not her boss. And who does she think she’s fooling? Her important engagement was most likely a hot date with the regional director. Katherine’s husband must be out of town. How does she get away with it? Why did she ever get married if she wanted to continue to see other men?
Betty didn’t understand it, but it didn’t shock her.

“I’ll stay, of course. I planned to anyway.”

I’d better
, she thought
, since bonuses and even getting fired can hinge on these inspections and Wanda’s finding all those bedsores. Let Katherine have her fun
. For a moment she thought of Thomas and wished she could go out with him tonight instead of staying here and working. Quickly she banished the thought, surprised at herself. She’d never been the slightest bit interested in a married man before.
Mustn’t change this late in life
. Without thinking, she opened a desk drawer and pulled out her bag of trail mix, offering some to Katherine. The administrator shook her head, and Betty took a handful. Popping it in her mouth, she felt a little better.

“Any major problems in Nursing?” Katherine asked.

“Just decubiti. I saw Donald earlier, and he said Maintenance was doing well. What about the other departments?”

“Housekeeping and Laundry are fine. Activities needs to do better with documentation, and I’m not sure how Brenda’s doing in Social Services, but I would expect everything to be in order there. Haven’t heard much about Dietary—Janice is keeping quiet about her findings. I’m a bit worried, but there’s nothing I can do since I know next to nothing about it.” Katherine shifted a bit in her chair. “Administration and Medical Records are fine—they’re actually finished already. Medical Records got a ninety-four percent. Administration got a ninety-seven.”

“Congratulations!” Betty beamed.

Katherine returned her smile. “It’s not difficult, and Jenny’s a big help.”

“Yeah, but not all administrators get that good a score.”

“So how do you think Nursing will do?” Katherine asked, her fingers quiet on the paperweight.

“Well, my goal was ninety-two or above, but with the decub rate, I don’t know how we’ll come out. And I’m hard-pressed to pinpoint the cause. You know I have systems in place to prevent bedsores. But they aren’t working the way they should.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Betty,” Katherine said.

Betty could tell she was sincere. Katherine really knew how to massage people’s feelings to motivate them. That was why Merry Hills remained one of the company’s better nursing homes and a main reason Betty wanted to stay. Too bad Katherine had that one major lack of judgment about sleeping with the higher-ups. Maybe she thought of it as a form of job security. But Betty didn’t think she needed that edge. In fact, Betty thought she was playing with fire, and it worried her. She had become fond of Katherine over the last year and a half.

Katherine stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Betty glanced at the clock. Four p.m. A few more minutes until her meeting with Lettie’s husband.

Too restless to do paperwork, she decided to walk the halls. A twice-a-day ritual, she couldn’t always do it with an inspection team in-house. She knew it was good management, especially since she always caught the nurses and aides doing quality work. Hardly ever did she criticize. Instead, she loudly praised good performance, loud enough so others could hear and so the worker being praised knew it was public. She was sincere, too. People blossomed when told what a great job they were doing.

“Lindy,” she said, “you’re carrying the dirty linen just right.” Lindy glowed, and her step seemed to lighten as she held the germ-ridden linen and towels away from her own clothing and dumped the nasty stuff into the dirty-linen barrel.

“Betty,” Brenda greeted her as she stepped out of tiny office Merry Hills had had to provide when the government made it a standard that all nursing homes have a social services designee. Betty found it amusing they’d made the old closet in the original house into an office for Brenda. She had a desk and chair, filing cabinet, a visitor’s chair, and enough room left over for a resident in a wheelchair. A small round window behind Brenda’s desk was the only appealing thing in the whole office.

“I heard about Lettie. Is she all right?” Brenda asked.

“You mean from wandering off?”

“Why, yes. Was she scared?”

“Not really. Alice, a new aide, brought her back inside. Lettie’s fine.”

“Oh, I met Alice. She’s a strange one. When she first saw Lettie, all the color left her face. I thought she was going to faint. Where’d you find her, anyway?”

She’s no stranger than you are
, Betty thought,
with your airs and chattering that never reveals anything about you.

“Donald knows her. He suggested she apply here,” Betty said.

“Oh, one of his lost lambs?”

“I guess so,” Betty said and made a mental note to get Alice’s record to find out if Jenny had filed any more information. There was something about her… She’d talk to Dr. Henderson, too. “How’s the survey going for you?”

“Fine. I think I’ll get over ninety, maybe over ninety-five.”

“Yes, your documentation is very good,” Betty acknowledged. She checked her watch. “Well, I have an appointment with a family member. See you later.”

Brenda inclined her head in a stately fashion as Betty turned to go back to her office. Betty rolled her eyes and smiled as she thought of several practical jokes she and other students had played in nursing school that would be delicious to use on Brenda.

She was still smiling when she greeted Thomas Black a moment later. Lettie held his hand as if she’d never let go.

“I don’t think she’ll let me leave her until I leave the building.” Thomas said. “I want to chat with you privately. Are you busy for dinner?”

Lettie didn’t blink an eye when her husband asked another woman out. Instead, she turned to a resident who was walking by and asked, “Do you know me?” The lady ignored her. Lettie looked up at Thomas anxiously, and he patted her hand.

Betty held her breath. She’d thought about spending the evening with him, and here he stood, asking her to. Well, part of it, anyway.

“All right,” she said slowly, “but it will have to be a rather quick one. I need to come back here to work tonight since the home office inspectors are in-house.”

He smiled at her. “You’re describing Lester’s Steak House.”

Betty laughed. “I guess I am. Tell you what, I’ll meet you there at six. Is that okay?” It would give her time to clean up, and if she drove herself, she could control when she’d leave.

“That’ll be fine,” he said. He turned to Lettie. “Walk me to the door?” She nodded, and they went off, hand in hand.

The only nice restaurant in town, Lester’s, sported linen tablecloths and napkins, candles and flowers on every table. In spite of the elegance, the waiters were abrupt and could get a party of four served and out the door in less than an hour. The utter efficiency of the place amused Betty.

Their snooty-looking waiter came to the table, deftly upended and filled their water glasses and asked, “A drink before dinner?”

“Just water for me,” Betty replied. She didn’t want to take the time to wait for a drink, and she didn’t need the calories.

Thomas shook his head. The waiter gave them each a short menu (short so it wouldn’t take long to decide), and after checking at another table, dashed back, pad and pencil ready.

“The chicken in lemon sauce,” Betty said, amused at herself for such an efficient sentence. She fit right into the atmosphere.

“I’ll have the T-bone—medium,” Thomas said as the waiter snatched the menus from their hands and turned quickly away. There was no choice of vegetables. Everyone got the same thing. Very democratic, Betty thought.

In a minute the waiter came back with dressed house salads and rolls and left again just as quickly.

Betty laughed. “At least the waiters here don’t introduce themselves to you. It would take too much time.”

Thomas grinned at her. “No long lists of specials, either. I really like it.”

“Me, too,” Betty agreed as she attacked her salad, amused again at herself for hurrying. But she knew if she didn’t, dinner would arrive before the she’d eaten it all.

They ate without talking. Betty finished her last forkful as the waiter brought her chicken. She could slow down now.

“I hope you didn’t want to talk to me privately because of any problems at Merry Hills,” Betty said.

“Oh, no! You haven’t been worrying about that all this while, have you?”

“Haven’t had much time to worry. Not with the home office inspection team in-house.”

“I wanted to ask your opinion about Lettie. Do you think she’s happy? As happy as she can be, that is. The doctor suggested we give her a medicine that would quiet her down a little. She’s worn out six pairs of slippers in the year and a half she’s been at Merry Hills. Does she seem anxious to you? Agitated?”

Betty cut a piece of chicken. “She does appear to be a little anxious, but she’s easily reassured. And Thomas, most of those medications have an effect on cognitive ability. Would you rather see her the way she is, or vegetating in a chair? It’s up to you, of course, because you know her better than anyone. The general thinking nowadays is the less medication, the better. But she did get out again today, which is worrisome.” She studied his face, her heart going out to him. “I’ve been no help at all, have I? But it is a decision only you can make. I know it must be particularly hard since this was all so sudden. And earlier than most cases.”

“What happened when she got out?” He didn’t appear unduly upset, but he’d become used to it. Betty knew the main reason he had placed Lettie at Merry Hills was because she wandered all over their neighborhood, and sometimes he couldn’t find her for hours.

Betty explained how Alice had coaxed Lettie back inside.

“Well, we can try the medicine and then take her off again if I don’t like the results, can’t we?”

“Yes, that’s an option.” Betty took a sip of water and set it down. The waiter quickly refilled the glass, even though it was still half full. “Sometimes, though rarely, I admit, there are permanent changes from medications. They have extremely unpredictable results in the elderly population.”

Thomas seemed discouraged. He’d wanted a firm answer from her, she could tell. But she couldn’t give him one.

“I appreciate your help. And I appreciate Merry Hills. I think you do a wonderful job.”

“Thank you, Thomas,” Betty said.

The waiter asked if they wanted dessert. Neither of them said anything for a moment, and suddenly Betty wanted to be with him a while longer. When they said yes, the waiter rattled off a list so quickly Betty made him repeat it. When their parfaits came, Thomas said, “So, tell me about yourself. You’re married?” He glanced at her ring finger where a beautiful diamond solitaire sparkled.

“No. Never. My fiancé was killed a week before he was supposed to leave Vietnam. There was never anyone after that.”

“How sad.” He put his hand over hers. After a moment she pulled it away and took a spoonful of dessert.
Not so fast
, she thought.
Not so fast
.

The waiter returned, whipped out the bill and said, “Please pay at the cashier’s.”
You bet
, thought Betty.
Let’s get this table bussed and ready for the next tippers, STAT
.