Penny looked over with a scrunched up look that signaled confusion, “Who is that lady again, Bill?”
“Well that’s our daughter, Andrea. She’s just visiting with us like she always does,” he calmly explained.
“Oh I see, that’s right,” Penny responded cooly. She had no idea she had a daughter, and decided she must be very old. Penny patted her hands on her lap and looked around the living room. At least she knew where she was, home was home.
***
“The dog-on thing is tasteless!” Penny thought to herself. Several bites was enough; she decided the thing was just not edible. Penny folded the dinner roll up in a napkin and neatly placed it on the coffee table in front of her. The woman sitting across from her frowned and stared at it. It made Penny feel uneasy, and she wondered: had she done something wrong? It may have been rude of her not to eat it, she decided. Penny smiled back at the woman and asked her how she was doing to distract attention from the food. It didn’t work.
“Mom, you need to eat something for dinner or you will feel weak,” the woman replied.
“Well, I just have this headache. I can take the roll with me and have it later then,” Penny assured her and continued to smile.
“All you’ve had so far is a glass of wine though, Mom. I’m worried you aren’t getting the nutrition you need. How about a shake? It’s chocolate flavored, and I’ll sweeten it up so you can taste it,” the woman got up without waiting for Penny to respond and walked out of the room.
Penny did like the chocolate shakes, and she was glad the woman knew. In fact the woman seemed to know a lot about her, but Penny just couldn’t remember her companion’s name. Penny had noticed that the woman kept calling her Mom, and as much as she liked the idea of having a daughter, the woman was not even young. That made Penny wonder if she herself was very old, and she didn’t like that idea.
Penny looked down at her frail, wrinkled hands and noticed her wedding ring. Bill had given it to her. She knew that she had been married for a long time, but the details were lost. Penny just couldn’t remember and it was so frustrating. She knew there was a time when she wasn’t so forgetful, but that only reminded her that she was in fact, old.
***
A little boy ran around the kitchen waving a broom like it was a sword, and Penny couldn’t help but hoot over the cute little guy as she walked into the room.
“Who’s a brave boy? You sure like to be fierce, don’t you?” she said.
The boy blushed and shuffled across the room to where a man was making breakfast and then smiled at her from behind the cover of his father.
“Okay, breakfast will be ready soon. Can you tell granddad, I mean Bill, Penny?”
“Oh sure,” she replied. For once, Penny was very hungry, but she gave the man one last examinatory look before she set off to find her husband. Bill was in his office, as he always was, and Penny liked that she could always find him. “Bill that young man has breakfast ready for us, time to go eat.”
Bill turned away from his computer and smiled at her, then unsuccessfully attempted to rotate his wheelchair.
“Here let me help,” Penny drew near and began to reach towards the handlebars.
“Nonsense, I can move myself to the kitchen,” he retorted, determined to retain his pride. “I just need a minute, maybe a little help getting turned around though.”
Penny happily rotated her husband, and Bill slowly began to push himself along to the kitchen. She decided to take advantage of the time and asked him several questions that had been worrying her all morning:
“Is that our son in the kitchen? And what are we doing today? Is it cold outside?”
“No Penny, that’s our grandson. Judy is our daughter, and that is Judy’s son.” Bill didn’t bother to answer the other questions.
“...and the little boy?” Penny stammered.
“That’s our great-grandson, Davis,” he grunted as he pushed himself forward a little more.
Oh goodness we’re old, she murmured.
“Getting old ain’t for sissies,” Bill chimed.
They ate quickly and the young man brought Bill all of his medications after breakfast. Penny did remember the medications. There were always so many that Bill had to take and she was always impressed at how easily he downed them. She hated taking pills.
***
Penny had been waiting for some time in the lobby of what looked like a doctor’s office and again found herself confused about what was going on. She had travelled there with a lady who called herself Andrea, and she knew Andrea was familiar, but Penny couldn’t place a finger on who she was. Andrea had sat beside her, and Penny could see she looked distressed. At first Penny wondered if Andrea had brought her to the hospital because she was sick, but Penny decided she felt alright, so maybe Andrea was sick.
“How are you holding up?” she said to the woman.
“I’m alright mom, I’m just worried about Daddy,”
She remembered now. Andrea was her daughter, and Bill was her husband of course. Bill was also a doctor, and always knew something about how to treat his own illnesses and conditions. He was strong, and always had a solution for everything. Penny was still worried of course, but she remembered the many hospital visits she had made with her husband. Bill was always fine in the end.
“Will we see Bill soon?” Penny asked.
“Yes.”
***
“How long do we need to stay here?” Penny begged.
Bill looked up, barely alert, “Penny, it’s Thanksgiving for Pete’s sake! I want to see the kids. We can go home later.”
“You’re already nodding off though!” she had to poke Bill again to get a stir out of him.
“We live very close, so just relax and we will be home before you know it. Have another glass of wine,” he mumbled.
“-But it’s dark out, do we know how to get there? I don’t want to be stuck here.”
Bill did not reply though. He was fast asleep.
Penny sighed and looked into the next room where people were all cheery and likely drunk. It was Thanksgiving, she knew. They were her family, but they were all so different now. She didn’t even recognize the children. A woman soon came in and brought Penny another glass of wine.
“Here mom, you did a great job eating dinner, would you like another glass?” The lady always seemed to know when she was worried, and Penny liked that.
“Maybe some juice, actually,” Penny replied. “I’m worried about Bill though, I think we need to be sent home for bed.”
The lady nudged him and called his name, but Bill didn’t respond. The woman looked troubled and decided it was time for them to go home.
***
It was a beautiful spring day and Penny paced along with the little boy and his mother. Penny had made it a habit to walk around the neighborhood everyday for as long as she remembered. “Exercise keeps you healthy,” she always toted. She had also had her coffee first thing; Penny felt good.
“You seem very alert today!” the mother commented.
Penny smiled and thanked her and they continued their walk along the long driveway. They both chuckled in amusement as the young boy explored along the way.
“I remember when we first bought this land,” Penny started. “Believe it or not, we hacked our way into these woods with machetes and eventually carved out a road. I wish Bill could still make the trip up here with us.”
“No way! You with a machete?” the mother mused.
Penny chuckled, “but that was a long time ago.”
***
A beautiful tune chimed from the church piano and Penny couldn’t help but hum along. The lady to her right looked over and smiled, but something seemed off. Penny remembered that the lady had a son, but she didn’t see the boy anywhere today. The man to her left looked familiar too; he even reminded her of Bill, and she found that comforting. Penny asked him how he was doing, to which he replied he was holding up okay, but Penny could tell he felt troubled. She just couldn’t put her finger on what was happening, but decided to play along.The room was full of well dressed and familiar people, and it seemed somewhat like a church service. She thought about how Bill hated church, and was not surprised to see him absent for that reason. Still, it bothered her to see so many familiar faces.
“Who all is here today?” she asked the man who reminded her of Bill, careful not to show her confusion.
“The whole family made it, and all of your friends,” he assured her.
“My friends?” Penny replied, confused.
“Yours and Bill’s. Everyone is here Mom, don’t worry.”
It wasn’t like Bill to miss a family event. He loved them. She hesitated for a long moment before she asked her next question.
“Did Bill not come today?” she asked the man. His eyes widened, and he looked down and frowned. Penny looked to her right and stared inquisitively at the lady.
“Oh, honey. I’m sorry... this is Bill’s funeral,” she comforted.
Penny tensed up, and tears began to well up in her eyes. She could only remember that she hadn’t seen him for quite some time now. “Oh I see,” she managed at last, and began to cry.