not a novice

 

dad got moved to a different room on the same floor. he shares it but it is actually bigger and has a tv. when i came in he had the women's hockey championship game on which he opened his eyes to watch off and on. mom was almost done assembling his wall of family pictures, precariously perching her osteo bones unwisely on a chair to do it. 

it was raining hard outside, and although this room had a window, it didn't seem quite so bright. i sat in the chair that can transform into a bed and crunched my usual cup of ice while mom got her dinner in the kitchen. dad's dinner was italian meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy with a cup of peaches on the side. he took one bite and said he just wasn't hungry, offering the plate to me. refused mom's proffering of a tempting morsel of meat. shook his head firmly no, lips clamped shut when she came back with some grapes, pineapple and radiishes. mom, no novice at this work, mildly shrugged her shoulders feigning retreat. a few minutes later she was popping grapes into his mouth and even threw in a hunk of pineapple. "delicious, right?" she chirped cheerfully, leaving a clump of grapes on his chest and whisking herself away to the kitchen. it worked. after a few minutes i spied dad fork in hand, spearing some meatloaf, and guiding it into his mouth. he took a few bites and then called "jeannie!" i told him she was in the kitchen getting her dinner. "don't get your dinner!" he called. i asked him why not. "she can have all this," he said pointing to his plate. a minute or so later he was trying some mashed potatoes.

mom was gone for a while. she ate in the kitchen talking to a family she met in there. when she came back she managed to feed dad some more bites of his dinner. but he was a firm no on the peaches.

we played 4 rounds of uno while the hockey game sound track hovered over our heads. then dad was pooped and i was almost 30 minutes over my parking time so i came home.

i'm pooped too.