An anecdote from my role as manager of a care home for adults with learning disabilities
‘What are you looking at?’
‘Mind your own business.’ Jim
twisted away from the window to face Maisie. ‘It’s man’s work.’ He turned back
to the window, tugged the long curtain over his back and sidled closer to
Johnnie. Maisie huffed and walked away.
I looked
past the garden to the road. Barriers had been erected and a team of men were
wielding shovels, heaving soil from the ground. More roadworks. Gas this time or water?
Jim and Johnnie were riveted by taut
muscles, fluorescent jackets and the ever increasing pile of soil.
‘Go and watch if you like. Don’t get
in the workmen’s way though,’ I told them.
‘Nah, you’re alright.’ Johnnie held
one hand over his left eye and rocked back and forth. He did this when he was
excited. The curtain tangled around him and he nearly banged his head on the
window.
‘Shall I open the curtains so you
can see? I could bring tea and you could sit and watch the workmen.’
‘Yeah, please.’ Jim never said no to
a cup of tea. He turned to me and grinned, displaying empty gums.
‘Where are your teeth, Jim?’ I asked.
A lifetime of epilepsy and behavioural drugs were to thank for his empty mouth
but his smile was all the more engaging for it and I found myself grinning back.
The long-stay hospital he was detained in for years probably didn’t provide
much dental care either. He tapped the bulging top pocket of the thick-checked shirt
he insisted on wearing, whatever the weather.
‘You
might need to put them in if you want a biscuit with your tea.’
‘I’ll dip ‘em.’ He said and turned
his attention back to the workmen.
I could see him eyeing up the
wheelbarrow. Jim had a passion for wheelbarrows. The other day there were three
on the lawn. I made him take them all back. Jim’s own one was never enough.
‘Don’t even think about taking that
wheelbarrow, Jim.’ I said. He chuckled.
The refreshments were consumed in
record time, Jim and Johnnie’s eyes barely leaving the entertainment outside.
Workmen wiped foreheads on shoulders and stripped off shirts exposing their
glistening skin to the heat of the sun.
‘Would you like your dinners saved so you can
stay here?’
Jim
and Johnnie both smiled. Everyone else filed into the dining room for meat pie
and mashed potatoes. Maybe we should plant potatoes if they were so keen on digging.
The
workmen looked longingly at the pub opposite then each other. Downing tools
they pulled on their shirts, fixed barriers around the hole and pile of soil
then ambled across the road to quench their thirsts with cold lager.
‘That
looks dangerous,’ Jim said.
‘Yeah,’
agreed Johnnie.
‘It’s
fine,’ I said. ‘They’ve put barriers around it. No-one will fall in. Come and
eat your lunch.’
Half
an hour later I looked again. I saw the workmen return from the pub and watched
as they stared at the scene inside the barriers. One rubbed his jaw - another
scratched the back of his head. They glanced at each other then back at the
ground before turning to look behind them and ahead up the road. I wondered
what was wrong. I studied the spot where they’d been working then realised the
pile of soil had gone. There was no wheelbarrow either.
In
the hall I saw no sign of Jim or Johnnie. I stepped outside and spotted them several
feet from the unhappy workmen. Getting nearer I could see that what was once a
deep hole was now a neatly flattened rectangle of fresh soil. I walked over to
Jim.
‘What’s
happened?’
‘It
was dangerous,’ said Johnnie.
‘So
we filled it in.’ said Jim.
They turned away
and glanced at each other with satisfied smiles before walking back home.
The End
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Hugs
Pauline
1 comment:
Wonderful story.
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