Robert wants stories... Here's one!

Chapter One: A Cry in the Dark!

It was a windswept and rainy evening. The windshield wipers kept a steady rhythm with "big D" Parton's Coal Miner's Daughter as I crept along the express way in the gathering gloom. Suddenly I felt a hum from my left pants pocket and I reached in to snag my FIDO cell phone... First thing I noticed was the low battery symbol right next to the "Old Folks CareHome" centered on my call display. I knew this call was trouble.

"We need help", the caller said. "All the mag locks on the Alzheimer's Ward just opened and we can't get them to relock. We've got patients wandering around everywhere."

"No problem", I replied. "I'll be there in thirty minutes."

Big problem, I thought. We hadn't installed the door lock system. I'd dreaded receiving a trouble call about it because I knew the Mickey Mouse company that had. So much for the dinner I'd planned on cooking for the family. I knew I'd be searching for the power supply and transformer all night... in an Alzheimer's Ward... I could think of better ways to spend an evening...

"Old Folks CareHome" is an old building... No particular heritage... A hodge-podge of additions and renovations that are always on the go... Tonight was no exception... The entrance foyer looked like a war zone. Displaced ceiling tiles revealed a maze of ducts, pipes, and haphazardly strung wires everywhere. Rolls of linoleum hunkered down behind a wooden barricade in the center of foyer like soldiers in a foxhole. I winced at fire alarm cables tie-wrapped to 110 VAC runs and smoke detectors hanging from makeshift hooks fashioned from cut up coat hangers... Yup... another quality project by Donald Duck Construction.

"Any reno's going on on the second floor", I asked Mary, the flustered nurse that met me at the door.

"No," she said. "And the guys at DD Construction weren't even here when the locks just stopped working."

I couldn't help but notice she had a face and body that would straighten an I.V. tube and I noticed several old guys seated in the lobby followed her figure like the crowd at Wimbledon follows the bouncing ball across the court as she lead me away to the second floor. I observed one adjusting his pacemaker and oxygen mask. I sympathized and fiddled with the screw drivers in my tool pouch as we walked down the corridor to the stairs together. Hmmm, I thought... No panty lines... And that's one tight skirt...

Sure enough... the door at the base of the stairs was unlocked. A rather comfortable looking heavy arm chair blocked the door way.

"Sorry about this", Mary mumbled as she bent over to move the chair aside. Visions of her seated in the chair, her skirt split to show a smooth well formed leg kept me from noticing the little old lady standing quietly by the door until she spoke.

"Can you help me bring in my piano?" she asked. "It's outside in the rain and I'm afraid it's all wet".

"Sorry ma'am", I responded. "That's a different union. If I even touched your piano, the Piano Movers Union Local 310 would set up pickets all over the place and I would be in a lot of trouble."

"Oh... Well... I wouldn't want you to get into any trouble."

"Thank you," I said, pushing the chair (minus Mary) back in front of the door.

"You handled Mrs. S. very well", Mary giggled, as we continued down the hall to the nurses station.

"Thanks."

I can't wait for the second installment...That was good! Allan

I know... You said that the last time I posted this... I'll make the appropriate change for when the book get's released... :-))

' "big D" Parton's ' just has more artistic flare and brings great visuals to mind.