The elderly years, with dementia taking over his mind, and, a cat too, translated…
Mimi skipped out, again.
It’s not that big a deal, because, he normally only, wanders around the roof of the second story home adjacent to my grandfather’s home, looking down, at the strays down below who are, just like him, stray; but here comes the troubling matter, as Mimi skipped home, grandpa would go out, and, as he’d gone out, he’d not remembered to wear his mask, and worse, he’d not, remembered, his way back home.
My eighty-five year-old elderly grandpa, can never remember the names of all his grandchildren, and, would call his own children by the wrong names, but, he always, remembered, Mimi, never forgotten her name, six, or seven years ago, his granddaughter fished Mimi out of the ditches, she looked like a dirty rat, back then, grandpa still had a very loud voice, called that he was going to throw both his own granddaughter out on the street with the cat too, and, later on, he’d, taken himself out, and can’t find his way back home again.
From before, grandpa was a homebody, with grandma, chatting it up all around the neighborhood, grandpa had, stayed at home, watched T.V., planted the flowers, clipped and trimmed the pines. And, the cats that are awake, are totally different than the cats that are, asleep, the sleepy cat enjoyed staying on the laps, and, the days grew long, soon enough, grandpa’s lap became, Mimi’s. The cat when she’s awake, she’d, looked for an escape through the screen door opening, the windows, out from the balcony……………, we’d found no effective way of stopping them. Before grandpa was demented, he’d rarely awakened in the midst of his sleep, not known of Mimi’s colorful, night life; as he’d become demented, he’d not slept as much, carried that cat in his lap, sat on the couch all day long, and we really can’t tell, if he was the one, watching T.V., or was the T.V., watching him. But, as Mimi stayed home, so had, grandpa, and, when Mimi wandered off, grandpa, with nothing in his lap, would wander out to look for her.
Unfortunately, this time, Mimi leapt into the fire alley out back from the roof, and couldn’t leap back out, and, started, sleeping in the clutter, yet, grandpa didn’t turn with her, followed that corner, wandered, to, god knows where. From before the outbreaks hadn’t hit so hard, there would be the kind strangers who’d, brought him back; and, as the epidemic grew worse, nobody dared come anywhere closer to an elderly man, without his, mask on.
illustration from UDN.com
All of us went out searching for grandpa, and in the end, we’d, finally found him, a few kilometers away, at a rental parking to, sitting under the shades, tired of walking, grandpa sat on the tile next to the car, slouched his back, just like a cat. And, the daughter-in-law who’d found him didn’t know tho hand him that bottle of water, or that mask first. In a daze, lifted his head up, grandpa saw his family, he should know them, and yet, the words that came from him were, “Where’s Mimi?”
During the time as the outbreaks are hitting too hard, that cat and grandpa found again, found their temporary place of stay in the suite, moved in with the T.V., grandpa became more settled with the T.V. on, his tiny room has, his whole world in it; with the cat, grandpa felt, even more, settled, with Mimi in his lap, he’d not, needed to, set foot outside his bedroom now, the meals were served on a tray like someone serves you at a hotel, and as we finished up all our meals, then, we’d all, cramped into grandpa’s room, to watch T.V. with him, and, Mimi became, everybody’s, and we’d, taken turns, having her in our arms.
And now, Mimi can only, object, to not being allowed out, and started meowing on, and grandpa thought she was, calling out t him, and would reply back to her happily: I’m here!
And so, this, is actually, quite sad, but, that’s the only thing you can do, to ensure the safety of your elderly family members who had become demented, and, this elderly man only needed this stray cat as his company, and, the family locked the cat inside the room, to keep the elderly man, from wandering off, looking for her.