How Tom went to the hospital. Maybe.

 

	Hans Zimmer - Show Me Your Firetruck .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Mabel Ruth and I were standing in the hallway.  We do that a lot, we are trying to start a Senior Residence scandal, being visible enough so that people start talking about us and rumors fly through the air conditioning.  We actually need a couple stools and a little table so we can sit comfortably and drink our coffee as we pretend to paw at each other.  This whole business will become pretty problematic when we become romantically involved.  There is only so much that you can pretend to do in a hallway before some old bitch calls the police. 



Anyway Mabel and I were groping in the hallway when a group of folks with speed in their step and intensity in their eyes came down and asked if we'd seen Tom.  Tom Bomb (remember him?) not Tom K. recently famous.  He was supposed to meet them for church and he didn't show up. 

One short, muscled woman with her feet apart in a fighting stance, lugging a huge Bible: "He always shows up when he's supposed to."  I think she was calling the shots because she told somebody to call the VA Hospital and see if he was visiting folks there.  Also everybody else shut up when she started talking. We told them to call Maintenance, and we gave them the phone number, and somebody would come up with a passkey and open the door to figure out if Tom was dead on the floor.  Or in his bed.

Ed Maintenance (that might be his last name) came up and opened the door:

"is he dead?"
"He's asleep.  On the floor."
"He has a coat and tie on and no pants."
"It must have been the heat.  That can kill people you know."
"He's waking up."
"He helps a lot of people, you know."
"He's confused, he doesn't know where he is."
"I still think it's the heat, it can kill people you know."

Mabel and I recommended the paramedics.  We were unheard.   Tim Wonderful came down the hall and asked a lot of questions and then said he had to go back to his room to get his blood pressure stuff.  He is a former something-having-to-do-with-emergencies kind of guy.  He took Tom's blood pressure and said it was ok.  "I think we will just take him to the hospital," said the fighting woman.

Somebody else was trying to talk some sense into a receptionist at the VA and pretty soon Tom came feebly out the door, with pants on, in a check suit, briefcase and umbrella and said he was ready to go to church.  They all disappeared.  Mabel and I stared at each other then laughed.

When the church smell disappeared from the hallway, I said urgently to Mabel,"If you ever find me dead in bed or on the floor, just call the paramedics right away and tell them to take me to Kettering Med."  "But then what would we do about the fun in the hallway?," she said. 

Ta!