Re: Robert wants stories... Here's one!

["Allan Waghalter" <awaghalter@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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

"Frank Olson" <feolson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ubuQe.324908$5V4.213342@xxxxxxxxxxx
> 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."
>
>