The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room


My wife's knee had been bothering her for quite awhile, our
physician after examining it said that it should be
x-rayed as soon as possible. He recommended this place
that we could get it done in a hurry. It was in a community called Sun
City. Awhile back I remember an older neighbor of ours was telling me
about Sun City.
It's a place where elderly people live, you have to be
fifty-five or older to live in that area. I said" Doctor, aren't we a
little young to go over to Sun City to have an x- ray done. With a
smile on his face, he said that won't be a problem, and handed me the
directions. Around 30 minutes later we arrived at the address. We
walked into the waiting room and my wife went up to the window to sign
in.
I walked over near the window where there were two seats available. The
waiting room had a number of people in it. Looking around, I noticed
they were mostly elderly people.
I counted nine sitting and two in wheelchairs.
It was a small room, everyone was sitting very close to each other. A
few of the women were reading magazines, one was looking through a TV
guide two were reading Reader's Digest, the room was very quiet.
There were two gentleman sitting across from me with their heads
leaning back in the chairs half asleep.
The door coming into the waiting room was opening and shutting a little
bit at a time, someone was having trouble opening it. looking towards
the door there were two women sitting by it paying no attention at all
to the movement of
the door, so I got up and opened the door for this lady trying to come
in with a walker. She was a short woman partially slumped over her
walker like she had osteoporosis. I asked if she needed help getting
her walker in through the doorway, she said yes and thank you.
I'm ninety-one and can't see 20 ft. in front of me. I'm just not as
strong as I used to be. Being partially slumped over her walker she
turned her head to look up at me and said it's tough getting old. Her
hand shaking terribly, she grabbed me by my hand and looking through
these very thick glasses she was wearing, looking very tired from
straining with that walker. Now holding my hand with both of hers still
shaking, said thank-you son.
Watching her sign in at the window, I heard the
receptionist say to her go right in, they're waiting for you.
My wife is sitting to my right looking at a magazine and
to my left there's a woman sitting next to me knitting.
I casually said to the woman, that was nice of them to take that woman
right in, "yes it was she said. I asked her how long she had been
waiting here, seems like there are alot
of people waiting to get x-rays. I don't know if I should have asked
those two questions, she started telling me her whole life story. She
went on about a bunch of different stuff, then she said I've been here
quite a while and she couldn't figure out why they took the woman with
the walker before her. Then she started. She said she didn't
live far from here and had been waiting a while, they should have
called her first. To calm her down "I said how far do you live from
here? At that time they called my wife in to take her x-ray. Sitting
there waiting for my wife, the woman said I only live a few blocks from
here they should have called me first. To change the subject, "I said
is your husband in there getting an x-ray". She said no" and started
telling me that her husband was ill and couldn't move around very well
in their home. And when I need money to go to the store, I have trouble
finding it. He hides it in the strangest places and often forgets where
he puts it, and even hides it under the mattress in our room.
Once I even found $50.00 hidden in a pair of old shoes in the closet. I
don't doubt that he even has some hid in jars buried in the backyard,
he's very old-fashioned. I don't know how many times I've told him to
put it in the bank.
He tells me the same thing every time, he doesn't trust banks. I'm
sitting there saying to myself, why is she telling me all this private
stuff ? I guess she just needed someone to talk to. The nurse opened
the door and called
out her name to go in. Sitting there looking around the room, there was
a woman with a metal cane and a very wrinkled dress and with slippers
on that did not match.
She's sitting a cross from me in the far corner with her left arm
bandaged, and a handkerchief in her hand weeping, trying not to be
noticed by anyone. I got up and went across the room to get a magazine
and looked over
towards her and ask her if there was anything I could do for her.
Quietly she said no thank-you, I'll be ok.
As I looked back toward my seat there was a woman
sitting in it while her husband was signing in. I went over and sat
between this man and woman. The gentleman on my left was sitting there
holding a cane that was shaking terribly with his two hands on top of
it. I said hello to the woman on my right. She was wearing a heavy coat
with a scarf around her neck. She looked very warm and nodded her head
and said hello, It's a little chilly in here don't you think? I wasn't
sure how to answer her, so I said yes,
"A little bit" although it was warm and around 80 degrees outside. As I
looked around the room once again I notice they were all wearing heavy
clothes and sweaters.
I looked to my left to the older gentleman with the cane and said hi.
We said a few words back-and-forth and then he started telling me where
he lived and how long he lived there. Then he told me all about his
neighbors.
He proceeded to tell me about his wife that passed away a while back
and his son that lived in California. I felt so sad for the old timer
when he started telling me about his son that calls and says he's
coming to visit, "but doesn't show up. Then he calls me the next day
and says he's sorry he couldn't make it, he tells me he feels bad but
something important came up, we'll get together real soon. He told me
how important his son was in California, and had a real important job.
I knew he was trying to cover up for his son. As his hands continued
shaking, he said I always wait patiently just to see my son. I sit by
the window in my living room where I can see the walkway coming up
to
my front door just to see my son walk up to the door.
I sit there for hours waiting and looking to see him.
I felt sorry for this guy as his hands were still trembling on top of
his cane, I noticed a tear running down his cheek as he said but he
never arrives. A few chairs away I could hear one of the other men
talking to the woman sitting
next to him, and her sitting their paying no attention to what he was
saying. He was going on and on just talking a way telling her about a
job he had when he was a young person in his thirties, and how he made
a lot of friends while he was working at this company. But many years
later when he retired, his friends never called him or kept in touch. I
could tell by the way that he was going on about it that it hurt him
very much. The woman with the walker was finished with her x-rays and
was leaving the waiting room. I got up and open the door for her again.
I said to her I'm sure it will not be too long before your ride is here
to take you home. She looked at me very strange and just smiled. I sat
back down in a different chair next to this guy that was a very heavy
man. I noticed his shoes were untied
and he had different color socks on. Sitting in his wheelchair, he
seemed very nervous with one hand on
the wheel rocking back and forth just a little bit at a time. As I sat
down, I said hi "how are you doing? right away he started telling me he
was originally from Alaska and had been out here in Sun City for a few
years.
Then started telling me that he was in Colorado for a few years when he
was younger and went to college there to
be a doctor. He said he later returned to Alaska and then started
telling about how beautiful it was where he lived
in Juneau. He told me about this one incident were a bear came up to
their back door and his wife banged two
frying pans together and scared it off and how they would gather fire
wood up before it would start snowing real bad. I could tell that he
wanted to go on, but his wife came out and said she was done and it was
time to go.
Sitting there a few minutes, thinking about what I heard from these
different people and then my wife came out and said she was done. She
needed to talk to the woman at the sign in counter to make sure they
have our correct address. As we stood by the sign in window I put my
arm around my wife and leaned against her and in a low voice I said I
feel bad for all these people, all they need is someone to talk to. As
my wife and I finished our paperwork, we left the waiting room and
walked out towards our car. We stopped at the curb before entering into
the parking lot. Standing there talking, as we waited for this car that
was leaving to pass in front of us, I looked at the driver as it passed
us. I grabbed my wife by the arm, "honey" I can't believe it, that's
that ninety-one year old woman with the walker that can hardly see with
those thick glasses.
"She's driving that car.





A few conversations I had while waiting for my wife
to get an x-ray.

A story by Norman Clifford
12-17-03