Faith Without Values

Faith Without Values – Horror at the Convalescent Facility

When I fell in the gutter on June 27th (this is the second time I have chosen a gutter, if that tells you anything) while walking my dog and talking to a friend with his dog, I thought at first that it was just a bad bruise, but decided to go to emergency to be sure. The x-rays did not show a break, so I was sent to a convalescent facility to recuperate.

The building was a large, sprawling one-story facility, with some really beautiful furniture, and I was told it was at one time a motel for the very rich. I can believe it. The grounds were lovely, with stately oaks offering welcome shade to the occupants, and there was an elaborate inner court with lovely gardens and koi ponds.

The rooms also were lovely, despite hopital beds and tables and wheelchairs. Rooms which had only two beds were still spacious, though I was in a room with three beds, so we felt a little cramped. I was in the middel bed.

My roommates had obviously been together long enough to become friends, and they talked a great deal to each other, while I got some reading done. The woman by the window, it soon became obvious, had a very low IQ, compensated for by an enormous mouth that smiled – no, grinned – constantly. I’ll call her Smiley.

On the other side was a woman who kept a huge paperback Bible on her table, as well as another religious tome of equal size. In quiet moments, she recited verses quietly to herself. I’ll call her the Reader.

Though we had little in common, we occasionally asked after each other’s health and exchanged other pleasantries.

Each of us had a closet of our own at the foot of our beds, with a drawer underneath. Shortly after I moved in, the Reader told me that someone had given her a blue blanket, but that she could not find it, and she asked if it might be in my drawer. I bent over in great pain to open the drawer, but could only see a large white towel, and nothing of mine was in there. I assumed that that was the end of that.


End of Chapter One