佚名/Anonymous
Sheila stomped into the staff room,her uniform plastered with someones dinner.“I dont know how you do it!”she fumed to Helen,the nurse supervising the evening shift.“Mrs.Svoboda just threw her tray at me again,and she's so agitated I don’t know how l'll be able to clean her up before bed.Why don’t you have so much trouble with her?”
Helen smiled sympathetically.“I've had my share of rough nights with her,too.But I’ve been here,longer and,of course,I knew her husband.”“yeah,Troy.I've heard about him.It’s about the only word I can understand when she gets going.”
“Sheila,”Helen began hesitantly.I know it's hard to work with people like Mrs.Svoboda.When Mrs.Svoboda was admitted she wasn’t as bad as she is now,but she was still pretty spicy.She used to give me grief over the smallest things.her tea wasn't hot enough,her bed wasn’t made up right.On her bad days she'd accuse us all of stealing her things.I had no patience with her,until one day her husband happened to be there during bath time.I was gearing up for the usual fight with her when he asked if he could help.‘Sure,’I said gratefully.Good thing the safety restraints were on because she began kicking and screaming.’
“I began washing her quickly,anxious to get it over with,when Troy laid his hand on my arm.‘Give her a moment to get used to the water,’he asked.Then he began talking softly in Russian.After a few moments she became calm and seemed to listen to him.Very gently,he took the cloth and soap from me and washed each of her hands.Then slowly and carefully,he washed her arms and shoulders,working his way over the wrinkled,sallow skin.Each touch was a caress,each movement a promise.After a while,she closed her eyes and relaxed into the warm water.‘My beautiful Nadja,’the old man murmured.‘You are so beautiful’.To my surprise,Mrs.Svoboda opened her eyes and murmured back,’My beautiful Troy.Even more astonishing,she had tears in her eyes!”