Changes, Changes

Darrell's become increasingly more confused.  He occassionally will see someone who's been dead for 30 years but lately now and then, he will wander all over the house looking for someone that isn't there.  One morning, after Shawn and I had arrived, mom and I had stepped inside, followed by Darrell.  He started toward the hallway asking, "Did you see him?  That Mexican man...did you see him?"

"You mean Shawn?" Mom asked.  Shawn is hardly Mexican but I could see what Mom was trying to do.  "He's in the garage," she added.  "No, that man!" Darrell said.  "Where is he?"

"Shawn's in the garage, Darrell," she said.  The kitchen door opened and in walked Shawn.  "There he is!  There's Shawn!" Mom exclaimed.  "See?  There is Shawn!"
"Oh," Darrell replied and he was content with that.

One night he decided he wanted to take a bath and stripped down to nothing, not a shred of garments in the middle of the kitchen.  Mom later told me, "He'd just die if he knew!" referring to Darrell's knowledge of the event.  Mom eventually got him into the bathroom and waited outside the door.  She could hear the water running and running and running.  She called to him several times with no answer.  Finally, Darrell unlocked the door and announced, "Nothing ever works right in this house!  Come on, Sis, let's go home!"  The water was up tot he very top of the tub.  A couple minuets more and the bathroom would've flooded.

When I visited the following the Saturday I found the lock and latch on the doorknob to be non-functional.  I warned Shawn that if he used the restroom, he'd have to prop the door stop against the door to keep it shut.  "I'll have a look at it," he said.  "No, I think it's that way for a reason," I replied.

Josh, Darrell's youngest son had stopped by and I think everything was quite a shock to him.  He hadn't been by in 2 or 3 weeks and a lot of changes can occur in that amount of time.   He was taking it pretty hard.  At one point he seemed like he really needed to go outside instantly.  I wasn't sure if I should let him be or follow.  Shawn, also a smoker decided he too needed a cigarette and followed Josh outside.  Shawn had lost his own father several years ago but it was sudden and quick, without suffering and prolonged confusion.

Mom said the next day both Justin, the eldest and Josh had stopped by for about seven hours with wives and kids.  She said one had texted the other and said, "Why don't we give this gift to Dad?"

"I wonder if what I said...." Shawn said to me.  "What?  Did you speak to Josh on Saturday?" I asked.
"Well we didn't say a whole lot.  I just mentioned that they ought to get together to see Darrell.  (Despite Darrell's coherent pleading months ago, along with the pleading of other family members, the two refused to be in the same building together, much less the same city)  He said he hadn't spoken to his brother in two years and I just told him, you know, sometimes you just gotta let that stuff go."

"Even if it's only for a few hours.  Thank you, Shawn."
"I didn't really say much, don't thank me.  It coulda been everybody else telling them to do it that finally made them do it."
"But maybe what you said finally did it."

In any case, they finally got together, in the same room with their father.  I've had a funny feeling for a few days that we are into a period of it being mere days ahead of us.  After our visit last weekend, I wondered if we'd be coming out the following Saturday.