Visiting a friend in hospital

A nurse looks up. “Goodness! Are you here to sign books?” “I think I’m lost.”

Bless her, or I’d still be roaming the corridors.

The next time I visit, I know where to go, but the door won’t open. It wasn’t locked the last time. Someone luckily comes along and opens it for me. That’s when I notice the sign on the door saying ring for entry. How long would I have been there not noticing that sign?

Have a lovely, but short visit. I am ready to flee the moment she yawns. I bring her two banana muffins. The least I could’ve done was bring her three.

I managed to scrounge a loonie and toonie from hubby before I left for the hospital, so I can leave the parking lot. I put the toonie in, no problem. Then, I put the loonie in and it falls to the coin return slot and the gate won’t open. Now I have to back up the car because I’m too close to open the door. I squeeze my way between the door and the machine, retrieve the loonie and push the coin in the slot more forcefully. Clink.

I end up getting that darn coin out of the return slot six more times. If it wasn’t for the lady who pulled up behind me in a truck and got out to wave her badge at the machine, I’d still be there.

I sure hope my friend comes home soon.

Lesley Crewe is a writer living in, and loving, Cape Breton. These are the meandering musings of a bored housewife whose ungrateful kids left her alone with a retired husband. Since all her pets have now died, she’s very cranky. Her 11th book, Are You Kidding Me?! Chronicles of an Ordinary Life, (a collection of her various columns over the past 20 years), will be available in book stores in September 2019.