Second Chance Retirement Home

Another day, another dream. It was a recurring dream that had plagued Erika for as long as she could remember. Perhaps ‘plague’ isn’t quite the right word; the dream itself was never inherently bad, after all. It felt like a distant memory, and every detail of the dream was intense and alive. She could feel the golden sunlight beating down on her fair skin. She could feel the wobble of the big, floppy hat that sat atop her head of ginger curls as the faint breeze threatened to lift it away. The skirt of her long white dress brushed against the stalks of sunflowers that towered above her petite frame, and a hand was holding hers.

Every time she turned her head to look at her mysterious beau, though, the dream came to an abrupt end and she was thrust back into reality. If this man had a face, she couldn’t see or remember it. As vivid and intense as the dream was, though, it had to be just that: a dream. After all, how could a tall, bronze-skinned, single woman have memories of being a petite, fair-skinned woman walking with her lover in a field of sunflowers? It just didn’t make sense. It wasn’t even a longing sort of wish, for Erika was quite happy and confident with the person she was. Some days, though, she secretly found herself waking from the dream and wishing it had never ended, wishing she was still in that perfect moment.

Today was not one of those days, however. Today, the dream faded quickly from Erika’s mind as she readied herself for her first day at work. After a couple months of handing out countless resumes and coming out of job interviews disappointed, she had received an offer from not just any retirement home, but from the fanciest and most prestigious retirement home in the area: Second Chance Retirement Community. They were located on the outskirts of town and housed only the wealthiest of the region’s elderly. Erika had submitted a resume to them some months back but had never dreamt that they would be the home to hire her.

It was a bit of a drive, but the wages they offered would more than justify the gas she would burn to get there and back. She had tied her dark hair into a neat bun and she wore a plain set of teal scrubs, figuring she could break out the fun, patterned scrubs only after she’d become accustomed to the new environment and figured out whether that would be frowned upon or not. She was nearly bursting with excitement but she knew that she was going to need to contain herself. This was going to be a fancy, high-end environment, and they’d probably have high expectations for her behaviour. She had to be the best version of herself that she could be.

“Good morning, Erika.” The hiring manager was waiting for her by the gate when she pulled up, much to Erika’s surprise. She rolled down the window and leaned out somewhat. “I hope you haven’t been waiting here long!” she said, but the manager, a stocky brunette by the name of Beth, shook her head. “Not at all. You arrived approximately nine minutes early for your interview, so we assumed the same would apply today. I’ve only been here a minute or so. It seems our calculations were correct.”

Erika wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that, so she just smiled and asked where she should park for the day. Once Beth had directed her to the staff parking lot and she was confident her valuables were safely locked away and out of sight, Erika joined Beth and they headed inside.

During her interview, Erika had seen only a small part of the building. She’d been taken in through an administration entrance and had stayed only in a lobby and office area meant for staff, so she had yet to see the parts of the building inhabited by the residents. As such, Beth told her, the first day was just going to be a matter of familiarizing herself with the building and general procedures. “You’ll be shadowing Maya for a few days before you start assisting with any tasks, so you’ve got an easy week ahead of you,” Beth explained as they entered an office and were met by a dark-skinned woman with braids who Erika could only assume must have been Maya.

“Good morning! You must be Erika, I’m Maya. It’s nice to meet you!” the braided woman said in a cheerful, singsong sort of voice. The bottoms of her scrubs were a vibrant shade of pink, while the top was black with a bold pink floral pattern on it. Mental note to self: patterned scrubs are absolutely allowed. Time for Erika to break out the pair with the cute puppies tomorrow.

And, so, for the first half of the day, Erika followed Maya around the home while she did her morning rounds. Erika watched attentively as Maya administered medication to residents, helped them to get ready for the day, and assisted them down to breakfast. It was a bit difficult to just watch, knowing that she was trained and qualified enough to step in and help out but not being allowed to do so for a few days. Erika felt guilty whenever she walked past a resident who was clearly waiting for assistance downstairs, and all she could offer them was a smile.

The dining hall was more like a high school cafeteria than Erika had been expecting, with big round tables surrounded by chatty seniors. They were talking animatedly amongst themselves, and while Erika stood at Maya’s side to supervise and watch for any trouble, she noticed that these seniors were exceedingly kind to one another – not just for rich folks, but for people in general. She couldn’t count on her fingers the number of times she spotted a slightly more able-bodied old person stop to pick something up that had dropped from the grip of a less able-bodied friend, or the number of times she saw them sharing their food amongst themselves, or the number of times she saw one lady in particular grab the water pitcher to top off her friends’ cups.

“These people are all really lovely,” Erika remarked to Maya after half an hour or so of observing this. “They’re so kind to one another.”

“Of course! Here at Second Chance, our slogan is ‘Be your best while you’re at your worst’!” said Maya.

Erika looked over at her in confusion. “It is?” she asked. “I didn’t see that written on any of the hiring paperwork, and I haven’t seen it posted. Are you messing with me?”

Maya laughed and gently tapped the side of her nose. “Ask any of the residents and they’ll tell you. It sounds kind of morbid, though, doesn’t it? So, we don’t really advertise it. It’s sort of an unofficial slogan,” she said.

Erika nodded. “It does sound kind of morbid. I don’t think any of these people are at their worst. Being old isn’t some sort of curse, it’s just… another stage of life. They’ve spent so many years learning, improving themselves, seeing the world – the stories and memories they have to share are just…” Erika’s voice trailed off a bit and she smiled. The minds of the elderly had always fascinated her, ever since she was a little girl sitting on her grandfather’s lap. It was why she had decided to pursue this career path in the first place.

Maya opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, presumably some sort of response to Erika’s remarks, but before she could share the wisdom she had garnered from working here, a tall blond man in electric green scrubs seemed to materialize as if out of nowhere. “Maya, I need to borrow the new girl for a hot minute.”

“Can it wait, Cam? We were-“

“No, it’s a Code Sapphire.”

A knowing sort of look came to Maya’s face, but Erika was just confused. She was familiar with the colour-code systems used in medical facilities, but she’d never heard of a Code Sapphire.

“Right. Okay. We’re all about learning opportunities. Erika, go with Cam and meet me back here when you’re done,” said Maya while Erika racked her brain, trying to decide what a Code Sapphire could be. Red was fire, black was a bomb threat, green was an evacuation, silver was a gun threat… what could sapphire be, though?”

“Come on, newbie, we don’t have a lot of time,” said Cam, and when he turned and left, Erika followed. He was walking briskly and she had to almost jog to keep up with his long legs.

“What’s a Code Sapphire?” Erika asked as she tried to keep pace with him.

“You’ll see,” Cam said, pushing open a door near the elevators and beginning to hurry up the utility stairs. “Just don’t say anything. Save all questions for the end. Code Sapphire and Code Ruby are important parts of our work here at Second Chance, so you’ll need to watch closely and eventually learn how to handle them yourself.”

Judging by Cam’s words, this couldn’t be some sort of emergency situation, not if it was an important part of their work. It must have been some sort of unique, special code used only in this home, but what sort of situation could be so unique and important they had to invent entirely new codes to communicate about it?

A few flights of stairs later, they were on a residential floor and Cam was leading her towards a resident’s room. A few employees were gathered outside the door and they all eyed Erika somewhat as she approached with Cam.

“New girl.”

“First Sapphire, eh?” asked one of the girls, a redhead in polka-dotted green scrubs. “You never forget your first.”

“That sounds so ominous,” Erika said, a little out of breath from hurrying up the stairs after Cam, and the others all laughed.

“Go on in. Ade was just about to get started,” the redhead said, jerking her thumb towards the door.

Cam pushed open the door and stepped inside, holding the door open for Erika before letting it fall shut. A muscular, dark-skinned man in boldly patterned red and yellow scrubs was sitting in a chair beside the bed, carefully attaching some sort of monitor to the limp wrist of an elderly man lying motionless in the bed.

“Is he-“

“Dead, yes. Shh – we can’t say anything or we might mess with the readings,” Cam said. “Erika, this is Ademola. Ade, this is the new girl, Erika.”

“Welcome, Erika,” said Ade, reaching up from his seat to shake Erika’s hand. He had a firm handshake, a thick accent, and a big, bright smile. “I know you are probably confused, but just sit tight and watch and we’ll answer all your questions at the end.”

Erika nodded, nervously standing beside Cam. She was almost afraid to say anything, given what he had said about messing with the readings. A black briefcase sat on the floor beside Ademola, and when he reached down to open it up, he pulled out a laptop. He set the laptop down on the bed, beside the lifeless figure of the old man, and as he started connecting the wrist monitor to the laptop, Erika leaned over to get a good look at the man. A notebook sitting on the end table featured the name Larry Thompson, and given that this withered old man with his wisps of white hair looked like a Larry, she was inclined to assume that was his name.

Ademola pulled a small microphone from the suitcase and plugged it into the laptop’s USB port. He flipped a switch and then brought the microphone close to his lips.

“Mr. Thompson, can you hear me?” Ade said, speaking directly into the microphone in a low, even voice.

There was a moment’s pause. Ade was just about to reach for the laptop, presumably to make some sort of adjustments, when a voice came through the laptop’s speakers. “Yes.”

Erika’s dark eyes went wide. Was that the dead man? Had he somehow just spoken to Ade through the computer? Did this have to do with the wrist monitor? Cam reached over and patted her shoulder, as if recognizing how stunned she was and trying to offer her some reassurance. All her questions would be answered at the end.

“Wonderful, Mr. Thompson. This is Ademola, do you remember me?”

“I do. The African-American fellow, stopped by a few times a week to give me my meds. Right…?” the man asked, his own voice speaking as if unsure of himself.

Ade chuckled. “Yes, sir, you’re exactly right,” he said. “Now listen. I’m sorry to have to break this news to you, Mr. Thompson, but you are dead now.”

There was a silence. “Well, shoot,” said the old man finally.

“Yes, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, it’s all right. It’s just my time, I guess.”

“Mr. Thompson, you were one of our most exemplary residents. Always helping others, so thoughtful and kind even when your body was failing you. Because of that, we’re going to be taking a few minutes now, before you cross over, to adjust some of your core memories. I see we’ve got a few core memories already in here from the last time you passed away, is this right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Great. Now, I know you had some dementia before passing over, but now you should be able to clearly remember the details of this last lifetime. Are there any memories or lessons you want us to set as core memories for you? You know the drill already, of course – you won’t necessarily remember them, but they’ll always be with you in some way. Maybe in your dreams, or a sense of déjà vu, things like that.”

There was some silence for a moment. After a minute or so, Ade looked over at Cam. “Did we lose him?” asked Cam.

“Mr. Thompson?” Ade asked, speaking into the microphone.

“Sorry. I’m still here. I was just thinking,” said the voice of the old man through the computer. “I don’t think I have any memories from this life that are important enough to keep in the next.”

Cam looked confused by this statement, as did Ade.

“Well, all right, Mr. Thompson. You’re fine with the current core memories we have installed? I only see two here.”

“Two is all I need,” answered the old man. “See, in my last life I spoke fluent Italian, so I had the technicians back then save my knowledge of Italian. I didn’t come into this life knowing it, of course, but the language always interested me and I had a knack for it when I picked it up again. I didn’t know it at the time, but… it was because of that core memory, wasn’t it?”

“That would be correct,” said Ade.

“Then I’ll keep the Italian. And the other core memory is that memory of my wife, Eliza.”

“That’s correct,” Ade confirmed.

“That’s the most important memory to me, Mr. Ademola. See, I never married in this life, but every night when I went to sleep I got to see Eliza. I saw her walking with me in the sunflowers, laughing and smiling and holding my hand. The sun was shining… she looked so beautiful. A vision in white, you could say.” The man paused, his voice getting a bit choked up at this point as if he was on the verge of tears, even though he was just a voice on a computer. “She had red hair, brown eyes, and the most beautiful smile. She’s my most important core memory. She’s the reason I came to Second Chance: so I never have to forget her face, no matter how many lifetimes I live.”

Erika’s heart just about stopped.

“That’s beautiful Mr. Thompson. Well, then, it looks like your core memories are all set. I’ve also backed up your knowledge of the English language, so if you’re born elsewhere and you want to speak English it should come easier to you. I hope that’s all right.”

“It is.”

“Well then, Mr. Thompson, have a great journey. It’s been a pleasure serving you here at Second Chance Retirement Home.”

“Wait!” Erika said. She dashed forward as Ade lowered the microphone from his mouth, but Cam grabbed her by the waist and yanked her backwards.

“Erika!” he scolded.

“I need to talk to him!” Erika wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but she could feel the dampness of tears on her cheeks and the stinging of more tears left unshed in her eyes.

“It’s too late,” said Ademola, setting down the microphone and turning to face Cam and Erika. He had that eternal friendly white smile on his face. “Don’t worry, though! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk to the deceased residents when you learn to work them through the Code Sapphire and Code Ruby procedures. Unfortunately, this man is already gone.”