Valentine's Day

Lisa liked to keep a good pace when she walked through the corridors of the Hillside Retirement Home. She was on her way to clean the apartment of the last resident on her list. After that was done she would go home and enjoy a nice Valentine’s Day evening with her boyfriend.

One of the more notorious residents was standing in the doorway of his apartment, waiting to draw the attention of a staff member and lure them inside with complaints about smaller inconveniences like the temperature of the fridge or an imaginary cold draft. It was all just a cry for attention and she normally wouldn’t mind giving him a few minutes of her time, but today she would leave it up to one of her colleagues. She greeted him as friendly as always, but didn’t slow down her pace or asked him how his day was going. As she passed him by, she heard him mumbling incoherently as he realized his routine wouldn’t work on her today.

With more than enough time left on the clock, she arrived at George’s apartment. He was one of the oldest residents at Hillside and suffered from an early stage of dementia. He was still able to stay at the retirement center, but his condition required special care so that he wouldn’t hurt himself or anyone else. She took a moment to listen at the door and she could hear him scuffing around in the apartment. That was a good sign: it meant that he had a good day. On a bad day he would sit in his chair and wouldn’t respond to anything. She knocked on the door and entered his apartment.

George turned around when he heard Lisa opening the door and he gave her a big smile.

“Ah Linda!” He spread his arms to greet her. For some reason Lisa reminded him of his own daughter and he never got her name right. She had given up on correcting him. Instead she just greeted him and started to clean the apartment.

To her surprise, his apartment was a lot tidier than normal.

“Have you been cleaning the apartment yourself today?” She asked him with a surprised tone in her voice.

George laughed as he scuffed towards the dresser, apparently in search of something.

“Of course I did. I couldn’t stand here and wait to see if you would forget about me.”

“You know I wouldn’t forget about you. You’re one of my favorite residents.” She responded.

That wasn’t a lie. George was a great story teller and could talk for hours about all the things he had seen in his life.

But George didn’t seem in the mood for any storytelling and kept

searching for something in the drawers of his dresser.

“Are you looking for something?” She finally asked.

“Oh yes dear. I’m looking for my lighter.”

He wouldn’t find it in his apartment. Lisa knew that they had removed everything that could be harmful to him or anyone else. But she had a lighter in her pocket – one of the perks of a bad habit.

“Why do you need a lighter?” she asked before she would show him her lighter.

“Don’t you know? It’s Valentine’s Day today!” He answered cheerfully. Lisa was surprised that he actually remembered the day.

“He must be having a really good day.” She thought to herself.

George turned around again and grinned. He had the look on his face of a boy who was about to do something naughty.

“I’ve invited Diana over for dinner tonight.” He sounded like a teenager who was about to go on his first date. He pointed at a candle inside a glass bell.

“That’s why I want to light some candles. So that we can have a nice candlelight dinner.”

Lisa gave George a smile and took the candle out of the glass bell. Diana was George’s late wife. She died in a car crash many years ago.

She didn’t want to tell him the truth as it might upset him too much. He deserved to be happy on a day like this, so she lit the candle and placed it back into the glass bell. She would have to inform her colleagues that there was a burning candle in George’s apartment.

He smiled when he saw that the candle was burning and invited Lisa to sit down and wait for Diana to come.

“Have I ever told you how I met Diana?” He asked. Lisa looked at her watch and saw that she still had a few minutes to spare. She couldn’t leave him waiting for Diana the whole evening, so she shook her head and sat down. She’d probably be home a few minutes later than she had planned, but she would probably get a great story in return.

George didn’t disappoint with his story. He remembered the day he met Diana as it was yesterday. It was on the last day of the second World War and his company was chasing the retreating German troops out of Belgium. They had stopped at a small Belgian town – he had forgotten the name of the town – to re-supply when they heard the news about the surrender of Germany. The war was officially over and the news travelled through the small town like wildfire.

He had been celebrating the whole evening when his eyes caught a glimpse of a beautiful young woman, dancing on her own in a field just on the outskirts of the town.

He had walked up to her and had asked her if he could join in on the dance. She had laughed and took his hands. Together, they danced throughout the whole night.

George paused for a minute while he kept smiling. It was nice to see that these memories brought some joy into his life.

“Do you want to know a secret?” He asked.

“Tell me.” Lisa answered.

“Tonight, I’m going to ask her to marry me!”

Lisa acted surprised to go along with George’s story.

“I know it’s fast as we’ve only met a few months ago, but my company is going home next week and I don’t want to leave her behind.”

“You think she’s going to want to go back home with you?”

“Well, there isn’t much left here, is there? Most cities have been bombed during the war and the power of the communists is growing. Who knows what will happen in the next couple of years? I can provide for her if she comes home with me. But we need to be engaged or my commanding officer will not let her on board of the ship.”

“You really love her, don’t you?” Lisa asked.

George laughed. He took an old photo album that laid on the dresser.

Lisa knew how the story would go on from other stories he had told her in the past. Diana would say yes, but they wouldn’t go back to England for another 20 years. Instead he stayed behind and helped her and her family to rebuild the town.

Lisa caught George staring at the candle.

“You know, every time I see a burning flame, it reminds of that moment she was dancing in the field on the day we met.” He stared as if he was hypnotized by the flame. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

A shadow seemed to fall over his face as the light in his eyes slowly faded away.

“My Diana.” He muttered as a tear welled up in his eyes. The album laid open in front of him.

Lisa tried to think of something that would cheer him up again, but she wasn’t able to come up with anything.

“Sometimes they remember where they are.” She thought to herself.

A few seconds passed – they felt like minutes – as she tried to get the conversation going again.

“George?” She asked carefully.

But no answer followed. George was just sitting in silence at the table. The tear rolled over his face, but he wasn’t crying. The light in his eyes was completely gone and he didn’t respond to anything anymore.

Lisa got up in silence, blew out the candle and went home. She tried to save her tears for later.