Full Moon

        Full Moon

Suzanne Marsh

Snowstorm was covering the area way to quickly; the phones were ringing off the hooks no one could make it into work due to roads closing. That meant that second shift would have an all nighter. The other problem was the moon was full, that was normally when the residents of the nursing home I worked for would be more restless than usual. I was on south wing, when the nursing supervisor informed me, I would have to work all night. I moaned but no one could get out the snow was almost three feet by the end of second shift.

Second shift had the job of putting all the residents to bed, third shift had to deal with keeping them there. Most of the residents were in their eighties or nineties, some their minds were still in tact others not so much so. It was going on midnight when a voice rang out from north wing:

“Henry, Henry Henrich where are you?”

I knew who that was her voice had a shrillness that could cut through glass. That awakened her roommate a Mrs. Bagiloni, she got up and began yelling:

“FIRE, FIRE, FIRE.” Residents began to appear in their doorways, on south wing. This was not a good thing, because we had to get them back to bed. Now it became a game of cat and mouse, the residents after realizing there was no fire, returned for the most part back to their beds. There were several we had to chase down. One old fellow decided he belonged in the activities area and was attempting to set up a tent. An old lady was trying to make tea, from a wiffle ball. There definitely was a full moon tonight.

Every so often I would find myself peering out the window, all I saw was snow and more snow. This was going to be more than an all nighter at the rate things were going. I was snapped out of my reverie when a resident with one slipper on and one slipper in her hand trying to find Henry. I pursued Mrs. Henrich down the hall, promptly turned her around and headed her back for north wing. I was supposed to be on south wing that night but like most everything else that night north wing needed more help than we did on south. One of the girls noted Mrs. Henrich and escorted her back to her bed. Unfortunately Mrs. Henrich decided that sleep was out of the question, no sooner had they gotten her back to her room, when once again from the depths of north wing rang the voice:

“Henry, Henry Henrich, where are you? You need to change your clothes.”

I sighed and thought: ‘here we go again.’ That was when north wing noticed that Mrs. Baglioni was missing. Now all of us were looking for her, noon had the slightest idea where she was. It was like hide and seek with my elders. Somehow during her first trip down the hall yelling; “fire, fire.” She made a pit stop in the bathroom. She was also returned to north wing.

Three o’clock and all was not well. The patients on north wing were raising cane between Mrs. Henrich and search for Henry, then deciding it was Hurbert she wanted. Mrs. Baglioni had for the umpteenth time gotten out of her posey and was racing up and down the hall yell:

“Fire, Fire, Fire!!!!”

That of course had the south wing residents in an uproar like no other, any of us had experienced up until tonight.

One of the elderly men on south wing decided he was going outside; the alarm began to sound; each and every aide came running from all directions. The home was on a very busy thoroughfare, his going outside in his pajamas was even worse, we had to coax him back in, however Mr. Peacock had a mind of his own that was somewhat intact. He decided if the place were on fire, it would be smart to get out before things became worse. Finally, Suzy caught up with Mr. Peacock, she convinced him was snowing and too cold to be outside. He came back in, unwillingly but he did come in. There was no doubt in my sleep deprived brain that there was a full moon or Friday the thirteenth, whatever it was fast becoming a nightmare.

The nursing supervisor had her hands full, trying to keep everyone calm. The charge nurse sent for me when Mrs. Babcock fell and cracked her skull. The nursing supervisor located me:

“They need you on north wing, Mrs. Babcock fell, Nancy has bad hands, it sounds as if the

woman needs to have her head stitched. Do you think you can do it?”

I did not see that there were to many choices, I am a lowly LPN, I was hired to pass out medications nothing more. I sighed and began to trudge down the corridor to north wing. Katie, an aide came out of Mrs. Babcock’s room:

“I sure hope you have stronger stomach than I do.”

“Why? All the supervisor told me was that Mrs. Babcock fell.”

“She left out the most important part, when she fell, she cut her head open, she needs

several stitches at least.”

I, sighed once again and thought: ‘why not? This entire night was insane, what more could possibly happen?

I should have known better, it was almost six in the morning, the home was socked in, we had lights, food but it would be hours before a plow could get through. The snow was as high as the roof, which did not bode well. I just hoped the roof would hold under the weight of the snow. Once again, the wind began to howl, the snow began to blow and drifts formed that were way to high, they were past the doors. The doors would not open, it looked like we would be here for days. The very thought was almost impossible to deal with, I needed a shower, I wanted my nice warm bed. The news station came on:

“Due to the blizzard, we are suggesting that everyone remain in place for at least several days.”

The blizzard had dumped snow it was up to the high tension wires, the plows were attempting to clear the roads, so that meant the “all nighter” was now going to go on for several days at least. Lucky me!