is rhetorical anyway, as they are in the office before Laura can do anything other than smile nervously. She is invited to sit down.
“I’m afraid there has been an incident this morning,” says Mrs Benjamin. She removes her glasses and polishes them vigorously for a while, as if this action will distract them both from what she is about to say. Laura watches as she holds them up for scrutiny before replacing them on her nose. She waits, braced for whatever it is; leans forward and grips the handle of her bag tighter. For God’s sake, woman, spit it out!
“As I say, there was an incident involving your mother. She became agitated, angry, with another resident – we haven’t yet been able to establish what triggered it – and there was some physical contact. Don’t worry, your mother wasn’t hurt, but I’m afraid she went outside during the commotion that followed and somehow managed to leave the premises. We will conduct a full investigation, obviously, but ...”
“Hang on a minute,” says Laura. “You mean she was outside, on the road? How long was she out there – or is she even back?”
Panic sweeps over her. The Willows is on the edge of a village, with a drive that leads off a country lane. There is no footpath on that side of the road and it can be quite busy, especially during the morning and evening rush hours and the school run. Her mother would have known the village in the old days, before all this started, as there is a good food pub in the centre and they ate there from time to time. However, Laura doubts she would have a clue where she was if she went outside now.
“Yes, don’t worry, we found her very quickly. She had crossed the road and was walking back into the village, so there was no harm done. But I’m afraid it has highlighted a problem we were already beginning to see.” She pauses and Laura waits for her to take off her glasses and polish them again, but she doesn’t. She picks up a pen from the desk in front of her instead.
“You can probably guess what I’m about to say,” says Mrs Benjamin, but Laura does not feel inclined to fill in the gaps for her and says nothing. She watches as she puts down the pen, sits back in her chair and folds her arms.
“When we agreed to take your mother – Judy – we understood that it would be for a short time, to give you the space to sort out her house and put some support into place. I think we were talking about two or three weeks at the time. You also told us that she was confused and forgetful but mostly quite calm. I know it has proved to be a bigger task than you thought, and we were happy to be flexible about continuing the arrangement, but I’m afraid we have been seeing a different Judy in the last couple of weeks. She is becoming quite difficult to manage at times and we are not a dementia specialist home, as I told you when you first approached us. I’m sorry, and I know it wouldn’t be ideal for your mother to have to move twice, but I’m afraid we can’t meet her needs or guarantee her safety, and I would like you to make arrangements to move her as soon as possible. I really am sorry.”
There doesn’t seem to be much more to say. Laura feels that she should be angrier. She can already hear the criticism in Kelly’s voice, questioning her passive acceptance of all this, but really she knows Mrs Benjamin is right. They haven’t made anything like the headway with the house that they had first envisaged, that day a few weeks back at the emergency meeting. It had been a couple of days after the Lydia incident and they had all been fired with, well, something like enthusiasm although that did not seem like an appropriate word. It was that feeling that follows the taking of a difficult decision when it cannot be avoided any longer. Everyone was going to help. They would sort out the house, contact the agencies, arrange some kind of a rota and it would all be resolved in a couple of weeks.
“No! It can’t be that
“I’m afraid there has been an incident this morning,” says Mrs Benjamin. She removes her glasses and polishes them vigorously for a while, as if this action will distract them both from what she is about to say. Laura watches as she holds them up for scrutiny before replacing them on her nose. She waits, braced for whatever it is; leans forward and grips the handle of her bag tighter. For God’s sake, woman, spit it out!
“As I say, there was an incident involving your mother. She became agitated, angry, with another resident – we haven’t yet been able to establish what triggered it – and there was some physical contact. Don’t worry, your mother wasn’t hurt, but I’m afraid she went outside during the commotion that followed and somehow managed to leave the premises. We will conduct a full investigation, obviously, but ...”
“Hang on a minute,” says Laura. “You mean she was outside, on the road? How long was she out there – or is she even back?”
Panic sweeps over her. The Willows is on the edge of a village, with a drive that leads off a country lane. There is no footpath on that side of the road and it can be quite busy, especially during the morning and evening rush hours and the school run. Her mother would have known the village in the old days, before all this started, as there is a good food pub in the centre and they ate there from time to time. However, Laura doubts she would have a clue where she was if she went outside now.
“Yes, don’t worry, we found her very quickly. She had crossed the road and was walking back into the village, so there was no harm done. But I’m afraid it has highlighted a problem we were already beginning to see.” She pauses and Laura waits for her to take off her glasses and polish them again, but she doesn’t. She picks up a pen from the desk in front of her instead.
“You can probably guess what I’m about to say,” says Mrs Benjamin, but Laura does not feel inclined to fill in the gaps for her and says nothing. She watches as she puts down the pen, sits back in her chair and folds her arms.
“When we agreed to take your mother – Judy – we understood that it would be for a short time, to give you the space to sort out her house and put some support into place. I think we were talking about two or three weeks at the time. You also told us that she was confused and forgetful but mostly quite calm. I know it has proved to be a bigger task than you thought, and we were happy to be flexible about continuing the arrangement, but I’m afraid we have been seeing a different Judy in the last couple of weeks. She is becoming quite difficult to manage at times and we are not a dementia specialist home, as I told you when you first approached us. I’m sorry, and I know it wouldn’t be ideal for your mother to have to move twice, but I’m afraid we can’t meet her needs or guarantee her safety, and I would like you to make arrangements to move her as soon as possible. I really am sorry.”
There doesn’t seem to be much more to say. Laura feels that she should be angrier. She can already hear the criticism in Kelly’s voice, questioning her passive acceptance of all this, but really she knows Mrs Benjamin is right. They haven’t made anything like the headway with the house that they had first envisaged, that day a few weeks back at the emergency meeting. It had been a couple of days after the Lydia incident and they had all been fired with, well, something like enthusiasm although that did not seem like an appropriate word. It was that feeling that follows the taking of a difficult decision when it cannot be avoided any longer. Everyone was going to help. They would sort out the house, contact the agencies, arrange some kind of a rota and it would all be resolved in a couple of weeks.
“No! It can’t be that
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