ESCAPE!

My mom is doing rehab in a nursing home after a bout of pneumonia. The nursing home she is in is an older one, and smaller than previous ones she has stayed in. But it does have some dementia patients, so all the exits have electronic keypads and you have to key in a code to be able to leave without setting off the alarm.

I went to visit my mom tonight and had a couple of bags of requested stuff in my hands. I go in the front door, being sure to keep hold of the door so I can pull it closed so no one could escape.

I practically get ran over by a little old black lady as she tries to get around me.

I pulled the door closer to me and don't let her pass. She says something to me as she tries to go around me. I think she said something about needing me to hold the door for her but I wasn't sure because she had her head down and she was about 6 inches shorter than me and I am pretty sure I am going deaf in my old age.

I said politely, no ma'am I don't think I can do that, and I tried to pull the door closed.

She said something else I couldn't make out, so I bent over some so I could hear her better (and I noticed her slippered feet) and asked her what she had said. She repeated that she had to get home, she lived right around the corner.

I told her I didn't think so and she was all surprised and said what, but I live around the corner. I pointed at her feet and said but you're wearing slippers.

At this point, in the back of my mind, I started wondering if I was wrong and if maybe she was just visiting and did just live around the corner. I look around for someone else to ask if she is a resident or not, but no one is there.

Luckily, by this time the alarm on the door has started to go off because I have been holding the door open for longer than 15 seconds.

And then she shoved me! She didn't look like she would be very strong but she knocked me off balance and went zipping out the door.

I had a moment of indecision then. Do I go after her and try and bring her back? Just how much can I do without getting in trouble since I don't work for the nursing home?

I looked back at the lady and she was doing a fairly slow old lady shuffle, so I decided she wouldn't be able to get too far. I took off down the hallway to find someone who did work there.

Someone was already running towards the front door and the alarm. I told them I was just coming to get help and that she was right outside the front door. When the worker opened the door to go out I could see the lady, so I was right, she hadn't gotten far, thank goodness.

But let this be a lesson to you: Never under estimate the power of crazy - especially when they are making a break for FREEDOM!