My truck chugged along the roads of Forks and pushed towards a roaring 50 mph as I passed the "Leaving Forks" town sign. The nursing home was on the bank of the Sol Duc River, tucked away in the woods. An enormous lawn and six primordial cedar trees flanked the driveway. I pulled my truck up to the parking lot which wrapped around the small white house on one side.
A woman bouncy young woman with chestnut hair welcomed me at the front door and began a tour. She spoke so fast. I couldn't remember if she said her name was Doris or Dolores. "This is the front desk," she pointed to the wooden desk we were just standing at.
"Over here is our dinning room." The small room had about twenty tables that sat two comfortably. Each space was laid out, ready for the dinner rush which began at 4 p.m. on the dot.
"The residents sleep and live back there," she said pointing in the direction of a long hallway. "And the nurses are stationed here."
Soon, she was ushering me into the recreational room where thirty residents were in various stages of sleep. "This is Mrs. Bloom and Mr. Chien," she explained pointing to a couple playing a lethargic game of chess. Neither one looked up to greet me when I said hi.
"Oh well," Dolores or Doris said when they did not respond. "Well, you and I can talk for a while."
She pointed an unused sofa in the far corner of the room under a picture window. "Is it always like this?" I asked.
"Most of the time. They really get going when it's dinner time or when their relatives come to visit. That's why it's important that we get this program going. Some of these people are just floundering here."
"Hmmm," I said. This is going to be impossible. How am I going to sell this to the senior class? "Tell me more about the residents. I need to find an angle to get more people interested in volunteering."
"Well," she began. "We're a live-in facility. Our residents range from Mrs. Bloom, you met her," she said with a wave to Mrs. Bloom who ignored her. "She'll be eighty-four next week to our oldest resident who is one hundred and five."
A century of life to end up in this dump, I thought looking around at all the faces. This won't be hard …. It's going to be impossible.
"Can I speak with some of them? See what kinds of things they like to do or, you know, might be interested in doing when the other high schoolers get here?"
"Sure," she answered. "Why don't you start with Ms. De'olosis over there? She's awake now."
Doris, or Dolores or who ever she was, walked me over to Ms. De'olosis. "Please call me Marj." The woman rasped in between her smoker's hack.
"Tell me about yourself," I asked plopping down in the love seat next to us. I watched as the young woman with the chestnut hair wandered off leaving me alone with the wizened old lady.
"… so then my sister and I took our act on the road. Barnum and Bailey's pick us up and …"
My attention snapped back to the woman whom I realized I had not been paying attention to. "You did what, Marj? You joined the circus?"
"Sure, sweetie," she answered me with a smile. "Everyone was doing that back then. The war was over. We had the bomb and everyone was in right high spirits. So Evelyn and I joined the circus and took our tight rope act on the road again …"
Her voice droned on and lulled me back into my daze. Minutes later, a voice announcing dinner spoke up over the loudspeaker and startled both Marj and I out of the naps we had fallen into.
Most of the residents in the room began shifting and moving about, reaching for the brakes on their wheelchairs, walkers or canes. A few moved without aid and helped the others through the doors to join the crowd moving through the hall towards the dinner.
Getting up to find the woman with the chestnut hair to tell her I was leaving for the day and would be back tomorrow, I noticed an old man sitting tall in a high backed chair. The chair faced the window that overlooked the Sol Duc River and the forests beyond.
Doesn't he want dinner? I thought. I walked over to his chair and cleared my throat. "Excuse me, sir?" I asked hesitantly. "Do you want some help getting to the dining room?"
With a slight tilt of his head, the elderly gentleman turned his head towards mine. "No, Bella. Thank you for asking though."
He knew my name. His gentle green eyes took in my hair, my face and the hand I had extended to help him out of his chair. "Thank you. But I think I will just take my tea in here."
My mouth hung open. "How do you know my name?" I asked astonished.
He chuckled and smiled a crooked grin. He pointed to my chest. I looked down. The woman with the chestnut hair had insisted I write my name on sticker. It was still clinging to my shirt. "Isabella Swan," he said. "You wouldn't be Charlie Swan's daughter?"
"Yes," I answered. Still taken aback, I repeated my first question. "Would you like to go to the dining room?"
"No, I would rather my tea here with you, if you wish?" he asked, a smile playing across his lips.
I looked around the room and realized that both tea and coffee carafes were displayed on a serving cart. "Can I help you?" I asked walking to the cart. I brought back the tea carafe, two cups, two saucers, the milk and the sugar bowl. The gentleman watched, unmoving, as I poured out a portion of tea for him and then one for myself.
He took the saucer and cup from the table and sipped, soundlessly. "Would you like me to tell you about myself?" he asked in a lilting voice.
I nodded my head still transfixed by the blazing green eyes peering at me out of the wrinkled face. "I was born in Chicago in 1901…"