By Yvonne Mason
Chapter 1
The day started out like any other day. Shift change at the Shady Rest Nursing Home, or as the guests called it the home for people of a certain age, from the twelve-hour night shift to the twelve-hour day shift. The morning staff slowly made their way through the doors, sipping their coffee out of to go cups, with that look of “its morning already?”
Conversations could be heard floating softly down the hallways from the nurse’s station as each “guest” was discussed between the on going and the off going staff. Things like how many times Mr. Elliott in room 212 had pushed his call button because his nurse just happened to be the cute blonde with the blue eyes, and he was starved for company or how many times, Mrs. Hughes had lost her remote to the TV and when it was recovered from under her covers, she would not let the attendant leave. But the most intriguing conversation was between the night nurse by the name of Eric Coppola who was built like a linebacker and the on coming day nurse Sally Pasqual. Eric was regaling Sally with his escapades with one of the long-time guests by the name of Mrs. Amanda Peacock Rochester of the Atlanta Peacocks. The family was old money and still had influence in the state. Her father had been Governor and her mother was the toast of Atlanta Social Society. Ms. Amanda, as she came to be called at Shady Rest, was short, just shy, five feet tall, with beautiful silver hair that shone like a new penny. She was barely one hundred pounds soaking wet but her countenance was someone ten feet tall and bullet proof. She did not suffer fools or stupid people nor did she suffer those who were cruel to children, animals or the elderly or disabled. As a young person that got her in trouble more than once. Her word was her bond and she never made threats, she made promises that could be taken to the bank. She was in perfect health mentally and physically because she still believed in the old ways. Green tea and Vicks Vapor Rub. Those two things were a cure all for just about anything. If Ms. Amanda said, “Bless Your Heart” in a conversation it could be either an insult or sympathy depending on who the conversation was about or who was talking. As a child her parents had given up on her because they said she was too strong-willed to deal with. She basically raised herself even though there had been a nanny or two to watch over her. However, they never lasted long because they could not bend her to their will. If the truth be told she was born way ahead of her time.
Mrs. Peacock had never gone by her married name because it was not as well known in polite society as her maiden name. This rubbed her in laws wrong as they wanted to climb that social ladder through their daughter in law. Her late husband though the most sought-after bachelor in Atlanta, was a scoundrel. The only reason Ms. Peacock married him was because she had been caught in a compromising position as a young girl. It wasn’t that she had really done anything wrong, but it looked that way. And she was of course young and foolish. Their marriage was not set on a solid foundation and her husband, one, Mr. Robert Rochester, continued his errant ways until one day he didn’t. One day he just disappeared and was never found. Search parties looked for days. They dredged the lake on the estate, walked the hundreds of treed acres but to no avail. He was just gone without a trace. Mrs. Amanda Peacock was, to say the least, bereft. Her in laws, livid and her parents well, they just kept on being the Belles of the Social Society.
“Every time I tried, the old bat not only did her best to bite me, she kicked me like she was two years old. I didn’t know that old woman had that much strength much less energy left. At her age she should be dead by now.” Eric leaned back in his chair as he laced his fingers behind his head and grinning like the famed Cheshire Cat. Continuing with his tirade, he said, “She kept calling me boy instead of Sir. You know how much I hate that.”
Sally dreading to ask the question did, anyway, cringing as she knew what the answer might be.
“So just what did you do to help Mrs. Peacock get ready for bed?”
Laughing, Eric said, “I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I physically picked her up out of her chair and put her to bed. Then as an added measure to make sure she stayed put, I put her in restraints.”
Upon hearing this, Sally spun on her heel and ran toward Mrs. Peacock’s room, knowing that they now possibly had a lawsuit on their hands. Holding her breath and pushing open the door she came to a sudden stop. Sally blinked her eyes to make sure that what she saw was really what she saw. There sat Mrs. Peacock, all prim and proper dressed to the nines and not a hair out of place in her rocking chair by the window with her Bible on her lap and a smile on her face.
Looking up she greeted Sally. “Good morning, child, why are you in such a hurry? Are you being chased by the devil himself? I have been up for hours doing my daily devotional and giving thanks for a new day on this side of the dirt. If I must be stuck here, I might as well make the best of it.”
Ms. Amanda, as her close friends still called her, never had children. In fact, children had never been on her bucket list. She specifically never wanted to have them with Mr. Rochester. The only reason she came to Shady Rest was because she had heard rumors and those rumors did not live up to her standards. She decided to investigate. The only way to do it was to become a guest and live it day to day. So, she pretended that she had no recourse but to come to Shady Rest to live out her remaining days.
Taking a deep breath, Sally responded, “I was worried about you. Eric said that he had to restrain you last night because you tried to bite him, and you kicked him. I wanted to make sure that you were not still restrained.”
Mrs. Peacock, a southern born and bred lady smiled at the young one who stood in front of her with lines of worry on her face.
“Child, stop frowning, it will give you wrinkles. I am fine. Mr. Coppola should know better than to try and undress a woman of my age. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Just because I have a bit of age on me and sometimes am unsteady, I don’t need anyone especially a man who is not my husband, God rest his soul, to undress me. That was not only rude it was extremely bad mannered. Apparently, his mother did not raise him right. Not only that he has the foulest mouth I have ever heard. No respect at all. I should have taken my stick to his sitting down place and taught him respect. Bless His Heart!”
Sally stood in the doorway wanting to ask how Mrs. Peacock managed to be so perfectly put together so early in the morning. But her better judgement prevailed, and she refrained. She was also very curious as to how she had managed to free herself from the restraints, but again she kept her own council. She had also been raised in the old South at the knee of her grandmother and great grandmother and had been taught the rules of etiquette very early in life. One just did not ask personal questions unless the subject was broached by the elder.
Instead, she asked, “May I bring you anything or would you prefer to go to the dining room for breakfast?”
Mrs. Peacock looked out the window and sighed. “I think I shall visit my fellow inmates this morning. I shall be there shortly as soon as I finish business here. But you child, carry on with your duties. Don’t worry about me. I am fine.”
She winked at Sally and turned back to her Bible. Sally taking that as her dismissal turned and walked back toward the nurse’s station to finish her conversation with Eric. Little did she know that Mrs. Peacock was chuckling as Sally walked out the door.
Eric was just gathering his things together when Sally returned. “Eric, wait a minute. I have something to say to you. Do you understand we have a potential lawsuit on our hands? Mrs. Peacock’s family could take us to court, and it would be filmed at 11. We could be shut down or cited for this. What were you thinking?”
Eric looked at Sally as she gave her tirade, like she was a petulant child. “Sally, Sally, Sally, no one is going to do anything. That ole bat is looney tunes, and no one will pay her any attention. She has no family; no visitors and she is just another old person sent here to die. The sooner the better, I say.”
Eric paid no attention to the fact that the entire nurse’s station had grown deathly quiet during his soliloquy. Residents on their way to the dining hall, stopped in their tracks, nurses stood in mid action with their mouths open in disbelief. Even housekeeping stopped their cleaning at these unbelievable words. But one person paid close attention to the man who was the center of attention. This person listened intently with his hand in his pocket. He was a tall man with a head full of silver hair, black eyes and a long angular face. He did not look like he should be in a nursing home. No one really paid him much attention as he was self-sufficient and one of his looks would send the staff scurrying from his sight. His name was Andrew Jackson and he had a very storied history.
Mr. Jackson while not born in Georgia, but in Virginia used to tell folks that he got there as quick as he could. He had all the earmarks of a true southern gentleman. He still tipped his head to the ladies, he offered them his arm, and he opened doors for them. He was respectful, charming and witty. That is until he was crossed. Then he could and would become quite unmovable.
Turning away from the conversation he moved toward a room he knew very well and without knocking entered. He had much to discuss with the person within.
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