It was a bright, glimmering Sunday morning. Light gently filtered through the soft lace curtains of Joseph's bedroom. Joseph gently flickered his crusted eyelids open as the soft warm light graced his old, worn complexion. He had awoken at the ripe, early hour of 4:34am. He rested for a moment, letting himself gather his thoughts and wiping the crusty eye boogers out of his vision, when he suddenly realized. Oh no, he thought, I slept in! Quickly, as fast as his old bones could move, he rushed to push the call button to summon an attendant to help him go about his morning business.
Not long after, a quick knock arrived at his door and a familiar figure stepped into the room. "Good morning Joseph," greeted Emily, the nursing assistant on duty. "Are you ready to take your meds?" Joseph nodded, and Emily helped him stand up from the bed and situated him with his walker. "Do you need help going to the bathroom again, Joseph?"
"I can manage on my own," Joseph grumbled, moving to the bathroom at a snail's pace. Almost an hour had passed by the time he finished taking care of business, and he hobbled back into his room where Emily was waiting for him. She escorted him to the lounge where many of Joseph's old friends would be. Joseph saw his friend Andrew sitting in an armchair, and a few seats over was Joseph's special friend, Percy. Joseph's neutral demeanor instantly lit up and came to life at the sight of his old friend. Quickly, he rushed with his walker to greet him.
"Bonjour Percy," Joseph greeted him.
Percy trained his old, unfocused eyes on Joseph. "Who are you again?"
"It's me, mon petit lapin, your special friend Joseph."
Percy makes a quick grunt, farts, and then ponders for a moment. "Joseph.... Joseph.... J.... Joseph!" His face then lights up, his silver grains perking up upon remembering his beloved companion.
Joseph strides over with his walker and takes a seat beside Percy. For a second, it almost seemed to Joseph as though his special friend was watching him very closely out of the corner of his eye, when suddenly-
"Alright, seniors, it's time for breakfast!" called Eda, one of the nurses of the facility. Joseph could hardly contain his excitement. It was oatmeal day! He tried to stand up, but ultimately couldn't move. This made him feel quite grumpy.
"Nurse!" he barked, "I need help! Help! Help!!!!!!!" Joseph began to tremble as he desperately called for assistance until finally, one of the local middle school CNA interns, Robbie, came to help.
"Hello Mr. Joseph!" he quickly greeted the old man. In response, Joseph grumbled and motioned for the young boy to help him up. Robbie quickly complied, helping to lift Joseph to his walker and accompany him to the cafeteria line. However, once again, Joseph couldn't help but feel a deep set of eyes piercing into the back of his skull. Not to worry however, because the thought of the warm oatmeal awaiting Joseph quickly replaced the thought and urged his old bones to move faster.
Once Joseph sat down with his tray of oatmeal and a carton of milk, he began to eat. His hands shook as he moved the spoon to his mouth, causing the oatmeal to fall down onto his lap. He hissed at the sudden heat in his lap.
"There's something wrong with this oatmeal!" Joseph hollered after a few more failed attempts to move the substance to his mouth, "It's too gotdang slippery."
"Do you want some of my bran flakes?" asked Percy, who was sitting beside Joseph at the table.
"What did you say?" Joseph questioned, shakily raising his hand to his ear in an attempt to revive his old "listen" ability. It was futile however, as he couldn't hear Percy through his thick tufts of ear hair.
"Oh," said Percy, "I forget."
"Hm."
The two fell into a comfortable silence, and Joseph forgot about his oatmeal, too. He was very excited for the next event of the day, which he didn't remember until Eda and the other assistants began to clear their breakfast trays away while Robbie passed out the Bingo cards.
The Bingo match was going quite well for Joseph, on account of the fact that Andrew had fallen asleep at the table beside him. The poor geezer, aged 67, could hardly make it through the day without a nap every other hour. This was a good thing for Joseph, who was able to cheat and use his Bingo card so that he would have two. Not only that, but before the match, Joseph had placed a peeper by Andrew so that he could see his card at all times.
Percy seemed nervous about something as the match continued.
"What's wrong, mon amie? Having trouble with your Bingo card?" Percy was sweating buckets, but that wasn't anything unusual for the old man. However, he did seem to be glancing around worriedly. He scratched at the back of his neck, disrupting a large and poignant dust cloud of dandruff. Joseph unknowingly inhaled and stifled a thick, raspy cough.
"Actually Joe, I have something to say."
"What is it, mon petit lapin?"
"Well, you see..." There was a long, uncomfortable break between his words as he slowly stood up and lowered himself to the cold tile floor on one knee. He then began to fiddle around with his front shirt pocket, seeming to struggle to unbutton it to remove the object creating the sizable bulge jutting out of his chest. "Johnny, there's something I've been meaning to ask you ever since we met back in the war."
"Yes?" Joseph asked, looking down at his special friend on the floor, disregarding his special friend's mistake. He bit his thin, dry, brittle lip nervously in anticipation.
"Well, what I was wondering is... Will you marry me?"
"Huh? What did you say?" Joseph was in shock, but also genuinely just couldn't really hear all that well. He forgot to use his "listen" ability when Percy had been speaking, and his peeper placed by Andrew's peaceful slumber couldn't read lips.
"Will you make me the happiest old feller in this retirement home, and marry me?"
Joseph practically threw himself out of his chair in excitement. In the background, Emily and Robbie could be seen with astonishment and concern, concerned for Joseph's brittle old body.
"BINGO!" Joseph shouted, looking down at his and Andrew's cards on the table. "Oh, what was that, Percy ma fleur? Sure, I'll marry you."
However, little did the two new lovebirds know that another set of old eyes sat and watched the entire ordeal from afar, seething with jealousy.
