spaceship boat rides

"That boat in the sky is still there", you tell me this morning.

****************************************************

This evening you say "That spaceship across the street is running again".

"Are they still giving rides, do you actually see them giving rides?", I ask.

"Just short ones................

..............This has got to be a good thing for that building.  Money making, and you can see it from street....."

"Do you think this is just for the holidays, or will it be permanent?", I ask.

"I think it is just for the holidays"


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http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2014/11/across-street.html

http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2014/12/tip-for-press.html

Across the street

Across the street there is another independent senior/ over age 55 building.  You can easily see the lights of the building from your chair.
For a few months you have regularly told me about what is going on there:

A man walks out to his balcony every night.  He places a light in a specific location. Then, over the hours, he gradually moves the light across the balcony. Finally, he takes it back in.

I look at the "light" that is being "moved" across the balcony.  I see into someone's living room, with their TV in the background.  If they move , we might see the shadows of their movements.   I tell you it is only someone's living room we can see into, but you don't seem to hear or believe me.

Now, as we enter the Christmas holiday season, you have become fixated on the decorations.

"They had a team build that thing on the roof over there," you tell me.

"I think they are giving rides".

"Who are they giving rides to?", I ask.

 "The people that live there", you reply.

I crawl across the floor, trying to get a vantage point similar to what you see from you chair, what is it you see across the road?

I look and I see that several balcony's have white lights strung on the railings.  Am I seeing what you are talking about?  There is a Christmas tree, shining bright white lights,  under one string of ceiling level icicle style lights.  Is this the "ride" to which you refer?

"its just Christmas lights, dad, and a Christmas tree".

You continue to study it, "maybe", you say.


*************************************************

The next day:

You say, "I am surprised they haven't gotten press coverage on that thing".

"Its not running today".

I say, "Maybe they took the day off or are closed since it is Sunday".

**************************************************

2 days later:

"Its not there anymore.", you say.  "They had trouble with it, I think. They had to build a 2nd one, but I think they had trouble with that one too".

******************************************************************

3 days later:

"There it is!", you exclaim.

Once again, I don't see anything, except for Christmas lights  on patios, a few Christmas trees.  I keep wondering what it is that you are seeing.

**********************************

a week later:

"what does that say up there next to that machine?", you ask.  "I think there are letters and numbers"

I look and it all looks the same as before. I can't imagine how to see letters or numbers in the lines of the building and Christmas decorations.

many calls this morning

I call you at 7 AM.  No answer.  Sleeping in, I think.
Later, I discover you are awake at 7:40 AM.  We talk on the phone, you say you do want to go to church today.
"Then I will be there to pick you up at 8 AM", I say. "That is in 15 minutes".  "Are you going to be ready?"
"Yes", you say.
I call you en route - "I am on my way" .
But, when I arrive, you are not at the door.  I wait, and then  look in through the nanny camera.
You are still  sitting in your chair.
I call again, "I am here, are you coming?".
"yes I will be right there".  I watch you slowly get out of the chair, slowly exit the apartment, then return.  You must have forgotten something.  You go back down the hallway, re-emerge, and again leave. It takes longer than expected before I see you at the building's front door.
You slowly, so slowly, amble down the sidewalk, with your arms clasped behind your back, like we might see a child do.  No rush, no worries that we are late.

You seem more confused than usual today, but quite happy, smiling, content.



*********************************************************

"I must have had 10 calls this morning", you later tell me.
"Oh really? Who called?"
"Contractors.", you tell me.
"What kind of contractors?", I ask.
"Building contractors, looking for jobs, checking on the building".

"Is there a leak here?" you mimic.

The phone in the bathroom doesn't work

I call you on the phone.  "Hello!  How are you today?"

You hesitate.  And then you say, with obvious distress, "The phone in the bathroom doesn't work".

"The phone in the bathroom?", I say.  "There isn't a phone in the bathroom".

"Yes there is", you reply. "there are several"

"I don't think so", I say. "I am on my way to your place, I will be there in 10 minutes, and we can look at it then".

"Get Bruce to come." you say, "I need him to fix it.".

What could this be, I think to myself?  Do I dare go there alone, after the negative commentary about me following the donut event? He is obviously confused.  I call Bruce and ask him to meet me there.

We arrive, to the continued smell of burnt plastic in the air, now 3 days after the donut event.  The look in your eye scares me a little bit.
The bathroom sink cabinet door is open, with the contents of cleaning solution, removed, sitting on the bathroom floor.
Your rotary style electric razor sits on the countertop, disassembled.  The sink drain stopper, removed, sits adjacent to the razor head parts.  You continue to obsess about the razor parts on the countertop, and about the visible sink drain base (a normal part of the drain, but that you had  worried about and tried to remove from the kitchen sink last summer)

Now I think I understand?  The "phone" in the bathroom is actually your electric razor?

You then state "the phone numbers don't work.".  "None of the phone numbers work."  As you repeat similar statements I realize you are talking about the phone numbers that are written on the refrigerator, my phone number, my cell phone, my office phone, Bruce's phone number.  I also discover that the receiver for the phone in the dining room is missing. The receiver for the phone in the living room is off the hook.  I test them, everything works normally.
Bruce re-assembles the electric razor.

"Don't worry dad. Everything is going to be OK. There's nothing you need to worry about".

For the first time I see a slight smile of relief and comfort.

******************************************************

What you meant to say was you were unable to use the electric razor in the bathroom, and when you went to call me to complain about it, you were also unable to use the phone.

Happier Delusions last week

"you were with the girls last night, weren't you?", he asks me, with a smile of recognition.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I think to myself.

"Girls were visiting last night?", I say.  "who were they, where were they from, were they too loud?"

"No, they weren't loud.  They went downstairs  to look at the room and they didn't come back", you say.

"The room for what"?

"Where they were going to play", you say.

"Play what? "
"Basketball", you say.

Ahhh.. Basketball -- Of course, a girls basketball team visited this man who never had any interest in sports.  Of course they would be coming to the senior condo to play basketball (there is not a basketball court in the building).

**************************************

"When I went to bed they were there", you tell me.
"all of them?", I ask.
"yes", you say.
"Oh really? Was there room for you in the bed? Did you sleep OK with them all there", I ask.
"Yes, I fit in my space", you say.

"They were gone this morning.  You can't even tell they were here.  They didn't even eat breakfast"