Géraldine rocked in her oak chair looking at the window. Clouds were hiding mountain peaks of Mont Tremblant. She sighed glancing at the photograph on her lap. Papa was in the other room snoring loudly. She found comfort in this sound. It meant she had peace and quiet for a few hours before he would awaken in his unpredictable rages. It spiralled if he’d taken a few swigs of his homemade Caribou. He seemed to take to it more and more these days. He’d heat it over the woodstove.
La maudite poele à bois! He still had not purchased an electric stove. What fool still cooks on such appliances? Bien moi, c’est qui! Her sisters ran off as soon as they could to la grande ville de St-Jérome for Estelle and Marie-Claude met a ski instructor and moved to Montréal. They left her alone to care for Papa. They’d each promised on Maman’s deathbed to take care Papa but only Géraldine kept her promise. “C’est ben trop tard pour moi, à c’heure.” She gave up hoping or caring. She volunteered at Auberge Alys Robi, an old folk’s home and knew that was probably her calling. The staff invited her often to come work for them.
She sighed heavily, at least she had a place to go when Papa was no longer here.
Her rocking chair creaked as she searched for those mountain peaks still hidden in their fog.
Who am I?
looking at this image,
I get lost.
© Tournesol ’15
248 words
Written for Pen ‘n tonic Creative Expressions
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
Lovely tale Cheryl-Lynn. Caring for the aged is often fraught with adventure, woe and often you need the patience of Job and the luck of the Irish.
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My first job in the helping profession was home care. I learned so much from that job.
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Such people are very special. I am not sure I could do that job, so good for you.
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I stopped after two years as I was getting so attached and sad when they passed.
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Yes i wonder how staff cope in nursing homes.
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In nursing homes I find is better…you have a group of staff supporting each other; in home care I was alone to bathe them, and we only had support once a week or even then…that was why I stopped…not enough support for debriefing.
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This is so close to the reality of the time illustrated in the photograph ~ I enjoyed your very caring approach to the growing problems associated with ageing ~ A lovely story Cheryl-Lynn ~
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thank you so much for your kind words. I’m so pleased you enjoyed this brief story.
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Oops! I spoke to soon. You did join us! Wonderful, and welcome! I like what you did with the prompt. Being Canadian, I appreciate the French woven into the story. Very authentic. I like the last line about searching for the mountains. Perhaps we’re all seeking a mountain in the fog to climb. Well done!
Hope you see you again next week!
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I enjoyed this prompt very much, thank you for hosting it.
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