I think we were on the Grand Central, but don't quote me on that. I don't really drive, so every highway looks the same to me. I noticed the Park Terrace sign from the distance and, as we passed by, I was close enough to see into the courtyard.
I looked for Suzie, hoping that she was outside enjoying the warm, early Spring weather. When I didn't see her I thought about asking my driver to pull off the parkway so I could make an impromptu visit, but I decided against it because I was tired.
I felt guilty for the rest of the ride home. Of course. In retrospect, telling Suzie about my trip, and showing her pictures, seemed like it might be a good teaching opportunity. So I put down my bags, took a nap and headed back out to Queens on the R train.
"Guess where I was today," I said to Suzie as I sat down next to her. "London."
Her eyes widened. She seemed to grasp that concept that London was far away. Then I pulled out my laptop and pulled up a Google map of England.
"Right there," I said, pointing to London. "That's where I was. Then I got on a plane and flew back to the United States, to the airport right near here. I looked for you when we drove past."
I then switched to a world map and traced the course of my plane ride with my finger.
"Far," she said.
Suzie seemed really engaged by the computer, almost like it was a window to the outside world. I asked her if she wanted to do a picture quiz. She said yes, so I pulled up a picture of the president and showed it her. She smiled knowingly.
"Who's this?" I asked.
She looked at the picture with clear recognition, but struggled to tell me what she was thinking.
"The captain?" she asked.
"Close," I said. "He's like the captain. He's the president. His name is President Barack..."
"Obama," she said. Then I went back to the US map.
"Very good. And he's the president of the United States of America. That's where we live. And that's where I flew to today."
When I arrived at Park Terrace Suzie had been watching a rebroadcast of American Idol. She was distracted by it while we talked so I decided to ask her about it.
"What's this show called?"
Suzie shook her head.
"It's called American..." I said, waiting for her to finish.
"Singer?" she said.
"Close. It's called American Idol. Do you know who the host is?
I pulled up a picture of Ryan Seacrest and showed it to her. She seemed to have no idea who he was, which is probably for the best.
"Okay how about more presidents?" I asked, pulling up a picture of Bill Clinton. "Let's see if you know who this is."
Again, she registered recognition. She said a few things that didn't make any sense, but she was clearly trying to express something.
"You're thinking it in your head, but having trouble saying it," I suggested.
"Yes," she said with a big sigh. She seemed to be happy that she was able to communicate that fact to me.
"Okay I'll give you a hint," I said. "His first name is Bill. President Bill...."
"Clint," she said. "Clinto..."
"Close enough!" I said. "President Bill Clinton. And his wife is Hilary..."
"Swank?" she said.
I laughed. "Well, he might prefer to be married to Hilary Swank, but unfortunately he's married to Hilary Clinton."
I showed her a picture of Hilary Swank from Boys Don't Cry. Again, she seemed to recognize it. Then I brought up a picture of Bill and Hilary.
"This is a picture of Bill and Hilary Clinton," I said. "Did you know he cheated on her with the intern?"
"Oh no," Suzie said, her eyes wider than I have ever seen them. "Oh no!"
She seemed genuinely disturbed by the fact that the former president had cheated on his wife. And shocked. Interesting that she seems to have an understanding of who these people are, but not necessarily what happened to them. So I talked about it for a while and then I decided to show her one more picture.
"Who's this?" I asked, "I'll give you a hint. He was president too, but a long time ago. His name was President Abraham..."
"Lincoln," she said definitively.
At this point one of the nurses came in, a young woman I had never seen before. She told me her name was Cara.
"We're doing a history lesson," I said. "So how is Suzie doing. How's her mood been?"
"It's much better than it was this morning," Cara said. "She wouldn't get out of bed this morning, right Suzie?"
Apparently, the Korean doctor that Suzie's parents have hired came by in the morning, but Suzie wanted no part of him. Her dad told me that he had to send the doctor away and ask him to come back the next day.
"Over all, how is her mood?" I asked.
"Better," Cara said. "It's way better now than when she first came here."
"Well we're trying to get more people to come out and visit," I said. "But it's hard because this place to is so far from the city."
"That really helps," Cara said. "You can really see the difference in her after a visit."
Following up on this, I pulled up Facebook on my laptop and started showing Suzie pictures of our friends from work: Janine Panico; Ciro Caso; Kay Hayward; Pauline Leung, Kevin Corstange and others.
"And here's one who lives in Los Angeles now," I said, showing her a picture of a former co-worker. "His name is Doug..."
"Loftus," Suzie continued. Last week I had mentioned Doug to Suzie and shown her a card that he sent. I wondered if she remembered that.
Suzie's dad came back in the room, and mentioned that Suzie's friend Betty had been by for a visit. I asked Mr. Moon about what had happened that morning.
"Suzie kept saying space, space, space," Mr. Moon said. "Do you know what that means?"
I told him I didn't know for sure, suggesting that maybe she was trying to say that she needed space, or felt cooped up, or wanted to go outside. Mr. Moon told me that Betty had taken Suzie out to the courtyard before I came.
"Suzie, do you want to show your dad what we worked on today?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
I went through our quiz again, and she remembered most of what we worked on. Mr. Moon was very impressed. He thanked me and gave Suzie a hug. Then the nurse brought in Suzie's dinner and I said my goodbyes.
1 comment:
hahaha awesome!
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