Page 116 of Love & Other Disasters

J.P. assumed that he was only as good as his last company and Medi-Health was a stain. “Paul’s great to work with.”

Doug nodded, and they moved forward with the line. “Hey, a few of us get together at Lake Shore Country Club for a round of golf on Wednesdays. Why don’t you join us?” He handed Jordan a business card. “We have a seven a.m. tee time.”

Wilson and Bain was a business consulting firm and Doug Wilson, a founder. J.P. looked up the company on his phone back in his car. And Doug had invited him to play golf with friends, all of which, he guessed had connections. He’d played a little golf before, but didn’t have clubs, and needed to rectify that, getting the opportunity to network didn’t fall in his lap every day. The more he read, the more he figured out his hunch was correct. Doug was someone advantageous to know.

On his way home, he purchased a used set of clubs from a store that bought and sold used sporting equipment. The clubs were last year’s model that someone sold thinking they needed the latest and greatest to improve their game. There wasn’t a golf club on the market that would help him. He needed to practice so he didn’t look like a giant idiot in front of Doug and company.

After painting the living room Sunday afternoon and not finishing it until late that night, he was at the driving range when it opened at five thirty Monday morning. The only driving range in town was at the Country Club where he was meeting Doug, so this gave him the opportunity to familiarize himself on the area. He paid for his bucket of golf balls, found a tee, and got to work. He’d watched a few videos on proper golf swing technique, and it brought back the time a few years ago, he’d taken a few lessons with a pro in Atlanta. The old adage of use it or lose it rang true here. A hundred balls later, he finally had decent control over where he sent the ball flying.

Down to the final two balls in his bucket, he took them to the putting green and started work on his short game. While he wouldn’t win a round of golf against people who played regularly, he hoped he was decent enough to avoid embarrassing himself. He left the club and swung by to check on his mom, finding her in the communal dining room with a plate of cut up pancakes in front of her.

“Those look good,” he said taking the seat opposite.

Evelyn chewed her bottom lip and stared at the plate. Her hair now short after a trip to the hairdresser. “What is it?” she asked.

“Looks like pancakes.”

“Pancakes are round.”

“I think they cut those up for easier eating. Try one.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Do you want something else? I can ask them what else they have today.”

“No. It’s all poisoned.”

His eyes jumped from the plate to her face. “I’m sorry… what?”

“Is this a pancake?” Evelyn asked, pushing at a piece with a spoon.

So, this was a twilight zone visit. He classified the visits he had with his mom into two categories—normal and twilight zone. All the weird, slightly off, and random behavior that resulted from the Alzheimer’s fell into twilight zone, and it would hit without warning.

“It is a pancake,” he replied. “Try a bite.”

This time she did. “I’m doing this for you,” she said. “They are trying to poison us, you know.”

He bit back the sigh in his throat. “Who are ‘they?’”

She leaned toward him and whispered conspiratorially, “They.”

For the amount of money he paid the facility every month, no one was trying to off the residents. But there was no point arguing.

“I’ll go check it out.” He stood and strolled to the kitchen and opened cabinets. This one wasn’t where the food came from. They locked the real kitchen for safety.

“I didn’t find anything suspicious,” he returned to the table. She didn’t appear convinced, but kept eating, which was all he cared about.

After breakfast, he took his mom out for a walk in the courtyard and told her about meeting Doug Wilson and his upcoming golf game. And he reminded her about Violet’s planned visit. He never knew how much she remembered from one visit to the next, so most of their conversations rehashed prior ones. Today, she held onto his arm and told him how proud she was of him and how excited she was that he’d met a nice girl. He smiled at the memory of the picture Violet sent him, their naked video call, and how much it made him want to have the real woman in his arms again.

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