My 16 year old son, Haven, shares his thoughts on his grandfather's experience of dementia.
[Grandpa] “Where are going?” I ask, a little confused. Words don’t come anymore. I didn’t get good sleep last night. I dreamt about her last night
[Ken] “Um, like to the fhkoa kljlhqm?” he says, but I don’t know what he said. My brain doesn’t work anymore.
[Grandpa] “Where?” I clarify. I can’t tell if ears or the thing in there (points at his head.) My ears don’t work either. That lady, Kuebnls, was supposed to fix it, but it’s not quite right. Or it’s my head. Something called Ahfyrkc. I think.
[Ken] “The post office.”
[Grandpa] “Oh.” That means we go on a trip, and then we stop at the meat place. They have good cold cups.
We are playing a game of cards. The rules are simple: get a lot of stacks. I pull ahead, I’m doing so well, I’ve got a lot of tricks. He is next to me, writing down the points. He says something that I don’t catch, but he grins at me, so I laugh a bit. Card games are fun. I’m pretty good at them.
[Grandpa] “How are we doing?” I ask. I’m feeling good right now.
[Ken] “Fhlefb has 32, I have 30, Pljgn has 24, and you have 11.”
[Grandpa] “You’re cheating.” He’s probably joking, but now I’m uneasy. I watch him closely to see if I can catch anything. I don’t do so well on this hand. He stole it from me, now I’m gonna lose. I hate losing. They’re going at random now. I don’t understand what they’re doing.
[Grandpa] “What are you doing?”
[Julie] “We’re playing the game,” says the wife.
[Grandpa] “No you’re not! You’re tossing all that junk on the table. What are you doing that for?” I was having fun playing this game when they started messing around. Jerks.
[Grandpa] “I want the bfkar!” I do! He won’t give it to me.
[Ken] “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. What’s the bfkar?”
[Grandpa] “You know! The kdhfg!” This…! He won’t take me to see her! He’s trapping me here. And his wife is, too.
[Grandpa] “I want to go home.” I’m on the edge of tears. I’m sad and alone. Nobody cares for me here. They hate me. They torture me.
[Ken] “You are home.” He is lying. He says he loves me. I want to go home with Nablkld.
[Grandpa] “No! I want to live with her!”
[Ken] “You can, it’s safe.” Yes! Victory! He has given in. Time to go!
[Grandpa] “Alright, let’s go.”
[Ken] “No.” He said I could. I’m mad now.
[Grandpa] “But, why?”
[Ken] “Because it’s not safe.” He just said it was. This man is torturing me!
[Grandpa] “Now, you can’t do that! You’re lying to me!”
[Ken] “I’m not lying to you!” Now he’s really lying to me. I hate this. I hate life. I hate everything. Except her.
[Grandpa] “Get out of here!”
Why isn’t this working?
…
…
What?
…
Where are they?
…
…
…
[Grandpa] “Kefhuig?”
[Ken] “Yup?”
[Grandpa] “Oh, there you are.”
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