He fumbled around with the key ring and got the right key into the lock. Home sweet home. It was a twelve hour reprieve from work and he had the whole evening ahead of him to do whatever he wanted. Step number one, however, was a little housekeeping. He had realized this morning he needed to get rid of his garbage. It was starting to smell a bit.
Jake set down his case and immediately pulled out the trash container from under the sink. He opened the top, yanked up the plastic liner then picked up a tie and sealed the bag shut. He then headed out the door to go down the hall to the garbage chute. There was a tiny room beside the elevator with a trap door in the wall. You opened it and stuffed in your garbage bag and that bag magically disappeared into the bowels of the building, Jake guessed into some dumpster which was picked up by city services. Out of sight, out of mind.
Just as Jake heard his bag slide down the chute, he also heard the elevator door open. Jake looked into the hall and saw what he thought was the back of Terry.
"Terry?" Jake called in the direction of the man going up the hall.
The man stopped and turned around. "Oh, hi Jake."
"I was wondering if you had any news of Mary. Is she all right?"
"She's dead." Terry said.
"What?"
"I phoned the hospital late this afternoon and managed to talk with the doctor in charge. She apparently had another stroke. I think this is about the third since she moved into the building, well, since I've been here. When the ambulance got her to the hospital this morning, they thought she was in stable condition but early this afternoon, her heart stopped beating and they couldn't revive her."
Jake looked solemn. "That's too bad. I wonder if there would have been anything else to do for her."
"I doubt it," Terry said. "Mary's health was certainly not very good. I would have thought she might have been better to go into some sort of home where they had 24 hour nursing care. I just don't think she had the financial means to do something like that. She has a daughter but she lives in another province and I've never seen her."
"Gosh, I feel kind of dumb. I should have realized that something was wrong last night."
Terry shrugged. "Who would have known? This was the second time I had to phone for an ambulance. It's only because I've run into her several times that I knew anything about her condition or her situation. I think it's a problem for those people living alone who may not have any family or any close family who check up on the person on a regular basis. If any of us fell down, how long would we lie there until somebody noticed?"
"I know my father who had some heart problems got himself hooked up with a telephone service called, if I remember correctly, Life Line." said Jake. "You apparently had to push a button every 12 hours and if you failed to do so, the service would check up on you, first by phoning you then by sending emergency services if there was no answer."
"Yeah, that would have been something," said Terry. "Unfortunately, in these circumstances, Mary only had her neighbours but in an apartment building, once you shut your door, you are pretty much on your own. You have little or no contact with your neighbours."
Jake nodded.
"I have heard of people actually dying in their apartments and nobody knows. It's not until somebody reports a stink that maybe the super goes in only to find the person has died weeks before."
*************************
Jake looked at the clock. He was on time but he still couldn't dawdle. He checked his computer case: computer, check; reading glasses, check; subway pass was in his pocket, check. He picked up his keys from the table and headed to the door. A last look around to make sure all the lights were out then he pulled open the door. He stepped into the hall and shut the door. He fumbled with the keys trying to get the apartment door key.
He froze. What was that? Was it a groan? Was it the same sound he had heard the night before? The previous evening he had come home after the movies around 9:30pm and when he walked by the door of his neighbour, some old woman called Mary, he thought he had heard a groan coming from the apartment. He had stopped in front of her door straining to hear anything but it was silent. After he had opened his own door he thought he had heard the noise again but after going over to the door and putting his ear to it, he didn't hear anything else. Had it been a groan? Had it been the sound of something else? The leg of a chair being pulled across the floor? It was dead silent so then he couldn't be sure of what he had heard and he didn't really know if there was anything to be concerned about. After all, in an apartment building you pretty much minded your own business. After six months in his apartment, Jake didn't know anybody in the building but only knew a few people by sight. He might have nodded to them periodically but he had never spoken with anybody and struck up any sort of conversation.
Jake locked the door then went to the door of Mary's apartment. He stood there a moment listening. There it was again. Yes, that certainly sounded like a moan. Hmmm, what to do? Get the super?
All of a sudden the next door down the hall opened and a woman came out carrying a bag of garbage. "Excuse me," said Jake. The woman stopped then turned to look at him. "Do you know the woman in this apartment?"
"No," the woman replied.
"I think I've heard some groaning in the apartment and I wonder if she's all right."
The woman looked like she was about to say something. She hesitated then turned and headed back down the hall to the garbage chute. Another door opened. It was time for everybody to head off to work. A man stepped out in the hall and started playing with his key ring to lock the door.
"Excuse me," said Jake loud enough to be heard down the hall. The man looked up at Jake. "Do you know the woman who lives in this apartment?"
The man had finished locking his door and started walking down the hall towards Jake. "Yes. It's Mary. Is there anything wrong?"
"I think I've heard some moans coming from the apartment but wasn't sure. I may have heard something last night around nine thirty when I got home."
"Oh no," said the man. He now sounded concerned. "I wonder if she's had some sort of seizure again."
"Sorry?"
"Mary had a seizure about two years ago and she apparently spent the entire afternoon alone before anybody discovered her. She lives alone and her only relative doesn't live in town and visits very, very seldom." The man walked up to the door and knocked. "Mary?" He knocked again. "Mary? Are you all right?" He waited trying to listen for any sound.
All of a sudden Jake and man clearly heard a moan come from behind the door. "Oh crap," said the man. "You say that you heard something last night?"
"Yes," said Jake.
"Jesus. She must have been on the floor all night." The man knocked again then turned to Jake. "Sorry, I'm Terry."
"Jake."
Terry knocked and said loudly, "Mary? Mary? Can you hear me?" Terry stood quietly. Jake inhaled and held his breath. The two of them waited. Silence.
The first door down the hall opened and the same woman came out in the hall. Terry looked up and immediately started towards her. "Excuse me. We have a bit of an emergency."
"Yes," said the woman looking expectantly at Terry.
"I need to get into this woman's apartment." Terry pointed back towards Mary's door. "I think there's a medical problem. If I can go onto your balcony, I can climb over the railing and hopefully get in." Jake listened to this and then speculated about the dangers involved. After all, they were on the fourth floor of the building.
"Sure. Come on in." The woman held the door open and Terry disappeared into the apartment. Jake stood in the hall be himself wondering what to do. Was there anything he could do? Running into Terry was probably a godsend; Jake didn't have to go hunt up the super while saying that he thought he heard something in Mary's apartment. This Terry seemed to know Mary and all about her health problems.
Jake heard a new noise in Mary's apartment. Obviously Terry had managed to get over onto Mary's balcony and gotten inside. That was lucky. Balcony doors did have a lock so Mary could have kept this door locked and then what would have Terry done? Go find the super?
Mary's door opened up. Terry looked out at Jake. "She's had another spell, maybe a stroke." Jake could partially see a pair of legs on the floor of the kitchenette behind Terry. "I'm going to phone for an ambulance. Thanks very much for mentioning this to me." Terry left the door and went back into the kitchen. The door was off balance and slowly swung shut leaving Jake in the hall by himself.
Jake stood there for a moment. He heard a mumbled voice behind the door probably talking on the telephone. Finally Jake walked down the hall to the elevator. He punched the button and heard the whirring of machinery. It took about ten seconds then the door to the elevator slid open and Jake stepped in. He hit the ground floor button and the door shut.
Jake walked the four blocks to the subway to get to work downtown. Just as he was about to enter the station, an ambulance with its siren blaring came around the corner and headed up the street in the direction of his apartment building. Jake paused for a moment and thought about Mary spending the whole night on the floor incapacitated, just moaning once in a while. Maybe someday Jake would have to do what his own father had done: subscribe to some sort of monitoring service like Life Line to make sure that somebody could keep tabs on him in case he had some sort of health emergency. Family and friends were nice but this sort of thing needed something more than occasional visits.
2011-09-21
 Site Map - William Quincy Belle |  | Follow me on Twitter  |
Facebook
email blog updates to yourself
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment