The Man at the End of the Road.

It was definitly the country. The address was shabbily painted on the mailbox that was tipped sideways, the barn on the back 40 was half missing and everywhere wildflowers bloomed in gay profusion.
The house itself was set back about 50 yards from the road. It looked to have been a few years since anyone had cleaned the windows or painted the trims. A few shingles were missing and the downspouts were at radical angles pointing to the sideyards.

"See if you can persuade Mr. __ to have a bath." Thats what they sent me for.
"A BATH???" I thought he was going to faint on me. His face coloured red and his eyes were round and shocked.
"Why the hell would I have a bath? I had one a coupla months ago. I aint going to waste my water on THAT!"
More fool me. I should have known.

He was born early in the 1900s to a Pioneer family. His pa was a farmer and a logger and he was the same. Town to him meant the little store 5 miles down the road. He had a couple of kids somewhere, sometime, least he thought he had but darned if he could remember where they were. I suspect they were dead as was his wife. Pictures of a happy family were in frames along the hall walls, covered in dust and grease from the oil heat. It looked to be somewhere in the 1940s or 50s but I couldnt be sure.

"I expect you want to do something for me."
"Yes sir."
"I suppose you could cook for me."
"Yes sir!"
"NO BATHS tho. "
"Yes Sir!"

I had no idea and no direction from the careplans or the nursing notes but it seemed he had come on service after a neighbour had found him feverish and dehydrated.
"I aint going back to that place no way!"
"No sir."
"You aint goin make me are you?'
"uhm, what place is this Sir?"
"You know: they make you undress. Terrible people. Shameless."
"Do you mean the Hospital Sir?"
"Yes thats the place. Hate it."
Of course he hated it. The Hospital is in the City.

We went on like this for a week or so. It was getting to be obvious that the smells were not from a lack of bathing as much as from sickness.
The neighbour met me at the door a few days in a row. She was distressed and scared.
"I found him again. On the floor. Can't you do anything?"

No I could not do anything other than assess the situation and decide whether his right to live at risk was greater than my right to call emergency services. I decided that until he wished to go to the Hospital, I would not call the ambulance.

(more later)....