Ronald stood with the larder door open, staring in.
This memory thing was getting really bad. He was finding that more and more he would open a door, a cupboard or a drawer and stare at the contents with no idea what it was that he went there for. There was a name for the condition but he could never remember it.
Last week he was in the garage – lots of room in there now because after the last incident he wasn’t allowed to drive any more – anyway, he was in the garage trying to remember what he wanted in there. After several agonising minutes it came to him that he was looking for milk. So he went back into the house very annoyed because being away so long his tea was bound to be stone cold; and he hated cold tea. So, it turned out that when he got back that wasn’t a problem, because he hadn’t poured it. In fact, he hadn’t even boiled the kettle! He was getting really thirsty by now so he decided to just have a glass of milk instead, so he went back into the garage to get it!
Ronald knew this was an age-related condition. It had a name but he couldn’t remember it. He had been given a pamphlet at the surgery that described the problem, with a list of really useful hints all aimed at helping people cope with… with whatever this thing was called. Anyway, he went looking for it the other day, but couldn’t figure out where he had put it.
Today should be OK though. His friend, what’s-his-name, comes in twice a week just to see that he’s all right. He could be coming today, but Ronald wasn’t sure what day it was. Not what day it was right now, but what day it was that his friend looked in. Although, now he came to think of it he didn’t actually know what day of the week it was right now; so even if he could remember the days that his friend came round, he wouldn’t know whether today was one of them.
Anyway, he was still staring into the larder when he heard the front door bell go. On his third attempt he found the front door and peered through the little spy-hole. As he didn’t recognise the lady standing there he asked who was there. The woman said “Susan” and he asked “Susan who?” and she said “Dad, it’s Susan your daughter” and he let her in.
While she was unpacking the groceries she said he had missed a call earlier when he was in the garage. She then asked what he was doing out there anyway, and he said that he couldn’t find whatever it was that he went out there for and that it wasn’t there last week either. She said never mind, she didn’t know who was calling but they just asked for Ronald. He said “Ronald who?” and she said “Ronald, you Dad, you’re Ronald”, and he said he liked the name and she said yes she had always liked it too.
She said she would put stuff away and make them a nice cup of tea and take it through to the lounge. Several minutes later he found the lounge and sat down. She said “Are you happy Dad?” He smiled and said “I can’t remember”.