Crush. Candy. Corpse. Read Free Page B

sleep?
    “You should make her stop!” Jeannette snapped at Gillian. “Take her to her room or tie her hands to the chair.”
    “You know I’m not going to do that.” Gillian frowned at her and then abruptly changed the subject. “Have you seen the dinners you have to choose from tonight?” She gestured at a menu posted on the dining-room window.
    Jeannette shuffled to her feet. Was Gillian trying to distract her? Seemed to be working, anyway. She wheeled her walker closer to the door. The menu showed a choice of two meals: schnitzel or meatloaf. That sounded pretty good. At least if the seniors had to eat in a cafeteria the rest of their lives, it was nice that they could still choose their meals.
    Gillian faced me. “We have a Hungarian chef and he’s terrific. If you could take charge of Johann over there and get as much food into him as you can before he falls asleep, that would be wonderful.”
    I walked over to the man she had pointed to. He looked pretty skinny. His head slumped onto his hand. While he had a very high forehead, the hair he had left was jet black with silver wings at the side. A Dracula look. I liked it.
    “Just kick off the brakes and wheel him up to the middle table. I’ll hold the door for you,” Gillian instructed me.
    As I pushed the chair forward, Johann snapped up. “ Was ist loss? ”
    “He only speaks German.”
    “ Was ist loss? ” he repeated more loudly.
    My own grandma spoke German and I replied with some words I remembered her saying to me. “ Ich liebe dich .”
    His face softened and he relaxed back into his chair. “ Schatzie, ich liebe dich auch .”
    “Yeah, yeah. You love everybody, Johann.” Gillian chuckled. “You’re just a big playboy.”
    My face flushed as the meaning of the words came back to me. Omi had hugged me and told me she loved me in German. And I had just told Johann.
    Gillian grinned broadly at me. “Honey, you’re a natural. You’ll have him eatin’ out of the palm of your hand.”
    After I parked him at his spot by the table, I covered my cheeks with my hands to stop blushing.
    “You’re doing great, Sunny. Keep up the good work.”
    It was an insane asylum, but I was doing great. It figured.
    “Put the bib around his neck.”
    The bib looked like a large pot holder. I laid it underneath Johann’s chin, fastening the Velcro at the back. Then a dining-room attendant set a tray down in front of Johann. “There you go, Papa.”
    I lifted the beige plastic lid covering his plate. “What is this?” I asked. The matching plate divided his meal into three sections: a plop of white mush, a plop of red, and a plop of brown.
    “You read the menu, it’s schnitzel, ground up so he can swallow it.” The dining-room attendant set another tray in front of Fred, sitting right across from us now.
    I never heard her ask for his menu selection. When Fred lifted his lid, I could recognize the meatloaf, peas, and potatoes.
    I stared at the attendant, a tiny woman with hair way too dark for her pale complexion. Accidental goth. I know she would be happier if I could tone down that black to a chestnut and maybe add some highlights. And if she were happier, maybe Fred could have had his choice of suppers.
    Suddenly, something clattered to the floor and I looked towards the noise. A red bicycle helmet spun across the room. A tall kid who looked about my age chased after it. That helmet probably accounted for his stick-up blond hair. Once he scooped it up, he joined a lady at another table.
    “Meatloaf, Grandma. Your favourite!” he said to her as the cafeteria goth set down another tray. He beamed at her as he helped her spoon some of her supper up. What fun he seemed to be having.
    How come I wasn’t having any? I frowned as I concentrated on feeding Johann. One way or the other I was going to get through my forty hours. Despite the craziness surrounding me, I would get this meal into Johann and show everyone how well I could do at this placement. One