“Don’t push Margaret on bath days.”
Sophie nodded.
“We’ve tried everything.”
The nurse sighed.
“Just let her be.”
Sophie was twenty-four.
She had attended nursing school for three semesters.
Then her mother lost her job.
Bills piled up.
Sophie left school.
She started working wherever she could.
Willow Creek hired her within a week.
The pay wasn’t great.
The hours were worse.
But Sophie cared.
That mattered more than anyone expected.
During her first month, Sophie noticed something.
Elder care was not mostly about medicine.
It was about loneliness.
It was about listening to the same story six times.
It was about finding missing glasses.
It was about helping someone button a sweater.
It was about pretending not to notice when a resident waited near the front entrance every Sunday for a family member who never came.
Margaret was one of those residents.
Her son, Nathan, lived in Madison.
He lived less than two hours away.
