I should be there, but I don’t want to be there... BUT I should be there - Part 3

So. I was working with Karl. I set about filling the bowl with warm water, took it back to the table, he’d managed to get his shaving stuff out (Razor, cream and towel) and a couple of sponges. I should really describe him, so here’s my feeble attempt. He had raven black hair, and he was quite good looking, I couldn’t remember his eye colour, so lets say they were blue. This is where his health problems join the fray. His skin was bright yellow, and his stomach was distended, bloated so much, that it looked like a whale breaching the ocean. It was a weird sight as it, didn’t match his physique, which was good. I’d drawn the curtains My memory of him seems to be of conversations, so let’s look at one, while he washes and shaves.

 

Charles - “Hi, has it been mentioned that I’ve got to design a care plan for you?”

Karl - “I’ve got one, and it makes for interesting reading”

Charles - “I’m a student nurse, and.....”

Karl - “Never!. I mean, you’re old, er mature, no old... mature... er older than the normal student”. (I was 41)

Charles - “Like great wine.... I’m more....”

Karl - “Fruity?, Full Bodied?”.

Charles (feeling slightly miffed) - “ So how long have you done this “humour thing?”, cause it needs a little work...”

Karl - “Well Charles, it all started when I woke up and I realised, I’d turned into a lemon. You find you’re carrying 2 illegal immigrants, and you don’t know how they got in there... I think it’s a defence mechanism”.

Charles - “So you’re a little bitter about things?”

Karl - “Shit, that’s great. I’m a bitter lemon... No, not at the moment, but... Ask me tomorrow, when I read about another political scandal, another tin pot dictator, who drinks at his private club, and then I may be a very bitter lemon.”

 

I was just about to carry on with the conversation, when a voice behind the curtains, boomed out, “Karl, is Charles in there? Only I’ve got to quiz him on care plans”. He looks at me and whispers, “Do you want me to fake a heart attack, and you can escape in carnage, a la “Scooby Doo?”. I shake my head warily, and turn to the curtain.

Karl - “Yup, Charles is here, he’s able, fruity and full bodied, and mature, and he’s ready for you.”

He turns to me and says, “Good luck!” and smiles. I walk feeling OK... I’m ready to face the dragon.