The bright Sunday morning sun illuminated the stained glass windows, diffusing multi-colored hues across the congregation. Attendance is up today, thought Greg. As the organist was nearing the end of the Prelude, he stepped up to the podium.
“Please take your hymnals and turn to page 23, and let’s stand and sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.’”
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee…
As Greg sang and conducted the 4/4 pattern, which he could do in his sleep, his mind began to wander. Shouldn’t he feel guilty about what he was thinking last night while kissing Cynthia on the couch? His actions had been within the bounds of acceptable behavior. He had nothing to be ashamed of in that regard.
But what about his thoughts? It wasn’t what he did with Cynthia—it was what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to dishonor her or his commitment to God. But his feelings had been only natural. God created humans and gave them sexual desire. Wasn’t it okay to want to have sex, as long as you didn’t actually do it? Then he remembered the passage from Matthew 5:28.
But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.
At the end of the hymn, Greg stepped back and Dr. Huff went to the podium and said a prayer. Then there were announcements, two more hymns, and a chorus.
After the offering, it was time for the choir to sing their anthem. When Greg motioned to the choir to stand, Cynthia smiled at him from the Alto section. She was so incredibly beautiful. Standing there in her choir robe, she looked like a redheaded angel. If they could just get married, Greg could stop feeling guilty about his desire for her.
*
Elmo was not thrilled that Carsie had invited her sister to stay at the house. But it would only be for a few more days. He had made it clear to his fiancé that as soon as the wedding was over, Carnie must move out.
“More orange juice, Sir?” Hadley had prepared a brunch consisting of Eggs Benedict, bacon, sausage, blueberry pancakes, bran muffins, and hash browns.
“No, thanks. I’ve had enough. It was delicious, as usual.”
Hadley nodded. It was his admiration of Dr. Mobley that kept him from retiring. He had worked for the family since Elmo was a young boy.
It was a very pleasant day, so Hadley had put them on the back porch near the kitchen.
“It’s such a nice day,” said Carsie. “We should do something special.”
“Like what?” Elmo was reading the business section of the Dallas Morning News.
“We could drive over to the Dallas Zoo.”
Carnie joined in, “I love animals. They’re so primitive.”
Elmo wasn’t sure what to make of Carnie’s statement or the odd grin on her face.
Macy walked out of the house, leaned over and whispered into Elmo’s ear.
Carsie did not appreciate the fact that she was being left out of the loop. Why did Elmo need to hide anything from his bride-to-be? As soon as they came back from their honeymoon, she would fire Macy Golong. She didn’t trust her with Elmo.
“Ladies, you’ll have to excuse me,” he said to Carsie and her sister. He got up from the table and walked into the house with Macy.
“I don’t like her,” said Carsie.
“She’s harmless,” said Carnie.
*
“What makes you think she’s acting weird?” said Elmo.
“You’ll have to see for yourself,” said Macy.
Elmo rarely spent any time with his mother. He only saw her once or twice a week.
“Come on in. I think she’s still in the bathroom. Don’t let her see you.”
“Okay.”
Macy led him through Mallie Mae’s bedroom, to the bathroom door. Macy walked in, leaving the door open so Elmo could see.
“Are you okay?” said Macy.
“No. I can’t remember how to make this thing start,” said Mallie Mae.
Elmo was shocked by what he saw: his mother holding a hairbrush in one hand and a tube of toothpaste in the other. She had applied a line of Crest across the bristles of the hairbrush.
“I know how to make it work. I just need a little help.”
“That’s okay. I’ll help you,” said Macy.
“I just need to wash my things.” She pointed to her teeth. “These things.” She looked in the mirror. “These little white things in my mouth. I just don’t remember how to do it. I think my breakfast made me a little sick. Tell Had…whatever that man’s name is—he cooks our food. You know. Tell him he made me sick and now I can’t think right.”
“Mother?” said Elmo.
Mallie Mae turned and was surprised to see him standing there.
“What are you doing in here? Get out of my room and just leave me alone.”
“But, Mother, you seem to be having a problem. I just want to help.”
“Get out! Now!”
Elmo walked out of the bedroom and shut the door. He stood in the hallway, stunned. He was about to go back downstairs when Macy came out.
“See what I mean?”
“Yeah. She’s in bad shape. I had no idea. Has she ever acted like this before?”
“Well…”
“You mean she’s been like this for a while and you didn’t tell me?”
“I’m sorry. But she swore me to secrecy.”
“When did it start?”
“She started having some memory problems a couple of years ago. But I thought it was just old age.”
“You should have told me, Macy.”
“I know. But it wasn’t that bad at first. It’s gotten a lot worse in the past few months.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry. Do you think it’s Alzheimer’s? She’s only 75.”
“It could be. Most people don’t get until their mid-eighties. But sometimes it happens a lot sooner.”
“I hope that’s not what it is.”
“It could be something else. Like a reaction to medication. What is she taking?”
“Just her blood pressure medicine. And sometimes a pain pill.”
“Or it could be a nutritional deficiency. How’s her appetite?”
“Pretty good.”
“And sometimes people have these symptoms after a stroke.”
“Oh, I think I would know if she had a stroke. Wouldn’t I?”
“Probably—considering how much time you spend with her.”
“So, what do we do?”
“I’ll send her to the hospital for testing.”
“Oh, I don’t think she’d like that. She’s embarrassed. She’d rather die than have everybody in town hear about this.”
“Okay. I’ll send her to a good friend of mine in Dallas. He specializes in geriatrics.”
“So, he’ll be able to find out what’s wrong with her?”
“Yes. He’s an excellent diagnostician. I’ll give him a call and set it up for tomorrow.”
“Do you want me to drive her over there?”
“No. I’ll call the limo service. You just go along and take care of her.”
“Good. I will.”
Elmo went downstairs to his study. Macy went back into Mallie Mae’s room.
“He’s going to send you to a geriatric doctor for tests.”
“I don’t want to go to Coreyville or Longview. People know me there.”
“No. This doctor is in Dallas.”
“Good. And you’re going with me, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
*
Elmo called his old friend, Dr. John Fransein in Dallas.
“Hey, Johnny. This is Elmo Mobley.”
“Well, you didn’t have to give your last name.” Johnny laughed. “How many Elmo’s do you think I know?”
“Not that many, I guess. But it’s been a long time.”
“It sure has. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. But I’m afraid my mother has a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“She may have Alzheimer’s.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“But it could be something else. I hate to ask such a big favor, but could you run some tests on her?”
“Of course. I’d be happy to.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Uh…yeah, sure. I can work her in. How about 2:00 PM?”
“That would be great, Johnny. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. She’ll be coming with her personal aide. Her name is Macy.”
“Okay. But you know that all I can do is rule out other things, right? There’s still no definitive test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. But we get it right about ninety percent of the time. Unfortunately, there is no cure.”
“But there are medicines that can help.”
“Yes. There are things we can do to try to slow down the process. We just can’t stop it. What are her symptoms?”
“All I can tell you is that this morning she was trying to figure out how to brush her teeth with a hairbrush. She knew she was doing something wrong, but she didn’t know what.”
“Yeah, that’s typical for someone with Alzheimer’s.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“But we’ll see. I’ll do my best to find out what’s going on with her, Elmo.”
“I know you will.”
“And we should get together sometime. Be sure to give me a call the next time you’re in Dallas.”
“I will. And thanks again, Johnny.”