TALES OF A DIETARY AIDE
by
Lauren A. Johnson
SMASHWORDS EDITION
* * * * *
PUBLISHED BY:
Lauren A. Johnson on Smashwords
Tales of a Dietary Aide
Copyright © 2009 by Lauren A. Johnson
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
The young man took a deep breath before entering the resident's room. The last time he brought in Ms. Smith's tray she had made the most disturbing sounds anyone has ever heard. When Aaron took this job in dietary he never thought he'd be exposed to the most lonely women he's ever met besides his family reunion.
Aaron knocked on the door and said clearly, "Ms. Smith, your food is here."
Ms. Smith answered in her elderly crackling voice, "Come on in dear."
Aaron rushed into the room put the tray down as fast as he could and before he could leave the room he could hear, Ms. Smith's voice ring out. "Oh, sweetheart, you didn't even say hello to me."
Aaron didn't want to but he had to. He turned around to face the resident and there she was, in her pajamas. Aaron wondered if the PCAs just neglected to dress her this morning or if she was in her pajamas for another reason. Aaron winced a little and did the best he could to settle his stomach. The sight of Ms. Smith sitting in her night clothes with her legs crossed was not something he wanted to see ever in his life.
"Good morning, Ms. Smith." Aaron said as he tried to make another run for the door.
"Is everything here?" she asked milling over her breakfast.
"Yes, it is. I'm sure. I've checked it." Aaron started moving slowly to the door.
"Could you pull the tray closer to me?" she asked.
Aaron knew that Ms. Smith was a check holder at the facility and that if he didn't she could make something up on him and have him fired on the spot so he went over and moved the tray closer.
The stench of decades old perfume wafted all over the room and made Aaron think of other jobs he'd rather be doing instead of this. 'I could become an alligator wrestler or anime voice actor.'
But no, he worked in dietary and it was more than what he bargained for.
Will Aaron ever get out of Ms. Smith's room with his sanity intact?
Part 2
Last time we left our reluctant and confused hero, Aaron had the scary task of moving Ms. Smith's tray closer. Which would mean that he would have to be next to her.
Aaron figured the faster he did it the faster it would be over with. Aaron then realized the double meaning in what he just thought and shook his head.
He went over and pulled the tray closer and when he did Ms. Smith grabbed his arm. Aaron jumped and tried to pull away but her strength surprised him. Ms. Smith looked old an frail but she had one hell of a grip.
"Ahhh." Aaron said in shock.
"You are mighty handsome." Ms. Smith said to Aaron.
Trying to figure out how to release himself from her grip Aaron only managed a smile and a nod while saying, "Thank you?"
"Oh it's all my pleasure you see, you remind me of someone." Ms. Smith said while patting Aaron's arm with her hand.
Aaron tried to slide away again, "Your husband?"
"Oh heavens no! Not that poor excuse for a man!" Ms. Smith's grip tightened on Aaron's arm. He wondered if he would pass out from the lack of blood circulation to his brain.
"No, you remind me of Eric, yes, Eric. He was a real man. I remember one time I had to push him out of the window on the second floor." Ms. Smith laughed.
Aaron finally got away from her grip. "Why did you do that?" He tried to pretend to be interested in this story.
"Because we were having an affair and my husband had come home early." she said as if Aaron should have figured it out on his own.
Ms. Smith started to ramble on while Aaron moved closer to the door again.
'No one has realized I'm missing by now?' Aaron wondered. He dashed to the door while Ms. Smith was trying to remember the name of a man she met at her daughter’s dance recital.
"Well, you can tell me later Ms. Smith, bye!" Aaron closed the door and ran as quickly as he could down the hall back to the kitchen.
When Aaron got there he was met with angry looks by Tina and Gina. They were the meanest girls in the kitchen. The two of them weren't always that way but after Aaron refused Gina's advances the two of them turned on him quick and had been trying to get him fired since then.
"What took you so long to get here?" Tina said in a sassy sarcastic tone.
Aaron didn't answer he just started to clean up the dishes and the kitchen.
"Oh, he gonna act like he didn't hear me!" Tina said to Gina.
What will Aaron do? He just got away from Ms. Smith and now he has to deal with the evil twins of the nursing home, what will happen next? Will he quit and just walk out? Will he ignore them for the rest of the shift? Or will he finally snap and end up on the run for assault...find out next time.
Aaron decided to stick it out through the horrendous shift. The residents complained that the food was too cold, too hot, not enough seasoning, while other residents complained that they haven’t been fed.
“Aaron, Mrs. Jacobs wants to see you,” Gina said as she pushed Aaron into a nearby wall.
‘Dang, for a girl she sure is strong,’ he thought to himself, but before he could further speculate the origins of Gina’s incredible strength he was facing a table of three very unhappy women.
One said, “My fish is too dry,” she said with a scowl.
The other said, “My fish is too cold,” she pushed her plate away and turned her nose up at the dish.
While the third turned enraged to the unsuspecting aide, “I’m still waiting for my food! I haven’t eaten!”
Aaron looked at the third woman, and then at the empty plate in front of her, it was obvious that she had her meal but how do you tell someone that they’ve already eaten.
Looking to his left and to his right did him no good, the majority of the employees at the facility were women and they were all on strike. No one was talking to him let alone helping him with his problems of the day.
Before he could sweat any more bullets Tyrone walked, by, “Hey Ty!”
He called out to the longest working dietary aide for help, but Tyrone was having none of it, “Nuh uhh, home slice, I know you did not just call me for help,” before Aaron could wonder why Tyrone was wearing a rainbow colored scarf on his head he got back on track and though out loud.
“Who says home slice?” he wondered to his co-worker.
Tyrone snapped his fingers, picked up his tray and sashayed back to the kitchen before Aaron could tell Tyrone what the problem is. Eventually after apologizing a few more times he took the cold fish and the dry fish back to the kitchen. He pleaded with the chef to make more food and heated up the cold fish. He returned to the table with a heated slice of fish and two new slices of fish.
The woman who hadn’t eaten looked down at her plate and stared at it, she looked up at Aaron who was beaming proudly at his accomplishment, he nodded as he waited for the woman’s grateful praise.
She smiled and said, “You’re such a sweet young man, but I’ve already eaten,” she held the plate up and handed it back to him.
Aaron fought every urge in his body to act on instinct; he could hear the snickers from the dietary girls and waitresses. He turned and walked back to the kitchen without a sound.
He looked at the time and was surprised to see it was the end of his shift; Aaron pulled out some company aluminum foil and wrapped up the fish.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tina asked with her hands on her hips.
“I’m playing the violin what’s it look like I’m doing?” he said before returning to wrapping up his dinner.
“You can’t take her food?!” Tina began to argue.
“She gave it to me,” he said as he licked his fingers from touching the food, “besides; who are you going to tell? I’m sure the supervisor would like to know where all the rolls of toilet paper are disappearing to, you can’t keep blaming it on the housekeeping staff.”
Tina was shocked she gasped and tried to think of a protest clever enough to assure Aaron of her innocence but it was too late, “No one will believe me over those fools, they’re new, don’t you know I went to wash my hands and hand sanitizer came out where the soap should be?”
Aaron chuckled.
“Did you hear me? Hand sanitizer where the soap should be! They don’t pay me enough, I take what I want.” She said as she went back to cleaning the station.
Tyrone flitted into the room, “Girl you still talking about that hand sanitizer in the soap dispenser? That one housekeeping guy is as dumb as a wall,” he took out a lollipop and began sucking it.
“So now ya’ll talking to me now?” Aaron said with a slight annoyance.
The two of them nodded, “You’ll only talk to me when Gina’s not here.
Tyrone licked the lollipop before saying, “Have you met Gina? That girl is strong and scary.”
“Okay, you’ve got to stop doing that!” Aaron said to Tyrone.
Tyrone laughed while he turned to leave.
“I’m leaving too,” Aaron got up and left, while he waited for the bus he knew that this was the last bit of quiet he would get in a while. The bus doors opened as he entered another realm of chaos.