Nubbin but Trouble (2 page)

“No, you are, Mom. Who were you talking to? Was it Charlie? What happened?” Diana turned the tables on me, yet another skill she learned from her parents, depending on the day and the subject matter, you never really knew which parent to blame – I mean, attribute it to.

I was too full of nervous energy to not tell her the truth. Nubbin was like family to me.

“Honey, I have something to tell you,” I said. “Nubbin is missing. Charlie called to tell me that Nubbin walked out of the nursing home sometime last night.”

Diana gasped. “What? Doesn't he use a wheelchair? How did they let that happen?”

I wish I knew
, I thought.

“Charlie is trying to figure it all out. I'm sure Nubbin didn't get too far. They'll find him. He has a wheelchair, but he doesn't use it like he should. He can walk, just fine. He just gets winded.” As I explained, my blood pressure began to rise and panic set in. Nubbin was in no condition to survive without his medication.

“Why would he just take off?” Diana asked.

“I don't really know. I'm sure whatever the reason, it was important at the time. His memory isn't that great, but he knows enough to know when someone has upset him. I think I know who that someone could be, but I don't know what good that's going to do.” I said.

I could hear a radio or something in the background. “Mom, turn your television on.” Diana said.

I turned to look at my TV screen, confused. “Why?”

“Mom, just do it.” Diana pleaded.

“It's on, Diana. What are you talking about?” I asked, reaching for the remote.

“Put it on the weather channel. There's weather warnings for Western Nebraska.” Diana said.

I immediately changed the channel. When I reached the correct station, a ticker flashed across the screen, saying:
A
s
evere snow storm hit portions of Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. The National Weather Service has announced a severe storm warning. Upwards of twelve inches is expected to hit the region today.

“A snow storm? It's almost May.” I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

“Mom, are you there?” Diana asked.

I had no words.

              Tina stared at me in disbelief, clutching three-year-old Noah's little hand. “What do you mean he's gone? He's not... He's not dead, is he?”

I pushed that thought out of my mind for the thousandth time since I found out Nubbin went missing. “No, no, not that. No, he ran away.” I clarified matters for her.

She let go of Noah's hand and sent him to play in the living room. “He eloped? How? Who was working?” Tina asked, putting her hand to her mouth.

I rolled my eyes. “Kathy Sauer, of course. I don't know the whole story, but from what I understand, Kathy was the Charge Nurse and somehow overnight he disappeared on her. Charlie really didn't give me a whole lot of information. He was actually kind of rude about the whole thing. I don't know, maybe he's just as broken up as I am about it.” I tried to give Charlie the benefit of the doubt, but Kathy, not so much. She was a classic example of what not to do as a nurse.

Tina sat down at the kitchen table. “I can't believe this. I just heard on the radio that there's some freak storm about to hit that area. I called my mom to see how she was doing and she said that the Sheriff's office and the State Patrol were warning people to stay off the roads. Nubbin won't survive out there alone.”

I had to admit that I shared that same worry, regardless of what the weather was doing. An elderly gentleman suffering from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's Disease was vulnerable at best and endangered beyond comprehension.

“I know, but remember, Nubbin is strong. He's a fighter and we both know that he's feisty as all get out, so he has that working in his favor. I just wish I was closer, so I could go look for him myself and...” My voice trailed off as I considered what it is I'd do if I found him, beyond squeezing him until my arms fell off my body. “He'll be fine. He couldn't have gotten far.” I added.

Tina mumbled in frustration. “I should have never left him.”

I swallowed the emotion that swelled in my throat. Tina and her son, Noah, had only recently come to live with me, after leaving Western Nebraska in search of new and better opportunities. Prior to her becoming a nurse, Tina had worked as a nursing assistant at the nursing home that Nubbin ran away from and that we both knew was about the most poorly run facility on the planet. It was like the blind leading the blind over there and Nubbin's latest stunt proved it.

“This isn't your fault, Tina. You know how Nubbin is – something gets under his craw and he won't stop until someone pays attention to him.” I reminded her.

“Or until some unsuspecting traveling nurse shows up, expecting to spend the next three months working in a calm and quiet environment and finds herself wrestling down an angry, old bird and getting mixed up in a murder investigation.” Tina took the opportunity to remind me of where this all began.

I laughed. She was right. I met Nubbin, Tina, and the rest of the nursing home staff at just about the exact moment when my life would change forever. Lucky for me, that change didn't involve serving a life sentence behind bars for a murder I didn't commit, but instead afforded me the chance to spend the rest of my days reminiscing about our unlikely meeting.

“It's like we'd come full circle, except this time we're thousands of miles away and have to rely on second hand information to find out what's going on over there.” I said.

Tina pulled her phone out of her bag. “I need to call someone over there and find out what happened. I think I'll try Kathy and see what she tells me.” Tina suggested as she dialed Kathy's number.

“Good luck. Just try not to mention my name.” I said. Kathy didn't like me. I'd never given her a reason not to like me, other than not letting her walk all over me.

Tina grinned and made the call. “Here goes nothing. She should be glad that we want to help.”

I poured another cup of coffee. I'd lost track of how many I'd had over the last couple of hours. I just couldn't get myself to calm down. For some people, coffee made them jittery. For me, it usually did the exact opposite, but this whole thing with Nubbin had me feeling more anxious than I'd ever felt before. I kept hoping that there was some kind of mix up and that Nubbin was just hiding in a broom closet somewhere, not that he would fit well in one – it'd be a little tight – but stranger things had happened.

Tina didn't get too many words in before Kathy started talking. Kathy was what people would refer to as a dominating personality. She liked to be in control, even though, her idea of control bordered more on bullying and less on being a reputable authority figure.

I could hear her stating her case. I could only imagine what her excuse was. She didn't like Nubbin and he didn't like her. If I didn't believe that nurses should stick together, I'd side on the side of the line that said that she was pleased that her most troublesome patient had fled the building. That would be one less thing to worry about in the short term, but in the long term, meaning if Nubbin didn't return, it would mean countless problems for her both professionally and legally.

Tina hung up the phone after several minutes, wearing her frustration all over her sweet face. “Unbelievable,” she said. “Kathy said that Nubbin's been acting up for days and that she finally had to get an order of Haldol for him before he hurt himself or someone else. I guess, he started giving some new resident a hard time about the way he was bellyaching about being there and Kathy had to separate them before one hauled off and socked the other. After dinner, she had Sarah – you remember her, don't you? Anyway, Sarah was one one one with him to keep him occupied, but her shift ended at ten and the

aide that came in for the midnight shift didn't follow through with the one on one status, so sometime between eleven and two in the morning, Nubbin took off.”

I sighed. “How is that even possible? The unit is locked. No one heard or saw anything?”

“Kathy said she was busy working on the end of the month stuff and had the office door closed. Sarah was helping another patient on the commode, so they missed it.” Tina explained what Kathy had told her.

I shook my head. It still didn't make sense. The Memory Support Unit occupies the back of the facility. That meant Nubbin would have had to figure out a way out of the locked unit doors, walk down a very long hallway, pass the open doorways of two other units and get past the front desk to get out. The front doors would have been locked for several hours by the time eleven o'clock rolled around, let alone still be open at two in the morning.

“That woman is about the sorriest excuse for a...” I started.

“Now, wait, Mercy, we don't know if she actually did anything wrong. You, of all people, should know how difficult Mr. Schmeckpepper could be. We weren't there, so we can't say who is at fault. Let's give Kathy the benefit of the doubt.” Tina urged me.

I had to stifle a laugh. I just loved Nubbin's last name and, hearing her say it brought back memories for me. Nubbin could be about as difficult as his last name. I knew that. I'd seen it and sometimes I probably encouraged it. I hoped that this wasn't what this was all about. Did I somehow encourage him by laughing at his antics and giving him details about all that was going on in my world? I shuddered to think about it. If I was to blame, I'd feel horrible. I should have known better. Someone in Nubbin's situation was vulnerable.

“Mercy, what are you thinking about,” Tina asked, moving in front of me. “This wasn't your fault. How were you supposed to know that Nubbin would take off? We're over a thousand miles away. There's nothing you could have done.”

“You're right. I know you're right, but why does it feel so wrong? I feel so helpless.” I said, staring out the window at my car, wishing I could blink and make it turn into a newer model with a more reliable engine, instead of a twenty plus year old car that was begging to be sent out to pasture. “I need to get to Nebraska.”

Tina inhaled loudly. “What are you planning? You can't drive all the way out there. What about the storm? Remember the last time you were out there? Remember how dangerous it was?”

She was right. I didn't think I'd ever forget what the weather was like when I'd been in Nebraska. Three months in a Western Nebraska winter was no picnic, especially for someone like myself, who was born and raised in California. The drive was treacherous. My nerves were shot and my old Honda wasn't doing much better.

“I don't know what else to do,” I answered. “I can't just sit here and wait. I have to do something.”

Tina grinned. “I get it, but is it worth risking your life to go? Nubbin wouldn't want you to do that. Besides, he probably found his way back by now and all this worrying was for nothing.”

I appreciated what she was trying to do, but I honestly didn't feel like this was going to end well. If the stories of this freak storm were true, that meant he'd be exposed to the elements. He was a strong man, a real man's man, but he was also an elderly gentleman with a host of medical problems. I wasn't naive enough to think that he'd be able to survive for any amount of time without proper food, shelter, and his medications.

“Did Kathy happen to mention if he took anything with him? I mean, what was he wearing? Did he pack a bag? Does he have access to money? I know, generally, they wouldn't have much money on them, if they were allowed to have any at all. How is he getting around?” I had more questions than I'm sure anyone would have been able to answer, but they needed to be asked. I trusted that Charlie had asked the same questions of staff, but since he was leaning more toward the grumpy side of his personality, I wasn't going to call him back and ask him. Nope. He owed me an apology, as far as I was concerned.

Tina shrugged. “I don't know. She didn't say anything about that kind of stuff. Do you want me to call her back?”

NO!
I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't let her have an earful if I asked Tina to call her back.

“That's probably not a good idea right now. You don't want her to get defensive on you. I really think I should make the trip. I survived one storm over there. I should be able to survive another. Besides, in another couple of days, it will be May. You can't tell me that Mother Nature is so cruel that she'd let more snow fall.” I said, not realizing that I'd soon eat those words.

It was Tina's turn to roll her eyes. “Sometimes, you're so California. Anything can happen in the Plains. Snow, rain, tornadoes, you name it, it can happen. I don't mean to tell you what to do, but I really don't think you should try and make this trip, especially with Gertrude.” She warned me, referring to my car. My old Honda's name changed on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, depending on how she ran at any particular moment. Just when I thought she'd be able to last another few months, she would stop running and I'd have to scramble to figure out how to pay for another major repair.

I'm not going to say that I wasn't considering packing a bag and hopping into my car to go to Nebraska, but I may or may not have made a quick mental check of how much money I had in both my checking and savings accounts to pay for repairs. Seeing as those numbers weren't favoring on the side of a spending splurge, I had to do some quick thinking to make a trip east even remotely possible.

“I won't take Gertrude. I'll just rent a car. That will be a lot cheaper and, hopefully, won't require repairs every three hundred miles or so.” I said.

Tina opened her mouth to speak, but stopped suddenly when Noah entered the room. With a shrug and a hug, she said, “Be careful and keep your phone on you at all times.”

I adored Tina on so many levels, but one of the biggest reasons I adored her was because she understood that there would be no way of convincing me to do anything that I didn't want to do and no way to talk me out of doing exactly what I wanted to do, no matter how crazy or treacherous the road would be.

“I will. I promise.” I said, making a mental note to follow through on that promise. I wasn't always very good at keeping my phone anywhere nearby or charged. My cell phone was good for convenience, but horrible all at the same time. As a mature, single woman, I didn't like to be tethered to my phone or any other device, much to the chagrin of my loved ones.

As I turned to walk down the hallway to my bedroom, I heard Tina call behind me. “Just so you know, I'm texting Ruby right now. You might want to let Diana know what you're up to as well, before I let her know.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the story of my life. My friends and family remained steadfast by my side, but they also dabbled in tattletaling whenever it was convenient for them.