Nope, Don’t Wanna See That Diaper (Wordless Wednesday) and That Last Day (Words for Wednesday)

 ***********************************

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

***********************************

Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Elephant’s Child.     

This week’s prompts are:

1. Unsuitable
2. Ladies
3. Didn't
4. Crocodile
5. Home
6. Cards

 

And/Or

1. Life
2. Wall
3. Appeared
4. Voice
5. Both
6. Slipper

“I’d like to see something in a LADIES’ bedroom SLIPPER.”

“Confidentially, so would I!”

The lines from the old TV show brought laughter, both on the screen and in the room.  A few minutes later, Uncle Milty APPEARED in his dress, again to applause and laughing.

“Enjoying your shows?” she asked, setting a TV tray in front of him with some morsels she hoped would spark his appetite as much as the shows sparked his smiles.

His VOICE raspy and hesitant, he replied, “Yes!  Nothing UNSUITABLE in these old shows.”

“You’re right, those were the days of clean TV.  Here, I made some of your favorite soup and home made bread, like Mom used to bake.”

He smiled his thanks, and although he hadn’t wanted to eat for a long time he at least tried a bit for her sake.  He knew she worried.

It was the way of LIFE, he’d worried about her when she was growing up, and now she worried about him as he faced what they both knew were his last ...  years? Months? Days?  No one knew, but they BOTH wanted him to be at HOME if possible, and each tried to make it as easy as possible on the other.

There was a thump on the other side of the WALL, and her husband came in with a folding chair and a CARD table.

“Since I didn’t have work today, I thought maybe you and I could play some rummy.”  Her husband liked and loved his father-in-law; both men loved the game and would wile away an afternoon then finish up with a good movie.  It DIDN’T matter that the elder wasn’t as quick in play as he used to be, they just wanted to make good memories of being together now.

Nodding and slurping soup as his son-in-law set up the table, he tried to remember the name of the movie he’d been thinking of earlier in the day.  After a bite of the good, warm bread with butter, he cleared his throat and asked, “What’s the name of that movie with the star from Australia that we watched a couple of months ago?”

“CROCODILE Dundee?  Do you want to watch that one again, it’s a good one.”

“Sure.” 

It was a good afternoon, they enjoyed the movie, and he even had some ice cream with both of them after, all of them reminiscing and chatting and laughing more.

As she helped him get to bed later, he told his daughter, “Thank you.  And thank him for me, I know it takes patience to play with me these days.”

“He loves it,” she said, and they hugged good night.

Some time before morning he drifted to the other side, and both of them were glad they’d taken extra time that last day.

***********************************

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Egypt

Balloons Around the World -- balloon artists around the world are encouraged to donate an hour or more to a charity of their choice in their community, entertaining children everywhere with balloon sculpture

Change a Light Day -- US (was originally sponsored by EnergyStar, promoting energy saving light bulbs; although they don't seem to be running this particular campaign any more, it's a great idea to switch to the highest efficiency bulbs you can)

     while the original dates were on Wednesdays, some websites list this on the first Sunday

Earthquake Remembrance Day/Commemoration Day -- Turkmenistan

Festival of the Other Five Toes -- Fairy Calendar

Garlic Lovers Day -- internet generated, unofficial, and delicious

Ivy Day -- Ireland (death anniversary of Irish nationalist leader and Home Rule advocate Charles Stewart Parnell)

Jackie Mayer Rehab Day -- Sandusky, OH, US (anniversary of renaming the local rehab hospital after Sandusky's "favorite daughter", Jackie Mayer, Miss America 1963 and stroke survivor, now advocating on behalf of stroke survivors)

Mad Hatter Day -- US (second crazy day in the year, to balance April Fool's Day, and based on the 10/6 on the Mad Hatter's hat in Tenniel's drawing; in English-speaking countries where the day preceeds the month in notation, it is celebrated on June 10)

National German-American Day -- US (anniversary of the disembarking of the first German immigrants to Pennsylvania in 1683)

     German Pioneer Day -- Pennsylvania

National Noodle Day

National Physician's Assistant Day -- US (anniversary of the first graduating class of physician assistants from Duke University on this day in 1967)

Navaratri Dussehra -- Hindu (nine day Festival of Durga, wife of Shiva; local dates of observance may vary)

Semana Morazánica, una Fiestas Patrias -- Honduras (through Saturday)

St. Bruno's Day (Founder of the Carthusian Monks; Patron against demonic possession)

St. Faith's Day (Patron of pilgrims, prisoners, soldiers)

Tishreen Liberation War Day -- Syria

Anniversaries Today:

Elizabeth Taylor marries Larry Fortensky, 1991

American Library Association founded in 1876

Birthdays Today:

Jimmy Sisto, 1974

Elisabeth Shue, 1963

David Zucker, 1947

Britt Ekland, 1942

Thor Heyerdahl, 1912

Carole Lombard, 1908

Janet Gaynor, 1906

Helen Wills Moody, 1905

Florence Seibert, 1897

Le Corbusier, 1887

Karol Szymanowski, 1882

George Westinghouse, 1846

Jenny Lind, 1820

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Instagram(launched by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger), 2010

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"(TV), 2000

"The Gin Game"(Play), 1977

"I Hear a Symphony"(Supremes single release), 1965

"The Mousetrap"(Mystery play), 1952 (still being performed)

The Jazz Singer(Film, the first "talkie"), 1927

Today in History:

The Cimbri inflict the heaviest defeat on the Roman Republic army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus in the Battle of Arausio, BC105

Founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania by 13 Mennonite families from Germany, 1683

The Americans and French begin the siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown, which becomes the last battle of the American Revolutionary War, 1781

Benjamin Hanks patents a self-winding clock, 1783

Louis XVI accedes to the demands of the women of Paris and returns to that city, 1789

Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead begins shortly after midnight, leads to 53 deaths and hundreds of injuries, 1854

The American Chess Association is organized and holds the first major US chess tournament, in NYC, 1857

The American Library Association is organized in Philadelphia, 1876

Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture, 1889

Nabisco Foods debuts its Cream of Wheat, 1893

Beatrix Van Rijk becomes the first licensed Dutch woman pilot, 1911

Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie, 1927

Egypt launches a coordinated attack against Israel to reclaim land lost in the Six Day War, 1973

Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom, 1976

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House, 1979

President of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated, 1981

51 Pegasi is discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it, 1995

Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe, 2007

The Messenger Spacecraft performs a second Mercury flyby, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI's butler, Paolo Gabriele, is found guilty of leaking confidential documents and sentenced to 18 months in prison, 2012

The Nobel prize for Physics is awarded to Takaaki Kajita (Japan) and Arthur McDonald (Canada) for work on neutrinos, 2015

Tens of thousands of protestors in Hong Kong march in defiance of a new ban on face masks, 2019

The Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea M. Ghez for their work on black holes, 2020