Un-Connected (28 page)

Jim said they
had twenty-three banks where they had agents waiting inside for the IRS person
or impersonators to come back. They hoped to have a few people in custody soon.

Sal called to
tell us that he and someone with him had finished breaking the code and thanked
us. I asked for a copy of the broken code. He said he would send an e-mail
attachment with an encrypted code, and he told me the code to unlock it.

Deb
and I knew we wanted a more secure house than most, and the best way to do that
it seemed was to have a courtyard totally enclosed.  We had discussed it as a
possible option before but now we were certain we wanted to make that a
priority if we could.

When we searched
for and drove to look at houses like that we found all kinds. That surprised
us. We knew of the low-lying single-story Spanish design with red-clay tiled
roofs. But we discovered old-world styles of half-timbered two-story houses
that were raised above ground level so parking, utility rooms, and storage
underneath. We found some that didn’t have a formal name. They were small
residential campus layouts like some college campuses where you have buildings
of different sizes connected with covered walkways. Sometimes the walkways had
a wall on the
outside
creating a secure inner courtyard. Access to the
courtyard in some cases was only through one of the buildings.  In other cases
they entered through a gated driveway.

Reading Rebecca’s
notes was fascinating. She had met Leon at a deposition at his house. He had
been involved in some kind of lawsuit, and one January the lawyer agreed to
meet Leon at his house so he wouldn’t have to get out. The lawyer hired Rebecca
to record the deposition. She got there several minutes before the lawyer, and
Leon liked her. He asked for her phone number. Later he called her and told her
he had no family who cared about him, and he wanted her to be the executor of
his estate. She was surprised he would trust her and tried to talk him out of
it. But apparently, few people talked Leon out of what he really wanted.

Things seemed to
have gone pretty well for a couple of years with Leon being low maintenance. Then
one day all that changed. Leon was taken out of his house and moved to the
Christian Brothers Nursing Home. He had been sedated in his home and taken out
on a stretcher to an ambulance. The neighbors were told he had a mild stroke,
and he should be fine. The people who took him were careful to not raise any alarm
even though Leon was unconscious.

Once in the
nursing home, he was kept pretty much sedated even though he was awake much of
the daytime and put to sleep at night with meds. They kept him feeling good. They
were giving him Nardil and Wellbutrin among other things. They apparently gave
him enough other things to mask their real intentions. His doctor brought in
medication he said one pharmaceutical company or another wanted him to try. They
made sure Leon had enough that he didn’t talk too much. Often when he did speak,
his speech was slurred and his thoughts disconnected and impossible to follow.

Leon tried to
get nurses and others to listen to him. He wanted to go home. He was there
against his will. Those that put him there had no right to take him out of his
house.

It took Rebecca
a few days of frantic searching to find Leon once he was taken from his home. When
she did find the nursing home he was in, they wouldn’t let her see him. She
finally convinced them she was his granddaughter with the lawyers help. Leon
was cogent enough that he recognized her and verified her relationship. She got
really upset when Leon told her what he knew. She pitched a fit, wanting to
know who put him there, and who took him out of his house. Apparently, the
doctor who was to care for Leon got a call from the nursing home and sounded
the alarm to others.

Before Rebecca was
killed she apparently had not been to Leon’s house for a while.  She had been visiting
and working with Leon at the nursing home. She was being stonewalled everywhere
she went. The doctor caring for Leon also tried to scare her off several times.
He told her she was upsetting Leon, and she might be the cause of a heart
attack or his death.

Later the doctor
told her that Leon was upset at her and wanted her to stay away. Then he told
her the nursing home staff was getting tired of her false alarms and wanted her
blocked from seeing Leon. Finally, the nursing home asked her to quit coming. She
didn’t, but she was harassed all along the way. When they knew she was coming,
they would give Leon enough meds that he would be out. They would also try to
stall her at the front desk long enough to dope him up when she came
unannounced.

While she was
working with Leon at the nursing home, they cleaned out his house, checking
accounts, stocks, bonds, car, and everything else he had. Then they did a quick
short sale on his house. He died conveniently the day after the closing.

Rebecca heard
from a niece of Leon’s just before he died. All she seemed to care about was
how much money he had. She had implied that if anyone,
like Rebecca,
stole
his money, the rest of the family would sue her.

The people who
took Leon’s stuff seemed to think Rebecca would go away once Leon passed away,
and that would be the end of it. She started raising a stink about getting an
autopsy. She got Leon’s lawyer involved again and with her own money, and they
began to look for ways to subpoena someone over Leon’s stuff.  They were
hitting dead ends and being stonewalled everywhere they looked.

Rebecca had gone
to Leon’s probate. A lawyer there representing the government declared there
was no money or equity in the estate that was not owed to the government. So Rebecca
was the executor of an estate with nothing in it.

They gave Rebecca
a small urn with Leon’s ashes. There had been no memorial. No family with him
when he passed away. He had been un-connected. Rebecca cried. Now, I remembered
about when it happened because Rebecca was sad and upset. Looking back, I
believe she had been thinking about telling me but had kept her promise
instead, even after his death.

Then the writing
had stopped.

That very fact
after so much writing and work and detail proved an untimely ending. The sudden
stop screamed of something not right. It shouted something had not finished the
way it should have... Leon had not gotten justice. No one knew what was going
on, and there were few answers about anything relating to Leon’s last few
months.

But the stopped
writing had a story of its own, and I knew what it was. Rebecca’s work was
unfinished because they’d stopped her. I was sick. I had been so helpless, so
angry, and so powerless to help her. She had no way to help Leon or get justice
for him. If he had just let her bring Ben into the situation it might have been
better.  Together they might have been able to do more.  This faceless enemy
had been so cruel. They’d taken a healthy man from his home, they had drugged
him, and had taken everything he had including his dignity, freedom, and life.

I went to the
bathroom and threw up. It seemed as if the room was spinning, and I was so
dizzy. Things were not right, and I couldn’t fix them or make the world settle
down.

It took me a while
to get my thoughts together to move on. Deb just hung out with me, loving me
but not crowding or rushing. I was exhausted and sick. Deb suggested we get a
little something to eat. I ate a little and that helped.

This was all
overwhelming, but we agreed on a couple of things. We knew something was about
to happen in Rebecca’s case. When we talked about her or Leon, both of them
seemed so surreal. It was way too big for us and we felt helpless.

I suggested we
go home.  When we got there I took an unusually long nap.  This was making me
sick.

***

When I woke up I
went looking for Deb.  Since there was nothing we could do on Leon and
Rebecca’s case, we eventually moved forward with the house project, even though
we were moving very slowly. Deb understood, and we worked at my pace.

We called
Margaret to see how Franz was doing. 

“He is doing
great.  He is walking up and down the halls visiting with other patients.  He
was a little sad when he realized he wouldn’t be going home but he has pulled
himself together and is making the best of it.  He has a strong spirit and
isn’t in bad health.  He really is pretty strong for his age.  He played
checkers nearly all day yesterday and maybe the champion though he won’t say
so.  We think he beat everyone here.  He says he didn’t but we think that means
he didn’t beat people that don’t play so he actually did beat everyone that
played him.”

“That is great.”
Deb said. “We are really busy right now and want to come see him again but we
might not make it today.  Will he and you be okay if we don’t make it until
tomorrow?”

“Oh yes, we are
fine.  He is the ideal patient.  He doesn’t have the money to stay here and he
doesn’t need us but he is doing great.”

“Please make a
point of telling him we called and we will be back up to see him.”

“I sure will.”
Margaret said.

We didn’t say
anything for several minutes.

“Deb, I don’t
think I can help him right now because I’m so drained.  Can you call Otis and
ask him what he thinks we can do for Franz?”

“Sure, honey, I
love you.  You know I will do anything I can to help you and I agree that we
need to help Franz as much as we can.”

“I knew my best
friend Rebecca had been a wonderful person.’ I said.  “I wished so much she had
asked Leon to release her from her promise as far as I was concerned.  I wish
she had told me what was going on so that I could be in the fight for Leon with
her.  I am so sad that she was doing it alone.  I loved her so much and am so
sad that we weren’t in it together.”

Neither of us
said anything for several minutes.

“Please don’t
ever get into a situation where you promise not to share something with me.  I
don’t want you to have to do anything on your own.  We should be together in
whatever we get into.” I said.

Deb quietly
answered. “I won’t.  She should have included you somehow.  I will learn from
her mistake and I promise you that I won’t do the same thing.”

I just nodded
yes
because I was glad for that promise.

Then she called
Otis to tell him about Franz.
 She was on the phone with him
for probably thirty minutes.  When she hung up I asked if they had any answers
on how to take care of him.

“No, not
really.  We went over some ideas.  There are church organizations that usually
can help but they don’t normally move fast.  We could take him to the downtown
YMCA but at his age someone would take advantage of him one way or another and
at least rob him blind.”

“Could we make
room for him in the house we build and take care of him there?” I asked.  “I
mean I think I would like to but I’m not sure and don’t want to if you are against
it.”

“No, I would
like to but we don’t have the house yet and what do we do until we have the
house?  It could be a year before it is ready to move into.”

“We can’t keep
paying for him to stay there.  I mean we could but that is very expensive and not
a good use of money for something he doesn’t need.  Maybe we could find an
assisted living place where he would rent an apartment and have a nurse check
in on him every day and where he would have an alarm where he could signal for
help if he got into trouble with something.  Then we could check on him once a
week or so.  That might not cost too much.”

“I know you
don’t feel like it right now so let me call around and see what I can find
out.” Deb said.  “If we can find a place he can afford or almost afford and we
pay the difference then it could be workable until we build our house.  We
could include an in-law suite of some kind and put him in there.”

“That sounds
great.  I’m emotionally exhausted so please do what you can without me for
right now and I will try to pull myself together and be of some help later.”

I sat on the
back porch and watched the trees blow in the gentle breeze and small birds
chasing each other in flight.  People deal with depression in different ways. 
Some people load up on anti-depressants.  Some people will drink their pain
away.  Wasn’t it the Eagles who wrote a song “Tequila Sunrise” where they said
“I’m feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain” or something like that.  Anyway I
didn’t want to medicate or drink my way out.  I didn’t want to be a stress
eater.  I just wanted pray and give it to God and then to sleep it off.

Chapter 17

A Home for Franz

My next nap
turned out to be a long one.  I slept for almost three hours in the middle of
the day.  That may not have been a new record for me but it sure was unusual. 
When I woke up I was a little groggy like I had a hangover but I was better. 
Once I got some coffee and walked around a little, I was ready to slowly start
doing something.

“I call about a
dozen places,” Deb said.  “I got quotes all over the place from $800 a month to
$1700 a month for the smallest place anyone had.  A few of them are on the
other side of Phoenix and I vote for not getting something that far away.  I
don’t want to dread driving to see Franz.”

“Sounds like my
girl is on the ball.  I agree. So which one are you the most interested in?”

“Well there are
two that I think are the best compromise.  They are more or less on this side
of town and they are among the lowest prices.  What if I drive and we go see
them.  Once we have been there, we probably will be able to decide at that
point.”

“I like it.” I
said. “But that would take us until supper time.  Are you trying to sneak
yourself a free dinner into this deal?”

“Am I that easy
to see through?” Deb asked. “You know I like to be taken out to eat by my man. 
Any excuse I can come up with is good enough for me.”

“Me too. Let’s
go.”
            She grabbed her notes and headed to the car.  I was moving slow but
I got there pretty quick.  She drove us to the first one.  It looked like it
had been an old apartment complex.  There were probably eight to ten buildings
that were two stories high and the units were flats.  When I first looked at
them they appeared to be townhouses but on closer inspection it became obvious
they were flats on each floor.  The upstairs and downstairs on a pair of units
had the same elevation i.e. the same front and it made them look like they went
together.

Deb found the
office and we went in.  The lady at the desk was Rita.  She explained their
more economical programs.  They were totally secure in a fenced area with a
security guard for those driving or walking or they could walk into the complex
by going through the office.  That would be a good security feature so someone
outside couldn’t get into rip Franz off or he couldn’t wander off should his
mind begin to fail.  The down stairs units were for the less mobile tenants. 
They had people upstairs who were quite mobile but had health issues like a bad
heart or whatever but needed a nurse close by.  Some had dementia and had to be
watched but could get around just fine.  We felt Franz could probably do fine
upstairs but wanted to make life easy for him and went to look at a ground
floor unit. 

It was a one
bedroom with open floor plan in the main living area.  It had a small kitchen
in a corner with a bar between it and the dining area where there was a small
table and two chairs.  Then the living area was beyond that with a sofa, love
seat and recliner with an entertainment center.  The TV was older but with the
cable box and DVD player it looked adequate. 

It had a complex
phone so if he picked it up and didn’t dial “9” someone up front would answer. 
If he didn’t answer them the nurse would come running.  That didn’t answer all
problems but if he could get to the phone in the living room or the bedroom and
just knock it off the cradle then he would have someone there real quick.

That unit cost
$925 per month plus electricity which normally ran about $50 per month they
said.

We thanked Rita
and headed to the next one.

“That was good
research Deb.  That was a very practical and workable space for Franz.  If we
had no other choice, that one would work.”

“Are you
bragging on me?”

“Maybe.”

“It sounded to
me like you were bragging on me.  Are you slipping?”

“I wouldn’t have
to slip to brag on you.  I just don’t want to be too easy.”

“I know you were
bragging on me.  The cat is out of the bag.  I know you are proud of me and
thankful for me.  You are really glad I found you.”

“You didn’t find
me.  I found you.”

“Are you
changing the subject?  I think we were talking about how proud of me you are. 
Maybe something like how lucky you are to have a sweetheart like me.  I think
you were getting ready to tell me what a catch I am.”

“Oh, so you can
tell what I’m about to say now?”

“I’m pretty sure
that was it.”

Then she laughed
out loud.  I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“You are very
perceptive.  I didn’t even realize I was about to say all those things but when
you said them I knew they were true so you got me.  I’m sure I was just about
to say them.”

She smiled and
in short order we were at the second place.  I was beginning to have my
emotions charged up again and was about to be back to my normal self.

The lady at this
place was named Estelle.  She was a little older but very nice.  All of their
units were on the ground floor but several of them opened into an enclosed
courtyard.  They had a pool there when it was a motel but they had filled that
in.  There was some beautiful landscaping with lots of flowers.  There were
raised beds which were islands several places dividing the area into different
sitting places.  Each of the sitting areas had multiple chairs and tables so a
person could sit at a table by themselves to eat or read.  Or two or more table
could be placed together for larger groups.  Each sitting area could probably
seat twenty to thirty people.  There were several skylights so it was well
lit.  For someone social like Franz this would really be nice. 

There were
several groups of people all over the courtyard playing cards or table games. 
There were also several people sitting by themselves reading or playing games
on a table or notebook.  This facility had really good high speed internet
Estelle told us.  That wasn’t important to most of the older guests but to some
of the younger ones it was.  Some had never had a computer and some watched
movies all day.

We went to a
unit that was much like the one we had seen before except it didn’t have a
bedroom door.  The floor plan was “L” shaped and open and the only doors inside
the unit were to the bathroom or to the closets.  They had less SF than the
first unit we saw.

We went to the
office and were given information on their most economical options.  They had a
nurse on duty 24/7 like the other place and like the other place they had an
alarm so a guest could get help.  Their alarms were activated by a wristband
with a red button similar to those things that have a lanyard.  They were water
proof so the guest were to wear them at all times except when in bed and they
were to be put in a charger at night.  The charger doubled as a night light so
it could be easily found in the dark.  The charging stand also had a battery
backup so if the electricity went off the night light would still work.

It cost $1050
per month and the electricity was part of the price. 

“When they
converted it from a motel they didn’t want to run new wire to every room.” I
said.

This was a nice
place that Franz would like too.  Both of them had multiple meal plans so Franz
could get seven, fourteen or twenty meals per week.  We thanked Estelle and
left. 

I made good on
taking my woman to dinner.  She chose Italian and we found a good place. 

“Okay, should we
take Franz to see each one or since we will be paying part of the fee just pick
out one and see if he wants to see it?” I asked Deb.

“I vote for
picking one.  If he were my dad, that is what I would do.  I don’t want to be
unkind but at that age he may not care that much and it might be confusing.  He
probably is more concerned about people to talk to than floor plan.”

“I agree.  That
is what I think will be the least dramatic for him.  I think I like the last
one the best for him.  He could go out his front door in any weather and find
someone to talk to.  The courtyard is big enough he could walk around the
perimeter and get enough exercise.  I think it would be the best for him.”

“Me too!  I
would be excited to see him there.  I think he would be very comfortable and
happy.”

We called
Margaret and told her what we found and what we felt was in Franz best
interest.  She sounded excited for him which we took to be genuine.  We knew
she would be relieved to get him out of her place so she didn’t have to cook
the books on his ledger.  But she did care for him and wanted him to have a
good place to land.

“Margaret, how
do you think we should handle breaking the news to him?” Deb said. “You know
him better than us.  He did take the news about losing his house pretty well
didn’t he?”

“He was nice
about it and was depressed for a few days but he got over it more quickly than
we thought he would.  He seemed pretty normal the next day but the nurses and I
could tell he was a little sad.  Why don’t you come by at your convenience and
we will sit down and talk to him together.  You could leave his stuff here and
take him to see where you want him to go.  Then he won’t feel pressured to
leave.  He might want to see it one day and then a couple of days later make
his move.  That way he wouldn’t be rushed.”

“Margret that is
a great idea.  You are really good at this aren’t you?” Deb said.

“I try. 
Sometimes this business is sad especially when someone we really like passes
away.  You know we see more than our share of death here.  But when one leaves
a new one comes in and we keep moving.  The new ones need us we tell each other
and we know we are doing something that is really worthwhile.”

Deb said just a
minute and turned to me.  When do you want to go talk to Franz?

I didn’t answer
immediately. 

“Let’s not do it
tonight.  We don’t want him upset or excited before bed time.  We don’t want to
take his sleep.  Why not ask Margaret what she thinks.  We could come back in
the morning.”

Deb got back on
the phone with Margaret.  They agreed and so we had a morning appointment.

We called Otis
and told him what was going on.  He was glad we called.  He was glad we were
taking care of old people.  It was comforting to him so that if he ever got old
he would know we would take care of him.  Then he laughed.  He had so many
people looking out for him that he would never need our help.

When we got home
the girl of my dreams gave me some good things to dream about and I slept
really well that night.

The next morning
we were headed to see Franz when Otis called. 

“Can I go with
you?” he asked.  “Tilly and I think what you are doing is great and we want to
be part of it.”

“Sure,” I said.
“We intended to stop somewhere for breakfast and then go see Franz.  Have you
eaten yet?”

“No, I can’t get
a meal out of Tilly.  She starves me every day.” Then we heard him yell.  She
must have been clubbing him or something.

“Okay, let me
rephrase that.  My precious wife who always takes good care of me has been busy
helping me get cleaned up and dressed this morning and we haven’t had time for
breakfast yet so we would like to join you.”

We laughed and
told them to come on.  We waited on them to order.  We talked about Franz and
then their kids as Tilly called them.  She was so thankful for her family. 
Otis’ legs were healing well.  One was almost back to normal but had some
serious scars.  The other one was functional but looked rough she said.  There
were still some open wounds so they were having to change bandages every day.  And
he could only take a bath if they put plastic over the lower part of his leg
and used something like duct tape to keep water out.  The medical supply store
had some bags that were a good size to fit over his foot and go to his knee.

When we got to
the nursing home Margaret was looking for us.  We introduced Otis and Tilly. 
Then we all went looking for Franz.  We found him talking to a couple people of
course.  I went up and said good morning and shook his hand.  It was a firm
handshake for an eighty year old. 

“Franz, we have
brought some friends that want to meet you.  This is Otis.  He was in the US
army and fought in Korea and Viet Nam.  He is really old but he wanted to meet
you.”

Franz stood up
and very politely stepped forward and shook Otis’ hand.  We introduced him to
Tilly who always bossed him around.  He was glad someone would keep Otis out of
trouble. 

“Franz can we
talk to you for a minute?” Margaret said.  And she walked over to a couple of
tables that were together with eight chairs around them.

He quietly
walked to one of the chairs and sat down. 

“We don’t want
to scare you Franz but these people want to help you find another place to
live.  This place is for people that need a lot of help.  The doctor who took
you out of your house thought you needed a lot of help but you don’t.  So these
people want to take you to a place that is better for you.  Are you okay with
that?”