Home Office Chronicals 8

The Shaving Mug

Dad wanders into the kitchen as I pour coffee into my favorite mug. He holds out his mug so I naturally begin to pour when he shrieks and withdraws it. “Dat beem ney caffee!” he steps back aghast and stares down into his shaving mug. It's empty, I hadn’t gotten a drop into it. He sits down at the kitchen table and holds a hand to his chest shaking his head. I should have recognized his shaving mug, don’t know why I hadn’t, too early I guess. I stand at the kitchen island drinking coffee and leafing through last week’s newspaper. “Zop, I vant new zop, you go ven?” he holds up his mug twirling one finger into it to signify his shaving brush. Great, now I’ve got to try and find shaving soap again, a thing stores just don’t stock much anymore. Where did I get the last batch? I think it was the pharmacy where I pick up Dad’s meds. Wonder if they would sell it to me through the drive thru window? How long would it take me to explain what kind of soap to the young woman at the window? No, I’d have to go into the store and hunt it down. “Vat und you go now ven you go?” Dad asked. Funny, no matter how battered his speech becomes I always understand what he's saying the way young mothers always understand their two-year-olds. Dad’s dementia is just an inconvenience like running out of shaving soap. “I go valk da dogs, you get zop ok?” “Ok, Dad, later today”, I say. He picks up his mug and puts it down next to the coffeepot then thinks better of it and takes it with him. I watch him descend the porch steps and wander out to the south beyond the pine trees with the dogs tagging along. He picks up his five iron where he had left it and pulls bright yellow golf balls out of a pocket placing them in a row on the sand. Dad’s back swing is followed carefully by five sets of dog eyes. They each had experienced that back swing up close and personally. Crack, thunk! A ball hits the tool shed a hundred feet away. Crack! Another whistles through the pine trees and out of sight. I take my coffee back to my office and wonder if I’ll find the time to drive into town today.