The Secret Room

"Mom, I don't want to do this. I hate the nursing home. Everyone there is old



and sick. Great Grandma Helen barely recognizes me half the time."



Bailey's pleas fell on her mother's deaf ears. "Bailey, please be cooperative."



First of all, Shady Pines is an assisted living facility. We don't use the term



nursing home. Great Grandma Helen loves you, and enjoys your visits."



Bailey wanted to reply that her mom was only dumping her there so she could



spend Saturday shopping and playing tennis with her friends. Instead, she



trudged out of the car towards Shady Pines. She felt as though she were



walking to death row.



The place was depressing. Bailey's dad called it "God's waiting room." Mobile



residents played bingo or watched television. Others sat in wheelchairs, drooling



and out of touch with the world.



Great Grandma Helen greeted Bailey with a wet, sloppy kiss. Helen was



suffering from dementia and had good and bad days. Today was one of her



better ones.



Bailey sat on a hard uncomfortable chair watching next to Helen as they



watched a boring old black and white movie. They didn't even have cable in this



place.



Helen started talking about meeting her husband when she was a nurse during



World War Two. Bailey had studied about World War Two in school, but wasn't



sure when that was. She was pretty sure it was during the 1930's.



Bailey began to listen to Helen's story in spite of herself. She had worked as a



nurse at a Navy Hospital in Washington, and her future husband Harold was a



Navy doctor there. Bailey had to admit it was sort of a romantic story,



Frank, another resident who liked Helen kept interrupting Helen's story.



"You should have married me, Helen Addison. I was the man who loved you."



Bailey noticed a strange look come over Helen. "Come, Dear. I need to show



you something."



Bailey followed her down a dark corridor. They came to a door with a placard



that read "For Authorized Personnel Only."



Helen took a key from the pocket of her house dress and turned the lock.



"What is this, Grandma?" Bailey asked.



"Patience, Dear. You will see."



Bailey walked inside, and looked around the room in amazement. The room



was set up like a ballroom similar to the one in the movie they had just watched.



Big band music played from an old fashioned radio. Couples dressed in 1940's



garb slow danced.



Helen walked over to an old Coca Cola machine and took out a small green



bottle. Bailey expected her to offer her a coke, but she did not.



"You cannot drink this, Bailey. It is not for children."



Helen swallowed the soda, and transformed before Bailey's eyes. Her ninety-



year old great grandmother was now a beautiful dark haired young girl.



Frank entered, and was also transformed to a young man. Bailey watched as



they danced together to someone named Tommy Dorsey,



The elixir wore off after three hours and the residents of Shady Pines were



back to being their "old" selves. Helen swore Bailey to secrecy about the day's



adventures.



She never went back to the secret room again. But she always kept the



memory of it in her heart, especially after Great Grandma Helen died two years



later.