The Hottest Day

              “I have to find Norma.” Tilly said to me as I passed through the doors for a visit several weeks later. No one was paying any attention to her; they were just happy to see us again at Whitegate, but Tilly was adamant, judging from her furrowed brow and unpredictable pacing. “I told Norma that we would meet today, and I can’t find her.”
               It had to be the hottest summer day on record. It felt like it couldn’t have been less than 100 degrees outside; it was probably hotter. In contrast, the temperature inside the facility at Whitegate was cool, comfortable, and refreshing. It was a relief when we arrived for our weekly visit, but even Hardy’s presence was not calming Tilly down that day.

       “Have you seen Norma?” she kept asking people. On this day she was uninterested in slowing down, nor sitting on the couch to converse with us. I watched as she wandered around erratically. She eventually waltzed directly out the front door and outside into the sweltering heat. Sensing the danger, I left the dogs at our visiting area following her outside. The stifling heat assaulted me as I passed through Whitegate’s threshold, but it didn’t seem to phase Tilly in the slightest.

       “I need to find Norma. I can’t find her. She must be lost.”
       “Who is Norma?” I asked. I thought Norma may have been a new resident that Tilly had befriended.

       “She’s a friend from my childhood,” she answered. “We’ve been friends for years.”

       I started to understand why no one was listening to Tilly as she searched for her lost friend. I had never met a childhood friend of Tilly’s in my months of visiting. I decided to ask one of the staff nurses about Norma, but first I needed to get Tilly out of the dangerous high temperature outdoors. I watched helplessly as Tilly went around the corner of the building, her resolve compelling her to search for her friend.

       “Tilly!” I shouted after her, “Norma wouldn’t come out here today. It’s too hot!”

       Tilly stopped in her tracks. Obviously, I had convinced her. She turned around and moved towards me, still displaying a concerned look on her face. “You are right. She wouldn’t be outside. I’ll check upstairs.”

       As Tilly hurried back inside Whitegate, I breathed a sigh of relief. My next course of action was to find out about Norma. I went back to our visiting area, and I was pleased to see that the residents were enjoying the company of the dogs. In fact, they seemed proud to have been able to “pet sit” for me in my absence. I was touched, but still concerned about Tilly’s predicament. When I asked about Norma, each of them in turn admitted that they didn’t really know what Tilly was talking about. They hadn’t ever met anyone at the facility by that name. Moreover, they said that Tilly had been acting strangely all day, obsessing about finding her childhood friend.