Monday questions and friday questions, always the same even before the dementia. "Did you get the groceries?," "Is the laundry done?," "Is the trash out?," and of course my favorite, "Do you have enough gas money?" These days the questions always come on the right days and the answers are always yes, yes, yes, and yes. Even then he often insists I take gas money, which I do from a nonexistent account we created in order to convince him he doesn't need actual cash. It amazes me that through the haze of dementia these questions are asked on the right days and in the same order. Oh, cant forget "did you go to the bank?"cause on fridays he would pick up his check and we'd go to the bank to deposit it, get his allowance and hit the grocery store.
The other things that keep coming back are the mail and his pharmacy deliveries. Grandpa delivered mail in key west for 33 years to the likes of Hemingway and Truman. So from time to time he gets concerned about who took over his route and if the mail was delivered. Beyond the mail route Pa also would deliver pharmacy orders to the older folks on the island on friday. He often asks, on friday, "Who is doing the deliveries?" or "have the deliveries been done?" This is where my cousins, dad's friends, and anyone else I can name from Key West comes in handy. "Oh, Timmy is doing it now" or "Dont worry, Jimmy said he'd do it."
He can still tell me the whole route he delivered to and of course, the firemen he played dominoes with at the fire station at the end of his route.
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