2024-12-27 “Friday Blonde” for Rebecca (born 1922)

Rebecca Flint opened the book from the week before as Sue Dunlap rolled up beside her. Sue adjusted her position and settled into her chair.

“I told that nurse I wanted the Friday Blonde from last week to read with me again,” Sue said. “I couldn’t remember your name.”

“Rebecca… You said you had a niece by that name.”

Sue nodded. “They say I don’t have dementia, but I guess I’m lazy about remembering things. We were up to Chapter 13 last week.”

Rebecca had forgotten where they left off. She found the place and began reading.

Sue was born in 1935. Rebecca had gone to the nursing home to volunteer because she thought it would be nice to be around people who remembered some of the same things she remembered. 

Rebecca had hit it off with Sue when she asked if she had ever worn a poodle skirt. Sue would have been 15 or so when they became very fashionable. Sue had gone on and on about them, and Rebecca listened carefully, enjoying Sue’s nearly forgotten descriptions of what Rebecca had been living 10 months earlier (by her experiences, having Translocated forward from 1952).

Becoming a volunteer at Agape Homes had been a little tricky. To volunteer she had to have a valid state issued ID (driver’s license). To get a driver’s license, she had to have two pieces of mail with her address on it. To get mail, she had to have an address. To get an address, she had to have an ID.

Before she abandoned New Order, they had created a 1960 Birth Certificate and altered the Social Security records. She had a 1960 NY license, but that expired.

Despite the circle of barriers, Rebecca managed a lease, got her address changed with the bank, waited for a bill for cable and Internet, and hit the DMV at a very busy period when the fact she didn’t look at all like a 64 year old woman would be ignored.

Credential finally in hand, she was ready for life in 2024. She just didn’t know what she would do.

But Agape Homes was something.