THE CHOICE

by:   Mike Morgan aka CodeBaloo

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A few years ago, I worked as a Nursing Assistant on the fourth floor of a local hospital with a large number of Spanish-speaking-only patients. Usually, the language barrier was not a problem for me, as I would use the few Spanish words I knew combined with hand gestures, to communicate with these folks.

One of my duties was to check on patients every two hours through the night. Among other things, I was to assist those patients with limited mobility in repositioning themselves in bed. One such patient was a little Spanish-speaking lady, old enough to remember Moses, who needed to be encouraged to turn onto her side. I told her, using a few Spanish words, that she should turn, either a la puerta, "to the door" on her right, or a la ventana, "to the window" on her left. I was gentle, but firm. To help ensure I conveyed the proper message, I made a turning motion with my hand, then pointed toward the window and the door. The lady adamantly refused. I was told that I should strongly encourage this particular patient to turn, due to her senility. I repeated my message. She promptly began screaming hysterically for help.

One of the nurses heard the cries, and came quickly to the room. Sensing that I might be the cause of the lady's distress, the nurse asked me to step out of the room. The two women spoke in Spanish for several minutes before the nurse finally reappeared. Fearing that I had done something wrong, I asked the nurse what the patient had said.

Fighting to control her own laughter, the nurse told me, "She said, ' This big man came in here a few minutes ago, and he told me I had to leave right now. He said I could either leave through the door, or through the window, but I did have to leave now. I refused. When he told me again I had to leave -- either through the door, or through the window -- that's when I started screaming for help!' "

Guess it would do me well to learn a bit more Spanish!

"The Choice' © by Mike Morgan 1998
All Rights Reserved

"CodeBaloo" on DALnet IRC -- look for me in #the_writersclub