"Can I have some water?"

Later when Ma Schmidt woke up again, we spent quite a lot of time in conversations that represented variations on the following theme:

"Can I have something to drink?"

"Here's some water."

"Where's this from?" 

"It's yours. I just picked it up from the table."

"Is that all there is?"

"There's lots more in the kitchen, when you finish this."

"Is there a kitchen?"

"Yes, right over there."

"Can I got get my own water?"

"When you try to walk, it's really hard. I don't think you can walk."

"How am I supposed to get water, then?"

"You've got water. I just gave it to you."

"But are you always here?"

"I'm here now. I'll be here for many days yet."

"What if you're not here?"

"Then you ask your son."

"Is he here?"

"He's up in the shop working on a job."

"What shop?"

"You have a shop here on this property. In your barn."

"Is it far away?"

"Not far."

"So I could walk there?"

"I don't think you can walk."

"Then how do I get him?"

"If you need him, you send me. But mostly you can just ask me for what you need."

"But are you always here?"

[Re-enter the conversation at this point above.]

Then there were conversations where she simply said she was afraid of being left alone, and was grateful for my being with her. (Does that mean she forgave my man-handling her to get her cleaned up? No, it probably means she had forgotten all about it. It was a full hour before, after all.) There were conversations where she said she really just wanted to converse with Schmidt for a while. Could I get him? I promised to let him know as soon as he came back down from the shop—where he's working on a job. (I tried to speak in repeatable, Homeric formulas as much as possible, in the hopes that some of it might stick.) And there were conversations where … no, I don't even remember any more. I'm trying to get this written down so that I remember it all later. But there was enough that I can't remember all of it. That's what you get when you try to recall all the elements of a day that lasts for a week. 

Schmidt did finally come back to the house. He sat with her during "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy". Now he is fixing dinner. I think she is asleep again.