Assisted Care On The Edge Of Town

During my first summer on YouthWorks staff, there were two assisted care facilities in town. There was the nice one, where many adult leaders would joke, “That’s where I want to retire. It’s so fancy!” And then there was the other one. The one we discovered on the edge of town, tucked away where no one would have to drive past on purpose. The whitewashed walls and understaffed halls told a difficult story. But every couple days, I got to step into that story and understand a tiny bit of the plot and meet characters like Hank. This memory I captured years ago, reminds me that not all stories resolve in this lifetime.

Assisted Care

I am ashamed to ask where he lost
his leg or look directly into his clouded right eye
as he talks about Jesus with slurred speech from half
his mouth.
Guiding him back to his room
to see his paintings he boasts of, we pass between buildings
cracked cement, intrusions of grass,
slow heat of the day, whitewashed walls, shade
where clusters of gowns sit, stand, sway, hiding from the heat.
The sun beats on the dead-end road, marked
by the sign, bright yellow and boldly bordered:
NO OUTLET.

From his wheelchair Hank shows me Jesus
there above the dresser, overlooking him as he sleeps.
He struggles back onto his bed, asking me not to help.
I catch his arm when he falters
toward the TV on the worn dresser within reach
of the mattress – thin and narrow, stained
as the air with bitter saltiness of urine.
I tell him he is a fine painter.

In the doorway, I turn. Hank’s left side smiles, lopsided
like Jesus’ face, failing unevenly like a lost leg, his contours being pulled
toward the floor of this pushed-back room, place, town. I am visiting
for the final time. I leave Jesus
and Hank to be alone with the TV
already emitting life.

Sam Townsend helps write training, programming and marketing materials for YouthWorks mission trips. When he isn’t hanging around teenagers at church or digging into seminary homework, he is generally looking for a good conversation and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have it in. Sam still considers his first couple summers working for YouthWorks in Virginia and Pennsylvania communities some of the most transformative times of his life.