THE FALLEN WOMAN [F, 7-17-20]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

THE FALLEN WOMAN         [F, 7-17-20]

When I quit writing this column, because nothing ever happened--except in the worlds of society and nature, and there are many people who can and do, tell those stories better than I--and thus I had no stories to tell, I said that if, however, anything ever did happen…

Helen opined a couple of weeks ago that we should have masks with us when we walked, in case we encountered some old person who had fallen and could not get up. We don’t need masks just for walking, since we can always cross the street if we see someone coming. But if we saw a person who had fallen, we couldn’t just leave them there, so we’d need a mask while helping them up.

I’ve walked this neighborhood every day for five years and never seen an old person lying in a heap, but having a mask at all times, even while walking, is a good idea, so I started sticking one into my shirt pocket. Until two days ago.

And, two days ago was the one day I forgot, and the day when I saw the old lady on the sidewalk in a heap in front of Jack and Nina’s. [NEE-nah] Perhaps 90, not a skinny lady, sitting in that position some women do when they’re pulling weeds, beside the AC unit, so maybe she was okay, but I thought I’d better check.

“Are you sitting there because you want to?” I asked.

“Yes, for the moment,” she said. “I’ll get up after I’ve figured out how.”

“Would you like some help?”

“No, I live alone. I need to learn how to get up by myself when I fall.”

“Is it okay if I stand here while you figure it out?”

“Yes, that will be fine.”

A lady came by, walking a dog. “Do you need help?”

The dog woman looked strong, so I said, “She wants to figure it out on her own, but why don’t you stick around for a while.” She did.

Then a man from across the street came and watched. I was glad to see him. He didn’t say anything, but he looked strong, so I was glad he was there, too.

Then Nina came out her door. She was quite surprised. “I was just going to get coffee,” she said. “I didn’t know there was a party.”

“It’s Jack’s fault,” the fallen lady said, since we old people always need to blame someone else when we have a mishap, so “they” won’t send us to “the home,” especially since “the home” is a really bad place for an old person to be right now. “I had finished my mile, and was just going to my house, when I began to fall. I reached out for the fender of Jack’s car to steady myself, but he had parked too far away.”

Nina’s been married to Jack long enough that she was not surprised that it was his fault, even though he was still in bed.

All this time the fallen woman was calculating angles and cane and hand placements. She managed to get up to one knee. Then, with a hand on Jack’s fender, all the way. We all applauded.

As it turned out, I didn’t need a mask. All four of us “helpers” stood correctly distanced from the fallen woman and from one another. But if she hadn’t figured out how to do it on her own…

I now have situated masks in several more spots around the house, so that as I go out the door, there is a greater chance I’ll be reminded to take one. But if I don’t, I’m sure it will be Jack’s fault.

John Robert McFarland