Phone Problems

"Esther, come here for a minute."

This has always been the command before a never-ending and exhausting task.  She said that before I helped her clean out the garage after Grandpa died.  She said that before she had me spend two days weeding her bank.  She said that before we spent six hours cleaning the light fixtures in her home which ended up in us cussing each other out, as the cleaning of her light fixtures always reduces people to do.

Lately, it has come to mean she will engage you in never ending dialogue about imaginary problems that her brain keeps inventing.

Today she kept pointing behind the phone and saying she needed me to help her figure out her phone coverage and how she thinks her number was taken away.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I tried to keep a straight face and take her seriously.  She's had the same number for probably at least forty years.  Anna asked her, "Grandma, what is your phone number?"

"967-7841."

That is not her number.  At all.  And from what I can remember, it never has been.  She kept pointing behind the phone as if something was physically there to explain the whole problem.  Anna and I kept explaining she has the same number and she hasn't lost any coverage.

After about 45 minutes, I finally had to kiss her on the head, turn Law and Order: SVU on and leave the room.