A Tale of Verde and Zela

 This is a tale of Verde and Zela.

Eddie with Zela a few years earlier.

So when it came time to place my grandmother, Zela, into a (small and individualized) care home, it was busy and confused, and I listened to people I should not have. Zela was having a really bad time when we had to move her into a care home in Orange County.

Well, one of Zela's church friends, named Verde (pronounced as if it rhymes with "birdie"), was around, and she was determined to help. Pushy and annoyingly determined. She asked "What can I do?" about 100 times and offered everything.  Finally, I took her up on her offer to take Zela's cat. Just long enough for us to figure out how to deal with the cat.

This was Saturday afternoon. One of the few things we brought with us was some Angel book that Verda said was Zela's favorite and brought her in touch with God. Zela, on the other hand, was about 180 degrees opposite from the happy Grandmother I knew and loved. 

At the new facility, I tried to give the book to her to help calm her. She said, "What the hell is that for?"

"Verde said that it was your favorite."

Zela, "It's a stupid book. Verde gave it to me. Get rid of it."

Okay, that didn't work out. But I should have seen the red flag coming, and I missed it.

Sunday morning, Verde calls me, "Scott, how is Zela?"

"Fine, you can probably go see her today. How is the cat?"

Verde: "I think the cat is sick. It cried all last night, I didn't know what to do."

Me: "I get it. Sorry. Zela's deaf and she can't hear the cat."

Verde: "Well it kept us up all night."

Me: "Okay, I'll figure out what to do. Can you keep it one more night while I figure this out?"

Verde: "We put the cat down,"

Me: "WHAT?"

Verde: "Well, it was obviously sick."

Me: "We moved it to a new house without Zela. It had a bad night!!"

Verde: "I think it was sick. It was so skinny."

Me: "Fine. Fine. Fine. Just don't tell Zela right now."

Verde: "Of course, of course. But... we already visited her this morning and told her."

My guess is that Zela said she didn't like the Angel book, and Verde responded that the cat was dead.