It was windy on the boulevard, a grayish winter Parisian midday as I was walking back from the gym, after an astonishingly long work out. Suddenly the old woman with a red coat, make up, and shaking hands that hold a black umbrella and purple bag shouted at us. “Madame Madame, vous savez ou c’est la maison de retraite, je suis perdu”. She was looking for the house of the retired people, she was lost and did not know how to get back home She told me she didn’t know her street name, so I asked her for an ID card to try and figure out her street. She didn’t have one, but told us that once she was in front of the retired peoples home she could find her way around. We had no idea where it was. All we knew was our house, the cinema, the gym , the supermarket and the metro stop. We told her to hold on as we asked somebody else for directions. Luckily we got a response super quick as she was not too much in the mood to wait in the cold air. We walked with her the two blocks till the elderly peoples house. Her slow pace due to her age of 92 allowed us to have a nice talk, she didn’t remember her street name, she had a son, no grandchildren, she lived in the neighborhood, usually had lunch at the retired peoples home which was near her house and came from outside of Paris.
We reached the retired peoples house. Outside the building it clearly said that it was opened only from Friday to Saturday, but luckily the door was open. We encountered two women who must have worked there. With a very pissed of face they said that she got lost usually, and then they asked her in the most rude and uncaring tone ever Why she didn’t spend Sundays at her house rather than going out. They told her that she always comes to the elderly home with random people from the street (like us). When she said that we were her friends they could only answer in a continuous rude tone that we were not her friends but just some people who she had crossed in the street. Rude comments continued which did nothing more than underline to the old woman that she was mentally loosing control of herself and getting lost. The woman was nice, kind and thanked us for helping her and told us she would like to see us again some time. I didn’t want to leave her there with the two bitches who clearly had no patience or empathy for older people- and who ironically worked at an elderly home. I told the woman I could walk her home if she wanted, but she decided to stay there and watch some tv and reassured us by explaining that now she knew where her home was. The elderly home was her guiding point. She clearly had some guts to stay with those two bitches. Will we meet again?
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