A Pain in the Tuchis: A Mrs. Kaplan Mystery Read Online Free Page B

sure you’re right. And I certainly don’t want to interfere. But I know my sister takes a lot of medicines both morning and evening, and it must be harder for her now that she’s so sick. We were always close, and I hate to see her in such discomfort and not able to do anything to help. Maybe I could help her in the morning, just as Daniel does later in the day. See to whatever she needs doing. Do you think they’ll let me?”
    “I don’t see why not, do you, Ida?” Mrs. K said.
    “Well,” I said, “Daniel is a pharmacist, so they might trust him more with the medicines.”
    Fannie scoffed at this. “Hey, I’ve taken hundreds of pills in my life, and I’ve given them to other people. How hard can it be?”
    “Yes,” Mrs. K said, “I agree. I’m sure they’ll let you help if you tell them what you told us. They will see that it is best for everyone.”
    “But they’ll make you sign a paper,” I added.
    —
    The next day, Fannie told us she had gone to see the head nurse and had indeed been given permission to help her sister in the mornings.
    “Mazel tov,”
Mrs. K said. “You see, everything was resolved for the best after all, with no one getting upset.”
    So a routine was begun, with Fannie taking care of Vera in the morning, Daniel helping her in the late afternoon and early evening, and the nursing staff coming in and checking on her or giving her other assistance during the rest of the day. It seemed to work smoothly, and believe me, if it had not, we all would have heard about it from Vera, illness or no illness! And it was soon apparent Vera began feeling better, occasionally leaving her bed for meals and exercise.
    “It is fortunate,” Mrs. K remarked to me at that time, “that it is Daniel and Fannie taking care of Vera, and not the other way around.”
    “No, I would not want to be left in Vera’s care,” I said. “I wonder if she has always been difficult like this, or only in her later years.”
    “You know, Ida,” Mrs. K said, “there could be many things in her life that made her bitter and unhappy. Maybe when she lost her husband. Maybe there were other family troubles. It does not seem to have affected her relationship with Daniel; at least he is clearly affectionate toward her, and he is about the only person, outside of Fannie, she is always nice to.”
    “Perhaps we can ask Daniel about it sometime,” I said.
    “Perhaps. It is not an easy question to ask.”
    “No, but we certainly cannot ask Vera.”
    —
    As it happened, there was more than one reason we would not be able to ask Vera.
    The best care can only do so much, and on the night of
Yom Kippur,
just hours after the end of the Day of Atonement, Vera passed away.
    It is true Vera had been very ill. But no matter how serious Vera’s illness had been, as the old Jewish saying goes, better ten times ill than one time dead.
    Zikronah livrakhah—
may her memory be for a blessing.

Chapter 3
    Although it was not what I would call a great shock that Vera passed, seeing that she had been so ill, it was nevertheless something of a surprise that she died when she did. As far as anyone could tell—at least those of us who are not doctors—Vera’s health had been improving, and we certainly had heard nothing to the contrary from either Daniel or Fannie.
    In fact, only two days before she passed, Mrs. K and I had visited Vera in her room. It was early afternoon, when neither Daniel nor Fannie was on duty, so to speak. Mrs. K and I had always gotten along with Vera pretty well, or at least better than most of the residents. Maybe this was because we had been lucky enough not to cross her in some way. Or maybe because just about everybody gets along with Mrs. K. Anyway, we were pleased to see that Vera was in good spirits, sitting up in bed and reading. We asked her how she was feeling.
    “Much better, much better. No thanks to Menschyk or that quack he brought in,” Vera said. “It’s a good thing I have a strong