The Elderly Father and the Ice Cream Cone

The connection between her elderly father

in the nursing home and Good Humor

ice cream cones is understandable,

yet questionable.

 

Elderly men have dentures.

They need to eat soft food.  They think

like children often, as her father does,

because of the onset of his dementia.

He is being cared for by a nurse,

instead of the pretty teenager that watched him

when his parents went out.  Now,

he is being looked after

by an attractive young woman from Trinidad,

whom his own daughter hired to take care of ‘daddy’.

 

She unwraps the chocolate sundae cone

and gives it to him to eat.  He licks

the cone much as he did when he was six,

when he would wait outside after school

for the Good Humor man.

If he was a good boy, Ruthie, the babysitter,

gave him a few extra cents for the ice cream cone.

Now Teresa, the nurse is giving him the cone,

because he has ‘been a good boy’.

But he is 90 years old,

he is not a boy.

But why is she treating him that way,

He ate all his oatmeal for breakfast,

drank the prune juice and Metamucil

as she requested, kept his outer clothes

and even his under clothes

clean and free from odor, which was what would entitle him

to this special treat of an ice cream cone.

That connection between her elderly father

and the Good Humor ice cream cones,

is definitely understandable, but questionable.

Was the ice cream cone

all about a reward for good behavior?

 

His mother used to reprimand him

for getting dirty when he played

outside with the boys

after school. How many years ago

was that?  And how many generations of children separate

her father from her own 6 year old great-grandson.

 

Yet the connection between her elderly father and

the ice cream cone is understandable.

The vanilla that he licks still tastes the same. 

And the chocolate

with all of its nuts and cookies, still tastes the same.

Maybe it is true

that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Daddy still smiles, proud that he got his reward,

proud that he can have his ice cream cone.

For Lila, the daughter, that is all she can hope for.

The fact that daddy does not know whether it is

Ruthie or Teresa, will have to wait.

He does not know who she is either, but he recognizes

the ice cream cone, all sugared up with chocolate and syrup.

 

He has been a good boy, and that is all that matters.

Reviews

[Catherine Frain]

WOW! This poem is great. I loved it, and it is the perfect poem to signify the change in the elder members of society, when they reach a point that they have to be cared for like when they were children. This is a good piece, and I can't wait to read more of your writings.

[zainul]

This is a lovely story with some interesting questions.
The use of denture makes the piece quite down to earth affair.

[Judy]

Thanks for your remarks - I never thought of the metapoetics of the word denture

[zainul]

You are most welcome.
This piece could be related for many reasons which may be explained later through message.

[Judy]

Thanks! I really appreciate this.

[zainul]

My pleasure,dear poet.:)