My patience was beginning to wear thin just watching this process.  I wondered how long they could keep it up, or would need to in order to complete the task.  I knew that Evelyn was on many meds since a stroke nine years before had left her with the mind of a child and unable to speak.  And I knew that Walter had become a changed man since the macular degeneration had robbed him of his eyesight.  But I hadn’t seen them for several years and this scene was much more than I was prepared for.  Could this be the same couple that had argued openly and viciously throughout so many of their married years?  And who was this gentle man?  Was there any trace left of the violent and destructive person who had regularly come home drunk, sometimes so angered that he would wake his children and beat them just for the hell of it?

I stood amazed now, watching them, as together they managed to dole out two of the little yellow pills for each day of the week, him voicing the instructions, her providing the eyesight.  Together they seemed to make up a whole being, each supplying what the other was lacking.

When Walter had phoned to ask if I’d be willing to come out for a few days and allow him a short break, I had inquired as to how they were able to continue to live independently.

“We work together,” he had replied.

I was now witnessing an example of that, and I realized that, although neither of them alone would qualify as “independent,” together, they were.  “Co-dependent,” I mused, though certainly in a different sense than in years past.  I was seeing these two in a whole new light.

After they had finished counting out her week’s meds, I made my entrance.

“Josie!” Walter exclaimed.  “How was your trip?”

I knew the question was not meant for a reply, but rather, an attempt to give the appearance that everything was normal in their household.

Evelyn, however, felt no such constraints.  She began grunting loudly, obviously agitated, and no doubt puzzled as to why I was there.

I forced a hug on each of them, then began talking about my trip while looking around the room, taking in my surroundings.  The furnishings were sparse, but surprisingly neat and clean.  Walter had told me that someone came in everyday to check on them, and help clean up.  I knew, too, that two meals were provided for them daily at the dining room in the next building.