The Human Touch

Martha gazed fondly across the table at Myrna. It had been a lovely afternoon and evening: a good game of Scrabble followed by several hands of poker, all of which Martha had won. As always, Martha half suspected that Myrna let her win.
 
Myrna was like that. So kind and generous. She always listened patiently, agreed with Martha’s views, and brought tea and biscuits. That helped with the pills. Martha had quite a few pills to take--  far too many if you asked Martha, but none of the doctors ever asked Martha. They just kept adding pills to her daily list and telling her to quit smoking.
 
Myrna, on the other hand, was far more agreeable, far more considerate, gently reminding Martha when it was time for her next pill and never haranguing her the way the children did – on the rare occasions when they bothered to visit. Thankfully, in Myrna, Martha had found someone with a more human touch.
 
‘Well, I guess I’ll head to bed now,’ said Martha.
 
‘Good night, Martha.’ replied Myrna. ‘Don’t forget your bedtime tablets.’
 
Martha thanked Myrna, took her pills, cleaned her teeth, and changed for bed. 
 
Nestling under the blanket, Martha thought back fondly to the first time she’d met Myrna. ‘ Martha, this is MYRNA,’ the social worker had said. ‘That stands for My Robotic Nursing Assistant.’ But Myrna had turned out to be so much more.
 
‘I must not forget Myrna’s monthly maintenance appointment’, thought Martha as she sunk into sleep. ‘Where would I be without her?’
 
 
 
8 Jan 2019