looking after Tom
21st july 2022
Hello! This is Jenny here.
I’m just letting you know the latest on Tom’s condition.
We think he’s over the worst – his temperature is down to normal, and his fur seems to have stopped falling out, for now.
He’s not hallucinating any more, but I wouldn’t say that he’s exactly lucid. His eyes have still got a strange glassy look.
I pop in each morning to cheer him up with a little drum music.
He says I don’t need to, but it’s really no trouble.
I help him get washed and toothbrushed, and bring him a little breakfast in bed.
In this weather you’d think he’d like something a bit more refreshing than porridge. But he seems to feel cold all the time.
He used to like to drink hot OXO, until he realised that it wasn’t made in Oxford, but made from oxen.
I think it was the Bovril advertisement that got him thinking.
So I make him some hot marmite, to replace the electrolytes.
If little Strawberry has brought him a posy, I give it some fresh water.
I plump up Tom’s pillow.
Then I make sure he’s got something to read, and that the wireless is tuned to the right station.
That’s my caring duty done.
People have been bringing all kinds of things to amuse him, or to tempt him to eat, but he doesn’t have much appetite.
I think he mostly dozes for the rest of the day.
Bimbo has taken over Tom’s telephone. He’s dealing with the phone calls, and keeping everyone up to date.
Surely if anything can make Tom feel warm, it’s this horrible heat-wave.
The rest of us are trying to cool down.
Teddy recommends a wet t-shirt on the head, and Lopsy swears by a cold-water-bottle.
I’ve lent Teddy a pair of my shorts.
I can’t imagine where Lopsy got hers. They’re really not very flattering.
But I suppose in this weather, what other people may be thinking of us is the least of our worries.
Though I would rather people didn’t take photographs of me when I’m trying to relax.