I knew something was wrong the moment I got to the Birch Street Nursing Home this morning. All the patients were gathered in the hall by the front desk instead of in the activity room. I thought the day would begin with Mr. Richards talking about possible colors for the new drapes, but instead he showed me other changes in that room that we hadn't planned on. The first thing I noticed was the poker table was missing. All the games and puzzles were gone too. Instead, there were things that I recognized from the head nurse's office. Mr. Richards told me that the patients had done such a good job improving the activity room that the nurses decided to make it their own and had told the patients to stay out of there. Mrs. Patterson asked me to call the head nurse to tell her how unfair the new arrangements were, but I reminded her that I was supposed to call only in case of an emergency. Mrs. Lieberman then asked me where they could all play poker, and the only thing I could think of was my basement laboratory, since there is a table down there. When we all managed to get down the old staircase, I discovered that this was where the nurses had moved the poker table and chairs anyway. The patients had a little more trouble seeing their cards, since there isn't much light down there, but we did get in several hands of poker. Unfornately, Mrs. Henley had an accident when she couldn't get up that staircase quickly enough to reach the bathroom. That's when I knew this arrangement wouldn't work for the long term.
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