Hey Andrea, this little woman is one of those folks who thrive on all manner of unhealthy living. And such a character! Loved listening to her stories and questioning her so as to flesh out the players. Hated to leave her behind, as I knew it wouldn't be long before she was institutionalized. Which I later learned had occurred, with much resistance and several attempts at avoidance. The final straw came, with her dogs in tow, when she made a break for the border, in a car she hadn't driven in years. I'm surprised it made it as far as Spokane.

But...

She was a mean spirited old manipulative bitch too. She was quite the eye opener in many respects. You'd think people that near death would have mellowed, but not Gladys.-)

After her 80 year old sister took her in to her home to spare her older sister being institutionalized, Gladys went after her with a pair of limb loppers(like a club) because her stinky dogs weren't allowed in the house. Nor cigarette smoking. Too, Gladys, having 3 dog 'Baby's' as she called them, had allowed them to deficate indoors. Later, she would squat and shit in the tool shed and in the gardens within the neighbors view, as a form of revenge for not getting her way. Before the sister died she told me apologetically how sorry she was she had done right by her sister, and how relieved she was that Gladys had finally done something that had gotten the authorities involved enough to remove her from her home.

For some time, in order to cover for her behavior, she fooled the social workers, nurses, doctors, sister, nephews and nieces into thinking she was an Alzhiemer candidate, earning some extended sympathy points, while successfully avoiding being institutionalized that time. I told her sister she was scamming them because she had played me too for a time. When the test results came back, Gladys was right as rain again.-)

I tell ya, Gladys was quite a study, and I'd bet she's giving 'em hell still. I cared about her. Montag