Little Reminders

"I don't know how these are all going to fit, given you both have so many." She turned around to look at her mother and Mr. Kelly, her mother's new roommate at the nursing home.
"Oh, don't worry Jenni," said her mother with a smile, "I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough."
Suddenly, a few bells chimed over a loudspeaker in the hall just outside the room. At this, Mr. Kelly came to life. "That'll be the signal that the midday meal's ready," he said as he tottered unsteadily toward them, proffering his arms. The two women came closer and linked their arms through his, allowing him to lead them to the dining room.

"So," said Jenni when the three of them were seated at a table with meals in front of them, "I know why Mum has a heap of photos."
"To make sure that I remember even if I forget," her mother says happily.
"But what about you Mr. Kelly?" Jenni asked, turning her gaze to him.
"Please dear," he said, patting her hand gently across the table, "call me Fred."
"Ok, Fred," Jenni started again a little uneasily, "why do you like to have so many photos?"
"For me, little darling," he says, "it's proof that I've had the extraordinary life that I have." The smile already on his lips spread wider as he told the story. "You see, there was a time when I was young when I wondered if I would get to live the life I'd always dreamed of. Even after I met the love of my life, I was still convinced sometimes that it was all just a wonderful fantasy. Too good to be true. Back then, and looking back at them now, they're my proof that it happened. That the wonderful, extraordinary life I've been lucky enough to live was not a dream but real. Those photos are my proof that it actually happened."
"Your little reminders," Jenni said.
"Little reminders..." Said Fred wistfully. "I like that."
Jenni smiled. "Just like Mum has her little reminders.

It took another hour or two after they'd returned from the room to arrange Jenni's mother's stuff into her new room with Fred. Stepping down from the small step ladder, Jenni wiped the dust from her hands. She backed a few paces to examine her handiwork, her mouth twisting as she did so. "I would say we're finished," she said, "but I think we're still missing something..." She looked round the room,  hoping to find her inspiration lurking somewhere nearby. Finally, her eyes settle on her mother, then wander to Fred. "Fred," she says, "do you think you could come sit with Mum a moment? I think I've found the perfect solution."

"There," Jenni said happily when she returned a week later, setting the framed picture on the shelf above their beds, in the once spare space separating Fred's photo collection from her mother's. "There," she said, a smile on her face as she looked at it, Fred and her mother standing either side of her, inspecting it too. "Perfect!"
"Beautiful," said Fred, smiling.
"Wonderful," said her mother, all but clapping her hands.
"A little reminder for you both," said Jenni, "of another moment that actually happened, and a moment that won't be forgotten."