Keeping Us On Our Toes

My mother has a commode beside her bed and that's what she uses at night, but yesterday evening she got hold of her walking frame (which I don't usually leave within reach) and made a dash for the bathroom- and it was only when she was teetering above the step by her bedroom door and asking if it was a cat she saw before her (it wasn't) that we realised she was only a few seconds from collapsing in a little heap on the landing.