One perk of volunteering for a club is occasionally missing half a class period. Considering how much I hate world history, makes volunteering so much better. I walk into the cafeteria and head over to where the bake sale is set up. Jamie, a fellow senior, has beat me there and already sent the underclassmen on their way.
"I thought you were only making products, not working the stand." Jamie remarks when she sees me.
"I'm taking Lyra's spot. Looks like the underclassmen have taken quite a bit. Thankfully there is another batch for the game tonight." Our school has two separate lunches. The lowerclassmen have lunch and then the upperclassmen. We rearrange the table for the best sale display just in time for the bell to ring. We manage to sell out halfway through and start packing up.
"Today went well. Are you working the Booth tonight at the game?" I ask.
"No, I won't be coming at all. It's already bad enough having sick kids come over here. I don't want to chance catching something later as well." Jamie is a bit of a germaphobe and a couple of our customers looked like they were sick.
"I don't think they were that sick. Maybe it was just allergies." I say to try to cheer her up.
"Karma is going to bite you in the butt for saying that." She rolls her eyes as we finish the clean up. "I'll see you next meeting." We part ways and join our friends eating lunch.
‘Ugh. Jamie was right.’ I think the next morning when looking at the thermometer. I sigh and put it back in the bathroom cabinet. I go downstairs into the kitchen.
“I made some breakfast if you want some.” Viv says when she sees me walk in. One look at the table has my stomach going for gold in gymnastics.
“No thank you. I’m not feeling well. I’ll just have some pedialyte for now and lay back down.” I grab the drink and head back to my room. On my way back up I grab some extra blankets then cocoon myself in my bed and pass back out.
A few hours later I wake up to the bed dipping and I pull the covers down to reveal Viv sitting beside me.
“I thought you suffocated with all those blankets on you.” She says with a glint in her eyes. “Want me to turn the heat down?”
I give her my best glare. “Did you need something or are you here to annoy me.”
“Mom wants a recheck of your fever.” She says as she holds the thermometer up. I open to let her put it in and when it beeps she pulls it out. “Yep, fever is still there.”
“Have fun telling Mom the obvious.” I say bringing the blankets back to the cocoon.
“And now who’s being annoying?” Viv says as she pulls on the cover.
Again I glare at her. “I’m sick. What’s your excuse? Oh wait, it’s your personality.” I fix the covers as she gets up and heads to the door.
“But you love me anyway” She walks out. I act like I hate when she is like that but it’s better than being pitied.
Over the next week my life sucked. I stayed in bed unless I wanted to get something to hydrate myself, or to throw that liquid right back up. What a life.
When that next Sunday rolled around again and Mom comes up to find me in the same cocoon I’ve laid in all week. “Hey honey, how are you?”
“Like my stomach is trying to turn itself in on itself and that we live inside a freezer. How are you?"
"Don't worry about me sweetheart. Tell you what, first thing tomorrow, I'll call the doctor and we can get this taken care of."
"No, no. I'm sure it's just a stomach flu. The other kids were sick for about a week as well."
"This sick? Are you sure sweety?"
"Well, my body must be having a slightly harder time. They said they couldn't really eat for a week." I really hate doctor visits.
"Alright, I'll give it two more days. But if this doesn't go away by Tuesday, we are going to the doctor's."
"Fine. But it should go away tomorrow." And luckily I was half right. The next day I get up and can hold down liquids. By Tuesday, I feel hungry for the first time. Unfortunately I still have a persistent fever that won't go away. I groan as I head down to the kitchen just in time to hear the door open.
"Hey Dad, is that you?" I call. I hope not. I know that if he sees my fever I will be going to the doctor.I start thinking about whether my appetite returning will help me stall.
"Yes honey. How are you?" He asks. He walks in as I start pulling out everything I need for a BLT. "Finally ready to eat?"
"Yes. I feel a lot better. Do you want one too?" I try to brush past the subject. I'm sure that the fever will break by tomorrow.
"Sure. Has your fever gone down?" Dang, the subject change didn't work.
"No. It hasn't. But otherwise I feel normal. Can we please wait a day or two more?" I plead.
"No. We let it go on long enough. But I will make the appointment tomorrow and then we'll cancel if the fever goes down." He compromises. "I'll be back."
'Darn it.' I think. I set the table and sit down. When he finishes his conversation he walks behind me to his seat and I jump.
"Someone's jumpy." Dad comments.
I shrug it off and take a bite. "So what did they say?"
"They are all full tomorrow so it looks like your stuck going today." There goes my hope of being able to avoid it. "The appointment is at 3:45."
I nod and we sit in silence while I finish eating. I don't know why but I can't shake the feeling of needing to check behind me. Finally I finish my plate and quickly stand up, startling Dad.
"You okay?" He asks, looking worried.
"Yeah. I'm gonna go shower before we leave." Alright sweety. Leave your plate, I'll wash it off while I wait." I nod and head upstairs.
All the way up that need to look behind me never fades. When I reach the top I finally look behind me only to see the empty corridor I expected. I roll my eyes at my new found paranoia. 'Maybe I should mention it to the doctor.' I think as I head to the shower.
I sit down in the waiting room and start to work on a drawing for art class that was assigned before I got sick. I had finished the outline and am working on the shading when the boy beside me looks over.
“Wolves are better than tigers.” he states in a ‘I know best’ tone. The boy doesn’t look older than six. He’s cute.
“What makes you say that?” I ask
“Wolves work together to feed everybody. Tigers only hunt for themselves.”
“That is true.” I thought about bringing up instances in which male tigers will share their hunt with tigresses but didn’t want to argue or upset the 6 year old, so I nod thoughtfully. “Do you like wolves?”
“They are my favorite animal!” the kid exclaims. “Did you know that …” the boy starts recalling everything he can remember about wolves. “... and the myth that a alpha male is false beca-”
“Ashka” a nurse calls. “Ashka Riddle.” I jump up. Excited that I no longer have to listen to the kids rambling.
“Sorry, but I have to go. It was nice talking to you.” I say. The boy doesn’t look like he is done talking to me though but I hightail in behind the nurse to get out the way. I feel bad but I am not in the mood to hear anything else.
I hope that this visit tells me what I need to know.
Comments (0)
See all