Runaway World

Strep 14-b

     The next day, Andrew woke up with a headache.

     He sat up in bed. He'd had headache before, and raising his head sometimes helped ease the discomfort. This time, though, it didn't. In fact, it made him feel worse. His head swam with dizziness and his limbs trembled. He felt cold, but when he raised his hand to his forehead he found that he was feverish. Dammit! he thought. I'd better not have caught something from that cow after all.

     He looked down at Susan, still asleep beside him, and was alarmed to see that her face, what he could see of it under her tangle of auburn hair, was pale and sweaty. He brushed the hair from her face to feel her forehead and found it to be hot. Andrew felt his stomach clench with fear.

     Andrew's touch woke Susan up. "Andy?" she said. "Whoo, I feel funny."

     "Headache?" asked Andrew. Feel shivery?"

     "No," Susan replied. "Not really." She tried to sit up and her eyes widened with alarm. "Okay, now I've got a headache. Did we get food poisoning from that cow?"

     "I'll go check the kids," said Andrew, climbing out of bed. A wave of dizziness came over him and he leaned against the bedside table until it passed. Then he hurried to the children's room. He tapped on the door, then went in without waiting for an answer.

     All three children were hot and feverish. "Are we sick?" asked David, pulling the bedsheets up to his neck. "I feel hot and cold at the same time."

     "My arms ache," said James, turning over onto his side and pulling his knees up to his chest. "All my joints ache. Was it the cow? You said we might get sick. Nobody listened." He glared across at Jasmine who stared guiltily back at him.

     "Not to worry," said Andrew, trying to smile reassuringly. "We've got plenty of medicine in the stores. We just picked up a bug, that's all. A dose of antibiotics and we'll be right as rain." He patted the back of Jasmine's hand. "This isn't your fault," he told her. "You mustn't blame yourself."

     "Joe," said Jasmine, her eyes wide with terrible guilt. "He said... He told me..."

     "We're going to be fine," Andrew assured her. "You just relax and take it easy. Chances are we'll feel like hell today and be right as rain this time tomorrow. That's the way it usually goes. And if it does turn out to be a little more serious than that, we've got the antibiotics."

     "We'll need a proper diagnosis first," said Susan, who'd followed him into the room. "I'll go get the medical expert system going. No, on second thoughts, I'll put some clothes on first. I'm freezing!"

     "Stay in bed," Andrew told the children. "Keep warm. You all got bedside drinks? They say you should drink plenty of fluids."

     "I don't think I'd be able to keep anything down," said David. He tried to climb out of his bed.

     "Stay where you are," said Andrew, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down. His skin was alarmingly hot and sweaty, and yet Andrew could feel him shivering.

     "I can help you," insisted Jasmine, reaching for her underclothes.

     "We don't need any help. You just keep warm."

      Jasmine nodded reluctantly and lay down again, closing her eyes. Andrew looked around at the three children again, trying to look confident and to keep the desperate worry from showing on his face. Then, feeling weak, his joints aching, he returned to his own room to pull on some clothes.

     Susan had managed to put on her underclothes, and had then had to sit down to rest before reaching for her coveralls. In the meantime she'd called Philip and Lungelo and their faces on the screen, pale and sweaty, showed that they were in the same condition. "We've all got it then," said Philip, frowning with worry. "Stacey's in a really bad way. I'm really worried about her. Valentina's complaining of a splitting headache and Joe's refusing to leave his room. Probably best he stays there. It's not like he can do anything if he gets up."