Monday, February 27, 2006

Just Shoot Me


I’ve been sick for the past week. I can’t seem to shake it off; the fever, the chills, the cough that makes my chest ache and the muscles in my arms burn and hurt. I’ve been so ill I actually stayed home Saturday night. Somewhere in a parallel universe the order of things have been shaken.

I look at food and my stomach does funny things. I can’t eat, just the thought of it makes me queasy. I’m supposed to be in bed, but it hurts just to lay there. Every time I toss and turn in my bed it feels as if I went a few rounds with Mike Tyson. My dear sainted mother even installed my wireless modem so that I could write, research, and chat from the comfort of my bed on my newly repaired laptop. My dad has made me drink so much tea I feel British.

Around an hour or so ago I decided under the influence of Nyquil that I couldn’t take it anymore I needed to sit in the living room. My siblings had gone to bed early since their winter break is officially over tomorrow morning. My parents were in their bedroom, mom was reading while daddy slept. I sat all alone in my favorite chair wrapped in my favorite quilt, the purple one with all the crazy colorful flowers on it. I was reading a book and reveling in the remarkable sound of silence enveloping my house. This is akin to a miracle because there is always something going on. I guess because these moments are so rare I love the sound of total silence in the house it is so peaceful, so serene.

All of a sudden the silence was broken by a trio of odd noises. I looked around the room trying to track the various sources of the noise. Adjusting my eyes to the dim light I tracked down one noise to Kane my dad’s dog he was all sprawled out on the love seat (Bad puppy! Bad puppy!) his paws up in the air snoring up a storm. The second noise was coming from Van Gogh my beautiful angora cat. He was laid out on the sofa looking at me purring his hairy tail off. I listened for the source of the third noise but couldn’t make out where it was coming from I just knew it was from somewhere around me. I went back to my book and as I turned the page there was that noise again then it hit me the noise was coming from me! It sounded like a 1000 year old man with a cold had taken up residence in my chest. I was wheezing! It was kind of funny actually, my chest was rumbling making vibrating noises every time I exhaled. I started coughing mom shoots out of her room as if her butt were on fire. She feels my forehead and says, “Come on little one it’s back to bed for you.” I try to protest, “Ma I’m 23 years old you don’t have to baby me.” but mom is serious she’s not having it. She raises her eyebrow at me and leads me back to my room.

I start coughing again and this time my dad gets up now he’s in my room as well. He feels my forehead and starts tucking me into bed. Eventually these people are going to have to accept that I am an adult. For now though I am simply amazed at the fact that they both run into my bedroom at the sound of me coughing. I watch them both hovering over me as if I was still a toddler and my heart just aches with love for them.

As a kid I was plagued with a lot of health problems due to my premature birth. My childhood memories are filled with hazy recollections of my parents always standing over my bed fussing over me at one time or another. It’s been awhile since I’ve been this sick. I wonder out loud about how I am going to drag my disease infested carcass to school. Pa says school is out of the question. I don’t argue with him I want him to go back to bed he has to get up at 3am to go to work, but I can’t miss school. We’re working on this research project in Group Dynamics and I’ve got the theory and hypothesis as well as my portion of the research questionnaire saved on my laptop. I’ve been working on this since Friday. So far I’m dealing with a group of people looking for an easy way out. This project doesn’t interest them but I feel that the data we get from this project will prove to be invaluable to all of us later on this term not to mention our individual grades are linked to this group project. I don’t want to give them an excuse to slack off since especially since they have made me their unofficial leader. Just shoot me and put me out of my misery por favor.

Labels: about me

Posted by @ 1:48 AM
1 comment from:  Just Jane,