It Could Be Worse

There was a dry cough. There was a headache. There was an uh-oh on my part. I gave the high school boy two Advil and off he went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Killers. The next morning, he woke up feeling horrible. So he stayed home. “You’re exhausted,” I said.  “You’re not getting enough sleep.  You need to take better – ”  He dozed off while I was talking. It wouldn’t be the first time, or the last. By early evening, he had a temperature, chills, a drippy nose and a stomach ache. By midnight, his fever spiked. My earlier uh-oh took a dramatic turn. “Oh @#%*! I know what this is!”