The relapse

It is 8am and the four kids are dressing for school. Lara and Sarah have been home sick with the vomiting bug since Monday. Sarah doesn't seem to have been affected by it as much as Lara who is still looking pale but insists on returning to school today because she has a ticket to go and see her friend in a play in Greystones tonight and she knows staying at home sick means she won't be allowed to go to the show.

They eat breakfast and put their schoolbags into the car and Lara can hardly manage to swing hers onto her shoulders because it is so heavy. Her face is pale and she looks a little thinner in the face.

Outside the school I see her swapping school bags with Rachel who is better able to carry the heavier bag and then they disappear through the gates.

After the others have gone into their classrooms I make a quick trip to Tesco's to stock up on the essentials and when I arrive home my phone is ringing.

"Hello, Mrs McDermott"
"Hello"
"I'm calling about Lara. She's not feeling well and I think she should go home"
"Oh yes, she's been off sick since Monday. I'll come in now and get her" I say
"Yes, I think that would be best" says her teacher.

10 minutes later I am walking into the hallway of the school. Lara is sitting there with her best friend. She looks pale.

She gets into the car and immediately asks if she can go to see the play tonight. I feel sorry for her when I look at her white lips.

"When we go home you can get into my bed and have a good sleep and then when you get up you can have some 'chicken soup for your soul' and we'll see how your feeling then OK?" I say

"Okay", she replies wiping away her tears.
"God that was so embarrassing" she says
"What?" I ask

"Well, I wasn't feeling well although I tried really hard to seem involved in the discussion we were having but everything went a little blurry and when I closed my eyes the teacher asked me if I was ok and I said yes. Then she asked me to come up to her and when I stood up I fainted and banged my head heard on the desk and the next thing I remember is the teacher standing over me giving me CPR and pushing down on my stomach as I lay on the floor. And all the kids in the classroom were looking at me with their mouths open."

"You're joking me" I say and we both start laughing out loud.
"What are you laughing at?" she says
"I'm laughing at the thoughts of that teacher of yours giving you mouth to mouth resuscitation" I say

"She wasn't actually kissing me but when I came around she was looming over me pushing down on my stomach for some strange reason"

We both laugh the rest of the way home and she looks a little better.

She needs to rest and then I worry that you shouldn't sleep after a bang to the head but she's disappeared up the stairs with two paracetamol and a glass of water before I can say anything.