Subject: Story: Flu (Collegegirl-5) (NONE) NC
From: Lurking Dragon <lurkdrag@nym.alias.net>
Date: 7 Sep 1999 19:51:14 -0700
FOOLED YA!! Actually, I hadn't posted this one yet...
(Actually-actually, I mis-counted and FORGOT I hadn't posted this one yet, so I quickly finished it off and am posting it NOW...)
Note: No spankings in this story, but it does get a bit gross in places. No children allowed.
The Time: Wednesday night. Early November. The Place: 3rd Floor of Jameson Residence Hall (A Girl's floor). A Large Midwestern University.
Flu (Collegegirl-5)
Something woke Heather up. What was it? She sleepily started to drift off back to sleep when another burst of coughing erupted from below her.
THAT was what had awakened her. "Hey, Brat! You OK? Brat?"
Heather twisted her lithe body out from under the covers and out onto the floor in a carelessly gymnastic jump. Wincing as her feet were planted on the cold concrete floor, the junior stuck her head under the blanket-curtain surrounding the lower bunk to check on her charge.
Mary was still asleep, apparantly, even as another burst of coughing swept across her small body. Something was clearly wrong, so Heather reached in and shook the child's shoulder.
"Mary? Hey, Mary! are you O.K.? Wake up for a minute, kid, I need to check you out..."
Finally the child's eyes opened, but clearly had trouble focusing on Heather's face. "Heather? <Cough! Cough!> wha's up? I-I don' feel too <COUGH-COUGH-COUGH> good..."
Mary shiverred, even under her blankets, and Heather, now quite concerned, felt her forehead with the back of her hand.
Mary had a fever. A pretty darn HIGH fever, too!! Heather said "Kid, you've got a fever, I think. I'd better get the... WHOA!!"
Mary had started making a 'gacking' noise Heather remembered all too well. She quickly spun around, grabbed the wastepaper basket, and pulled Mary over and partway out of bed with one arm, barely getting the little girl's head over the container before her stomach began to explode convulsively, spewing all of the child's supper (not very much) and most of her lunch (more substantial) mostly into the plastic container.
Heather held Mary against her hip and comforted the child until her stomach spasms had subsided, then helped the shiverring child back under the covers as her coughing resumed. "Hold on a minute while I get your thermometer, kid. I need to check that fever now..."
"Please, Heather <HACK-COUGH!> can' you use YOUR thermo'ter? Please? I HATE the one Mommy <Cough-Hack-COUGH!> uses. Like a BABY... please?"
"Sorry, Mary" replied Heather, turning on the lights and fetching down the little medical kit Mary's parents had left (with HER, not Mary) from the top shelf over the closet. (An unnecessary precaution with an unusually mature child like Mary, and impractical, too-she could easily reach it by standing on one of the desk chairs. But Heather realized the symbolic importance of placing her medicines 'out of reach', and therefore symbolically taboo...) "But with that cough, do you REALLY think you could keep your mouth closed for three minutes? You're all stuffed up an' your nose is running, too. And your teeth are chattering, some, too -- you might even break the tube. Nope, sorry, but I'm afraid we'll just have to take your temperature the OTHER way... now, turn over on your tummy and slip down your panties, kid."
Sobbing and coughing, Mary turned over, pulled her knee-length pink nightgown up past her slim hips, then pulled down the white cotton panties she had on underneath to just below her bottom.
Meanwhile Heather had taken out the little rectal thermometer Mary's Mommy had provided and was shaking the glass tube down. Then she opened the small jar of vaseline, and inserted the instrument into it, giving a couple of quick twists to ready it for Mary's bottom.
Then it was time, and Mary coughed and sobbed as Heather gently turned back the covers to reveal the pale hills of the little bare bottom. Heather gently separated the cheeks of Mary's behind and wiggled the thermometer into place in the child's rectum, leaving only an inch or two of glass exposed above her pale cheeks. With her left hand Heather comforted the coughing and shiverring child, while her right hand lay gently on her bare buttocks, the thermometer held lightly between Heather's first two fingers. Heather glanced at the alarm clock.
Five full minutes later, to be sure, Heather removed the thermometer, wiped it off with a tissue, and read the temperature. A brief moment of panic ran through her as she saw the result -- 101.8 degrees!!
That was a VERY high temperature. NOT a good sign -- Heather would have to do something about it NOW.
"H-how high <HACK-HACK!> izit Heather?" asked Mary.
"Pretty high -- hundred and one." fibbed Heather. Mary wasn't stupid--she KNEW she was feverish. But Heather was determined to downplay it for now. No need for the kid to panic. "But you'e better take some aspirin for it. I'll get the spoon."
Mary made a horrific face, even as she rolled back over and gathered her blankets around her shiverring form. Heather paused for a moment, then pulled the outer blanket off of HER bed and, pulling the blanket-curtain out of the way, draped it quickly over Mary's small form. Then turned it up -- in the poorly-heated dorm rooms, Heather had long ago learned the true value of an ELECTRIC blanket...
Then Heather turned back to the medical kit to prepare 4 St. Joseph's aspirin for Mary...
WARNING WARNING WARNING NEVER give a child who is exibiting symptoms like Mary's (Cold or Flu symptoms, or chicken pox) aspirin. It can lead to a serious, rare condition called Reye's syndrome (I think). But this relationship was NOT widely known in the '70s, at least I'm pretty sure I never heard of it, so I'm having Heather do what would probably have been done AT THE TIME. But we KNOW BETTER... NOW!
* * *
There was one trick of mature behavior Mary hadn't learned. She simply hadn't mastered the art of taking pills, yet. And she just couldn't STAND the chalky taste of the 'chewable' aspirin, so Heather (as she had done before) had to prepare the aspirin by crushing them into a spoon with a bit of water.
(Liquid aspirin was NOT available when I was a kid, a few years before this. If it WAS available in 1970 -- sorry! I guess Mary's mommy just didn't want a breakable bottle or something...)
Mary made an awful face as Heather gently held the spoon up to the fevered child's face, but obediently opened her mouth and swallowed the mixture. And began to cough again...
Heather kicked herself mentally and promised herself she would NOT be cought without some children's cough syrup again. Mary was her responsibility, and she'd fallen down on the job. But it was too late NOW to do anything but get some fluids down the nine-year-old's throat (fortunately they had some orange juice in the fridge). AFTER permitting Mary a few M&Ms from Heather's carefully-concealed stash of the candy... to take the taste of the aspirin away.
Mary shiverred and coughed, but soon fell into a fitful sleep. Heather lay on the blankets next to her, shiverring a bit in her own flannel nightgown, as she simply stroked the child's hair and tried to help her sleep.
It was three thirty A.M.
* * *
Just before six Heather quietly got up and dressed. Then, with regret, she had to wake Mary up. The child was VERY sick, and they just HAD to get over to the campus health clinic. Actually, Heather had even considered calling the campus cops and getting them over to take Mary to the hospital -- then stopped herself, realizing that THAT would definitely be an overreaction.
But the clinic opened at seven sharp, and Heather intended them to be the very first people in line.
So it was necessary for Mary to wake up. Heather knelt down and got the child's little felt slippers on, even as Mary was trying to wake up (fighting a renewed cough, of course. A horrible, hacking cough that seemed to provide no relief for her straining lungs).
Heather didn't try to get Mary dressed; she just helped her into her coat and then wrapped one of the blankets around the child (suddenly remembering to turn off the electric blanket before leaving).
Then the athletic junior simply picked up the coughing nine-year-old and carried her out of the dorm room and down the hall to the elevators.
There was nobody around at that early hour. Heather was fully prepared to carry Mary the full 3/4 mile to the campus health clinic, but that proved unnecessary, as a campus cop car drove by half-way there. The officers, when informed that the campus 'baby genius' had gotten sick, were glad to carry the two the rest of the way to the clinic...
* * *
Dr. Miller was only a few minutes late getting in, and Heather and Mary were, indeed, first in line. The nurse had already ushered them in to one of the treatment rooms and had taken Mary's temperature and blood pressure. As Heather had feared, her coughing made the former very difficult, and several minutes passed before the nurse was satisfied. Heather peeked as she wrote '101.7' down on the chart. Heather helped Mary out of the blanket and coat, and rubbed her back through her nightgown as she sat on the cold table, shiverring, still feverish.
Suddenly Mary's eye's widened, and she began to struggle, trying to get off of the table. "Toil't! Gotta get -- Heather! Help me to...!"
Realizing from the unmistakeable sounds Mary was making that she was about to throw up again, Heather helped her down from the table and into the adjoining toilet. Mary fell to her knees in front of the porcelain throne and again projectile vomited over and over again. Heather felt helpless -- all she could do was rub Mary's back and croon to the child that it would be better soon...
Then, again without warning, Mary stood up, frantically reaching up under her nightie for her panties. Heather wondered what was up -- until the child spun around, planted her tiny tush on the toilet seat, and let fly a horrifyingly odiferous liquid mass into the toilet -- and kept on doing it for quite a while. Heather had to flush twice.
Heather was now trying to comfort the child as her stomach cramped from the diarrhea, as she sobbed and shiverred on the toilet -- and kept on coughing. Finally Mary's stomach quieted down, and Heather was able to help the clearly exhausted child up. Heather held the back of Mary's nightie up, and had the child bend over a bit while she cleaned the child up. Mary was quite clearly embarassed by being wiped off like a baby, but made no complaint -- she was simply too worn out.
"Hello? Is anybody in here?" Dr. Miller had finally arrived. Heather slid up Mary's panties, and opened the door into the examining room and led the child in.
"Sorry, Doctor, but Mary just had a very nasty bout of vomiting AND diarrhea. And she's been coughing awfully hard since about three this morning."
"Oh, my!! well, young lady, let's get you up onto the table. Now, open wide..."
The exam proceeded as such things always do, and Mary was declared to be suffering from the flu. With, possibly, a touch of stomach flu as well... and the doctor prescribed a shot of antibiotic to prevent secondary infections, and another shot to quiet down Mary's stomach.
"Nooo! Heather, I don' wanna shot! Pleeze!"
"Quiet, Brat, or do you wanna spanking first? Lie down on your tummy on the table -- right now! Oh! Hi, Ma'am. I figured the antibiotic would be..."
"Quite right. Both of her shots will be in the bottom, I'm afraid, so let's get the little dear's panties down..."
Mary sobbed and coughed as her panties were lowered and two shots, one very painful, were inflicted on her poor little bottom. Then the nurse was filling a spoon with a dark red fluid...
"This is Robitussin DM, and it's what Dr. Miller recommends for bad coughs. If her cough doesn't improve, come back and he'll prescribe something stronger. Open up, dear..."
And Mary obediently opened up, a quick glance at Heather confirming that ANY resistance to doctors orders (or, in this case, Nurse's orders) would result in a quick spanking right then and there.
And she made a terrible face at the taste...
* * *
After filling Mary's prescription (for her nausea and diarrhea) at the campus pharmacy next door, Heather picked up the child and began to carry her back to the dorm room. Only to find a campus police car outside -- the nurse had called in that the child would be needing a ride back to her dorm.
And so Mary was soon ensconced in her own bed, and Heather asked the girls next door to keep an eye on the child while she ran down to the drugstore for some children's Tylenol elixer (Author's note: did THAT exist in 1970? I think so...).
Heather forgot about her classes, and Mary's -- the kid had first call in this situation! Mary continued to shiver under the electric blanket, sleeping fitfully and coughing hard. Then, at about four in the afternoon, Mary finally began to sweat.
And sweat. And SWEAT!! But Heather was ecstatic -- she knew that this meant that the child's high fever had finally broken, and she'd be all right.
Which didn't solve the problem of the soaked sheets...
Finally Heather called Mrs. Stephens, and found out that the 'strict' policy of fresh linens only on Tuesday and Friday had exceptions...
She even ended up with an extra set of sheets, to KEEP, just in case Mary should ever have a 'bit of a continence problem' someday...
Heather took Mary into the bathroom after changing her sheets. The child was still a little feverish, but Heather wanted to get her cleaned up before puttin her to bed in the fresh linens. So she helped the child into the shower and ran the water, just a little, and warm, and used Mary's washcloth to give the child a mostly-sponge bath, with just a little bit of rinsing afterwards.
Then a quick drying off, a new set of jammies, and back to bed. Heather ran down to the cafeteria, and when she explained the situation she was allowed to take some soup and crakers up to the ill child.
* * *
By bedtime Mary was feeling much better. Enough better that Heather had to threaten the child with a sound spanking in order to get her to take her medicine...
"Look, Brat, you've got two choices. You can either open your mouth and take all of this stuff -- right NOW, with no more argument -- and then have a few M&Ms to take the taste away--OR you can get a good, sound spanking on your bare bottom -- and STILL take all of your medicine afterwards. With NO M&Ms to take the taste away, either. Your choice..."
As has been stated elsewhere, Mary IS a genius... or at least a prodigy.
She took the M&Ms.
Finally, Mary fell asleep. Heather sighed, and sat down in her desk chair, the worst part of her ordeal over. She grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and began to drink it...
And almost said a word that would have gotten her mouth washed out with soap -- had her Mommy or Daddy heard her.
Her throat was sore.
* * *
Epilogue:
At least the girl's didn't miss out on their classes. They were the first of many, as the particularly nasty flu virus swept through the campus like a hurricane. Finally, the University actually closed down and stopped all classes for most of the next week to stop the spread of the disease.
Which left Mary and Heather actually mostly recovered before classes resumed.....
The end...