As I came in the back door I could just make out Samuel yelling at his brother to get up for school. It was at this point a migraine began building behind my right eye. I walked through the house towards Chase’s room and an impatiently waiting Samuel. He stood there dressed perfectly, not a hair out of place boring a hole in his brother’s door. I stood watching with humor as his normally outward calm demeanor was stripped away by his brother, a usually occurrence.

“I don’t feel good. I’m not going. I’ll just have mom call from work to tell them, so go ahead without me.” I could hear Chase say from the other side of the door. I motioned for Samuel to go to school. I opened the door to see Chase lying on his bed with the covers over his head.

“I told you I’m not going to school Sam.” He yanked back the covers from his face to see me standing over him. “Mom! What are you doing here?” I could see immediately that his fight with his brother had left its mark. He now had a bruise going from the bridge of his nose to the corners of both eyes that was already turning lovely shades of purple, black and sickly yellow. I grimaced in sympathy; I knew that had to hurt. I took in the rest of his face, noticing that it had a pallid appearance, making the bruise stick out even more. Placing my inner wrist on his forehead I could feel the beads of moisture on his skin along with his fever.

It wasn’t until I had felt his forehead that I decided to reply to him. “To answer your question, work was cancelled. And judging from your forehead, it’s a good thing I am home today. I am going to go call the doctor and school. You stay in bed and rest.” I was heading out the door when I had a thought. “Oh, no video games either. You know the rules, home sick, no games or anything. Too sick for school…”

“I know mom. Too sick for anything else but rest.” He finished for me. I smiled as I closed the door and headed to the kitchen to make the calls.

A few hours later I was gazing out the kitchen window. Only half seeing the last stragglers of birds fighting in the back yard over some unseen food. I heard Lexi say something behind me, breaking me from my daze... “Huh?” I asked, completely missing what she had said.

“I said the news in on.” She walked over to the breakfast bar and turned on the little TV we had in kitchen. She adjusted the volume so that we could hear it and still be able to talk.

“So, what’s up with brat?” She said as she sat down at the kitchen table, taking the chair that was closest to the wall still in view of the TV.

“Well, he has a fever. I went in to check on him a little bit ago and it was 101.3. He is resting but, I don’t know.” I made my way over to her sitting down opposite. I could hear the newscaster talking about the rainstorm overnight in the background. I knew that they would cover world news next and I had long lost interest in the water down version of events. I usually only watched the news for the weather but today I was tired and didn’t care.

“Are you sure he’s not just dodging again? You know he can be pretty inventive when he wants to.” She seemed to be staring at the TV while talking to me, absently playing with her favorite Halloween coffee mug. I could tell something was bothering her, but with Lexi you always had to wait for her to get to it. When she didn’t want to spill torture wouldn’t even loosen her tongue; at least not the way you wanted.

“I know he can, but not this time. Lexi, he looks like shit. It’s not just the black eyes his brother gave him. He is really sick.” She turned to me at this point and glared with a raised eyebrow. For a moment I thought I seen a look of concern or worry in her eyes but she never let emotions show, she was always cold on the outside. “I know I shouldn’t put it past him before you go there. This time I don’t think he is pulling something. I even called the doctor’s office.” I wanted to cut off her further arguments about Chase’s behavior. He could be sneaky and manipulative when he wanted to be. The kid was smart but he always chose to use it in the wrong ways.

“Some reports coming from China say a lab there has been discovered destroyed. Some news sources are saying there were no survivors. There have also been unverified reports that there was a luminescent black gas emanating from the structure after the initial explosion, along with ‘monsters’ emerging shortly after. The government officials have said that there were no chemical or biological experiments going on at the lab. That it was just a simple robotics research laboratory in a remote location.” A male newscaster was reading to us in the background. Regurgitating what someone had decided would be sufficient for us, the ‘citizens’ to digest as truth. This for some reason had caught Lexi’s attention. She had hastily grabbed the remote and turned the little TV up to max volume when the story began. The newscaster continued his reporting. “There have been reports however of a spike of the new strain of influenza in the area and officials are contributing the reports of monster sightings and the luminescent gas to delirium associated with this new strain. In other news around the world…” Lexi muted the TV and looked deep in thought for a moment before turning to me.

“Dude, what was all that about?” I asked her, perplexed by her sudden interest in our government sanctioned news. She had always preferred undiluted avenues of information.

“Don’t worry about it, yet.” It was my turn then to stare at her with a raised eyebrow but the home phone interrupted further questioning.

“Hello, Gardner and Duvall residence.” I said answering our antiquated house phone.

“This is Ms. Hinkle, the nurse at the high school. Am I speaking to Mrs. Gardner?” I heard a woman on the other end say in a deep feminine voice.

“Yes, can I help you?” My brain was trying to process what it could be. Samuel was perfectly fine this morning.

“I am calling because I have Samuel here in my office. It seems he fainted an…” She was trying to explain only to be interrupted by her reluctant patient.

“I did not faint! I was only light headed for a moment. I am fine. I don’t need to go home. Now let me go back to class.” I could hear Samuel yelling in the background. I managed to hold back the snicker at his antics.

“Mr. Gardner, if you do not lie back down I will be forced to restrain you. I don’t think either of us wants that.” I could hear Ms. Hinkle saying despite her attempt to cover the receiver. Unable to contain it any longer, I snickered. The mental image of my son being restrained by that beast of a woman was just too much. “Mrs. Gardner! I do not find this funny at all! Your son is quite sick.” She turned her stern voice towards me, chilling my mirth instantly. “Now, as I was saying, he fainted and seems to be running a slight fever. So, I expect to see you soon.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I will be there shortly.” I could not explain to her why I found it funny but I could not let one thing slide, it was a sore spot with me. “Oh, by the way Ms. Hinkle, it’s not Mrs. Gardner. I haven’t been married in a very long time. So, do remember that. I will be there as soon as I can. Thank you.” I hung up then before she could reply. I don’t know why I was so abrupt aside from I hated to be reminded of being married, even if it was with a different last name. It had been years ago, a world away but I tried very hard to distance all of us from that past.

“I heard. So before you ask, I will keep an eye on him.” Lexi said as I set the phone down.

“Thanks. I owe you one.” I told her as I picked up my purse and keys from next to the door.

“I won’t clean up any puke and if I get sick you’re dead!” I heard her say as I shut the door. On my way to the car for the second time today the skies opened up and started to pouring buckets of rain. I guess I should’ve paid more attention to the weather forecast and grabbed a coat.