Wuthering Dormice (aka Bike) Part 727 by Angharad

I felt quite poorly; I alternated between feeling too hot and freezing. So I think I shivered or sweated depending on how my body felt. At one point I felt as if everything was a big dream, that I was lying in a hedgerow having been knocked off my bike, the rain was lashing down on me and everything since that point had been my febrile imagination.

I even thought I saw the driver glancing down at me, though she did nothing to help me. Then she walked away, leaving me to my fate. I don’t remember much else.

I woke being prodded and my face being wiped with a cool cloth. “Hello, Cathy, remember me?”

“Dr Smith?” I think it was him – my GP. ‘What’s he doing out dealing with a road collision?’

“I’m pretty sure you’ve got yourself a virus; you have a temperature and whilst I don’t think it’s swine flu, all I can do is give you something to cool you down. I can’t give you paracetamol, but I’ve left a script with Stella. Keep taking lots of fluids and rest. I’ll call by in a couple of days if you’re no better. ’Bye.”

I think I croaked a reply, my throat felt really sore. He’d looked in my mouth with his little torch, and felt my neck. I’d heard him say it wasn’t mononucleosis. I didn’t know what it was, but I felt awful.

Threads of a conversation were coming through to me. I wasn’t sure who it was talking but I assumed it was Stella and my doctor. “… been through a lot recently …driven herself too hard … worried about the children and those she couldn’t save …yeah, she’s the mystery healer … but don’t tell anyone … just rest … stay here …”

Rest? Ha! I couldn’t do anything else, even if I tried. I was aware of others coming into the room but couldn’t be bothered to see who. Stella kept saying to me, “Cathy, you’ve got to drink,” and she’d prod me and make me swallow a few drops. I hadn’t been to the loo for ages and decided I needed to go. I staggered out of bed and across to the bathroom – thank God for en suites, because I would never have found it otherwise.

Three anxious little faces watched me lurch across to the bathroom. They all beamed at me as I came out. “Do you feel better, Mummy?” I think it was Trish who spoke.

“A little,” I lied. I actually thought I was dying for a while. Viruses – possibly the simplest life form there is, and here I am, the zenith of mammalian evolution, absolutely floored by it. “Better not come too close, in case you catch it,” I said and decided my throat felt a little easier.

“The doctor said we wouldn’t catch it, Mummy.” Trish was going to argue – great, just what I needed.

“Okay, you know better than I do, be it on your own head if you catch it.” Livvie and Mima stepped back a pace, Stella walked into the room and after helping me back into bed – she made me change my nightdress first, the other was soaking with sweat – she made me drink some of the water by my bedside. “Ugh – what’s in this?”

“Ecchinacea,” called Stella’s voice, “it’s supposed to help with virus infections.”

“I haven’t a blessed cold, I’m dying.”

“No you’re not, you’ve got a wee virus infection, that’s all.” Stella wasn’t going to listen to me.

“If all I have is a wee virus, why was the doctor here?”

“He’s the one who diagnosed it.”

“Shows how much he knows, then,” I pouted and sulked as I lay back in the bed. Trish got on the bed and gave me a hug. I hugged her back, “Thank you sweetheart, that made me feel much better.”

“Oh good, Mummy. Would you like me to read to you?”

“That would be wonderful, I’m sure it would make me feel better.”

“I wanna read, too,” squawked Livvie.

“Me wanna sit with Mummy, too.”

I suppose they did their best. But listening to children reading while someone is practicing panel beating inside one’s head, isn’t conducive to relaxation. I tried, I really did to stay awake, but I couldn’t. In drifting away I heard someone complain and Stella tell them, “Well, you fall asleep when we read to you every night.” It became acceptable after that. To be honest, I couldn’t have cared one way or the other.

The three adults, Stella, Tom and Simon gave me tremendous support over the next couple of days. I slept much of the time, but they individually or collectively looked after the children.

I learned afterwards that Tom closed up the house and he and Kiki came to stay with us in the hotel for a few days. He had a room on the same floor. When I saw the dog, I thought I was home again. I think I was disappointed when I realised I was still in the hotel.

This whole thing lasted four bloody days, which was longer than the third test match. I didn’t have the energy to ask Simon if he’d given the man his money back. I just hoped he wasn’t betting on the outcome of the whole series. Simon can be wonderful – he can also be a total cretin, and a stubborn one at that.

I was finally allowed up and dressed. I had a shower and dressed myself. The sun was shining and I’d have loved to be out on my bike or with the kids. Sadly, after washing and dressing, I was knackered or fair wabbit as Tom would say.

The girls made a fuss of me and I tried to eat but I wasn’t hungry. “Starve a cold and feed a fever,” said Stella, quoting some old wives’ tale.

“I thought it was the other way around,” I argued, but she doesn’t brook dissent and made me eat soup. It was quite good, although I reckon I’ve made better ones. I felt sick afterwards, but that was mainly wind. I was glad she didn’t try to burp me.

The doctor, through Stella, had organised a blood test. She took the blood and I must admit I hardly felt it – her nursing had some uses. I had a raised white blood cell count–there’s a surprise, I have an infection. They still didn’t know what it was –oh joy.

At least I could read the paper and kept abreast of the Echo’s crusade to find the mystery healer woman. As far as I knew, they weren’t even warm. They suggested all the clues they had and in adding them up, made a number in excess of the chocolate bars, I suspected Stella or Simon had ordered which were shared by the girls and occasionally given to me.

’New information suggests the Healing Angel has left the city of Portsmouth and gone back to her home planet – so says local psychic, Edmund Murgatroyd: “She’s been put off by all the nastiness and greed she found here, so she’s gone back to her home planet near the star Alpha Centauri. This was revealed to me in a conversation with her superior Kloff Sidberm. Her real name is Maugrim Glossburn, and she is an intergalactic trouble shooter.’

The article cheered me up no end. I doubted they’d stop looking for me, but given my own poor health at the moment, I can’t see there being too many episodes of miracle healing involving yours truly. Where do they get these people, the local looney bin?

No one else seemed to catch my bugs, so we decided it was stress, so even Wonder Woman can have an off-day or three. I didn’t want a repeat bout, I might not survive it, so I agreed to all of Stella’s demands – rest, drink plenty of water – rest some more – eat as much as I can – keep my spirits up by the girls reading me stories

Oh well I might just survive a bit longer, I was quite relieved to discover it wasn’t all just a dream and I wasn’t actually expiring by the roadside while Stella called her brother to collect the body.