The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1937 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

When I woke the next morning, Simon had gone off to work. I didn’t feel refreshed from my night’s sleep and would quite happily have gone back to sleep except I knew that I had children to organise, a house to run and a job to do. I really did think about just getting back into bed and going back to sleep. Instead I struggled out and staggered to the bathroom feeling very woozy.

I used the loo and again nearly fell over on rising. I stripped off my nightdress and managed to get into the shower hoping the warm water would help wake me up. It did but not for long, for as I was towelling myself dry I nearly pitched forward and had to grab the side of the bath to stay upright.

My head was spinning and I had some difficulty focusing both my eyes and my concentration. Somehow I got some clothes on but was feeling very hot by the time I did. Staggering out onto the landing I called the children to get up and my head became extremely dizzy and I had to call for help.

I felt a real fear of falling headfirst down the stairs because I could hardly stand up. Danny was first to respond to my yell and he grabbed hold of me, shouting for Julie or Stella to come quickly. They both arrived a minute or so later, when I began to wonder if I was going to cause both Danny and me to plunge down the staircase.

Stella took charge and the three of them led me back to my room and laid me on the bed. I now felt sick. Calling for a bowl or bucket to catch whatever was going to come up, I was handed a plastic carrier bag–not quite as good as a bucket, but thankfully one without holes in the bottom.

Then I began to shiver, although I was well aware I was also sweating. Stella and Julie stripped me off and after pulling on some pyjamas they manhandled me back into bed. Trish came rushing in with a bucket and placed it where I could reach it and she told me, “Gramps will take us to school.” At that point I really couldn’t have cared less.

Stella returned with a drink of water and some paracetamol which is an antipyretic–it lowers temperature in the case of fevers. “I’ve got to get the children sorted, Julie is going to help me, you stay there and I’ll be back with a cuppa later. Tom said he’d take the girls to school.”

“Yes, I know Trish told me when she brought the bucket. God, I feel awful.”

“What sort of awful?” Stella the nurse was asserting herself.

“My head is pounding, everything aches and I feel so dizzy and so cold.”

“Okay, sounds like you’ve got a bug or something, stay there and I’ll be back with a cuppa later. Okay?”

“Thanks,” I said and lay back on the bed and found myself drifting off to sleep in no time. I have no idea how much later it was when Stella returned with some tea and a piece of toast. I did just about manage to sit up, although the room felt like I was on a small ship with a heavy sea. Despite that, I did drink the tea while she sat and talked to me, and eventually I agreed to try and eat some of the toast which was cold and chewy by this time.

“David has just come over to do the dinner, he said he’d make you some soup for lunch.”

“I don’t know if I feel like eating much, but thank him anyway.” I handed her back the empty mug.

“Oh you’ll eat it okay,” she smiled evilly, as only Stella can–no wonder she was such a successful nurse, she frightened the proverbial out of her patients. They got better to avoid her.

“Maybe,” I squeaked and slid under the duvet until only my eyes were peeping out at her. She growled at me, and collecting the dishes on the tray, left me to rest.

I seemed to vary between hot and cold, one minute I felt like I was going to catch fire, I felt so warm; the next I was shivering and wondering if I would freeze to death. If I’d been able to reason it through, I’d have seen that I’d caught a flu like bug. Instead I just felt like poo and my cognitive functions were practically switched off.

Stella came up a bit later and switched the radio on from my radio/alarm, she retuned it to a music station and I became aware of a quiet accompaniment of classical music every so often. I woke up to Wagner’s, Valkyrie and turned it up a little while I waited for the helicopters to attack. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” I thought to myself remembering eventually that the film was, Apocalypse Now, an anti-war film.

My private nursemaid cum enforcer returned with a bowl of fresh chicken soup and piece of still warm bread. She sat on the bed until I was sitting up and ate it. Then she smiled at me, and in return I gave a huge burp–which made us both laugh.

I spent most of that day and the next in bed, which meant that when I did get up the following day I was quite wobbly for an hour or so. I also felt very tired, however, I did do a little bit of work on my presentation for the conference, I also spoke to Pippa who’d taken over most of the organising.

When I drove to collect the girls, they were really pleased to see I was getting better, which I admit I felt happier about as well. Trish was perplexed by the fact that she tried to use her healing powers on me without success. She didn’t seem to appreciate that I had been very stressed and tired and thus some rest and David’s chicken soup were all the help I needed, oh, and sergeant major Stella frightening me into getting better.

When talking with my dear sister in law a couple of days later, she admitted she’d enjoyed nursing me and thought when the children were older she might resurrect her career. I hoped she did because she’s actually quite a clever old thing and the return to her career, would I was sure, make her feel much happier.

We heard from Jacquie, she was staying with her girlfriend on a semi-permanent basis, but hoped she could come back if it didn’t work out. I was pleased she was forming relationships which might enable her to heal some of the pain the juvenile detention centres had caused her. I’d thought for some time that although she got on reasonably well with Simon and Tom, if she did have a relationship, it would probably be with another girl, her experiences with men until coming to us were mostly unfortunate ones. As long as she was happy, then so was I and I wished her well and told her to come and see us soon and to bring her partner with her. She promised she would.

The bad news was that Julie’s relationship with Aiden foundered. He seemed unaware that they were an item, and when she saw him with another girl and made a scene, he told her to go forth and multiply. She was upset for a few days and then vowed she’d never have a relationship with a boy ever again. However, she didn’t count on a rather handsome young man calling into the salon with a delivery of hair care products–it was lust at first sight and they have their first date tomorrow. I am so glad I found Simon, otherwise my hormones would have been driving me mad.