It was a cool morning in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. As he had been the night before, Lumpy was still sleeping in his bed. About an hour after the sun had gone up, however, his eyes slowly opened as he woke. Judging by how light it was in his room, he could already tell the morning had come.

Lumpy sat up in his bed and gave a deep, quiet yawn into his hand. But after he finished, he needed to cough, so he released a few of them into that same hand. They weren't satisfying at all, but rather painful. Lumpy then put his hand down and groaned slightly. He rubbed his throat gently with his other hand.

For some reason, his throat was aching all over. It wasn't how it sometimes did in the morning, either; the back of his throat did, too. Aside from the pain, it felt like he had a burning desert just beyond his mouth. Maybe what he needed was some water.

Lumpy stepped out of bed and slowly walked into the bathroom, coughing some more along the way. He washed out a nearby glass with warm water, then filled it up almost completely with colder water. Then as he gulped down the glass, he cringed internally as the water made its way down his throat. It wasn't helping the pain go away; in fact, it was probably making it worse.

Lumpy finished his water and panted repeatedly, clutching his throat again after he'd put down his cup. He didn't feel so good at all. What was the matter with his throat? Lumpy thought about what he could do. Suddenly an idea came to him.

After taking a shower, brushing his teeth and putting on deodorant, Lumpy walked out of his front door and looked up at the sky. It was a clear and warm day - not the best weather to have such bad symptoms, he thought. Lumpy walked away from his house, coughing as he did so. He sometimes cleared his throat, but that didn't do much, either.

A few minutes of walking and coughing later, Lumpy made it to Sniffles' house. Surely his anteater friend could help him feel better. Lumpy stepped up to the front door and pressed his forefinger against the doorbell, causing the chimes to play.

Less than a minute had gone by before the door was pulled open to reveal Sniffles.

"Oh, good morning, Lumpy!" he greeted him with a smile. "It's so good to see you this early in the morning. Come on in!"

Sniffles moved out of the way so Lumpy could come into the house. He did so, loudly clearing his throat as he did so. Upon hearing it, Sniffles raised an eyebrow.

"Um, Lumpy? Are you alright?"

"...n-no..." Lumpy replied in an extremely hoarse, raspy voice. It sounded almost nothing like him.

Sniffles gasped in surprise. "L-Lumpy! What happened to your voice?!"

Lumpy coughed into his fist, then rolled his eyes in voluntarily. He tried to talk, but his croaky voice made him hard to understand, so he had to point to his throat to help Sniffles get the message. "...it hurts... here..."

"You mean your throat?" Sniffles asked, and Lumpy nodded weakly. "I think I'll have to take a look in your mouth."

Lumpy wanted to speak again, but his throat simply hurt too much. He just gave another nod. Sniffles picked up a small flashlight, then walked Lumpy to the couch. Once he had made it there, he switched on the flashlight.

"Open your mouth and say ah," said Sniffles.

Lumpy did both of those, but the latter action came out sounding more like a growl. Sniffles looked into Lumpy's mouth, holding the flashlight in his hand as he did so. There was a massive amount of redness in the back of Lumpy's unfortunate throat. Sniffles' pupils shrunk in disbelief.

"Oh, my goodness..." Sniffles said to himself. He knew what this meant. He stopped looking into Lumpy's mouth, turned off his flashlight and put it aside. "We may need to take your temperature, Lumpy."

Lumpy raised an eyebrow at his comment, but otherwise didn't complain. Sniffles briefly left the living room, then came back with a digital thermometer. He inserted it underneath Lumpy's tongue as they waited. Lumpy had to use as much willpower as possible to not cough, but his throat was begging for it to happen.

Finally, the thermometer beeped, and Sniffles pulled it out. Lumpy started coughing again, but he made sure to cover his mouth while Sniffles looked at the thermometer.

When the poor moose was done releasing all of the coughs his throat needed him to, Sniffles told him his temperature. "It's 101.1. I'm afraid you're running a little fever, Lumpy."

"Oh, no..." Lumpy groaned. It wasn't very audible, but Sniffles knew he was dismayed.

"I think what's going on is that you have laryngitis," said Sniffles.

"Laryn-what now?" Lumpy asked, not understanding what he meant.

"It's an illness that involves your voice box becoming inflamed," said Sniffles. "That's why your voice is like that. It hurts your throat quite a bit, too."

"Oh..." Lumpy bent his head down, took a small breath and sighed in sadness.

"Luckily, it doesn't look too severe," Sniffles went on. "I'd say it's a case of acute viral laryngitis. You know what I think? You should get some rest, drink lots of water and try not to talk too much."

Lumpy nodded in understanding. He had agreed with Sniffles before he even finished talking. Then Lumpy lay down on the couch, his head resting on one arm of the couch. Not surprised that he would choose this place to rest, Sniffles pulled out a large blanket and covered Lumpy with it. Now only his head and arms were visible.

"I'll make sure you get better, Lumpy. I promise." Sniffles smiled reassuringly at him. "But as with any illness such as this, rest and care come first."

Lumpy rubbed his sore throat once again.

"How would you like some bottles of water?" Sniffles suggested. "I've got some in the fridge right now."

Lumpy smiled when he heard that and nodded, letting Sniffles know that was what he wanted. Sniffles then turned and headed into the kitchen to bring Lumpy his waters.

Lumpy stayed on the couch, coughing slightly from how sore his throat was. It hadn't gotten any better than it was this morning. As he thought over how his laryngitis could get worse, he felt a tickle in his nose. Hopefully this was from something in the air and not his virus.

"Aah... Htchoo!" Lumpy released a tiny sneeze that not only was hard to hear, but when he let it out, it felt like his throat was calling out for something to relieve its pain. On the plus side, there was no spray or mucus coming out of his mouth or nose during the sneeze.

Lumpy gave a quiet groan, then rubbed his nose slowly and gently with his forefinger. Just then, Sniffles came walking into the room with two bottles of water, and judging by his ill friend's action, he could already tell that Lumpy had sneezed.

"Bless you," said Sniffles.

Lumpy sniffled mildly and kept rubbing his nose, but also smiled at Sniffles to show his thanks. Sniffles placed one bottle of water on the table, then handed the other one to Lumpy.

"Here you go," said Sniffles.

Lumpy removed the lid from the bottle and started to drink it down. Before it was even halfway empty, however, he had to stop and pull the bottle away. He panted and coughed a couple of times, to Sniffles' concern.

"What's wrong?" Sniffles asked. "Does it hurt when you swallow?" Lumpy nodded sadly. "Oh, I'm sorry... then again, that's something you should expect when you have laryngitis."

After a couple of minutes, Lumpy resumed drinking his water. His throat still burned as the water made its way into his stomach, but he had to deal with it if he wanted it to help. Soon the bottle was empty and Lumpy sighed as he removed it from his mouth.

"There you go," Sniffles said gently. He took the bottle from Lumpy and put it in a recycling bin that was in the living room. Then he went back to Lumpy. "I'm sure a nap will help you feel better, too."

Lumpy nodded at the idea and lay back down on the couch, with his head again making contact with the arm of the couch. But Sniffles took a cushion from the other end of the couch and showed it to Lumpy.

"Allow me." Sniffles placed the cushion behind Lumpy's head, separating it from the arm of the couch. Lumpy sighed in relief as Sniffles fluffed the cushion.

"This is a cotton cushion, by the way," said Sniffles. "So you don't have to worry about any feathers coming out and landing on your nose or anything like that."

Lumpy smiled in response, then yawned into his hand. He turned over on his side as Sniffles rubbed his shoulder gently, making him even more comfortable.

"Sweet dreams, Lumpy. And feel better," Sniffles said softly.

Before he knew it, Lumpy's eyelids had fallen closed, and he'd begun to snore quietly. Sniffles smiled, then turned and walked out of the living room as quietly as he could. He planned to give Lumpy some throat medicine when he woke up. Surely that would help his laryngitis even more.