Ritsuka's Illness
"Sweetie, wake up! It's Mama!" I opened up my eyes and was suddenly overcome with dizziness. My tummy hurt terribly, and so did all of my muscles. I saw my moms smiling face looking down on me.
"Good morning!" she exclaimed. As the room stopped spinning, my head throbbed. My nose and ears (even the cat ones) felt all stuffy, too.
"Hi, Mama," I greeted her, careful not to let her know I was sick. I can't remember being sick with her knowing, so I was afraid of her reaction. I hopped up out of bed and got started to put on my clothes. I took off my shirt and put on a light one to replace it. Then I pulled out a comfy pair of pants, sweats, and sat them beside my mom who was sitting on my bed, beaming up to me. I was pulling down my underwear when she said,
"You are so cute, Ritsuka! And you're getting old, too! My boy is now an adolescent!" I didn't really know what to say to that, so I just replied with a,
"Thank you, Mama,"
"You're welcome, sweetheart!" I finished getting dressed and combing my hair, and then I headed down with my mom to the kitchen, for breakfast. She always carefully watched everything I ate, to see if therewere any changes. I wasn't hungry to start with, and not in the mood to get beaten, so I lied. I hate to lie, but I needed to do it. It was better for both of us if Mama would stay happy. I pretended to suddenly realize something and said,
"Mama! I just remembered! I need to hurry and meet Yuiko early this morning! Can you make me breakfast to eat on my walk to school right now, so I can go brush my teeth and get going?"
"Oh, my! Of course, Ritsuka. Don't forget your backpack," I ran into the bathroom. Maybe I shouldn't have faked that much. Now I was super dizzy. I pulled my self together and brushed my teeth. Then I grabbed my backpack, took my breakfast from my mother and walked out the door, after she kissed my forehead.
"Good," I thought, "Either I don't have a temperature or she just didn't notice it,"
"Hurry, Ritsuka! Run!" my mom called out the window. I had no choice. I ran until I was sure my mom couldn't see me. Then, I dumped my breakfast onto the sidewalk for the birds and put the plate in my backpack. Then the dizziness came in. I sat down right where I was and decided to rest for a little. Yuiko wouldn't expect me for a while, anyways. After a few minutes, my body felt cold and I thought my head was burning.
"If I didn't have a temperature then, I definitely do now," I thought to myself. A few minutes later, my stomach really started churning. The next thing I knew I was throwing up. It felt awful. It came up in my throat and splattered violently and painfully onto the sidewalk and oozed into the cracks. I was wondering what the neighbors would think when they saw it, because I definitely did not have the energy to clean it up. I calmed down for a few more minutes and then started walking towards Yuiko's house. As I walked my temperature seemed to be getting worse, and then my throat started hurting. Oh well. I was almost to Yuiko's house now. I could see her walking out. Then I saw her mom run out of the house with a bento (boxed lunch) and handing it to Yuiko. I walked up the path to her house. When Yuiko's mom saw me, she ran towards me, followed by Yuiko.
"Ritsuka! Do you feel okay? You're so pale!" her mother placed a hand on my forehead.
"You're burning up! Why are you going to school?"
"Does she-" I asked Yuiko, wondering if she told her about my mom and I. Yuiko nodded.
"I've never been sick around my mom that I can remember so..."
"You poor baby! Do you kids mind not walking this morning? I can drive you to school-I wanna check his temperature."
"I don't mind, Mama," replied Yuiko.
"That's a good idea," Her mom turned towards me.
"I'm fine with it," I said with a stuffy nose.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, leading me into her house with Yuiko following close behind.
...
I was sitting on their living room couch with Yuiko, waiting for her mom.
"My mom's always worrying about my health," babbled Yuiko.
"She's always feeling my forehead, or if she thinks she sees something, even if it's just some sunburn, she'll check me all over for rashes. And, when my stomach hurts, she'll rub it, and she'll bring futons into my room and sleep there when I'm throwing up. Don't worry at all when my mom's the person in charge. She's got a lot of bed side manner. I just had an idea-she could make a really great nurse!" Then, her mother returned, holding a thermometer.
"Alright, sweetie, I'm going to put this in your ear, not the neko (cat) one, your human one, and it'll beep four times to tell us it knows what your temperature is. Don't worry, I cleaned it off just in the rare case I didn't after I used it on Yuiko last. It won't hurt at all," she reassured. Then, she sat down next to me on the couch, and pressed a rectangular button on the thermometer. She stared at it for a moment, and then gently put it in my right ear. Once it was in, she continued to hold onto it. After about 45 seconds, Yuiko impatiently began to kick her feet. Her mom scolded her; telling her to take care in not changing what the thermometer would say. Then she explained to me that she'd forgotten to tell me that it takes a couple of minutes, and if you don't sit completely still it would throw off the thermometers reading. I just patiently sat there as she continued to hold it in my ear. Things started to get a little awkward. Thankfully, it wasn't long before the quadruple-beep. She slowly withdrew it from my ear and studied the thermometer. Yuiko and I watched her. Yuiko's eyes were wide with worry, and mine were barely keeping themselves open, but I was still nervous about the result. Finally, she spoke.
"This can't be right, it says you have a temperature of 37.6 Celcius. (That's a little more than a tenth of a degree above the normal ear temperature of 99.5 Fahrenheit) You look and feel much worse than that. Yuiko, honey, do you mind if I take your temperature, too, to double check it?"
"Not at all, Mama!" she chirped back, brushing her hair behind her ear. Her mom then cleaned off the thermometer very well, and sat down beside Yuiko. I figured her mom may also be afraid of germs, come to think of it, her house was pretty spotless. Yuiko's mom turned the thermometer back on and slipped it into Yuiko's ear. Once her temperature was taken, Yuiko's mother frowned.
"It thinks your temperature is quite a bit below normal," she observed. Then she looked at me, thinking.
"Ritsuka, if you don't mind," she started,
"I would like to take your temperature in a more accurate way; in your bottom. And Yuiko-"
"Of course, Mama!" Yuiko chirped.
"I'm fine with you demonstrating on me first to make Ritsuka more comfortable. He's a boy but I don't mind! He's my best friend! He can see my tushie-I'd even show him my girl parts if he asked! But don't worry Mama, Ritsuka has a boyfriend." I turned even redder, and they could tell it wasn't because I was sick. Yuiko's mom gently caressed my hair, as her way of saying its okay.
"Alright then kids, I'll get the rectal thermometer, why don't you go up to my room and watch some T.V.?"
...
We were both watching anime when Yuiko's mom returned with 2 thermometers and some Vaseline. Yuiko crawled up to the end of her mom's bed, right next to the television and laid down on her stomach.
"Okay, Ritsuka! You do the same!" she told me. I obeyed her and nervously awaited what was coming next. I was really embarrassed. I wondered if it hurt. Yuiko seemed fine with it, and knowing her, that probably meant it was going to be just fine, too. Well, unless it was just an act to make me more comfortable.
"Alright!" said her mother, as she sat down on the bed behind Yuiko. She opened up the lid of the Vaseline and started rubbing it Yuiko's rear end, and then on the thermometer; the part that's going to go in Yuiko's (and then my) butt. Once it was covered in Vaseline, her mother wiped her hands off on a napkin. I didn't notice her bring those in. Huh, it was probably part of this sickness that made me not notice. Then, she pulled Yuiko's skirt down to her thighs. Then, she did the same with her pink bikini panties, exposing the girls' bare butt.
"Now," said her mother.
"I'm going to insert this in Yuiko's bottom. It might be a little cold and feel odd if you're not used to it." Her mom pulled her cheeks open and set it in. She put that thing in there at least an inch! Maybe more.
"It doesn't hurt at all though," she added,
"Now are you ready for me to take yours?"
"Yes maam," I said in a stuffy voice.
"Oh, sweetie," she sympathized and then scooted over to my side of the bed, careful to not bump Yuiko. Then, she pulled down my sweats. Next, off came the boxers. Yuiko was watching. She was going to see her mom shove that thing in my butt! I was a little scared still, too. She started rubbing Vaseline on me, and soonly after, the thermometer was all Vaseline-d up, too. Here it came. She pulled open my cheeks with one hand, and with the other she put the cool, slippery, thermometer into my rear end. It wasn't as awful as I had imagined.
"Since this is your first time you can remember, I'm going to hold it in there until it's done, okay?"
"Alright," I coughed. She made a sad sound and rubbed my back. Four minutes later, some beeping happened. At first I thought it was the thermometer in my bottom, but it was Yuiko's. I'd gotten so absorbed in just feeling my back get rubbed and my temperature get taken the other way while watching anime that I'd almost forgotten about her. But there she was. We were both there thermometers sticking out of our butts as we laid down on our stomachs for almost 5 minutes. Her mom reached over with her massaging hand and slowly pulled out Yuiko's thermometer.
"37.5 Celcius," (that's normal in Fahrenheit) smiled her mother, wiping off some of the Vaseline from her rear. When she was done, Yuiko got off the bed and stood up, instantly showing a "girl part" to me, and pulled up her underwear and skirt.
"I can take over, Mama," she said.
"Oh, alright dear," her mother answered. Yuiko put her right hand on my cheek and gripped the thermometer, keeping it steady. A couple of minutes later, it made the familiar beeping pattern Yuiko's had made. Yuiko slowly slipped out the thermometer and looked at it.
"Mama, what does this mean?" she asked, handing the thermometer over to her mother.
"Oh dear," her mom replied.
"Ritsuka, you have a fever of 40.1 Celcius! (About 104.2 Fahrenheit)" she quickly wiped me off with the napkin."You need some serious rest! Lay down in my bed, and I'll bring you a wet rag to put over your forehead. You can pull your pants back up-I'll get you some medicine, too, and..." she continued, running around frantically, but stopping to grab a tongue depressor from the bathroom, "Does your throat hurt? It sounded awfully achey and dry earlier, and with all of your coughing..."
"Yes, my throat hurts," I choked on the last word. I wished I hadn't, it was making her worry more. She climbed up on the bed with the tongue depressor. In all the insanity, I hadn't pulled even my underwear up yet, and was now crawling over to the bed head stand so I could sit up when she looks in my throat. As she scrambled towards me with the tongue depressor, I managed to get my underpants on and my sweats were sort-of on. Enough that I didn't feel completely exposed. I started to lean back on the head board, but Yuiko's mom got a hold of the back of my head before it reached it. She told me to just sit in her lap for this. So, I finished pulling up my pants and sat in her lap. She put the tongue depressor near my mouth and said,
"Say, ahh,"
"Ahhh...eck! Hack!" I coughed on her.
"That's okay sweetie, one more try. Say, ahh,"
"Ahhhh..."
"Your throat looks a little swollen and irritated, put I don't think it's the cause of you being under the weather. It's probably just an effect of the flu, not strep," she reassured,
"Now, have you felt nauseous at all today?"
"I threw up on my way here," I admitted.
"Oh!" she gave me a hug, and then looked deep in my cloudy eyes,
"I think you might have come down with the stomach flu, I'll go get a trash bag to put beside the bed," she got up and did as she promised with the trash bag and put the wet cloth over my forehead. Then, she tucked me in with 3 comforters and told me to keep them on so I wouldn't get chilled. "I'm going to take Yuiko to school, and then I'll be back, and frequently check on you, just so you know," she instructed, "I'll have to go to work later, so I'll wake you in 4 hours. We'll decide what to do with you then. Now, go to sleep and heal up," were the last words I heard before my feverish head began to rest.