Red sat in his bed with his knees pulled up to his chin in a pout. A red cozy blanket was wrapped around his shoulders. Father sat beside his bed twiddling his thumbs.
"Want to take a nap, Son?" said father as gently as he could muster.
"No," sniffled Red, "I'm not sleepy enough."
"Okay, well, do you want to play a game?"
"No, I don't feel like it."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to play by myself," sighed Father pulling up a small barrel to use as a table. He set up the checker board and would switch back and forth from team red to team black. Red closed his eyes as if he were asleep, but the sound of the checkers clicking across the board made him peek. Father raised a black piece in the air and attempted to jump a red one.
"Stop, "shouted Red. Father paused suspending the piece in the air. "You can't move there. The other red piece will jump you and you'll lose three more pieces!"
"Why, you're right!" said father handing the black piece to Red. "So, what would be the best strategy?"
"Um, here," said Red thinking, "Place it here. Now it's protected!"
"I've never met anyone as good at playing checkers as you Red."
"Well, it is my favorite game."
"One-on-one then?
"You're on," smiled Red.
After several games, Green came in to relieve Father. "So, how's the patient?" said Green taking Red's temperature.
"He may be sick, but his mind is as sharp as ever," said Father leaving. "He beat me fifteen to twenty."
"You're really burning up, Red. Take some of this." He handed Red a small cup of thick green liquid. Red sniffed it and wrinkled his nose.
"Is it a potion?"
"It's medicine. It will help take your fever down and stop your cough. And it might make you sleepy."
"It tastes terrible."
"Sorry," said Green as Red's eyes began to close. Green pulled the covers closer to his chin, and whispered, "Sweet dreams."
When Red woke up, he saw Vio sitting in a chair with his feet propped on the barrel reading a book.
"Oh, good. You're awake."
"What? Where's Green?"
"He left a few hours ago. Red, you've been sleeping for quite a while. Good news. Looks like your fever has gone down."
"I'm feeling much better," said Red stifling a cough, "Do you think I might can still go to the fair?"
"Sorry, Red," said Vio, "you need to stay in bed, but I brought some blueberry cobbler. Want to try a piece?" Red grabbed the puke bucket.
Blaaah!
"Or…maybe not!" said Vio. "I'll get you a new bucket. You just try to get some rest."
"Vio," said Red weakly.
"Yes?"
"Do you think you could…maybe…"
"Yes?"
"Um, could you maybe read a book to me?"
"Sure, which one?"
"It's the one with the grey cover that we keep on the shelf in the living room. I don't remember the name."
"Hmm? I don't recall there being one with grey cover. Oh, well. Maybe I overlooked it."
As Vio turned and left the room, Red grabbed his boots and hat. He crept down the stairs and snuck past the purple Link scanning the bookshelf. He tiptoed through the kitchen and slowly turned the knob of the back door. Almost there, he thought. As he stepped through the door, his foot caught on something. Tripping face first into the blanket of snow, the sound of metal pots, pans, and cups thundered around him. Vio appeared in the doorway.
"There isn't a grey book is there?"
"No," mumbled Red through a mouthful of snow. Vio dusted him off and helped him back into the house.
"Did you really think you could get by me that easy?"
"I had to try, Vio. You just don't understand how important this is. The Winter festival only comes once a year!
"I know, Red. I wish the circumstances were different."
"Will you still read to me?"
"Sure," said Vio ruffling Red's hair.
A few hours later, Blue strode in while Vio was still reading aloud.
"Sleeping, eh?" said Blue.
"Yeah," said Vio stretching. "You need to keep a good eye on him. He tried to sneak out earlier."
"Ha, nobody gets by me," said Blue pointing confidently at himself.
"At least check on him every fifteen minutes, Blue."
"Right, right, don't worry. Blue is on the job. I got this."
Vio raised an eyebrow, "He hasn't eaten anything. Start with something light and see if he can keep it down. Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Got it." Vio turned and left the room. Blue straddled the chair by Red's bed.
Red stirred under the covers. A set of crystal blue eyes peeped out. "Where's Vio?" came a coarse voice.
"Wow, you losing your voice too? He just left. How you feeling?"
"If I'm feeling better, can I go to the festival?"
Blue shook his head no and asked, "How does some hot soup sound?" He noticed that Red didn't reach for the bucket at the mention of food. Well that's a good sign. Maybe he is getting better.
"It sounds horrible."
"Red, you have to try and eat something to get your strength back."
Red muffled an "okay" through the pillow.
"Call me if you need anything. I'll go fix us some dinner." He dragged the chair with him. As he closed the door, he carefully placed the chair under the knob. There. Ha! Let's see him try to escape now.
In about twenty minutes, Blue returned with a piping bowl of soup. He moved the chair from the door and cautiously entered the room balancing the bowl in one hand and dragging the chair back in with the other. He set the bowl on the barrel and proceeded to wake Red up.
"Hey, soup's ready," he whispered gently, "Come on, you need to eat it hot." When Red didn't stir, he shook his shoulder. "What the…?" Blue threw back the covers and found piles of dirty clothes. But…how did he…? He glanced at the open window. "Oh, no! I'm never gonna hear the end of this one."
