Dad, can we go to the fair?" asked Davanee on our way home from school.

"Why do you want to go to the fair?" I asked.

"Because it sounds fun and I've never been. Dillon says they got this ride where you sit in these giant teacups and you spin around really, really fast" said Davanee. She sounded really excited about it. As much as I wanted to take her, we couldn't afford it. We were on a tight, tight budget that month and, unfortunately, the fair didn't fit in the budget. I really felt bad about telling her we couldn't go. She gave me the puppy dog face but I didn't give in. Over the past 8 years, I've learned how to ignore that face.

"Besides, you have your recital this weekend. You don't wanna miss that, do you?" I asked.

"No. Are Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda coming to the recital?" asked Davanee.

"They're gonna try. Try not to be too upset if they can't make it ok?"

"Ok. You'll be there, won't you?" she asked.

"Of course I'll be there. You wouldn't be upset if Sam came with us, would you?"

"No. She can come if she wants" said Davanee. Davanee didn't really like Sam, but I could tell she was starting to grow on her. We went straight home that day. Normally we would stop by the DX or something but I had a lot of work to do. Once we got home, Mercy went off to play in her room while Davanee did her homework and Scotty colored at the kitchen table. I sat across from Scotty and worked on grading papers. I was about half way through the huge stack of papers when I noticed Scotty was scratching at her arms. At first I thought it was nothing. She was wearing long sleeves and I thought the sleeves were itchy. But after awhile, it didn't stop.

"Daddy, I'm itchy" said Scotty as she started scratch her back (or at least she was trying to).

"Scotty, come here." Scotty walked over to me, letting some of her crayons fall of the table and roll on the floor.

"Turn around" I said. She turned around and I lifted up her shirt. There were tiny red bumps all over her back. Only one thought went through my mind. 'Uh-oh, this can't be good.' I tried hard to remember if Scotty had chicken pox when she was a baby. I was hoping that I was right but no such luck. I took her to the doctors next day and sure enough, it was chicken pox. Unfortunately, none of my kids have had chicken pox before. After we went to the doctors, Scotty went straight to bed. She was running a fever and she was having a hard time trying not to itch.

I immediately called Darry as soon as I got Scotty to bed. I explained everything to him and he said Davanee and Mercy could stay over there until Scotty got better.

"What do you do to treat chicken pox?" I asked. I had them when I was about Scotty's age. Everyone in my family had them at one point.

"Rub some calamine lotion on her and give her a bath with baking soda. That's what mom did to you" said Darry.

"Thanks, Dar. I'll drop Mercy and Davanee off in a little while" I said.

"Oh, I'll come get them. You can't leave Scotty there by herself."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Positive. I've gotta go to the grocery store anyways so I'll just get them on my way home. It's no problem" said Darry.

"Thanks. I've gotta get back to grading papers now. I'll see you when you get here."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and finished grading the papers. I should've finished those the other night but with Scotty being sick, I couldn't. I finished grading the papers and started making dinner. It was just going to be 3 of us that night. Scotty was still asleep.

"How come Scotty's not eating with us?" asked Mercy.

"Scotty's very sick and she needs to sleep. You guys on the other hand are going to go stay with Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda until Scotty gets better. I don't want you guys getting sick."

"What does she have?" asked Davanee.

"Chicken Pox."

"Is that where you turn into a chicken?" asked Mercy. I loved it when kids asked questions like that.

"No, it's where you get all itchy" said Davanee.

"Not-uh. Bobby, this boy in my class, says you grow feathers and chicken legs. You gots to go live on a farm " said Mercy.

"Your sisters' not gonna turn into a chicken" I said. Once we were done, I did the dishes while Davanee and Mercy finished getting there stuff together. Darry came over about an hour or so later. Mercy and Davanee gave me a hug and a kiss before they left. I knew Davanee would be fine without me for a couple of days but I wasn't so sure about Mercy. Mercy has never been away from me for more than one night at a time.

After they left, I went back to doing the dishes. I was almost done when Scotty started waking up.

"Daddy!" called Scotty from her room. I walked in to find Scotty sitting straight up in her bed with tears in her eyes.

"I don't feel good" said Scotty between sobs.

"I know, sweetie. Come on, let's go take a bath. You'll feel so much better" I said. I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. I grabbed a box of baking soda out of the kitchen first.

"What's that for?" asked Scotty.

"This should help with the itching" I said. I gave Scotty her bath, being careful.

"This feels good" said Scotty.

"Good. Now let's go put your pajamas on" I said. I helped Scotty out of the tub and carefully dried her off. I carried her to her room and helped her find some short sleeve pajamas. I tried to be careful when I was brushing her hair because there were so many knots, but it didn't work. It still hurt.

I tucking Scott in when she said "Daddy, tell me a story."

"I don't think I know any stories, sweetie. Davanee's the one with all the stories" I said, sitting on her bed.
"Please" begged Scotty, giving me the puppy dog face. I couldn't resist, so I came up with a story. It was all about a little girl with chickenpox.

"That was good" said Scotty.

"There'll be another story tomorrow night, same time, same bed" I said, giving her a kiss goodnight. Like I said before, I already had chicken pox so it was ok.

I turned out the light and closed the door behind me. I really didn't have anything to do that night, so I watched TV. I kinda figured that Scotty would be up again sometime, so I didn't want to go to bed just yet. I was watching the news when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Dad?" came Davanee from the other end.

"Hey, baby. What are you still doing up?" I asked.

"I was calling to say goodnight" said Davanee.

"Alright. Good night" I said.

"Wait, Mercy wants to talk" said Davanee.

"Good night, daddy" said Mercy.

"Night sweetie" I said.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Mercy.

"No, you guys won't see me tomorrow. You'll see me when Scotty gets better" I said.

"Alright. Bye, daddy."

"Bye Mercy" I said, hanging up. I hadn't even been one night and already I missed them. I had been years since Davanee and I had spent more than a night apart. Mercy and I have never really been apart.

After awhile, I started to get tired so I went to bed. I was sleeping well until Scotty's crying woke me up. I checked my clock before I got out of bed. It read 4 am. I sighed, put my feet on the cold floor, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I walked into Scotty's room to find her sitting up in bed, crying.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

"I don't feel good" she said, "it itches." I picked her up and tried to calm her down. It worked but she didn't go back to sleep, so I had to make breakfast at 4:30 in the morning, and Scotty wouldn't let me put her down. Trying to make pancakes with one hand wasn't fun. Normally, I would've made eggs but whenever someone's sick at our house, I make pancakes. It's a weird tradition we started when Mercy and Scotty were born.

Finally, Scotty let me put her down. My arm was starting to hurt from holding her. She sat down at the table and waited patiently for her breakfast. It was at that moment I realized how sick she was. Normally, she would've been running around, laughing and caring on, but that day she was just sitting at the table quietly with a gloomy look on her face.

I ended up missing a whole week of work that week. My week was spent coloring and playing house with Scotty until she got better. She got sick on Saturday. Come Thursday most of the bumps were gone and the itching had stopped. Scotty ended up staying home on Friday too, just in case it wasn't completely gone. When Saturday came, Scotty was back to normal.

"Daddy, what are we doing today?" asked Scotty on Saturday morning.

"We're going over to see uncle Darry and uncle Soda. And then later on we're going to Davanee's recital" I said.

"Do I have to go to the recital?" asked Scotty.

"Yes. You can't stay home by yourself" I said.